[OS X TeX] Odd table behavior

[Maarten Sneep]

On 26 jul 2004, at 15:59, Lisa Schweitzer wrote:

> On Jul 26, 2004, at 6:36 AM, Maarten Sneep wrote:
>
>> On 26 jul 2004, at 15:26, Lisa Schweitzer wrote:
>>
>>> I have a landscaped table using "rotating" that works great in 
>>> TeXShop, but when I compile a dvi in OzTex, the table is not only 
>>> NOT rotated, but it is shifted way down on the page, and way to the 
>>> right. Why is this? Obviously I have the output i need, but I want 
>>> to understand the difference in these programs for my own 
>>> satisfaction.
>>
>> I believe OzTeX looks at the dvi output, and the rotating package 
>> works with (postscript) dvi-specials, at least when in old-latex mode 
>> with dvips post-processing. Note that this statements has two 
>> assumptions, one of which I'm not too sure about.
>>
>> How did you generate using TeXShop (dvips+Ghostscript or pdflatex)?
>> Have you tried to post-process the dvi-file? (to either ps of pdf)?
>
> Here I am going to have to take some time to tighten up my OzTex 
> system (I just installed it a few days ago) because I am getting error 
> when I try to post-process:
>
> Calling Unix command: dvips -Ppdf -o TRB.ps TRB.dvi; ps2pdf TRB.ps; 
> open TRB.pdf
> Current directory: /Users/lschwei/Desktop/TRB2004
>
> This is dvips(k) 5.94a Copyright 2003 Radical Eye Software 
> (www.radicaleye.com)
> ' TeX output 2004.07.26:0647' -> TRB.ps
> <tex.pro><alt-rule.pro><texc.pro><f7b6d320.enc><texps.pro>. 
> <cmbx10.pfb>
> <cmr10.pfb>[1]
> sh: line 1: ps2pdf: command not found

Ah, no difference at all: OzTeX just uses teTeX, and therefore the 
exact same engine is used.
     Did you install ghostscript? Have you set the path's in OzTeX 
correctly?
     What OS are you on: if it is OS X 10.3, you can drop the .ps file 
on preview.
     (I assume that the script for the post processing comes with OzTeX:
     I thought the -Ppdf option is deprecated, it is probably easier to 
use the
     altpdflatex script with some appropriate options. At least the 
correct call
     to dvips can be found there).

> So I'll need to fix this before I post-process. But I see what you are 
> saying, and it was really helpful. I'm only starting to  understand 
> these different Mac programs.  I wonder, though: are there any 
> advantages to dvi over pdf?

Asking the question is such an innocent action, answering it is likely 
to generate a holy war.

I'd say dvi has long outlived its usefulness, pdf is easier to handle 
(especially on OS X), more portable (despite the device independent 
name), and can be used without relying on external fonts and files 
(included figures need to be available as separate files to the 
dvi-viewer. Besides: the typographic advances are made in pdfetex (yes, 
I know, that can generate dvi as well, most people use it to generate 
pdf though). There are some tricks [sic] that rely on postscript 
(pstricks, psfrag) and will never function as such with pdftex. Since 
discovering metapost, I haven't found a need for those packages.

Maarten

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