On 08/23/2009 10:06 AM, Professor Rodney Coates wrote: > Dear Owen, > > I have been able to download and install Ghostscript, so an initial > Ghostscript error message on starting Scribus now no longer appears. I > do not know if Ghostcript has some part to play in Tex utilisation. > > I have downloaded BasicTex for Mac and installed that also. However, > when I click the Tex icon on the menubar, all I get is a message > > The item "pdflatex -- interactive nonstopmode failed to start" > > This is one of those error messages which really ought to bring scorn > and derision on the programmer who implemented it. There is no point > in providing meaningless error messages when the software is intended > or presumed to have a wide and general use. > > Error messages ought to convey some meaningful instruction which can > be acted on to the benefit of the user. > it may be that you don't have pdflatex... > Anyway, now I am back at square one. Clicking Tex - apart from > producing the above error message - generates a text entry frame with > handles on it, within which is a further message: "render error". > Pretty well useless, again, since it only states the obvious, that the > software is not working, at least insofar as Tex/Latex is concerned. > > Maybe you have some thoughts on these matters. > > I have now also downloaded MathType and have it working in Page. I can > type in equations - WISYWIG - which is brilliant. I can transfer pict > images of the equations to Ragtime, so can procede there. > > In RagTime I can change symbol fonts within a line of text so I can > write things like "..... the symbol used for wavelength is the greek > letter L ...... and L will come out as the proper lambda glyph. > HOEWEVER, Symbol font DOES NOT WORK with this mail application, which > is why L is L and NOT lambda. It does not work in Page, It does not > work in TextEdit and it does not - of course - work in Scribus. > > Symbol font does work in both Illustrator and Photoshop. > > I also now notice that in Illustrator (but not in any of the other > non-Adobe applications, TWO Symbol fonts are present, one followed by > a TT (TrueType symbol and the other by a red lowercase cursive "a" > presumably an "Adobe" symbol. Much the same in Photoshop. > > For completeness, I have also just activated Word for Mac and that > works fine, but with only a single Symbol font in the long fonts list. > > Perhaps we might short-circuit things if I ask the following question. > Even if I could get LaTex working, presumably I will never be able to > insert a Greek character in a string of ordinary text? That is, within > a sentence. It's a matter of using the right LaTeX markup. Within some line of text, you could have, for example, $\mu$ and you will get the Greek mu character. The $'s put you in "math mode" so that this kind of symbol command is accessible. LaTeX has a highly developed math mode, with great ease of generating formulas, equations, and various math symbols.
John Culleton's comments notwithstanding, I use a simple text editor rather than an WYSIWYG software. I don't think this is such an OT thread, since with the advent of Scribus versions 1.3.5+ we now have Render Frames, which can, among other possibilities handle LaTeX inside Scribus. There are many instances where working on your LaTeX outside of Scribus, then copying to a Render Frame makes the most sense. Who knows, maybe some day, we'll even have JC using Scribus for more than covers. Greg
