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1 % \iffalse meta-comment
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28 % \fi
29 % Filename: ltnews13.tex
31 % This is issue 13 of LaTeX News.
33 \documentclass
34 % [lw35fonts] % uncomment this line to get Palatino
35 {ltnews}[2000/07/21]
37 % \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
39 \publicationmonth{June}
40 \publicationyear{2000}
41 \publicationissue{13}
44 \begin{document}
46 \maketitle
48 \raisefirstsection
49 \section{Yearly release cycle}
51 We announced in \textit{\LaTeX{} News~11} that we intended to switch
52 to a 12-monthly release schedule. With the present (June~2000)
53 release, this switch is being made: thus the next release of \LaTeX{}
54 will be dated June~2001. We shall of course continue, as in the past,
55 to release patches as needed to fix significant bugs.
58 \section{PSNFSS: \small Quote of the Month}
60 \begin{quote}
61 You should say in the \LaTeX{} News that Walter Schmidt has taken over
62 \PSNFSS{} from me. It gives me a certain pleasure to be able to draw a
63 line under that part of my life\ldots
65 \begin{latexonly}
66 \vspace{-\baselineskip}
67 \end{latexonly}
69 \begin{flushright}
70 Sebastian Rahtz
71 \end{flushright}
72 \end{quote}
74 \begin{latexonly}
75 \vspace{-\baselineskip}
76 \end{latexonly}
78 \noindent
79 The \PSNFSS{} material, which supports the use\latex{\\}
80 of common PostScript fonts with \LaTeX{}, has been thoroughly updated.
81 Most noticeably, the \package{mathpple} package, which used to be
82 distributed separately, is now part of the basic \PSNFSS{} bundle;
83 this package provides mathematical typesetting with the Palatino
84 typeface family. In addition, numerous bugs and flaws have been fixed
85 and the distribution has been `cleaned up'. The file
86 \file{changes.txt} contains a detailed list of these changes.
87 \latex{\looseness=-1} %%!!!!! It worked!
89 The documentation (in \file{psnfss2e.pdf}) has been completely
90 rewritten to provide a comprehensive introduction to the use
91 of PostScript fonts.
93 Notice that the new \PSNFSS{} needs updated files for font metrics,
94 virtual fonts and font definitions. If you received the new
95 version~(8.1) as part of a complete \TeX{} system then these new font
96 files should also have been installed. However, if you intend to
97 install or update \PSNFSS{} yourself, please read the instructions in
98 the file \file{00readme.txt} of the new \PSNFSS{} distribution.
100 Support for commercial PostScript fonts, such as
101 Lucida~Bright, has been removed from the basic distribution;
102 it is now available from \ctan{}:
103 \begin{latexonly}
104 \file{\ctanhttp macros/latex/\\
105 contrib/supported/psnfssx}.
106 \end{latexonly}
107 \begin{htmlonly}
108 \url{http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/supported/psnfssx}.
109 \end{htmlonly}
111 \section{New AMS-\LaTeX{}}
113 Version 2.0 of AMS-\LaTeX{} was released on December 1, 1999. It can
114 be obtained via \url{ftp://ftp.ams.org/pub/tex/} or
115 \url{http://www.ams.org/tex/amslatex.html}, as well from \ctan{}:
116 \begin{latexonly}
117 \file{\ctanhttp macros/latex/\\
118 required/amslatex}.
119 \end{latexonly}
120 \begin{htmlonly}
121 \url{http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/required/amslatex}.
122 \end{htmlonly}
124 This release consists chiefly of bug fixes and consolidation of the
125 existing features. The division of AMS-\LaTeX{} into two main parts
126 (the math packages;\latex{\\}
127 the AMS document classes) has been made more pronounced.
128 The files \file{diffs-m.txt}, \file{diffs-c.txt},
129 \file{amsmath.faq}, and \file{amsclass.faq} describe the\latex{\\}
130 changes and address some common questions.
132 The primary documentation files remain \file{amsldoc.tex}, for the
133 \package{amsmath} package, and \file{instr-l.tex}, for the AMS
134 document classes.\latex{\\}
135 The documentation for the \package{amsthm} package,\latex{\\}
136 however, has been moved from \file{amsldoc.tex}\latex{\\}
137 to a separate document \file{amsthdoc.tex}.
139 \begin{latexonly}
140 \vfill
141 \end{latexonly}
143 \section{New input encoding \package{latin4}}
145 The package \package{inputenc} has, thanks to Hana Skoumalov\'a,
146 been extended to cover the \package{latin4} input encoding; this
147 covers Baltic and Scandinavian languages as well as Greenland
148 Inuit and Lappish.
150 \begin{latexonly}
151 \vfill
152 \end{latexonly}
154 \section{New experimental code}
156 In \textit{\LaTeX{} News~12} we announced some ongoing work towards a
157 `Designer Interface for \LaTeX' and we presented some early results
158 thereof. Since then, at Gutenberg\,2000 in Toulouse and TUG\,2000 in
159 Oxford, we described a new output routine and an improved method of
160 handling vertical mode material between paragraphs. In combination
161 these support higher quality \emph{automated}\footnote
162 {The stress here is on automated!}
163 page-breaking and page make-up\latex{\\}
164 for complex pages---the best yet achieved with \TeX{}!
166 A paper describing the new output routine is
167 \begin{latexonly}
168 at\\
169 \file{http://www.latex-project.org/papers/xo-pfloat.pdf%
170 \hspace*{-16pt}}\\
171 \end{latexonly}
172 \begin{htmlonly}
173 at \url{http://www.latex-project.org/papers/xo-pfloat.pdf}.
174 \end{htmlonly}
175 All code examples and documentation are available
176 \begin{latexonly}
177 at\\
178 \file{http://www.latex-project.org/code/experimental/%
179 \latex{\hspace*{-5pt}}}.\\[3pt]
180 \end{latexonly}
181 \begin{htmlonly}
182 at \url{http://www.latex-project.org/code/experimental/}.
184 \end{htmlonly}
185 This directory has been extended to contain
186 \begin{description}
187 \item[galley] Prototype implementation of the interface\latex{\\}
188 for manipulating vertical material in galleys.
189 \item[xinitials] Prototype implementation of the interface\latex{\\}
190 for paragraph initials (needs the \texttt{galley} package.
191 \item[xtheorem] Contributed example using the \texttt{template}
192 package to provide a designer interface for theorem environments.
193 \item[xoutput] A prototype implementation of the new output routine
194 as described in the \texttt{xo-pfloat.pdf} paper. Expected
195 availability: at or shortly after\latex{\\}
196 the TUG\,2000 conference.
197 \end{description}
199 \end{document}