Very Computer

I have a Panasonic KX-P2123, an old 24-pin dot matrix printer. I'm sick
of the plain output from 'cat mytext > /dev/lp1' and would like to get a
real printing system set up here. My printcap entry is correct, and I've
set the PRINTER environment variable to 'panasonic', but when I try to
run a file through lpr it  complains so:

   'lpr: cannot create /usr/spool/lp/panasonic/.seq'

Do I need a magic filter for my printer ? Where do I find it ? Is anyone
else using such a machine ?

I also want to set up*and Lyx, but do I need to install TeX as
well ? I apologize for my simple-mindedness, but I'm tired of not having
really cool print output from my Linux system, and I do NOT want to
return to Win95 for good printing. I know next to nothing about TeX, but
I am familiar with mark-up languages and I'm willing to take the plunge
if it'll get me better-looking documents.

== Dave Phillips

   http://www.veryComputer.com/~dlphilp/index.html

[Dave Phillips]

Quote:> I also want to set up*and Lyx, but do I need to install TeX as
> well ?

But yes,*is a set of macroes that works with TeX. You'll need
both. I suggest you install the teTeX distribution of TeX and*
combined. You will also want a viewer, xdvi, and a printing program.
(I use dvips because I have a Postscript printer; you'll have to look
for one appropriate for you.)

In my Redhat distribution the packages containing teTeX are

tetex-latex   ;; the*macros
tetex-xtexsh  ;; X11 shell for TeX
tetex-xdvi    ;; *.dvi viewer for X
tetex-afm     ;; font metrics tool
tetex-dvips   ;; print *.dvi files on Postscript
tetex-dvilj   ;; print *.dvi files on LaserJet (I suppose)
tetex         ;; the TeX compiler; *.tex -> *.dvi

If you can't access RedHat packages, you can pick up a copy of teTeX
yourself:

<URL:http://www.veryComputer.com/;

Read the (surprise!) README file in that catalogue. You may have to
visit CTAN (Comprehensive Tex Archive Network) anyway, to get a driver
for your printer. Have a look in the

<URL:http://www.veryComputer.com/;

directory.

I'm not familiar to Lyx, although those who use it seem very
enthusiastic.  I haven't met that many users, though.

<URL:http://www.veryComputer.com/~larsbj/lyx.shtml>

An alternative (not WYSIWYG) to Lyx is AUCTeX, a*mode for Emacs,
if that's your editor of choice. I use this one.

<URL:http://www.veryComputer.com/;

I believe there is a RedHat package of AUCTeX in the
contrib-catalogues.

If you're a novice user, you'll appreciate

Lamport, L.: LaTeX, a document preparation system.
    ISBN 0-201-52983-1,
    Addison-Wesley, 1994

For more experienced users, I recommend

Kopka, H. and P. W. Daly: A guide to LaTeX2e.
    ISBN 0-201-42777-X
    Addison-Wesly, 1995

And if you're curious about packages to*(i.e. useful extensions
that's not a part of standard LaTeX), this book explains the use of
them:

Goossens, M., F. Mittelbach and A. Samarin: The*companion.
    ISBN 0-201-54199-8
    Addison-Wesley, 1994

The teTeX distribution comes with a lot of these packages included.

--
stian