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1988-12-13
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CDVI SullivanSFT
PO Box 292431, Lewisville, TX 75029
CDVICGA/EGA, CDVIO, CDVIH and CDVI-2 are programs for making making
TeX DVI output visible on the graphics screen of compatible PC's. CDVIH
is for Hercules 720 by 348 graphics; CDVICGA/EGA, for CGA/EGA graphics;
CDVIO, for Olivetti/ATT 640 by 400 graphics; CDVI-2 for VGA/MCGA graphics.
Many graphics cards will handle CGA graphics, but the relatively low
resolution does not allow much on the screen at one time.
Unless you have access to TeX, these programs are useless to you.
Now that SBTEX is available without charge, cost is no longer an
excuse for using anything less than the best.
When you are ready for the highest quality computer textsetting
perhaps you will try TeX. TeX is a trademark of the American
Mathematical Society. It was written by D.E. Knuth and is available
for various mainframe, mini and micro computers. The output can be
printed on inexpensive dot matrix printers, laser printers or
very high resolution photo-typesetters.
If you have access to TeX and can copy DVI files to your PC,
then you can see the output with CDVI. The versions up to 1.2
have the 16 Plain TeX fonts built in. These versions will not
handle other fonts or too large page size, but magnified Plain
TeX fonts are simulated. Global maginfication is ignored.
DVI files are 8-bit byte files. If they are transferred as text files,
CDVI may produce "post error" or IO error 99, indicating that information
has been lost. The most common source of trouble with CDVI is a "bad"
DVI file. Make sure you have a valid DVI file before you blame CDVI.
To run the program enter (e.g.) CDVICGA and "Rtn". If the graphics card is
not suited to the version, the program may halt, as may also happen if there
have been errors in transmission of the program file. Otherwise a title
page followed by a list of DVI files in the current directory appears. To
select a file enter its number as one or two digits and "Rtn". Instead, one
can enter the filename (with or without .DVI). One can change directory
by entering . followed by "Rtn" and following instructions. By entering
"Rtn" by itself one exits the program. Once the program is processing a
DVI file, one can use page movement commands and the commands Q (for quit)
and N (for New DVI file). These commands do not require "Rtn". To proceed
to the next page hit "Rtn"; to go back to the previous page hit "Bksp".
One can jump pages by hitting the number keys with an optional + or - .
Optionally, the DVI file name may be entered on the Command Line when the
program is called, e.g. CDVICGA STORY with STORY.DVI the file to "see" .
CDVI truncates images outside its page. Some macro packages like to use
negative sp unit coordinates, which causes CDVI to truncate the top or
left margin of the page. By setting xoffset and voffset in the TEX file
it should be possible to correct this, but not if the page dimensions are
excessive. See the references to hoffset and voffset in the TeXbook.
The user will notice that in any verion except the VGA/MCGA one, the aspect
ratio of the characters is not correct: the letters are too tall. This is
particularly evident with CDVICGA, whose vertical resolution is least. One
could have modified the aspect ratio when the fonts were made by MetaFont.
This was not done for two reasons. The first is that each version would
require a different set of fonts; even different machines with the same
version of the program might need different fonts. But the second and more
important reason is that reduction of the vertical resolution reduces
legibility. The output of CDVI is intended as a draft version only for
proofing. Final output should be done with a proper DVI print driver.
CDVI will accept either CM or the older AM fonts. If the DVI file refers
to AM fonts, then computation of character positions is not correct, as the
character widths for the CM fonts are used. Nevertheless, in many cases a
satisfactory result is obtained. Those institutions still using the obsolete
AM fonts should be encouraged to change to CM as soon as possible.
Versions of CDVI up to and including 1.2 may be copied and passed on to
others. The more advanced versions of CDVI are not free. They include a
version for Toshiba 3100 graphics and RBDVI, a related program designed
for the special graphics of the DEC RAINBOW. The advanced programs may
be obtained only from the address at the top of this file.