TeXlips: What you need and where to get it

The NoteTab clipbook library TeXlips has been designed to help the novice and the experienced MiKTeX user to run TeX and friends applications in a convenient and user friendly manner. The clip programming language in NoteTab is powerful and flexible enough to make this possible and hopefully TeXlips is able to fulfill its task of being the glue that binds the editor, the Windows operating system, and MiKTeX into a well integrated TeX system.

What you need and where to get it

Below is a list a applications you'll need to make the most out of TeXlips. Some of these are absolutely necessary (NoteTab and MiKTeX), some are highly recommended (BibTeX Help, GSview and Ghostscript, Acrobat Reader, International ISpell), while the others are useful additions (DVIWin and makebst, Perl, and Acrobat Distiller).

NoteTab

First of all, you need NoteTab Pro or Std. The recommended version is 4.8 or higher. Trials version are available at:

You can also use the freeware version NoteTab Light if the version number is 4.8 or higher. The reason is that older freeware version don't support e.g. labels. However, NoteTab Lite doesn't support the clipbar (TeXlips' own toolbar). Hence, the clips can only be launched from the clipbook.

MiKTeX

The latest version of MiKTeX is 1.20e (build 178); at least on February 28, 2000. For more information about this distribution of TeX and Friends, visit the "MiKTeX Project" web site at:

The MiKTeX installation programs are available for download from most CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) sites. You'll find the latest version and the source code in the systems/win32/miktex/ directory. For instance, the URL (or URI as it's been renamed by the W3C!) to the UK TeX Archive web site is:

TABLE 1:

The MiKTeX version 1.20e distribution for Windows 9x, NT4, and 2000 (links are to the UK TeX Archive).

LEVEL FILE NAME FILE SIZE DESCRIPTION

1 setupwiz.exe 311,296 The MiKTeX setup wizard.

1 msdll.zip 712,264 Dynamic link libraries by Microsoft: mfc42.dll version 6.00.8447.0, msvcp60.dll version 6.00.8168.0, and msvcrt.dll version 6.00.8397.0.

1 lcore.zip 1,013,026 The MiKTeX core distribution: shared libraries.

1 xcore.zip 1,746,208 The MiKTeX core distribution: executable files.

1 core.zip 2,889,773 The MiK\TeX core distribution: non-executable files.

1 latex.zip 1,229,078 The LaTeX2e core distribution and the babel package.

1 latexpkg.zip 3,366,203 Standard LaTeX2e packages: cyrillic, foiltex, graphics, hyperref, psnfss, and tools.

2 urw.zip 1,412,171 URW PostScript fonts: free replacements for the standard Adobe fonts.

2 amslatex.zip 968,324 The AmS-LaTeX distribution and the AmS fonts.

2 cmps.zip 2,110,891 The Computer Modern Type 1 fonts.

2 amsps.zip 903,883 The AmS Type 1 fonts.

2 latexger.zip 12,832 The german LaTeX2e package.

2 ecfonts.zip 288,555 The European Computer Modern and the Text Companion fonts.

2 dvipdfm.zip 328,261 The dvipdfm executables, configuration files, and documentation.

3 metapost.zip 784,164 The METAPOST application.

3 lhfonts.zip 476,973 The LH font family (Cyrillic) in different encodings.

3 yandy.zip 1,064,106 Support for the Y&Y fonts: Lucida Bright and MathTime.

3 psutils.zip 95,970 The PSUtils executables and perl files.

3 pdftex.zip 687,271 The pdfTeX application.

4 etex.zip 216,142 The e-TeX applications.

4 texinfo.zip 783,372 This component includes the programs makeinfo, makertf, and texindex.

4 eplain.zip 102,304 Extended Plain TeX macros.

4 xomega.zip 332,550 The Omega executables.

4 omega.zip 1,237,709 The Omega input files and documentation.

BibTeX Help

The BibTeX help file is not included in the MiKTeX package, but is available with e.g. Eyal Doron's freeware "BibDB for Windows". The latest version for 32-bit Windows is 2.2 and it's available for download at:

GSview and Ghostscript

To view and print PostScript files you need GSview and Ghostscript. They can be downloaded from

Acrobat Reader

To view and print pdf (Portable Document Format) files you may use GSview, but the Acrobat Reader is in my view superior for that purpose. For example, it allows you to view pdf-files directly in your browser and the viewer supports higher resolutions. It may be obtained from Adobe's web site at:

If you have Adobe's Acrobat package (a commercial product which includes Acrobat Distiller) you already have all you need to view pdf-files.

International ISpell

The latest version of International ISpell (3.1.20) for DOS/Win32 can be downloaded from:

Instructions on how to install this package are given in the install file that's included in the zip-file (ispellw32.zip). Additional information about how to create dictionaries (using the executable buildhas.exe) is found in the readme-files in the subdirectories to the source directory. Note that the "International ISpell" checker clip in TeXlips assumes that the dictionaries (filename.has files, e.g. english.has) are located in the lib directory of ISpell. To learn more about the International ISpell package, you may turn to the International ISpell web site at:

DVIWin and makebst

The dvi previewer DVIWin 2.9 is also available for download from CTAN. The subdirectory is dviware/dviwin/, while the makebst package is available for download from the macros/latex/contrib/supported/custom-bib/ directory.

Perl for 32-bit Windows

Next, two clips, i.e. PSUtils with the "Launch PSUtils perl filter" option and Launch any perl file, require a perl interpreter. An excellent freeware interpreter is available from ActiveState. It's the only perl interpreter that I have tested and it seems to work very well on both Win9x and NT4. You can download it from

Acrobat Distiller

Finally, the Acrobat Distiller is a commercial program and is supplied with Adobe Acrobat. More information about Acrobat is available at:

Contents

TeXlips - A MiKTeX GUI for NoteTab