Re[2]: [NTG-context] Status update on e-Omega/Aleph

Monday, September 8, 2003 Bill McClain wrote:

On Mon, 8 Sep 2003 16:43:26 +0200 Giuseppe Bilotta wrote:

...

I'd like to inform you on the current status and short-term forecast for e-Omega.

Could you give some brief comments for we (me, I mean) who haven't been following Omega progress? Please point to web documents if such exist:

* If I'm a pdftex/Context user, what does it take become an Aleph/Context user?

For casual stuff, dump the format with texexec -tex=eomega --make en and then compile with texexec -tex=eomega filename For "permanent" use of e-Omega/Aleph as ConTeXt engine change the appropriate lines in texexec.ini.

* Are there special considerations for "fonts in Aleph"? It's a entirely new setup, isn't it?

No, you can keep using your old stuff.

* Could you compare and contrast the quality and capabilities of dvipdfmx with pdf generation in pdftex?

I'll leave this to Hans, since I have not used dvipdfmx myself (MiKTeX does not yet carry it).

* If my work is entirely in English, is there any benfit of Aleph for me?

Uh ... not really, unless you need it for some very special stuff. The only "general" advancement in Omega (and thus Aleph) which is of "general" interest is the presence of more than 15 math families, which can greatly reduce the programmer's onus in supporting multiple symbol sets. This is not something for the general user, though, unless some low-level programming for this takes place first. (Hi there, Hans! ;>) Omega features like multidirectional typesetting or OCPs might turn useful for special purposes. For example, there is a book by Martin Gardner where some text is typeset mirrored; with some work, you can achieve this by exploiting the TeX/MetaPost link provided by ConTeXt; or you can do it with Omega. Another example, at one time I needed a way to code the text (think for example of ROT13): even though the coding is easy and could be implemented with a preprocessor or something, OCPs allow to do it "internally". But, as I said, these are very special requirements. Normal day-to-day left-to-right text does not need any of the advanced features in Omega, -- Giuseppe "Oblomov" Bilotta