emacs reference card for A4 paper

emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Stephen Eglen]

Hi, 

I'd like to print the emacs reference card on two pages of A4 paper
for a class.  A quick google search showed this question had been
answered a couple of years ago by Roland (cc'ed).  Following his
advice, here is a patch against the CVS etc/refcard.tex.  

With this I get a nice A4 sized refcard that fits on two pages (using
tex refcard.tex; dvips -t landscape).

Installing this however will break usage for letter paper users.  Has
anyone got a portable method that will work well for both A4 and
letter paper sizes?

Thanks, Stephen

*** /tmp/ediff113839wV	Fri Oct 15 18:47:28 2004
--- /local/scratch/public/emacs/etc/refcard.tex	Fri Oct 15 18:42:17 2004
***************
*** 5,11 ****
  % This file can be printed with 1, 2, or 3 columns per page (see below).
  % Specify how many you want here.  Nothing else needs to be changed.
  
! \columnsperpage=1
  
  % Copyright (c) 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  
--- 5,11 ----
  % This file can be printed with 1, 2, or 3 columns per page (see below).
  % Specify how many you want here.  Nothing else needs to be changed.
  
! \columnsperpage=3
  
  % Copyright (c) 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  
***************
*** 103,109 ****
    \def\makefootline{\baselineskip10pt\hsize6.5in\line{\the\footline}}
  \else				%2 or 3 columns uses prereduced size
    \hsize 3.2in
!   \vsize 7.95in
    \hoffset -.75in
    \voffset -.745in
    \font\titlefont=cmbx10 \scaledmag2
--- 103,109 ----
    \def\makefootline{\baselineskip10pt\hsize6.5in\line{\the\footline}}
  \else				%2 or 3 columns uses prereduced size
    \hsize 3.2in
!   \vsize 7.65in
    \hoffset -.75in
    \voffset -.745in
    \font\titlefont=cmbx10 \scaledmag2
***************
*** 123,129 ****
    \def\bf{\eightbf}
    \def\it{\eightit}
    \def\tt{\eighttt}
!   \normalbaselineskip=.8\normalbaselineskip
    \normallineskip=.8\normallineskip
    \normallineskiplimit=.8\normallineskiplimit
    \normalbaselines\rm		%make definitions take effect
--- 123,129 ----
    \def\bf{\eightbf}
    \def\it{\eightit}
    \def\tt{\eighttt}
!   \normalbaselineskip=.7\normalbaselineskip
    \normallineskip=.8\normallineskip
    \normallineskiplimit=.8\normallineskiplimit
    \normalbaselines\rm		%make definitions take effect

Re: emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Richard Stallman]

    Installing this however will break usage for letter paper users.  Has
    anyone got a portable method that will work well for both A4 and
    letter paper sizes?

Maybe it would work to put in conditionals.  If you can find a way
to test the paper size.

Re: emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Lennart Borgman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Stallman" <rms@gnu.org>

:     Installing this however will break usage for letter paper users.  Has
:     anyone got a portable method that will work well for both A4 and
:     letter paper sizes?
: 
: Maybe it would work to put in conditionals.  If you can find a way
: to test the paper size.

On ms windows paper size is in the registry.

- Lennart

Re: emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Stephen Eglen]

 > :     Installing this however will break usage for letter paper users.  Has
 > :     anyone got a portable method that will work well for both A4 and
 > :     letter paper sizes?
 > : 
 > : Maybe it would work to put in conditionals.  If you can find a way
 > : to test the paper size.
 > 
 > On ms windows paper size is in the registry.

Thanks for the suggestions.  For my purposes, I'm thinking about just
including a switch (maybe \letterpaper ?) which can be set to 0 or 1
by the user to get A4 or letter settings.  That would be fine.  I'll
see how easy this is in TeX...

Re: emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Richard Stallman]

    : Maybe it would work to put in conditionals.  If you can find a way
    : to test the paper size.

    On ms windows paper size is in the registry.

Solutions that work only on Windows are not useful,
because our watchword is "It runs best on GNU/Linux".

Re: emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Henrik Enberg]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

>     : Maybe it would work to put in conditionals.  If you can find a way
>     : to test the paper size.
>
>     On ms windows paper size is in the registry.
>
> Solutions that work only on Windows are not useful,
> because our watchword is "It runs best on GNU/Linux".

I have a file called /etc/papersize on my GNU/Linux system that contains
my preferred paper size .  There is also a library called libpaper which
is described as:

        This package contains a simple library for use by programs
        needing to handle papers. It lets program automatically
        recognize a lot of different papers with their properties
        (actually their size).

I don't know if any of those can be used from PostScript though.

Re: emacs reference card for A4 paper

[Stephen Eglen]

Richard Stallman writes:
 >     Installing this however will break usage for letter paper users.  Has
 >     anyone got a portable method that will work well for both A4 and
 >     letter paper sizes?
 > 
 > Maybe it would work to put in conditionals.  If you can find a way
 > to test the paper size.

Just to follow up, I've updated refcard.tex to include a new counter:

% Set letterpapaer to 0 for A4 paper, 1 for letter (US) paper.  Useful
% only when columnsperpage is 2 or 3.

\letterpaper=1

When letterpaper is 0, the two tex parameters that Roland identified
are now changed to better suit A4 paper.  Can someone check that this
does the right thing on US paper still -- it looks fine on A4.

Also, currently refcard.ps is distributed as a 6 page (1 column per
page) document.  I suggest that refcard.ps be updated to be a 2 page
(3 column per page) document, as some people might prefer.  (Perhaps
still formatted for letter paper).

Thanks, Stephen