MiKTeX 2.5: pdfetex becomes default engine

Nusret

5/18/2006 1:42:59 PM #

Mr. Schenk, how can one change this if need arises? I mean, if I need the old underlying engine with latex files... Just in case. Also, does this have any practical consequences for users?
Best regards,

Nusret
          

Bernard Alfonsi

5/18/2006 5:54:51 PM #

There's just one (big, as far as I know) problem: : I (and a lot of people) make intensive use of pstricks and its extensions, which is NOT compatible with pdflatex. Unless the situation has changed? Under MacOS, this is not a problem, but under Windows it is.

Another problem is that no inverse search is possible with adobe reader (or any pdfviewer such as foxit reader). So we'd lose one of the most useful characteristics of yap? Unless I don't really understand how all this will work?

Best regards
B.A.
          

Kwang

5/18/2006 10:25:21 PM #

Hello, Christian.

I cannot create a new "white.tex" file so far :p , but here I have a question out of curiosity about all things TeX-related more than anything else: I recall in the development of pdftex version 1.30.x, it was mentioned that pdftex.cfg will be replaced by pdftexconfig.tex. From what I can tell from MiKTeX 2.5 betas 6 and 7, pdftex.cfg is still (happily) in use. How did you manage to address this situation?

Sincerely,
Kwang
          

François Pétiard

5/21/2006 3:32:22 AM #

If \pdfoutput is set to 0 (DVI output), is \pdfpageheight (\pdfpagewidth,... ) defined ?


          

Tsong-Min Wu

5/21/2006 7:19:48 PM #

Two problems with beta 7 (also in beta 6)

1. Typesetting a Chinese book (301 pages) with dvips 5.95b

      PS file size: 38.99 mb
      PDF files size: 4.18 mb (with ps2pdf)

    In MiKTeX with dvips 5.94

     PS file size: 25.63 mb
     PDF file size: 4.00 mb

    I have reported this issue in beta 6.

2. Using beamer to typeset a slide with the following option:

   \documentclass[14pt,dvips,hyperref=%    {citecolor=blue,colorlinks=true,bookmarks=false}]{beamer}

   All the slide frame (either in PS or in PDF)  will be shown in a corner of a A4 screen.  In MiKTeX 2.4, the slide frame is shown in the right size without any problem.




  
  
          

mario

5/24/2006 7:39:04 AM #

I have tested documentclass{slides} under latex to pdf and found some problem with the pdf file produced. The slides are not in the landscape mode. The same problem also appear on latex to ps and latex-ps-pdf modes.
They look like portrait and part of the text being cut. I have to use dvi file in my presentation. Only latex-dvi works correctly. Does anyone know the fix for my problem?

I am worried if version 2.5 uses pdf as standard mode, I will not be able even to use slides class at all.



XBL
          

Kwang

5/25/2006 5:49:49 AM #

Mario,

latex.exe will always produce a DVI file from .tex source, and I am quite sure pdflatex will always produce PDF by default. No TeX developer will ever do anything to break this convention, because we all take pride in TeX being cross-platform compatible.

As for your problems with the slides document class, unfortunately this is not necessarily the appropriate forum to ask why you are not getting output in landscape orientation.

And my additional unsolicited recommendation is that you ditch using the slides class and learn to use either FoilTeX, powerdot, or beamer (in order of learning curve). At least, I am able to produce landscape oriented slides using them, and I believe you will like their features.
          

Roy Bethel

5/25/2006 6:39:31 AM #

I aplogize if I am shooting from the hip. Is there any issue with *.eps graphic files with pdfetex ? Wasn't there one at one time with pdftex ???

Kwang

5/26/2006 1:05:28 AM #

Roy,

let me answer your question from the practical point of view of someone who has used MiKTeX since version 2.2, and I have been using the past few and current 2.5 beta releases with no problems whatsoever.

By "no problems whatsoever", I mean I don't have any problems with graphics inclusion either, as long as I continue to follow the following rules:

if using latex.exe -> dvips -> ps2pdf/Distiller -> PDF, then prepare EPS file(s) as the type of graphics format to be included in document

if using pdflatex.exe -> PDF, then prepare JPEG, PNG, or PDF file(s) as the types of graphics formats to be included.

You will note that there has been no change whatsover to the kinds of graphic formats supported by latex.exe and pdflatex.exe. I assure you again, no change to your current workflow will take place.

As far as the incorporation of the e-TeX extensions into the (la)tex.exe and pdf(la)tex compilers, it does not, and will not alter graphics inclusion either. Again, no change to workflow will occur. TeX developers have been, is, and will be maintaining backward compatibility for infinity as far as I am concerned.

And to repeat Christian's assurance, just because pdf(e)(la)tex is going to take greater prominence in how TeX users create documents, does not mean (la)tex.exe is going to disappear. Seriously, I was just using latex.exe in 2.5 beta 7 a few minutes ago for my own stuff before stopping to reply to you. If you really want, I can post the output run for your viewing.

Sincerely,
Kwang
          

Boris Karpov

5/27/2006 2:45:45 AM #

Producing DVI output with pdfetex is much slower than with etex (I am using MiKTeX 2.4 on Celeron 2.4 512Mb RAM, Windows XP).

Roy Bethel

5/27/2006 4:19:54 AM #

Kwang, Christian?,

I am trying to decide if I am confused. I suspect many people will have the same problem. This may clear things up or just further muddy the waters.

I just went back to a LaTex file with lots of *.eps graphics. All graphics are *.eps. Some were *.ppt -> *.eps (with a stop in ghostview to fix the bounding box). Most are Matlab -> *.eps (in fact eps2). Mathworks is adamant that their preferred output is *.eps period and especially for LaTeX. There are other options but I have not wrung them out. I suspect that a good percentage of LaTeX users are also Matlab users and get the majority of their graphics from Matlab with the *.eps option. It would be interesting to take a poll.

Anyway, I went into WinEdt with MikTek 2.4 and hit the LaTex button which calls latex.exe. As usual, everything worked like a charm. Many thanks to Christian! When I switched to MikTek 2.4, I saw absolutely no difference whatsoever in anythng at all. Nada. Nil. Zilch. In fact, searching the *.log file revealed no evidence that etex was even being called. I hope I haven't missed something.

Then, I hit the PDFLaTex button in WinEdt, which (surprise, surprise) calls pdflatex.exe. The graphics in the *.pdf file are now blank. As you say, pdflatex.exe requires a workaround to *.eps.

This is the total sum of my knowledge. I have not tried the 2.5 beta.

I  do have some really dumb (probably just lazy) questions. Does pdfeTeX exhibit the same behavior for *.eps? I would think so from your response. Does pdfeTeX produce a standard *.dvi on its own? Or does latex.exe in 2.5 call etex.exe also? Or what?

What I am trying to figure out is if a workaround to *.eps (I.e., changing my "system") for graphics is necessary, desirable, or don't care (business as usual)? The reason is that I took Mathworks advice on *.eps to heart.

Sorry for getting carried away.


          

Tsong-Min Wu

5/27/2006 6:18:57 PM #

Beta 8 solves all the problems including the dvips 5.95b problem that I reported earlier. Many thanks!

Tsong-Min Wu

6/4/2006 5:56:55 PM #

I was able to install LaTeX2html under MiKTeX 2.4. The same install procedure
does not work in MiKTeX 2.5.  And I suspect the reason is that, in MiKTeX 2.5
the install directory name contains space character.

If anyone has successfully installed LaTeX2html under MiKTeX 2.5, would you please share your experience? Thanks!

          

Josh

6/9/2006 1:54:25 PM #

This thread of comments might make more sense to some if someone more knowladgable then I gives an ultra brief explanations of the e in elatex and pdfelatex. My impression of what was originally said is that the e varients are replacing, by default anyways, the non e varients. the emphasis was on the e not the pdf

Elizabeth

6/21/2006 9:29:59 PM #

Hi!! I've been dealing with something very frustraiting.. when i install the texniccenter this don't give me the option latex=>ps=>pdf.. so i can have the graphics I want, because the only three options I have are: latex=>ps, latex=>dvi and latex=>pdf and the last one does not compile graphics

IronB

6/25/2006 11:15:47 PM #

Hi,
I'm using Miktex 2.5 b11 with TexnicCenter and Inverse Search does not work in Yap when latex contents are in several input files.
          

Tron_5

7/27/2006 1:33:26 PM #

I have a similar problem as IronB, but it's with Forward Search (tex-->dvi). This only happens with the files inserted with "\input{foo}". dvi --> tex is working well in my case. I am using MiKTeX 2.5RC1.

Animesh

7/27/2006 8:47:58 PM #

DVIPDFM with pstex figures leads to following messages:

C:\>dvipdfm july19

july19.dvi -> july19.pdf
[1][2(drvdistribution.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3B4
.tmp" "drvdistribution.pstex" -c quit
)(standby.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3B9
.tmp" "standby.pstex" -c quit
)][3(memorydrvdist.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3BE
.tmp" "memorydrvdist.pstex" -c quit
)][4(eccsram.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3C3
.tmp" "eccsram.pstex" -c quit
)][5(leakage.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3C8
.tmp" "leakage.pstex" -c quit
)][6][7][8][9][10(pbitecctrdoff.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3CD
.tmp" "pbitecctrdoff.pstex" -c quit
)][11(timetosave.pstex
mgs.exe -q -sPAPERSIZE=a0 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.2 -dUseFlateC
ompression=true -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile="C:\DOCUME~1\animesh\LOCALS~1\Temp\mik3D2
.tmp" "timetosave.pstex" -c quit
)][12][13][14]

NO ERRORS are present in the PDF file however!
          

David Johansen

7/29/2006 12:41:33 PM #

I just installed MikTeK 2.5 RC1 onto a new computer and tried building a project that I had built on MikTeK 2.4 before. Almost all of my figures are .eps and when I build it with the LaTeX button in WinEdt and view it in Yap, none of the figures show up. If I then click the dvi->PDF button they show up just fine, but what do I need to do so that when I click the LaTeX button the .eps files will show up in Yap?

MDK Dan

8/6/2006 3:28:52 PM #

I have installed MikTex 2.5 and WinEdt on a new computer and tried to build one of my tex files, but I cannot see dvi buttons at all. There is a pdf built, but it does not have my .eps figures.
Please help.


          

fletcherdunn

8/8/2006 7:19:53 PM #

>\newif\ifpdf%
>\ifx\pdfoutput\undefined%
>\pdffalse%
>\else%
>\pdfoutput=1%
>\pdftrue%
>\fi%

I do this exact thing so I can know what type of graphic to include (I keep them in seperate folders).  When switching to 2.5 my graphics were screwed up because \pdfoutput is always defined.

A silly question - why is \pdfoutput defined if the output is a DVI?

Is there a better way for me to detect if I'm writing out a PDF or a DVI?
          

fletcherdunn

8/9/2006 6:57:27 AM #

>Is there a better way for me to detect if I'm writing out a PDF or a DVI?

Thought I'd go ahead and answer my own question in case anybody else has done this.

The ifpdf package defines an \ifpdf in such a manner that works properly in 2.5.

          

Urs Schweri

8/10/2006 12:16:02 AM #

I am using now Miktex 2.5 (together with Texnicenter). I updated Miktex 2.4 with the normal installer to version 2.5. But latex.exe is producing now pdf output. How can that be, for me this seems to be a contradiction to that what Christian said.

Sebastian

8/10/2006 5:21:58 AM #

I wonder how to install old Miktex 2.4 which is now considered obsolete..i cannot run my old setup program now.

And It seemd that last two versions of TexNic Center do not recognize installed Miktex 2.5...with Miktex 2.4 there was no such problems.
          

Yael

8/10/2006 6:45:41 AM #

I just installed the new Miktex with new Yap etc. Unfortunately, this made me lose the forward and backward search options when using .dvi outputs. All the settings seem fine, and double-click does swap between editor and viewer (but not the other way around!), but it does not display the (approximately) right place... far from it. It actually does not move at all.

Interestingly, when I first view the dvi, at the first (eps) figure I get a message "The document cannot be rendered properly because the current render method does not support postscript specials. Temporarily switch to the Dvips render method?" in Yap. Regardless of whether I say yes or no, forward and backward search don't work... any ideas?
          

Marco

8/14/2006 9:52:56 PM #

I recently installed MikTex 2.5. So, to test, I  compiled an IEEE document and
tried to see the dvi with YAP. But I get the message window:

The document cannot be rendered properly because the current render method does not support PostScript specials.
Temporarly switch to the Dvips render method? Yes, No.

If the answer is Yes: The document is displayed (with poor quality) including graphics. Looking to the option Document Properties, several fonts are not associated to any file.  For instance cmr5.
The rest of files are associated to
C:\Program Files\Miktex 2.5\fonts\tfm\...
C:\Program Files\Miktex 2.5\fonts\vf\...


If the answer is No: The document is displayed (with poor quality) without graphics.
In Document Properties, the font cmr5 is associated to:
C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Application Data\....

The window is small and there is no way to see which file is associated to cmr5.
The rest of files are associated to
C:\Program Files\Miktex 2.5\fonts\vf\...


In the MikTex 2.4 installation, compiling the same tex file, Yap 2.4.1803 produces a nice and clean dvi displayed. In Document Properties, the font cmr5 is associated to:
C:\localtexmf\fonts\ljfour\public\cm\dpi600\cmr5.pk

I am not sure if this problem is due to the new pdfetex engine producing the dvi file, or the new Yap, or a configuration file.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

M.

          

Marco

8/17/2006 12:03:34 AM #

Dear all

I found out that the problem with displaying (rendering) PostScript specials with the new Yap is just a configuration problem. In Yap: View->Options->Display choose ‘Dvips’ instead of ‘Pk fonts’, which is the default option. Then, dvi files with graphics and PostScript specials are displayed fine and nicely.
  
M.

          

Alejandro Jakubi

8/17/2006 2:48:22 AM #

Christian said:

pdfeTeX becomes the default TeX engine, i.e., running latex.exe will give you
this banner

and

MiKTeX 2.3: tex is the default engine (latex foo == tex "&latex" foo)
MiKTeX 2.4: etex is the default engine (latex foo == etex "&latex" foo)
MiKTeX 2.5: pdfetex is the default engine (latex foo == pdfetex "&latex" foo)

Please, give me a pointer to a review explaining the reasons of these changes.

I understand that developers are interested in the implementation of new
features, etc, but for me, as a user it is even more important to be able to
process every tex document written in the past in exactly the same way as it
was done in its time.

As I am reading reports that MiKTeX 2.5 can break some features and the page
2.5/Setup.html states:

"It is possible to install MiKTeX 2.5 side-by-side to an existing MiKTeX 2.4
installation."

I would prefer this later alternative. However, I do not see a tutorial on how
to do it. I guess that this is related to the change of MiKTeX data
installation directory, but a pointer to a tutorial on a dual 2.4/2.5 setup
would be welcomed.

And for installation of MiKTeX 2.5 at home, with dial up connection, I would
need a CD version to be downloanded at a site with broadband. Apparently
MiKTeX 2.5 iso is not yet avaliable for download. Could you give an estimated
date?




          

Ken Turner

9/3/2006 8:23:16 AM #

It seems that pdfeTeX lacks the -output-format option that I see documented for this in other places. Is there some other way to force DVI?

Ken Turner

9/3/2006 9:10:46 AM #

Having just upgraded to MikTeX 2.5, I'm also very confused:

latex myfile.tex

generates PDF and not DVI:

This is pdfeTeX, Version 3.141592-1.30.6-2.2 (MiKTeX 2.5)
...
Output written on myfile.pdf (28 pages, 581172 bytes).

How can I force this to generate DVI?


          

Ken Turner

9/3/2006 7:16:52 PM #

Right enough, the clue was earlier in this post. I am using a style file that said:

  \ifx\pdfoutput\undefined
  ...

This doesn't work in 2.5 as it did in 2.4. Instead:

  \RequirePackage{ifpdf}

  \ifpdf
  ...

works fine. Phew!
          

Chandra

9/13/2006 7:30:20 PM #

I am a user of teTeX in Kubuntu Linux but found your forum very helpful.

I used to define in the preamble of my .tex files,

\newif\ifpdf
\ifx\pdfoutput\undefined
    \pdffalse    % we are not running pdfLaTeX
\else
    \pdfoutput=1 % we are running pdfLaTeX
    \pdftrue
\fi

and in my document after \begin{document} I had

\ifpdf
   \DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.jpg,.pdf,.png}   % for pdftex driver
\else
   \DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.eps}             % for dvips driver
\fi

and this failed for some reason with the recent Kubuntu Dapper release of teTeX.

Now, I have

\usepackage{ifpdf}

in my preamble and

\ifpdf
   \DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.jpg,.pdf,.png}   % for pdftex driver
\else
   \DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.eps}             % for dvips driver
\fi

in the document as before.

It now works, thanks to your discussion on this page.

Thank you.


          

Ray

10/24/2006 12:07:18 AM #

After going to MiKTeX 2.5, I am not able to compile my work in normal way Tex->Dvi->PS->PDF (I use EPS files as pictures and want normal DVI output on first stage without any error messages as it was in MiKTeX 2.4).



This "pdflatex" (keep in mind that I am calling latex.exe) is not able to compile my work and forces me to look for installation of old but working MiKTeX 2.4, hope my friend still has it fully downloaded.



I do NOT recommend to upgrade to version 2.5, especially if you have a lot of tex documents written in version 2.4.
          

aron

10/25/2006 7:41:31 PM #

Sorry, have a problem and don't know what to do to solve it.
I use Miktex 2.5 and running latex.exe does not produce a dvi output, only a pdf, but I need the dvi. I'm not that familiar with miktex, but I think the problem is that latex.exe uses pdfetex to produce the dvi and I had a look at pdftex.cfg and there the option output_format is set to 1 which means (if I'm right) that no dvi is produced. I changed the option to 0, but nothing changed. I also changed it to -1, a negative value, but this had also no effect. What can I do that latex.exe produces a dvi output??

Thanks for any help
Aron
          

Ray

10/30/2006 7:13:47 PM #

>I think you will find the answer if you read the comments above. If you still don't >know how to proceed after reading the comments: www.miktex.org/Support.aspx

People prefer clear instructions, where, what and how to change... It would be nice to see some.
          

Aron

11/4/2006 10:24:50 PM #

Of course, I first read the comments above, I'm not stupid.... I solved my problem, but not with the help of this website.... thanks for answering anyway.

ElQuijote

11/28/2006 10:28:30 AM #

If you want DVI, don't use \documentclass[pdftex,...] like I did

Axel.G

2/12/2007 1:14:48 PM #

Just solved a similar problem, where i got pdf files instead of dvi's.
In my case it was that I also had the 'old version' of ifpdf (see Chandra's comment)
and in my \ifpdf command I had a
\usepackage[pdftex,...]

suppose that was the problem, as it works now, after changing to \usepackage{ifpdf} insteand of the \newif\ifpdf

HTH

and to Aron: your comment was of no help either, not sharing your solution
          

Zoli

2/23/2007 12:22:49 PM #

Hi,

I just don't understend why don't we state explicitely: There are latex documents that compile smoothly with every version since 2.2, but 2.5 (and thereafter)?
So sorry, but version 2.5 is not backward compactible.

          

opajonk

4/12/2007 10:07:30 AM #

@fletcherdunn: thank you for the hint with package ifpdf, that was exactly the thing I was searching for.

kotya

5/9/2007 11:22:52 AM #

thanks, Marco!

>In Yap: View->Options->Display choose ‘Dvips’ instead of > ‘Pk fonts’,
          

Edward Z. Yang

10/30/2007 10:52:31 PM #

One thing you should be careful of are packages you are using which improperly check for pdftex: mla-paper is one such example.

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