On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Don Simons wrote:
The draft of the new version of the MusiXTeX manual is available at
http://icking-music-archive.org/software/mxdoc109d.pdf .
On p.iii (Preface to Version T.113) it says
"This documentation is rather technical and is probably not the best way to
begin typesetting music. If you are a beginner, you should visit the
software section of the Werner Icking Music Archive. In particular, we
recommend Cornelius Noacks tutorial. It contains helpful information for
getting started with MusiXTEX, as well as a tutorial for PMX, a preprocessor
for MusiXTEX with a much simpler input language, and a brief introduction to
M-Tx, a preprocessor for PMX which eases the inclusion of lyrics."
On p.iv (Preface to Version T.113) it says
"It remains true that this is the definitive reference to all features of
MusiXTEX, but also that it is not the best place for a novice user to start.
The Werner Icking Music Archive contains excellent and detailed instructions
for installing MusiXTEX and the strongly recommended preprocessors PMX (for
instrumental music) and M-Tx (for vocal) under Linux/unix or Windows 2000.
Once the software is installed, most common music typesetting tasks can be
accomplished entirely by using one of these preprocessors to generate the
MusiXTEX input file, relieving the user of learning any of the commands or
syntax of MusiXTEX itself. It is only for out-of-the-ordinary constructions
that one must learn these details, so he may insert the necessary MusiXTEX
commands into the preprocessors input file as so called inline TEX.
Cornelius Noacks tutorial is an important resource which, in addition to
gently introducing the novice to PMX and M-Tx, gives further details on
installing Postscript slur facilities."
On p.1 it says "... However most users will find it far less taxing to let
such decisions be made largely by the preprocessor PMX, which in addition
uses a much simpler input language than MusiXTEX."
I think 3 mentions in the first three pages of text is adequate promotion
for PMX. (That's three more than Daniel ever gave it.) I agree that disk
space is no longer an issue, and that the tone of the Kuyken remark is too
negative, but my main problems with the quote are that it comes *before* any
mention of PMX and doesn't provide any way out. I certainly don't disagree
with the part about setting up TeX and MusiXTeX; witness for example
Christian's recent tangle with Type 1 fonts for pdfTeX in Fedora Core 4.
Bottom line, though, is that in view of the prevailing sentiment so far, I'm
leaning toward removing the quote.
--Don Simons
-----Original Message-----
(cut)
I decidedly agree with Don in most of his points, and my vote is to leave
everything in the present version as is. I probably didn't q
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Don Simons wrote:
The draft of the new version of the MusiXTeX manual is available at
http://icking-music-archive.org/software/mxdoc109d.pdf .
On p.iii (Preface to Version T.113) it says
"This documentation is rather technical and is probably not the best way to
begin typesetting music. If you are a beginner, you should visit the
software section of the Werner Icking Music Archive. In particular, we
recommend Cornelius Noacks tutorial. It contains helpful information for
getting started with MusiXTEX, as well as a tutorial for PMX, a preprocessor
for MusiXTEX with a much simpler input language, and a brief introduction to
M-Tx, a preprocessor for PMX which eases the inclusion of lyrics."
On p.iv (Preface to Version T.113) it says
"It remains true that this is the definitive reference to all features of
MusiXTEX, but also that it is not the best place for a novice user to start.
The Werner Icking Music Archive contains excellent and detailed instructions
for installing MusiXTEX and the strongly recommended preprocessors PMX (for
instrumental music) and M-Tx (for vocal) under Linux/unix or Windows 2000.
Once the software is installed, most common music typesetting tasks can be
accomplished entirely by using one of these preprocessors to generate the
MusiXTEX input file, relieving the user of learning any of the commands or
syntax of MusiXTEX itself. It is only for out-of-the-ordinary constructions
that one must learn these details, so he may insert the necessary MusiXTEX
commands into the preprocessors input file as so called inline TEX.
Cornelius Noacks tutorial is an important resource which, in addition to
gently introducing the novice to PMX and M-Tx, gives further details on
installing Postscript slur facilities."
On p.1 it says "... However most users will find it far less taxing to let
such decisions be made largely by the preprocessor PMX, which in addition
uses a much simpler input language than MusiXTEX."
I think 3 mentions in the first three pages of text is adequate promotion
for PMX. (That's three more than Daniel ever gave it.) I agree that disk
space is no longer an issue, and that the tone of the Kuyken remark is too
negative, but my main problems with the quote are that it comes *before* any
mention of PMX and doesn't provide any way out. I certainly don't disagree
with the part about setting up TeX and MusiXTeX; witness for example
Christian's recent tangle with Type 1 fonts for pdfTeX in Fedora Core 4.
Bottom line, though, is that in view of the prevailing sentiment so far, I'm
leaning toward removing the quote.
--Don Simons
-----Original Message-----
(cut)
I decidedly agree with Don in most of his points, and my vote is to leave
everything in the present version as is. I probably didn't quite
understand what you mean, Don, by `removing the quote'; IMHO you
shouldn't remove anything, but for one minor point:
you are giving my tutorial quite a promotion here! Of
course, I am flattered; and if the consensus is to leave that as
it is, I solemnly promise to finally bring it up to date, viz.
MPX 2.511, as of July 11 (if I can ever manage catch up with you.
ccn.
--
.................................................................
Prof.Dr. Cornelius C. Noack Phones:
Inst. f. Theor. Physik FB 1 office : +49 (421) 218-2427
Universit"at Bremen secretary: -2422
Otto-Hahn-Allee Fax : -4869
D - 28334 Bremen home : +49 (421) 34 22 36
Fax: 346 7872
E-mail: noack at itp.uni-bremen.de or ccnoack at mailaps.org
WWW-page: www.itp.uni-bremen.de/~noack
.................................................................
--
.................................................................
Prof.Dr. Cornelius C. Noack Phones:
Inst. f. Theor. Physik FB 1 office : +49 (421) 218-2427
Universit"at Bremen secretary: -2422
Otto-Hahn-Allee Fax : -4869
D - 28334 Bremen home : +49 (421) 34 22 36
Fax: 346 7872
E-mail: noack at itp.uni-bremen.de or ccnoack at mailaps.org
WWW-page: www.itp.uni-bremen.de/~noack
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