[EXTERNAL] Re: TeX on Windows?

[Robert Jantzen]

Hi Guys,

I am running Windows 10 on a 2 year old Dell Latitude laptop (Villanova University issue). My PCTex6.1 typesets my 836 page text on Differential Geometry in about 10 seconds, but requires 3 passes, then I export to PDF maybe 20 seconds and I get a beautiful PDF book BUT the cross-links do not work. Earlier in the decade they would work, now I am stuck unable to update my PDF book with working navigation.

I have no special packages and use only EPS graphics, which I thought was supposed to keep me in the realm of Device Independence Output (am I naïve?):

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath, amsthm, amssymb, amscd}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{hyperref}

I installed ProTeXt and it crashed immediately.

Process started: pdflatex.exe -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode "dgn".tex

Syntax Error: Couldn't read xref table Syntax Warning: PDF file is damaged - attempting to reconstruct xref table...
Syntax Error: Couldn't find trailer dictionary Syntax Error: Couldn't read xref table
pdflatex: major issue: So far, you have not checked for MiKTeX updates.
Process exited with error(s)

So much for ProTeXt.

This is my book:

http://www34.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/notes/diffgeom/index.htm
The complete LaTeX source consists of two zipped files here:
http://www34.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/notes/diffgeom/texdistribution.htm

This folder contains also the "converted-to-pdf.pdf" image files from using MikTex Texworks or TexnicCenter (I cannot remember any more what I did back in the early teens of this decade):
http://www34.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/notes/diffgeom/dgnimagesepspdf.zip

Should I try Tex Live next?

How is this possible? I really don't understand. Also how did you guys get my email shot in the dark at TUG?

bob

bob jantzen
http://www34.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/
http://www.drbobenterprises.com<http://www.drbobenterprises.com/>

From: Philip Taylor <P.Taylor at Hellenic-Institute.Uk>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 7:24 AM
To: Dr Alan Litchfield <alan at alphabyte.co.nz>; Robert Jantzen <robert.jantzen at villanova.edu>
Cc: texhax at tug.org
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: TeX on Windows?

Dr Alan Litchfield wrote:

[Download the iso image and] mount it onto your computer.

Not possible under Windows 7, Alan, unless additional software is installed.  But to Bob :


I have been happily using PCTeX all these years, and will continue to do so but it seems like PCTeX has left us in the past two years since I communicated with someone there at the company. Does anyone know what happened to them?  https://www.pctex.com/<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pctex.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Crobert.jantzen%40villanova.edu%7C2fcf14aceb1442445dbf08d91f6f8ecb%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C1%7C637575386265682396%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=%2FERZjKrFapJHVP1aZ5li2zAkxUneGX9AiezBMKAx41g%3D&reserved=0> website seems abandoned
Is there any other for pay product to replace it?

Pass.  Although I used to pay for TeX back in the Kellerman & Smith days, I have not done so since then, and have never paid for a PC version.  Many years ago the late, great, Sebastian Rahtz persuaded me to switch to TeX Live, and I have never looked back.  In the past I would use the network installer, or download and burn the ISO, or download and mount the ISO, but these days I use Rsynch to fetch the installation suite and install from my local copy.  The real problem is that TeX Live is not a Windows product - it is a generic product that has to support $2^n+1$ variant operating systems (how many different ways can you spell "Linux" ?), and as a result the documentation too has to be generic, which is distinctly sub-optimal.

I am certain that together the TeX user community will be able to assist you, but some background information will be vital, and it will almost certainly take several iterations before we achieve complete success.  So, questions :

  1.  Exactly which operating system are you running
  2.  Are you able to access your computer as am administrator
  3.  Do you have fast Internet access from your computer ?  (where "fast" => better than 10Mbps) ?

And to my fellow TeX and Windows users - given that one can install (for example) Windows 7 from a USB stick, using the Microsoft Windows USB/DVD download tool<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-GB%2Fdownload%2Fdetails.aspx%3Fid%3D56485&data=04%7C01%7Crobert.jantzen%40villanova.edu%7C2fcf14aceb1442445dbf08d91f6f8ecb%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C1%7C637575386265687378%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=wWGgs%2BqRQ2x9FBTSobcSIP%2FnJAbExx%2BkmvN2MiuAoMM%3D&reserved=0>, has anyone investigated whether an analogous methodology could be used to install TeX Live from a USB stick for people such as Bob who lack a DVD reader ?
--
Philip Taylor
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://tug.org/pipermail/texhax/attachments/20210525/9646ec29/attachment-0001.html>