[Axiom-developer] RE: windows/linux coherency

[Page, Bill]

Michel,

I have uploaded a new version of tm_axiom to

  http://page.axiom-developer.org/tm_axiom.zip

This version reads several default options from the TM_AXIOM
environment variable in the manner that you suggested.

Default options can be specified by the environment variable:

  export TM_AXIOM='break 1, over 1, cdot 1, space 0, big( 1, width 4.500'

The above values are the defaults if TM_AXIOM does not exist.
If TM_AXIOM already exist but does not contain parameters of
this exactly this format, then these other parameters are
silently ignored.

The default options can be overridden by on the command line:

  tm_axiom 'break 1, over 1, cdot 1, space 0, big( 1, width 4.500'

This would require modification of the scheme code in TeXmacs
that starts tm_axiom.

And these options can also be modified dynamically via a
simulated Axiom command:

  )set output texmacs break on, over on, cdot on, space off,
                      big( on, width 4.500

I said 'simulated' since although the syntax of this command
looks very much like an Axiom command, it is actually processed
only by the tm_axiom interface program.

  )set output texmacs

with no options display the current values of the options.

The available options and their defaults are as follows:

  break <on>|<off>  line-break algorithm                on
  over <on>|<off>   do not convert 2-d \over to 1-d /   on
  cdot <on>|<off>   do not convert \cdot to \ (space)   on
  space <on>|<off>  convert \ (space) to \,             off
  big( <on>|<off>   do not convert \left( \right to ( ) on
  width <9.99>      line width in inches                4.5

You may use 1 yes or on and 0 no or off.

---------

I also found and corrected a bug in the previous version
that prevented non-TeX output from being displayed. Now
it is possible to write:

  )set output tex off
  )set output algebra on
  )set output length 70

then the output of Axiom will be displayed in the same
"ascii format" used in the native Axiom text only interface.

You might like to note that by increasing the line width,
e.g.

  )set output texmacs width 5.0

the oddly folded format of your integrate( ... -1/3 ...)
variant of the first example in the AXIOM book now looks
normal. Perhaps we should make the default width a little
larger? However I am still unable to find any combination
of options that compensates for the TeXmacs problem with
the actual first example itself.

I will also shortly upload a complete new version of Axiom for
Windows

  http://page.axiom-developer.org/tm_axiom.zip

which includes this new version of tm_axiom.

I look forward to your comments on whether this new version
of tm_axiom will meet your needs for the Rosetta CD.

Regards,
Bill Page.

On Monday, December 20, 2004 6:18 PM I wrote:
>
> On Monday, December 20, 2004 3:55 AM address@hidden
> wrote:
> > 
> > On 19 Dec 2004 at 16:40, address@hidden wrote:
> > 
> > > I would like to complete the new version of Rosetta CD for 
> > > Windows by adding Axiom + WinTeXmacs, executable directly
> > > from the CD.
> > 
> > If my proposal seems too Windows-specific or too complicated 
> > to implement or inadequate, the minimum I would need for the
> > Rosetta CD would be the possibility for tm_axiom.exe to read
> > whether it must use texbreaker or not, from a user writable 
> > place, so either from a file in USERPROFILE or ALLUSERSPROFILE
> > directories, or from memory through an environment variable
> > TM_AXIOM containing some instruction specific to your version,
> > say "texbreaker=y" or "texbreaker=n", or anything you find 
> > appropriate, and silently ignore anything else to eliminate 
> > the possibility of some other program defining also a TM_AXIOM
> > env var.
> 
> Yes, either alternative would be easy to implement in tm_axiom.
> Would you consider manually setting or changing an environment
> variable "too difficult" for the average Windows user? If not
> then I think that is the best way to go. I can arrange to set
> this variable to some default during installation on Windows.
> How would you control this when running Axiom directly from
> CD?
> 
> ... 
> 
> If the new tm_axiom consults the TM_AXIOM environment variable
> and finds
> 
>   TM_AXIOM=texbreaker:n
> 
> then it can be made to behave exactly the way the cygwin
> tm_axiom does now.
> 
> Regards,
> Bill Page.
>