Re: Run an issue of TUGboat

On Sun, 16 Feb 2025, Franck Laÿs wrote:

> Hi Karl,
> Thanks for your reply. I'm fond of the design of the journal, the two-column
> style, the typesetting, heading styles, tables using full page width, etc.
> The starry section headings from the issue 5 are so neat. So my attempt
> was to generate a published issue, any issue, to see how that works, the tex
> document, the sty file and macros. And then maybe be able to start a new
> layout based on that.

You mention specifically issue 5 (3:1).  That issue was one of the last
set with the "almost modern", am* fonts, and, indeed, those fonts are
very difficult to find now, if not entirely vanished.  They certainly
wouldn't exist as Type 1 files or anything more modern, only as .pk files
at a specific resolution.  That issue was also pieced together from
separate pages, some just photographed from copy submitted on paper and
possibly "pasted up".  Composition, when done inhouse, obviously used
plain.tex or its predecessor; LaTeX didn't exist in general circulation
until the 1990s.  The pdf files of these early issues were scanned from
the paper issues, which didn't always go well (as can be seen from page 12
of issue 3:2; maybe we can get that fixed).

Perhaps we (the TUGboat production crew) should consider (for volume 50?)
a retrospective of the various production methods used as well as how the
design developed and other significant "landmark" changes.  We're still
using plain (non-LaTeX) .sty files for some features (title page, covers,
including contents, calendar) that are created by the editorial/production
staff, and plain files are accepted from authors, as are OpTeX and ConTeXt
as well as the more prevalent LaTeX.  But it's now possible to generate a
complete pdf issue for posting in one go, although what is required by the
printer has different requirements.  Actually "running" an issue requires
quite a bit of "inside knowledge"; Karl is the master of that process.
I'm responsible only for content -- words and punctuation -- and general
style.

But we're certainly glad that you appreciate our efforts, and would like
to emulate them.
 						-- bb

> Thanks again
> 
> Franck
>
>       Le 15 févr. 2025 à 23:32, Karl Berry <[email protected]> a
>       écrit :
> 
> Hi Franck,
> 
>    I'm new to tex and I'm trying to run an old issue (15) of TUGboat.
> 
> What do you mean, "trying to run"? If you're trying to reproduce the
> published issue, it's not possible. The article sources are not
> available and even if they were, the production setup from 1986 is
> long gone.
> 
> What are you looking for?
> 
>    For that I'm using the files tbcv15.tex
> 
> The tbcv files only produce tables of contents. I've never used
> them. Barbara creates the .tex files. --thanks, karl.