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            plain TeX Local Guide for VTeX/Free

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                                                  2000-08-18


Copyright (C) 2000 Walter Schmidt



Creating the format file
------------------------
Switch to the directory texmf/tex/plain/base, then execute
the following command:

with Linux:  
       /usr/local/vtex/bin/vtexlnx -i plain

with  OS/2:  
       vtex -i plain

When TeX prints an asterisk and asks for input, enter:

       \input plain.cfg \dump

Check the log file plain.log, then move it to vtex/fmt for
later reference; this is the directory where the format
files are kept.



Running plain TeX
-----------------
plain TeX is to be called through the commands

       vplain
or       
       vplainp

"vplain" runs VTeX in PDF mode; "vplainp" will create
PostScript output.  With both Linux and OS/2 these are shell
scripts.  
The name of the LaTeX source file is to be passed as the
argument; the default file type is ".tex".



Language support
----------------
The plain TeX configuration file texmf/vtex/config/plain.cfg
loads hyphenation patterns for the following languages:

USenglish  ( American English )
english    ( British English )
french
german     ( traditional spelling )
ngerman    ( new spelling )

Notice that the macro packages german.sty or ngerman.sty 
can be used with plain TeX, too!



Graphics and color support
--------------------------
The VTeX/Free distribution inludes the macro packages
graphicx.tex and color.tex, which provide the facilities of
the related LaTeX packages with plain TeX; see the file
texmf/doc/vtex/examples/tryplain.tex for an example.



Using the AMS fonts with plain TeX
----------------------------------
See the document texmf/doc/latex/amsfonts/amsfndoc.pdf.  

The files amssym.def, amssym.tex and cyracc.def for using
the AMS fonts with plain TeX are part of VTeX/Free.


-- finis

