TeX, LaTeX and Friends

@egreg: when I visit you, we are gonna watch a game. :)

Does someone think it is a bad idea to subscribe to comp.text.tex mailing list?

@kan It doesn't hurt.

@kan Technically it's a newsgroup rather than a mailing list, but I don't think it's a bad idea. There are people here (including me) who also go there.

4:08 PM

@NicolaTalbot Oh, Nice. But, I need to figure out a way to read the postings there, preferabbly from my computer, rather than on a browser.

But, I don't think I can get an email as it is posted?

@kan Don't use a web interface like google groups. Use a newsreader.

There seems to be no option...

@kan I use thunderbird. You need a news server as well.

(There are some free ones.)

Thunderbird Email is an app on this computer, does that suffice?

/ignorance kills. :(

@kan You need a news server.

4:13 PM

Hmm... so, I should setup thunderbird...

and a "news server"

Hmm, weird.

Anyone knows of a mirror to download TeXworks? code.google.com/p/texworks/downloads/list won't work for me, because code.google.com is blocked in my country

@becko Ouch, that's bad news. :( Which version would you like to pick up?

@NicolaTalbot @PauloCereda where do I get started? When I say sudo apt-get install thunderbird, it says, its all there...

@PauloCereda the last one. I think it's 0.4.5.

@kan If it's installed it should be in Applications -> Internet (or wherever other email/newsgroup applications reside) or run it from the command line with thunderbird.

4:23 PM

@becko Which platform?

@Paulo Windows

@kan A news server is a server that confers you access to usenet groups. You probably need to register in one of them. Eternal September is a nice option (it's free).

@becko: do you have access to any of those file hosters?

@PauloCereda I have access to some filehosters. Which one do you have in mind?

@becko Can you get at my blog (texdev.net): I can add a file if required

@becko Tell me one of them. :)

Oh @Joseph was quicker. :)

@kan: here: eternal-september.org

4:28 PM

@JosephWright Opening the blog right now. Slow connection here. Give me a minute.

@JosephWright Yes. It opens fine.

@becko Give me a few minutes

@JosephWright Ok.

@PauloCereda Thanks for your help also.

@PauloCereda Just registering an account...

@PauloCereda I received a detailed email from them... Now, time for a newsreader and configuring it?

@kan Take a look at that email, you might have some settings for Thunderbird.

@becko texdev.net/TeXworks-w32-0.4.5-r1281.zip

egreg

4:36 PM

@PauloCereda Padova-Torino is just 371km

@egreg ooh! :)

@PauloCereda No, only some information about ports...

@kan: Configure a new newsgroup account in Thunderbird. Add your name and email, set your server to news.eternal-september.org, port 563, SSL/TLS, and check the option to always require authentication.

@PauloCereda On the thunderbird, I get my inbox (looks like I did that once...)

@JosephWright Thanks! Can you keep it there until tomorrow? I'll download it using a faster connection.

4:41 PM

@becko Of course

@JosephWright @PauloCereda Thanks for your help.

@becko ;)

Yay, @percusse is here! :)

Oops! Mess!

@PauloCereda 'ellow

Stephan Lehmke

Argh, I think my answer tex.stackexchange.com/a/112620/12850 is even more out of place than I originally thought. The question is really old and was bumped only because "Bugbusters" needed a place to stick a bounty to (questionable method IMO).

Should I delete the answer?

4:54 PM

anyone know which magic button(s) I need to press so that I can skip some of the labels in the plot below:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[nodes near coords,enlargelimits=0.2]
\addplot+[only marks, point meta=explicit symbolic] coordinates
{
(0.5,0.2) [(bla)]
(0.2,0.1) [(2)]
(0.7,0.6) [(3)]
(0.35,0.4) [(4)]
(0.65,0.1) [(5)]
};

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

?

e.g.

how to "be allowed to" drop "(2)"

ALTERNATIVELY

which (textual) character could I supply that is INVISIBLE ?

tried \phantom : no luck

it worked !

\phantom{bla}

gosh

(sorry I'm a bit stressed)

@nuttyaboutnatty Your code does not compile for me, as-is.

really?

works in my Gummi

possibly some (invisible) line-breaks

I think you must be having outdated packages.

(had that problem earlier)

No, I got the following error:

Please add \pgfplotsset{compat=1.6}

4:59 PM

I think the code requires 1.8

and it works for me

(but I'm just guessing mostly)

@nuttyaboutnatty just leave empty brackets []

ERROR: Package pgfplots Warning: running in backwards compatibility mode (unsuitable tick labels; missing features). Consider writing \pgfplotsset{compat=1.6} into your preamble.

@percusse that doesn't work (in my humble setup)

@nuttyaboutnatty It does

need either a space [ ] (not [])

or [\phantom{bla}]

5:01 PM

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[nodes near coords,enlargelimits=0.2]
\addplot+[only marks, point meta=explicit symbolic] coordinates
{
(0.5,0.2) [(bla)]
(0.2,0.1) []
(0.7,0.6) [(3)]
(0.35,0.4) [(4)]
(0.65,0.1) [(5)]
};

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

This works for me

@kan You need an update. It's 1.8 now.

@percusse I believe you

but that throws an error for me

/tmp/gummi_FA1TWW:19: Package pgfplots Error: could not access the 'point meta'
(used for example by scatter plots and color maps). Maybe you need to add '\ad
dplot[point meta=y]' or something like that?.

See the pgfplots package documentation for explanation.
Type H <return> for immediate help.

but it doesn't matter

@nuttyaboutnatty For me too...

@nuttyaboutnatty I don't know what gummi is

I found > 2 solutions

@percusse Running on TL 2012.

5:03 PM

me too I think

dev.midnightcoding.org/projects/gummi

@nuttyaboutnatty What does adding \listfiles give as a version of pgfplots?

pgfplots.sty 2011/12/29 v1.5.1 (git show 1.5.1-4-g53e640f )

...

what to do about it?

@nuttyaboutnatty Update

do I need to update ?

(for my modest scatterplot)

launchpad.net/~texlive-backports/+archive/ppa

@nuttyaboutnatty As I don't get an error and you do, i think yes

5:07 PM

well, if all it takes to avoid the error is adding a space...

I'm using the PPA above

@nuttyaboutnatty You have been warned.

didn't do any manual updates so far

not sure of my options there

but thanks for the heads-up with listfiles

I am perhaps on 1.6

I need to see how to update.

Oh, but, TL is frozen right?

@kan are you using the same PPA? either way, plz let me know how you do it (if you do it)

A: How do I update my TeX distribution?

30

TeX Live from the Terminal/Command Prompt (Windows/Mac/Linux) Understanding the TeX Live update scheme If you have a TeXLive distribution (including MacTeX) there are a few things to understand about updating your system. All TeX distributions consist of both binaries (including scripts) and ...

enter your own risk, I don't use Linux or TeX Live.

5:12 PM

@nuttyaboutnatty No, I had taken help from @egreg for setting up TL from CTAN. So, its manually installed.

tex is a world in its own parallel universe, innit?

@NicolaTalbot: From 4.8Gb to 2.5Gb. :)

@PauloCereda Yay! :-)

@NicolaTalbot :) A nice format, I might add. :)

@PauloCereda :-)

I've broken my php script, so I'm going to have something to eat and see if it's magically fixed itself when I get back.

5:15 PM

@NicolaTalbot Oh. :) Just ping me if I can help you with the script. :)

!!/fortune

@PauloCereda Psmith, the TeX bot: Here is your fortune: Someone will invite you to a Karaoke party.

@percusse which "fallback options" would you recommend for drawing a scatterplot with labels next to the datapoints? tikz? dataplot (N Talbot showed me a MWE earlier)? gnuplot? other?

@nuttyaboutnatty you mean if pgfplots doesn't work?

so to speak

if I'm not wrong dataplot uses pgfplots under the hood

@nuttyaboutnatty But what is your actual problem? I'm seeing lots of details but I don't see your actual difficulty. It seems that you have jumped on the PGFPlots wagon under stress.

precisely

5:25 PM

precisely what?

(re your last sentence)

my problem:

(or need):

basically I want to draw 2 scatter plots

OOH PATRICK CAME FROM CHINA!

<3

1) like the one above (it's o.k. as is)

@PauloCereda Went there by bike!

@dıʞsdoʇ: invert your avatar and the illusion will be complete. :)

@dıʞsdoʇ <3

5:27 PM

2) one with a linear trend (a fxn whose slope and intercept I'll retrieve elsewhere)

Q: How can I make logarithmic axes through the origin?

I am not sure that this site benefits from the proxy bounties such as the one offered in this question:

3

I have this graph: The x-axis looks like it should look like: arrow head at its end label near the arrow head it goes through the origin But the y-axis does strange things: It does not go through the origin no arrow head it is at the end of the arrow head of the x-axis. I don't need th...

pgfplots

It looks as if the awarded answer is outstanding, but in reality it's just a normal answer (didn't look at the specific one though)

since some data points are very close together / eclipsing / partially overlapping, in the example above I tried to remove some labels and move other horizontally by using "\ \ \ "

automatic alignment of labels would be preferable, but might only work with the latest software?

also: I'd like to be able to input/include the plots as pdf-files in my thesis

rather than having to re-compile the figures every time

(which seems possible with pgfplots)

that's it

@nuttyaboutnatty That's like 65 different problems. the last one is explained in the manual and called externalize ing the graphics. The others are all different details that needs concrete MWEs otherwise you will have lots of frustration.

Holy R, there are functions for standard deviation in matrices! :)

I thought frustration and latex are synonymous?

@percusse I've got some MWE working with the functionality described; it's just piecing it slowly together...

@percusse would you advise me to "unmount" the pgfplots bandwagon?

5:38 PM

@nuttyaboutnatty Not necessarily but under stress pgfplots and TikZ are your enemies. They need a sane mind to fiddle with. If you have a deadline or something like that it 's not that straightforward to get something working

@Jake: could you recommend me some R mailing list? :)

Since system calls are a potential danger, they need to be enabled explicitly using command line options, for example
pdflatex -shell-escape filename.tex.

what's the potential of that danger?

does "everybody" allow system calls?

Is it possible to "manually" create a pdf-output (which can be included later in another document), so that I wouldn't need to allow "system calls" ?

Stephan Lehmke

5:55 PM

@dıʞsdoʇ I have the same feeling. I was "bitten" by an old and stale question which was bumped just because it was used as a "bounty container" for a completely unrelated question.

@PauloCereda Thanks. :-) It's a sql statement that's causing the problem rather than the php.

Oops. Just worked it out. I'd misspelt a field name.

@percusse (sorry to bother again, just in case you know) In the MWE above, is it possible to automatically align the nodes so they get out of each other's way?

@nuttyaboutnatty sth like nodesep should work.

@kan thx, but can't find it in the doc

let me check.

6:09 PM

esp. how that would work with "every node near coord"

(or alternatively without if I don't need the former...)

Q: How do I prevent LaTeX-Suite from opening files automatically when there's an error?

@nuttyaboutnatty Not really. They are placed rather blindly.

egreg

Can some vim expert check if the answer to this question is correct and, in case, upvote it?

2

I'm using Vim with LaTeX-Suite. Occasionally when I compile a file with errors using <Leader>ll, the error in my source is such that the LaTeX compiler registers an error in a file deep in the bowels of my TeX distribution, say pstricks-add.tex or something, so it automatically opens this irrelev...

vim latex-suite

I have spare votes, just tell.

@egreg I've never used the LaTeX-Suite. @PauloCereda How about you?

Q: Proxy bounties (bla bla bla 15 character minimum)

@StephanLehmke I have opened a discussion on meta:

0

There are some questions like this one: How to find out where a macro is defined? where a bounty is offered to an answer that is not upvoted a lot and not the accepted answer. The bounty is offered for a different reason than awarding the answer to that question. It could be that future users ...

discussion

@NicolaTalbot Neither have I. :(

6:19 PM

^^^ sorry for the stupid title, there is a 15 character min. requirement

@dıʞsdoʇ How about "Proxy bounties and their philosophical implications in today's modern society"? :)

4

Q: Proxy bounties and their philosophical implications in today's modern society

2

There are some questions like this one: How to find out where a macro is defined? where a bounty is offered to an answer that is not upvoted a lot and not the accepted answer. The bounty is offered for a different reason than awarding the answer to that question. It could be that future users ...

discussion

@dıʞsdoʇ Jesus Christ!

... link bait :)

@percusse Actually, dataplot doesn't use pgfplots. It just uses tikz with the plotmarks and plothandlers libraries. (I wasn't aware of pgfplots when I wrote dataplot.)

6:30 PM

@MarioS.E. yes

!!/battle

@DavidCarlisle Psmith, the TeX bot: The current score is egreg 245 vs. 85 David. So far, egreg is winning.

BTW: @StephanLehmke the log analyzer (screenshot in the question) looks really impressive. Too bad I don't write many macros, but I really need to try it out.

!!/eightball can I beat egreg if I don't answer any questions for two days?

@DavidCarlisle Psmith, the TeX bot: The great 8-ball says: concentrate and ask again.

!!/eightball can I beat egreg if I don't answer any questions for two days?

6:33 PM

@DavidCarlisle Psmith, the TeX bot: The great 8-ball says: affirmative.

But I have something like this and it is not working:

\begin{longtable}{l @{\hspace{5mm}} p{0.8\linewidth}}
\renewcommand*{\arraystretch}{1.5}

WEFAPS & Wearable Fall Assessment \& Prediction System\\
WHO & World Health Organization\\
GDP & Gross Domestic Product\\
PPP & Purchasing Power Parities\\
MEMs & Micro-Electromechanics\\
BDN & Bayesian Dynamic Networks\\
ADL & Activities of Daily Life\\
STST & Sit-To-Stand Test\\
PPA & Physiological Profile Assessment\\

@DavidCarlisle I had to wrap it inside a \begingroup ... \endgroup

The second line is wrong, it has to be before the table

@DavidCarlisle I'm kind of confussed then. If \renewcommand only affects locally, how does it know what to affect if it's outside of the environment?

@MarioS.E. it doesn't know anything it just defines that macro in the local scope and where you have it the local scope is just a single l cell in the first row (which doesn't use it at all)

@DavidCarlisle Yeah, but how local is local? I mean, the arraystrech is reversed to the original value after the \end{longtable} ?

6:38 PM

@MarioS.E. No it is just a normal macro the scope is the current environment or {} group or whatever. It isn't related to longtable other than the fact that tablular code including longtable looks at the current value.

!!/eightball who's winning the snooker?

so, let's say I want to apply an arraystretch of 1.5 to ALL my tables. How do I do it?

@DavidCarlisle Psmith, the TeX bot: The great 8-ball says: affirmative.

@MarioS.E. set it in the document preamble

@DavidCarlisle Got it. On other issues, if I have two tables one after the other, Do I have to write the \renewcommand*{\arraystretch}{1.5} for each one of them?

@MarioS.E. It's no different from asking if you want all your tables to be in bold or in sans serif or whatever, font definitions are local in the same way so you can affect one table by making a declaration in a group, or all of them by making teh declaration at the top level

@MarioS.E. not if they are in same scope

6:42 PM

@DavidCarlisle What is the same scope?

@DavidCarlisle I'm sorry to be such a pain in the butt, but I'm really trying to learn this. I'm afraid that without a proper basis I'll just continue confusing myself along the way

@NicolaTalbot Oops, excuse my ignorance

@percusse It's an easy enough assumption to make :-)

!!/eightball When will I get all my admin done?

@NicolaTalbot Psmith, the TeX bot: The great 8-ball says: you may rely on it.

!!/eightball Does that mean I'll eventually get it all done?

@NicolaTalbot Psmith, the TeX bot: The great 8-ball says: too busy looking for bugs in longtable.