Contents of this page:

• About LXTeX 2e
• Download LXTeX 2e
• LXTeX 2e additional packages
• Frequently asked questions

About LXTeX 2e

The first steps to compose a distribution of LaTeX for the HP palmtops were done by Stephan Lüttjohann and Hans Hönen. They brought up a version of LaTeX 2.09 for the palmtop. Click here to get to Stephans´s site where LxTeX "version 1" can be downloaded.

LXTeX 2e is an adaption of emTeX (LaTeX 2e for DOS) made by me especially for the HP palmtops. You can use it on your palmtop if you have at least 6 MB free disk space. I recommend that you only run it on a double speed upgraded palmtop, otherwise the process of generation of fonts (by Metafont) is terribly slow (but it works on a single speed palmtop, too). On my double-speed palmtop it takes about 5 minutes to generate one font. But fortunately each font only has to be generated only once.

If LXTeX seems to be overkill for your needs (and LaTeX / LXTeX is hard to learn for someone who is used to graphical text processors like MS Word), have a look at LXRTF, which is a tool to generate Rich Text (RTF) files on the palmtop. 

Download LXTeX 2e

CLICK HERE

Installation:
Unzip the downloaded big archive file and then unzip the contained LXTEX.ZIP. Afterwards:
Unzip the LXT2E13.ZIP file with the -d option (if you use PKUNZIP), so that all subdirectories are created.

Please read the README.TXT file in the main directory of the unzipped archive carefully: There you´ll find installing instructions, configuring instructions and a little guide how to use LXTeX2e. Additionally it contains the directory PRN_CONF, which includes batch and data files for different printers. By default LXTeX is configured to print to a Canon Bubblejet printer.

If you would like to get more information about the LaTeX system and its components, please read the numberous doc files that come with LaTeX (emTeX). They were included in the LXTeX ZIP file until version 1.1, now I have split it up into two files: LXT2E13.ZIP contains LXTeX with all needed files and EMTEXDOC.ZIP contains the relevant DOC files which come with emTeX. The files in the EMTEXDOC package are not needed to run LXTeX, i.e. do not have to be installed on the Palmtop. 

LXTeX 2e additional packages

Here is a list of optional packeges you can install to get additional features.

DINBRIEF

- this is a stripped-down version of the DINBRIEF package made by University of Karlsruhe. It is a document class for German letters according to the DIN 676. With template, nice letter head and documentation. Unzip into an extra directory and read lxt_inst.txt. Click here to see how this document class with the letter-head look like (30 kB PNG graphic). The DINBRIEF package is included in the ZIP file you can download above.

LXTeX 2e Frequently asked questions

LXTeX is too complicated for me! I need a simpler solution to create professionally formatted text on the palmtop!

Take a look at LXRTF!

I do not know how to configure LXTeX so that it works...

Please read the README.TXT file, which comes with LXTeX. It describes most situations which can occur.

Using other printers than Canon BJ

If you have another printer than a Canon Bubblejet, for which LXTeX is preconfigured, please read section 3.6.2 (A:\EMTEX\BIN\PR.BAT) of the README.TXT. It describes how to change printer configuration. If your printer isn´t covered by the options of the DVI drivers, either look for a newer DVI driver or see if your printer can emulate one of the supported printers. If nothing like that is possible, you may as well use a PC LaTeX installation to print your files generated on the Palmtop. See below.

TeX capacity exceeded

If you get this error message, try to shorten some macros or maybe don´t use macros at all, rather include the full LaTeX command string defined by the macro everywhere you used the macro. Clumsy, but might help to avoid the error.

Metafont takes incredibly long to generate fonts! How to speed that up?

On a double-speed upgraded palmtop, Metafont takes about 5 minutes generating one font. See section 4.3.4 (Preview) in the README.TXT. You can avoid generation of most fonts if you put a font library file (*.FLI) into the %EMTEXDIR%\FONTS directory. Find the *_BASE.FLI file which suits your printer (if you only preview on the palmtop and don´t print at all, take the BJ_BASE.FLI, LXTeX comes preconfigured for this one). You can find the FLIs on ftp.dante.de.

I get the error message A program started an invalid instruction... and the palmtop locks up. What to do now?

This is a serious error which seems to be related to the palmtop´s light sleep mode. I tried to avoid occurence of that error by deactivating light sleep during Metafont runs in the batch files which come with LXTeX, since Metafont seems to be the only program having trouble with this. If you get this error in a reproducable way, please let me know, then we can try to work out a solution. This error usually needs a cold boot (Ctrl-Shift-On), since it locks up the palmtop entirely.

BIBTEX

If you install the original BIBTEX4b package, there are some important things you should pay attention to:

• You can delete %EMTEXDIR%\BIN\BIBTEX32.EXE to save disk space
• BIBTEX does not like light sleep mode (same problems as with Metafont)! So if you call BIBTEX, no matter if manually or via batch file, make sure to deactivate light sleep before BIBTEX is called (command setit lf) and reactivate it after BIBTEX ran (command setit lo). See how this is done for Metafont, called by the DVIDRV, in %EMTEXDIR%\BIN\PR.BAT or %EMTEXDIR%\BIN\VS.BAT.

I forgot to switch off the palmtop, and it didn't switch off itself, now batteries are empty and I lost valuable data!

The light sleep mode, and thus the power-off time-out of the palmtop are deactivated as soon as you start a DVIDRV (eit viewer or the printer driver). If printing or viewing is finished, light sleep is reactivated. Thus it is not safe to leave the palmtop alone while viewing a DVI file!! Quit the viewer, then go away!

Printing does not work!

The DVIDRV prints to the interface PRN, which is mapped to COM1 on the palmtop (BTW, also LPT1 seems to be mapped to COM1 automatically). With a serial printer, there should be no major problem, only make sure the baud rates are properly set, and handshaking is enabled (and, of course, that you use the correct DVI driver and fonts!)

If you have a parallel port printer, you need a serial -> parallel converter. Most cheaper converters are hard-wired to 9600 baud. More expensive ones can be configured via dip switches to different baud rates and different handshaking methods. I have done some tests with such a configurable one, and the results were, that fastest printing is possible with 57600 baud and XON/XOFF handshaking. To make the printer driver use the correct baud rate, set the SETCOM1 line in %EMTEXDIR%\BIN\PR.BAT correctly. Also read section 3.6.2 (PR.BAT) of the README.TXT which comes with LXTeX.

You can also try to add the option /ox+ to the dvidrv line in pr.bat. This option enables XON/XOFF handshaking.

Please see also my RS232 page, which talks about connecting devices (also printers) to the palmtop.

How can I print if I do not have a serial port printer or a serial to parallel converter?

There are some ways:

• Use the printer connected to your desktop PC, connect the palmtop via serial cable to the desktop PC and run a program on the desktop PC which hands over data from the serial port directly to the parallel port. Such programs are e.g. OMNIPRN or COM2LPT. If you have a printer with an IrDA interface, try the IrDA DOS printer driver 
• Another approach might be to use the dvidot fax configuration to create a fax-format output and then use a fax program to "print" the output to a fax machine. All you need to create fax-formatted output is included with LXTeX 2e.

I often forget to enter LaTeX-specific codes for special characters, and LaTeX complains!

Simply add a search and replace tool which helps you to avoid such problems! I have, for example, the following lines in texedit.bat:

@echo off
echo calling editor...
pe %1.tex
echo converting Umlauts in %1.tex...
sed -f %EMTEXDIR%\bin\utility\conv_uml.sed %1.tex > %1.tmp
if errorlevel 1 pause
if errorlevel 0 copy %1.TMP %1.TEX
echo done.

i.e. after the editor has been exited, sed, the stream editor, is called using a sed script conv_uml.sed, which contains the sed commands to replace the umlauts. The sed script conv_uml.sed looks like this:

s/ä/"a/g
s/ö/"o/g
s/ü/"u/g
s/Ä/"A/g
s/Ö/"O/g
s/Ü/"U/g
s/ß/"s/g

All German Umlauts are thus replaced by their LaTeX German-package representation after each editing of the tex source file, i.e. if an ä is found, it is replaced by "a, ß is replaced by "s and so on. You need the stream editor sed for that task. It is available on the SUPER site. Simply put sed.exe into any utility directory on your palmtop which is in the PATH, or put it into %EMTEXDIR%\BIN\UTILITY. Actually, if you have the line \usepackage[cp850]{inputenc} (or as the number after "cp" whatever codepage you use on your palmtop) in your TEX source preamble, the Umlauts should be directly accepted in the input file, but the tex file would not be as portable anymore. And if you often switch codepages on your palmtop, you will probably get into trouble either. So the search and replace solution is better, in my opinion. And it is quite fast using sed.

I want to make a PDF file from my LXTeX document!

No problem, if you have access to a Linux or Windows computer: Put a \usepackage{times} into the tex file preamble, that is necessary because otherwise the Computer Modern fonts used by TeX had to be embedded as pixel fonts into the PDF file, and that looks ugly and blows up the PDF file in size. When using the times package, the Times fonts are used, which are Adobe standard fonts. Don't try to compile the tex file with \usepackage{times} on the palmtop - the times package is not installed there. Then put the tex source file onto the linux machine, do latex document.tex and then dvipdf document.dvi or dvipdfm docuent.dvi. This should give you an amazingly small good looking PDF file, readable with Acrobat Reader on any platform.

Easily create fully formatted text documents or even simple Powerpoint presentations directly on the HP Palmtop!

Contents of this page:

• About LXRTF
• Download, install and use LXRTF
• Version history
• LXRTF Frequently asked questions
• Example

About LXRTF

LXRTF is a software package which allows creation of formatted text on the HP DOS palmtops (100LX, 200LX, 1000CX, 700LX, 95LX).

LXRTF works the following way:

1. You write your document as a plain text file with simple formatting commands
2. You call LXRTF, which translates this file into the RTF format
3. The resulting RTF file can be opened in almost every text processing software on any operating system

RTF-compatible text processors are for example:

• MS Word for Windows
• MS Word for DOS
• MS Word for Macintosh
• Wordpad (coming with various versions of Windows)
• OpenOffice
• LibreOffice
• KOffice
• TextMaker
• Mac OS text editor
• ..and many more.

Since version 1.2, LXRTF is even able to create RTF files compatible with MS PowerPoint. So it is now possible to prepare or even create simple MS PowerPoint presentations on the palmtop using LXRTF. Many thanks to Pavel Zampach for this great idea!

The high compatibility of the RTF format makes LXRTF the tool for anyone who needs to write formatted documents on the palmtop, which other people need to read on their Windows, UNIX or Mac computers.

LXRTF is designed to be as simple as possible while providing as many simple formatting features as possible. Sophisticated formatting such as mathematical formulas is not supported. If you need that, you should have a look at LXTeX (LaTeX for the HP palmtops).

In contrast to LXTeX, LXRTF is simple, fast, small and produces more compatible output.

Download, install and use LXRTF

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD LXRTF

Installation:
Unzip the big archive file. Then unzip the contained LXRTF12.ZIP file into a dedicated directory, for example into c:\lxrtf. The file lxrtf.bat is the central program file. You need about 70 kB of free disk space for LXRTF.

Usage: Usage is simple: Write the document (e.g. infile.rtx) with a simple text editor. Then execute LXRTF: The command

lxrtf infile.rtx outfile.rtf

produces the RTF file "outfile.rtf" from your input file "infile.rtx".

For detailed information about formatting in LXRTF, please read the file 0README.TXT and have a look at the example files coming with LXRTF. An example is shown below.

Version history

New in Release 1.2

• Support for Powerpoint compatible RTF format (introducing stylesheets). New command *Yn for slide title / items.

New in Release 1.1

• Bugfix: Command for font color changed from *C to *O (*C was accidentally assigned to two functions: Color and Center-aligning!)

LXRTF Frequently asked questions

Why do I have to use commands? Why isn´t there a simple user interface such as Word with buttons for bold text, italics, font selection...?

This is because LXRTF is simple "translation" software (or call it a compiler). Creating a GUI (graphical user interface) would be possible, but it would mean much more work than just write a compiler program.

Why not use existing software, such as MS-Word for DOS?

I have looked for existing software which does what I need, but didn´t find any program, which lets me create formatted output in a file format, which my colleagues can read on their MS-Windows / MS-Word systems without the need of importing the file and maybe install exotic import filters first. Even the files MS-Word for DOS creates cannot be directly opened by newer Versions of MS-Word for Windows without the need to isntall additional filters etc. Additionally, MS-Word for DOS is slow on the palmtop and not very convenient to use, in my opinion. So I wrote LXRTF, mainly for my own needs.

How can I check on the palmtop if the formatting looks as I want it to look?

You can´t. You could open the resulting RTF file in MS Word for DOS (version 6.0 supports RTF well, I don´t know about lower versions). But on the palmtop, MS-Word only shows a subset of the formatting which is possible with LXRTF, so the exact layout is not visible on the palmtop. I have not tried MS-Word 1.0 for Windows on Windows 3.0, which runs on the palmtop, albeit very slow. This could work, if that version of Word supports RTF and if all used fonts are installed. Still, text colors won´t be visible of course.

Example

The following example shows what LXRTF does. First you see the input file (plain text with formatting commands) and below there is a screenshot of the output LXRTF produces from the input file, opened in Microsoft Word. Each formatting command begins with an asterisk (*).

*F3 *FS20
{*IDaniel Hertrich}
*R{*IHauptstra\se 98*\
12345 Berlin*\
Tel. +49 12 3456789*\
Mobile: +49 765 4321987*\
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.}



*L{*UTo:}*\
Jack Palmtopper*\
Hewlett Street 700*\
Packard, 20095 LX*\
United States of America



{*BSubject: LXRTF test}


*RDecember 14th, 2003
*LDear Mr Palmtopper,


Please find here an example letter created with *ILXRTF*i.
This letter is written in manual formatting mode, the \*\\ command
is used and several times also some consecutive blank lines.
Please read the {*F1 0readme.txt} file for details about this method
of formatting.

Formatting is fun now, and the result can be opened with
all modern versions of MS Word or other text processors.


Once this program works without hassles, I will
publish it on my homepage, e.g, under 
{*F1*C3http://www.daniel-hertrich.de/lxrtf} or so.

If you find any problems with the program, please report them
to me. My email address is mentioned in the header of this
letter. If it should be obsolete, please look at*\
{*F1*C3http://www.daniel-hertrich.de/contact}.


Kind regards,

Daniel Hertrich

Output in MS Word (Click on the screenshot to view a higher-resolution version of the screenshot):

Contents of this page:

• Introduction
• What´s new? (version history)
• Download
• Screenshots
• Using LXGLUC.wk1 with Excel

Introduction:

LXGLUC.wk1 is a (free) Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet for diabetes data management. It makes it possible to track diabetes data and provides some powerful data analysis and plotting features.

It is menu and macro driven, thus very convenient to use, optimized for as few keystrokes per action as possible.

LXGLUC.wk1 is useable on every computer running versions 2.4, "portable" or above of Lotus 1-2-3, such as the Hewlett Packard palmtops 95LX, 100LX, 200LX and OG700LX which have Lotus 1-2-3 portable in ROM, or any other MS-DOS or Windows machine. Currently, LXGLUC.wk1 only runs on English versions of Lotus 1-2-3.

I developed LXGLUC.wk1 to have a full-featured and mobile replacement for a commercial Windows software. Of course, LXGLUC.wk1 is not a 1:1 copy of that software, but it supports its most important features, including some complex data analysis, which can lead you to the sources of eventual therapy failures.

LXGLUC.wk1 is entirely independent from the different units for Diabetes data used in the world. It can be configured to use mmol/l instead of the default (mg/dl) with only a few keystrokes using a setup macro. Everything else is unit-independent.

What´s new? (version history):

HISTORY:
~~~~~~~~

v1.0 released 02-05-19:
     First release, some functions not yet implemented,

v1.1 released 02-05-30:
     * Much improved Standard Day graph (now 24 bars, each for one hour
       of the day, instead of 4 ranges, additionally amount of
       measurements (which the value is calculated from) on top of the
       bars!
     * Improved Standard week graph (amount of measurements on top of
       bar)
     * Analysis macro now writes the date of its execution into
       cell Q4 and graphs use that date in the title, so it is now
       obvious how recent the data is from which a graph is created.
     * Basal Rate graph now uses Basal Rate date in title
     * Usage guide (LXGLUC.TXT) partially rewritten. Please read it!
       (Especially advice added how to use data analysis to improve
       the therapy)
     * macro \I added to import old v1.0 data.
     * macro \O added to sort the diary
     * minor macro enhancements

v1.2 released 04-05-22:
     * bugfix: cell AH27 was faulty and caused the 7h-8h glucose
       average not to be calculated correctly.

     WK1 files created with version 1.1 can directly be used with 1.2.

Download:

CLICK HERE

Unzip the downloaded archive file, then unzip the contained file lxgluc.zip into your favorite Lotus spreadsheet working directory and follow the instructions in LXGLUC.TXT.

Screenshots:

This is how LXGLUC.wk1 looks on the palmtop Hewlett Packard 200LX:
(note: all data is fictive, there are no real personal values involved)

Data entry: Diary

Data entry: Long-term data

Some data analysis results

Graph: glucose.
Interpretation: About every other day there is a way too high blood sugar value. But almost all other values are around 100 mg/dl and thus the blood sugar is relatively good at all. Let´s see if the next graphs show you if there is a tendency when the high values usually occur...

Graph: Standard day (glucose average values)
Interpretation: Attention: There are a few low values at night, maybe you should lower the basal rate (see next graph). But on the other hand, you should observe that a bit longer to get reliable results, because these low values were calculated each from only one (1 above the bars) measured value. Also the high value at 16-17 is not very reliable, because it is base on only one measurement. But there seems to be a tendency to high values at 12-13 (the bar is based on 5 measurements, so here has to be taken care, since it seems to be repeating!) and at 22-23. Could this be caused by meals, because maybe you usually take a meal at 12 o´clock and around 9pm? If yes, your bolus to carbohydrate ratio bay be too low. Otherwise, maybe the basal rate has to be increased. In the range around 9-11 you should lower the basal rate, because low blood sugar values seem to occur regulary between 10-12!

Graph: Basal rate of insulin pump. Can directly be compared to Standard Day graph in order to adapt the basal rate to the daily course of the blood sugar.
What you can see in combination with the standard day graph: In the range 9-11 the basal rate is already very low, but it should be lowered even more. So, consider setting it to 0.1 at 9-10 and 10-11! And due to the low glucose values early in the morning, maybe the basal rate should also be lowered between 00 and 03 or 04.

Graph: Standard week (glucose average values)
Interpretation: Why is the blood sugar so low on Mondays and Wednesdays, compared to all the other days? May be coincidence, because not very much measurements are used to calculate the values (only 4 to 8 measurements), so wait a few weeks and review the graph then to see if there is really a tendency to bad values at specific days!

Graph: blood pressure

Graph: weight
Interpretation: Seemed to be a good diet between July 01 and May 02!

Graph: HbA1, HbA1c
Interpretation: What caused the high motivation to care about the blood sugar before Aug-99? Think about it and try to get a similar motivation again! The recent HbA1(c) value tendency is definitely not what you want! Try to keep the HbA1 below 8% and the HbA1c below 7%!

Using LXGLUC.wk1 with Excel

It is possible to load LXGLUC.wk1 into Excel under Windows. That makes it possible to easily print the graphs or the diary as a list to take them to the doctor.
All the values and formulas will be treated correctly, however, Excel does not make use of the macros and menus of LXGLUC, so operating LXGLUC.wk1 under Excel may be difficult.