[texhax] DVI Viewers for the Mac

[Thomas Schneider]

Paul:

> Can the list recommend a DVI viewer for the mac?

I don't use a direct DVI viewer like xdvi because it might not
display postscript figures correctly:

% xdvi paper.dvi
xdvi-xaw: Warning: Raw Postscript commands on page 3 may be rendered incorrectly.

Instead I convert the DVI to postscript (dvips) and then to PDF
(ps2pdf) and view it with Skim.  This is fast enough not to be a
problem even with a 100 page document.

http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/

See:

http://schneider.ncifcrf.gov/ftp/l

for details (in a set of scripts).

The advantage of this is that I can edit the LaTeX source in one
Terminal (using vim for efficiency) and then write the file out with
the comma key (in my ~/.vimrc file I map ',' to be ':w[control-m]',
"'" to be ':q[control-m]' and ";" to be ':wq[control-m]').   Then (in
another Terminal) my atchange program
(http://schneider.ncifcrf.gov/atchange.html) recognizes that my .tex
file changed and runs the l script which pops up the Skim display.

The result is that in one window I edit the text.  I type a ',' to
save  it and a few moments later Skim (when set properly) refreshes
the PDF display.  I never take my fingers from the keyboard!

Another advantage of this method is great flexibility and one can use
whatever editor one wants.  One does not waste time moving the mouse
and resetting one's fingers back on the keyboard.

Tom

  Thomas D. Schneider, Ph.D.
  Senior Investigator
  National Institutes of Health
  National Cancer Institute
  Center for Cancer Research
  Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory
  Molecular Information Theory Group
  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
  schneidt at mail.nih.gov
  http://schneider.ncifcrf.gov/(current link)
  http://alum.mit.edu/www/toms (permanent link)