[lug] latex texinfo.tex

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Rob Mohr wrote:

> Is the "?_" a latext prompt?

Yes it means that LaTeX has hit an instruction in processing the file that
it can't resolve and it is asking you what to do about it.  It kind of
looks like it was resetting the fonts and had a problem doing this.  You
might be missing the font that the file was trying to use?  Depends on
what you've truncated in your screen dump.

> Will --help work in this situation?

Typing help at the "?_" prompt will usually give you a bit more
information about what caused the processor to stop, but not always.  It
is definitely worth trying.  If that doesn't work there should also be a
log file that was created.  Since you typed "latex texinfo.tex" this
should be texinfo.log.  Open that up and see what it says.  It should give
you a blow-by-blow rundown about what the processor was doing, and should
have a listing of any error messages. 

> My whole exercise here is to pull up and print TeTeX/LaTeX manual, ect.

I've never seen a TeTeX/LaTeX manual.  Didn't know there was such a thing
really.  There are several good books you can get your hands on which is
how I've been learning about the system.  If you just want to be able to
create documents the book:

    Lamport, Leslie, LaTeX - A Document Preparation System User's Guide
    and Reference Manual, ISBN 0-201-52983-1, Addison-Wesley, 1996

has been quite helpful for me.  I'd be very interested in knowing more
about what you are trying to print?

> (And I want to avoid emacs, if possible, as I am ok with vi.)

LaTeX isn't bound to emacs in any way that I'm aware of.  If you are
simply trying to access a texinfo document have you tried the
"info" command?

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)