DVIWIN

• Latest DVIWIN beta version
• Last "Official" version
• Other TeX related projects
• How to obtain and install fonts

Here is the most recent beta version as well as a few sample files:

• Latest DVIWIN beta version (currently 3.2b15: uploaded on Apr. 22, 2002. It is 750K in size).
• Change/Improvement Log
• Quick Installation Instructions for the DVIWIN beta.
• Sample DVI files to test the HyperTeX capabilities of DVIWIN. Make sure that DVIWIN is operating properly with your local DVI files, then type any of the following URLs in the "File/Open URL" dialog of DVIWIN and you should see the DVI files properly (along with their linked images and sounds). If you use the Internet Explorer, you can also right-click on each link and select "Open in DVIWIN" from the context menu.
  • http://dviwin.keystone.gr/demo.zip
  • http://dviwin.keystone.gr/hyperdem.zip
  • http://xxx.lanl.gov/hypertex/hharvsamp.dvi
  • http://xxx.lanl.gov/hypertex/emdual.tar.gz
  Do not worry about the fact that some of the above files are ZIP or TAR.GZ files: the new version of DVIWIN automatically opens such files and tries to find an enclosed DVI file. It will also look inside the ZIP or TAR.GZ file for any graphics and other files referenced by the DVI file; this enables you to package a DVI file along with all its graphics files in a single ZIP or TAR.GZ file, which is very convenient for interchange purposes.

If you dislike betas, you can download the last "official" release of the program; unfortunately, it is quite old (December 1994). At least it works reasonably well under all versions of Windows 9x, Windows NT and Windows 2000.

• Last public release of DVIWIN (2.9)

As far as I can tell, there are several major problems with DVI files:

1. Strong font dependencies; if one tries to view/print a DVI file and does not have all the required fonts, then it takes some effort to locate and install the needed fonts.
2. Difficult font installation on most DVI drivers; this has been improved to some extent with the TDS standard, but it still requires manual work and more importantly, it requires quite a bit of knowledge from the user.
3. Incompatibilities among DVI drivers in including graphics; this can be solved at the TeX level by using a macro package like LaTeX2e, but it cannot be easily solved at the DVI level.
4. Inconvenience from the fact that the graphics, sounds and other files referenced by a DVI file are linked rather than embedded. If for example you download from the Web a DVI file that includes graphics files, then you will not be able to see the graphics unless you download the appropriate files as well. This is extremely inconvenient; a common solution is to place the DVI file as well as all its dependents in a ZIP or TAR.GZ or TAR.BZ2 file; another solution is to use the "<html:base href=...>" HyperTeX special. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages.

I have been working on a solution for the first two problems; I call it the "TeX Font Server" (TFS) project and you can obtain more information about it at the TFS home page. I think that it completely solves the font portability problem.

The third problem (incompatibilities about graphics specials) is much tougher to solve. I have added support for the "PSfile" specials in order to be more compatible with dvips and I have added quite a few graphics filters, but the problem still remains. It is especially acute with macros that generate direct PostScript code; there is no hope of using such macros on anything other than dvips + a PS interpreter. It would be best for everybody if the TeX community could come to an agreement about some standard graphics specials.

The fourth problem (inconvenience with multiple files) is not that easy either: the "<html:base href=...>" approach has the fundamental flaw that one has to be connected to the net in order to process the DVI file. It appears that the ZIP, TAR.GZ or TAR.BZ2 approach is more advantageous, and I have implemented it in the new version of DVIWIN. The program can open DVI, DVI.GZ, DVI.BZ, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ, TGZ, and TBZ files and it will automatically try to determine the format and compression method. For all archive formats, it is assumed that the archive contains a single DVI file and possibly attached graphics files, other hyperlinked documents, etc. This capability is completely orthogonal to the network capabilities of the program: consequently, you can fetch such files directly over the net.

Of course, any ideas or comments about any of the above are very welcome.

If one has installed a recent TeX distribution (miktex for example), then one has already practically all fonts needed to view and print common DVI files. If however one just wants to view or print DVI files without having installed a TeX distribution, then one will be in trouble since it is not easy to find and install the needed fonts. This problem is dealt by the TFS project; until however a TFS server is operational, I decided to provide a "standard" set of fonts in a relatively easy to download and install form. The fonts are in Type 1 form from the public collections available at CTAN and cover quite a few font families. You can obtain downloading and installation instructions at: