[XeTeX] XeTeX in lshort

[Axel Kielhorn]

Am 01.10.2010 um 00:49 schrieb Elliott Roper:

> 
> On 30 Sep 2010, at 22:52, Keith J. Schultz wrote:
> 
>> As far a documentation is concerned look at the LaTeX Companion for packages.
> ..and that's where I get a bit taken aback. The book arrives last Saturday. I head for the Index for the bits I really need.
> XeTeX - nada
> fontspec - zip
> Unicode - uhuh
> ConTeXt - err sorry
> LuaTeX - the cat ate it
> I turn to the cover, and yes, it says "Second Edition"

On page xxvii it says February 2004.
IIRC XeTeX was first included in TexLive 2007.
It was MacOS only until a few month earlier.
LuaTeX was included in 2009.
You will not find anything about biblatex either, it was released last year.

> The whole thing is devolving into the Monty Python cheese shop sketch.
>> Forget about anything you find about encoding.
> OK Yep, there's 137 pages of pine trees died in vain.

That's the problem with dead trees: bit-rot.

>> Forget about babel use polyglossia instead.
> now THAT sounds like a Norwegian Blue. Beautiful plumage!

Nah, it is definitely french. 

>> As far as finding packages specifically designed around xetex I am at a loss, but pick up several names here. Maybe, some else can compile a list.
> That's what I'm whinging about. That's what the XeTeX flavour of lshort needs to have in it.

There is no special LaTeX for XeTeX.
90% of what you will find in the companion will work.
It took some time to figure the graphics drivers out.
PStricks works probably as good as in pdfLaTeX.
TikZ is supposed to be engine independent.

> Doing a resumé? Here's a suggested preamble, and here's pointers to the documentation of packages explicitly and implicitly invoked.

That's just plain text, \setromanfont is probably all you need.

> Doing a booklet?

That's just plain text, \setromanfont is probably all you need.

> ditto.. Setting Unicode math? Here's what's  different. (I found that one today, so I'm OK)

Unicode math is really new. It says July 14, 2010.

> I'm gonna make it. It's an achievable challenge. And I'm determined to enjoy it too.

Keep on reading this list, it is the cutting edge, ouch, anyone got a band-aid?

Axel