Editors

• Editors in Unix

The standard text editor at the AOC is GNU emacs (screen editor).   It is available on all UNIX systems.   There is also vi, pico, or edt (Sun workstations only).   We have a number of other general purpose programs available.   To run these, you have to add a package-specific command to your startup file.   See computing staff for details.   Popular packages are Tex, LaTeX, Island, and FrameMaker

• Editors in Windows

Common editors for windows are Notepad, WordPad, and Microsoft Word.   Notepad is a basic text editor you can use for simple, small documents.   To create or edit files that require formatting or to avoid ^M in Unix, use WordPad.   You can use WordPad to create or edit text files that contain formatting or graphics; these files use the .rtf extension which is also readable in Word.   To open Notepad and WordPad, click Start, point to All Programs, and point to Accessories.   Word is a full word processing program that you can use to create complex documents.   Word is installed as a part of Microsoft Office.

Spellcheck Programs

• Spellcheckers in Unix

There are two spelling checkers on the UNIX systems.   The one that comes with UNIX is called spell and is invoked by typing % spell filename .   However, there is a much nicer spellcheck program installed, which runs interactively (unlike spell), called ispell .   It can be invoked from the % prompt or from within emacs by typing ^CS.   It has a much better dictionary than spell and makes corrections as it runs.

• Spellchecker in Windows

Only Word has a built-in spell checker, Notepad and WordPad do not have this capability.   To invoke the Word spell checker, click on "Tools" and then "Spelling and Grammar".

TeX

TeX is not an editor, but a sophisticated typesetting program for publication quality output.   There is separate documentation in TeX in the form of The TeXbook by Donald Knuth.   The initial setup files you are supplied with on a new account will have the proper definitions for TeX to find its formats and fonts.   Basically you just need to tell TeX where to look to find input files.   New users may prefer to use LaTeX, which can make some things simpler. The Help Desk has copies of these manuals.

Both TeX and LaTeX can include PostScript figures; see the man page on either dvips or nraologo to find out how.   To get your TeX file out after running tex on it, just go ahead and print it on a PostScript printer:
     % lpr -P <printer> <filename>.dvi

The lpr command knows how to translate DVI format into PostScript.   It is also able to translate text files into PostScript.   Plain PostScript files will print without any special treatment.   If you are not sure that your file is ready, and you are using one of the workstations consoles or an X terminal, you can preview your .dvi file with xdvi (X windows).   There are man pages on both of these programs.   Please make use of them as it can save vast amounts of paper, toner, and wear and tear on the printers.

Island

Only Solaris workstations have Island Write/Paint/Draw installed on them.   User manuals are in the AOC library and Help Desk office.

FrameMaker

FrameMaker is only available on the Suns and has fairly good internal help.  Copies of the not-very-extensive manuals are available in the AOC library.

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Content reviewed on: 04-October-2006
Reviewed by: K. Scott Rowe

Page maintained by Gayle Rhodes