@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ You can just skip over all the diversions in here if you want. It's just how my
\medskip
\noindent\textbf{Errata:} To err is human, to document those errors is divine. A list of errata can be found at \href{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/the-codex/wiki/Errata}{\texttt{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/the-codex/wiki/Errata}}.
\noindent\textbf{Errata:} To err is human, to document those errors is divine. A list of errata can be found at \kref{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/the-codex/wiki/Errata}{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/the-codex/wiki/Errata}.
\medskip
@ -162,13 +162,11 @@ The picture of a VT100 terminal is courtesy of Jason Scott. It was published at
\section{College, 1986}
\subsection{1986}
I went away to college in the fall of 1986. Personal computers were, as always, very much on my mind, but I still only owned a Commodore 128. We were still typing papers on electric typewriters at that point, and the height of that technology was correction paper.\footnote{This was a very convenient alternative to a product called "Liquid Paper" (also called "whiteout") which was essentially paper-colored paint in a small bottle with a brush in the cap. When you made a mistake, you shook the bottle and brushed a very thin layer over the mistake. You then waited for the whiteout to dry, backed up, and typed the correct letter. The fluid contained a lot of solvent, and as this was the time of the Satanic Panic, parents were warned that their kids could be huffing whiteout. As you used the product, more and more of the solvent evaporated out of the bottle, until it eventually became a gloopy, chalky mess, meaning you could only use half of what was in the bottle—it was not very efficient. With correction paper, you just backed up to the mistake, put a bit of correction paper on top of the paper, typed the mistake again, removed the correction paper, backed up, and typed the correct letter. It was much neater, had no terrible fumes, and you didn't have Fundies chasing you down the street accusing you of being a devil-worshiping drug addict because you had a bottle of correction fluid in your pocket. (Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham, who also happened to be the mother of Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. The world is much smaller than we think it is.)}
I went away to college in the fall of 1986. Personal computers were, as always, very much on my mind, but all I had was a Commodore 128. We were still typing papers on electric typewriters at that point, and the height of that technology was correction paper.\footnote{This was a very convenient alternative to a product called "Liquid Paper" (also called "whiteout") which was essentially paper-colored paint in a small bottle with a brush in the cap. When you made a mistake, you shook the bottle and brushed a very thin layer over the mistake. You then waited for the whiteout to dry, backed up, and typed the correct letter. The fluid contained a lot of solvent, and as this was the time of the Satanic Panic, parents were warned that their kids could be huffing whiteout. As you used the product, more and more of the solvent evaporated out of the bottle, until it eventually became a gloopy, chalky mess, meaning you could only use half of what was in the bottle—it was not very efficient. With correction paper, you just backed up to the mistake, put a bit of correction paper on top of the paper, typed the mistake again, removed the correction paper, backed up, and typed the correct letter. It was much neater, had no terrible fumes, and you didn't have Fundies chasing you down the street accusing you of being a devil-worshiping drug addict because you had a bottle of correction fluid in your pocket. (Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham, who also happened to be the mother of Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. The world is much smaller than we think it is.)}
We did have computers available to us, however. Our college owned two mainframe systems: a DEC-10 and a VAX 9000. As I remember, you had to go down to the basement of the science building to use them, where they had a room filled with VT100 terminals.
I wish for the life of me that I could remember this experience better. The ``computer room '' (nobody thought of it as a ``lab''—it would be many years before I heard that term applied to it) looked a lot like what one might think: a windowless basement room with concrete block walls, tile floors, fluorescent lights buzzing away angrily overhead, and lots and lots of terminals.\footnote{There is a pdf of the VT100 manual available at \href{https://vt100.net/dec/ek-vt100-tm-002.pdf}{\texttt{https://vt100.net/dec/ek-vt100-tm-002.pdf}}. It makes for fascinating reading, assuming you are into that sort of thing.}
I wish for the life of me that I could remember this experience better. The ``computer room '' (nobody thought of it as a ``lab''—it would be many years before I heard that term applied to it) looked a lot like what one might think: a windowless basement room with concrete block walls, tile floors, fluorescent lights buzzing away like hornets overhead, and lots and lots of terminals.\footnote{There is a pdf of the VT100 manual available at \href{https://vt100.net/dec/ek-vt100-tm-002.pdf}{\texttt{https://vt100.net/dec/ek-vt100-tm-002.pdf}}. It makes for fascinating reading, assuming you are into that sort of thing.}
\begin{wrapfigure}[]{l}{0.34\textwidth}
\vspace{-8pt}
@ -178,28 +176,28 @@ I wish for the life of me that I could remember this experience better. The ``co
People didn't really know much about these two mainframe systems, although I remember hearing the few computer people who were around praising the VAX as being far superior to the DEC-10.\footnote{A bit of internet research confirms this—the VAX line of mainframes was intended as a replacement for the DEC line of mainframes.} Everything was from the command line. If you saved a file\footnote{I tried for a few weeks to type up some of my notes from class, but quickly realized that this was pointless, as I couldn't take the digital files with me.} and wanted to print it, you had to send it to the print queue, and then go to a different room in the building where the line printer was located.
At this point, it was possible that your printout was ready. But it was also entirely possible that it wouldn't be ready. Everything was printed on unperforated continuous feed paper that was 15 inches wide.\footnote{See the Wikipedia entry on ``'continuous stationery'' to see what I'm talking about.} The problem was someone had to be there to tear off your printout after it was completed—the printers had no way of doing this automatically—take it out of the printer's tray, figure out that it belonged to you, label it with your name, and set it on a shelf for you to pick up later.
At this point, it was possible that your printout would be ready. But it was also entirely possible that it wouldn't be ready. Everything was printed on unperforated continuous feed paper that was 15 inches wide.\footnote{See the Wikipedia entry on ``'continuous stationery'' to see what I'm talking about.} The problem was someone had to be there to tear off your printout after it was completed—the printers had no way of doing this automatically—figure out that it belonged to you, label it with your name, and set it on a shelf for you to pick up later.
And if nobody was there, the printer just kept printing, and someone would have to separate possibly dozens of different print jobs. If your print job was small, it was entirely possible that the person responsible would miss it and it would end up stuck on the end of someone else's print job. If the printer ran out of paper and nobody was there to replace it, your file just went into the printer memory (or somewhere into the ether if the printer's memory was full) until the paper was refilled. Printing anything was a big investment of time and energy (not to mention hope) and I will gladly take the occasional printer jam over that experience any day.
And if nobody was there, the printer just kept printing, and someone would have to separate potentially dozens of different print jobs. If your print job was small, the person responsible could miss it and it would end up stuck on the end of someone else's print job. If the printer ran out of paper and nobody was there to replace it, your file just went into the printer memory (or somewhere into the ether if the printer's memory was full) until the paper was refilled. Printing anything was a big investment of time and energy (not to mention hope) and I will gladly take the occasional printer jam over that experience any day.
The only other remarkable thing I remember about that early college experience is that everybody had to take a basic computer course. This was a single, university-level course that all freshmen had to take.
The only other remarkable thing I remember about that early college experience is that everybody had to take a basic computer course. This was a single, university-wide, 100-level course that all freshmen had to take.
I hate these sorts of things.
I get the point—computers are going to be a thing in everybody's lives, so lets make sure all our future graduates have a solid background in them. The problem is that information technology moves at a pretty rapid pace, and college students have a wide variety of backgrounds and career plans, and as a result, it's difficult to create a course like this that is in any way useful to every single student who takes it.
And I found that I knew much of the material anyway. It was held in a large lecture hall, and there wasn't really any point for the instructor to hold up a hard drive in her hand and announce ``This is a hard drive''—unless you were in the first ten rows, she could have been holding up a brick. I'm sure that what she said after that sentence was informative, but I'm also sure I already knew it.
And I found that I knew much of the material anyway. It was held in a large lecture hall, and there wasn't really any point for the instructor to hold up a hard drive in her hand and announce ``This is a hard drive''—unless you were in the first ten rows, she could have been holding up a brick.\footnote{This is not hyperbole—drives were a lot bigger in those days.} I'm sure that what she said after that sentence was informative, but I'm also sure I already knew it.
Sometime during the third week we had an entire lecture about modems (``\textit{modem} stands for \textit{modulator-demodulator}'' I remember hearing before I dozed off\footnote{Which is true, but means absolutely nothing to anyone who just wants to get on the internet. Modems were designed to transmit digital data over analog telephone lines, and they accomplished this by \textit{modulating} a carrier wave to carry digital information before sending it, and \textit{demodulating} a received carrier wave to recreate the original digital information. I don't miss 4,800 bps speeds, but I do miss that modem login sound. Apparently other people do as well, because you can hear it at \href{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0}{\texttt{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0}}}) and I decided to just stop attending class. I showed up for the exams, rushed through them, got a C in the course, and decided to never take another computer course ever again.
I should mention that I went to college with the goal of becoming high school biology teacher. Over time, I realized how valuable this computer course was to me, because it made me realize that no matter who you are or where you are in life, any class should be valuable to you in some way. (This is a lesson that the modern educational-industrial complex has not, and will never, absorb.)
I should mention that I went to college with the goal of becoming high school biology teacher. Over time, I realized how valuable this computer course was to me, because it made me realize that no matter who you are or where you are in life, any class should be valuable to you in some way, even if it's not the way the course designers intended. This course is now valuable to me because it taught me what a class should \textit{not} be. (This is a lesson that the modern educational-industrial complex has not, and will never, absorb.)
\section{Teaching Computers}
I graduated from college with a B.S. in Biology and a teaching certificate. I could not find a job teaching biology—as it turns out, biology teachers are a dime a dozen\footnote{This was a huge surprise to me, because all through college, whenever I told someone I was a biology major, they seemed really impressed and said something like "oh gosh, biology—that's really hard." But note—these were non-science people. If you want to study science, but don't want anything too hard, apparently biology is the default.} and chemistry teachers are about ten bucks a dozen, and if you majored in physics with a goal of teaching high school science, you would have your choice of any teaching position you wanted.
I graduated from college with a B.S. in Biology and a teaching certificate. I could not find a job teaching biology—I quickly discovered that biology teachers are a dime a dozen\footnote{This was a huge surprise to me, because all through college, whenever I told someone I was a biology major, they seemed really impressed and said something like "oh gosh, biology—that's really hard." But note—these were non-science people. If you want to study science, but don't want anything too hard, apparently biology is the default.} and chemistry teachers are about five bucks a dozen, and if you majored in physics with a goal of teaching high school science, you would have your choice of any teaching position you wanted.
Of course at this time (the early 90s), lots of people still wanted to be teachers, unlike now, because teachers still garnered respect from the public, parents, and administrators, and teaching jobs were hard to come by, also unlike now. So I started substitute teaching and doing whatever I could to pay the bills.
Of course at this time (the early 90s), lots of people still wanted to be teachers (unlike now) because teachers still mostly garnered respect from the public, parents, and administrators, and teaching jobs were hard to come by (also unlike now). So I started substitute teaching and doing whatever I could to pay the bills.
I eventually managed to find a job at my old high school teaching what used to be called ``night school''\footnote{I have no idea what this is now called, or if it is even still a thing.} and what is still called ``community education''. But names are only labels and are usually irrelevant. My night school students had dropped out of a traditional high school education and were now in search of a GED\footnote{General Equivalency Degree—aka ``high school diploma in a box''.} to help their job prospects. I was there to teach them just enough Earth Science to enable them to pass the science portion of the GED exam.\footnote{There is so much that I could say here, but it is completely irrelevant to our current purpose and so belongs to an entirely different zine.}
@ -217,11 +215,11 @@ But I discovered a wonderful thing about this: \textit{telling} is very differen
This meant that telling someone how to print a file meant that I ended up saying something like ``move your mouse\footnote{i.e., cursor. To someone who is new to computers, the two are one.} to the upper left-hand corner, find the `File' menu and click on it, and then go about half way down until you see the word `Print' and click on it.''
And this worked. My students were not familiar with a ``File'' menu, but they were familiar with the concepts of ``up,'' ``down,'' ``right,'' and ``left''. This led me to realize something that I had not been taught in college—you have to work with students where they are, rather than where you wish they were. You can't play the ``if only'' game. (``If only my students knew where the File menu is…'')
And this worked. My students were not familiar with a ``File'' menu, but they were familiar with the concepts of ``up,'' ``down,'' ``right,'' and ``left''. This led me to realize something that I had not been taught in college—you have to work with students where they are, rather than where you wish they were. You can't play the ``if only'' game. (``If only my students knew where the File menu is…'' Again, there is a lot more to say here, but that's an entirely different zine.)
I know that the usual dictum is ``show, don't tell''. But what's really happening here is that by \textit{telling} my students, they were then \textit{showing} themselves, and developing some muscle memory along the way.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed teaching this class, nothing good can last forever. A new Republican governor was elected and he slashed funding for community education and adult education programs.\footnote{He also slashed anything that benefits anyone who isn't wealthy \textit{and} white \textit{and} male. (Mathematically, that would be $wealthy \land white \land male$, with emphasis on the \textit{and}.) To this day I would pay good money to buy him a one-way ticket to Planet Fuck-Yourself-Up-The-Ass-With-A-Sharp-Stick.} (A less-educated populace is easier to control, I guess.) I taught this course for a year, had a great time, and would gladly teach it again, even with the miserable wages. Hell, I'd do it now as a volunteer. Knowledge should be shared, not horded and sold.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed teaching this class, nothing good can last forever. A new Republican governor was elected and he slashed funding for community education and adult education programs. (A less-educated populace is easier to control, I guess.)\footnote{He also slashed anything that benefits anyone who isn't wealthy \textit{and} white \textit{and} male. (Mathematically, that would be $wealthy \land white \land male$, with emphasis on the \textit{and}.) To this day I would pay good money (i.e., beer money) to buy him a one-way ticket to Planet Fuck-Yourself-Up-The-Ass-With-A-Sharp-Stick.} I taught this course for a year, had a great time, and would gladly teach it again, even with the miserable wages. Hell, I'd do it now as a volunteer. Knowledge should be shared, not horded and sold.
\chapter{Is This Really a Hack? \\(Or is it something even worse?)}
@ -237,7 +235,7 @@ Way back in issue \#1, I took a look at cooking ``hacks'' and wondered if these
\rule{\linewidth}{1pt}
\end{quote}
It really bugs me that the words ``hack'' and ``hacker'' have become associated with ``cool'' and ``must have'' thanks to marketers. (It also bugs me that a whole class of employees exist whose only purpose is to convince you to buy things that you probably don't need.)
It really bugs me that the words ``hack'' and ``hacker'' have become associated with ``cool'' and ``must have'' thanks to marketers. (It also bugs me that a whole class of employees exist whose only purpose is to convince you to buy things that you probably don't need. But here we are.\footnote{My issue is not that they are here to inform you (if their products were \textit{that} great, an informed decision is all I need to make), but to influence your behavior in ways in which you probably aren't even aware.})
So I decided to attempt this quest again, but instead of cooking hacks, I decided to look at gardening hacks, as I know quite a bit about gardening. I went to the $\Gamma$oogle, typed in ``garden hacks'' and jumped into the first result that came up.
@ -262,9 +260,7 @@ And that's it. There are plenty more examples, but I am out of space. This has a
Sadly, a lot of this stuff comes from ``lifestyle'' sites where if something doesn't work, it really doesn't matter. You might be out a few bucks and a few hours of your time, but in the end does it really matter?\footnote{In that way, these lifestyle sites are a lot like religion: you sell a big promise, but when it fails to come about, you conveniently get to blame the user for doing it wrong.} Probably not. It is notable, however, that if you $\gamma$oogle ``brain surgery hacks'' you won't get anything that involves wine corks or toilet rolls.
\newpage
What I've learned from this:
\paragraph*{What I've learned from this:}
\begin{enumerate}[noitemsep]
\item Ordinary people don't really know what is meant by the terms ``hack'' or ``hacker''.
@ -274,6 +270,8 @@ What I've learned from this:
I put \textit{journalism} in quotation marks, because while a lot of people might describe any sort of writing on the web as journalism, it really isn't. It's not like you need a degree and a license to call yourself a ``journalist'', alas.\footnote{It is, unfortunately, one of those words whose meanings have become watered down over the years.} While one of the strengths of the web is that anyone can publish whatever they like to it, in the absence of actual, careful research\footnote{By which I do \textbf{not} mean ``find a bunch of YouTube videos and Facebook posts that confirm your own biases.'' Quite the opposite, in fact.} on the part of the writer and actual, careful fact-checking on the part of a disinterested third-party, it's little more than junk at best, and harmful, dangerous junk at the the worst.
(I could—and probably should at some point—say a lot more about the importance of an independent free press to the functioning of a working democracy, but again, a different topic for a different zine. Suffice it to say that a \textit{real} news source, be it newspaper, magazine, or televsion channel, is not afraid to print retractions when they get things wrong. If your news source is never wrong, it's not news, it's opinion, and you are being duped.)
\chapter{Music (\twonotes) in \LaTeX{}}
\section{Standard Notation}
@ -286,7 +284,7 @@ As it turns out, there are a number of packages that enable you to include music
First, there is the \texttt{wasysym} (or Waldi Symbol font) package, which is basically a symbol font for LaTeX. It includes a lot of different symbols, including some interesting circles (\Circle{}, \leftturn{}, \rightturn{}) that I could have used on a different project had I known about this then. It's a symbol font, so when it comes to music, what it offers is rudimentary: you can add an eighth note (\eighthnote), a quarter note (\quarternote), a half note (\halfnote), a whole note (\fullnote), or two joined eighth notes (\twonotes). In math mode, you can also add a natural symbol ($\natural$), a flat symbol ($\flat$), or a sharp symbol ($\sharp$).
I have to admit, while I like this, I'm not entirely sure what it's for. It's possible that it started out as one thing and ended up as another. That is certainly true of most of the projects that I've worked on.
I have to admit, while I like this, I'm not entirely sure what it's for. It's possible that it started out as one thing and ended up as another. That is certainly true of most of the projects that I've created. I'll investigate more later.
\subsection{harmony}
@ -309,6 +307,8 @@ And it also has what I believe is chord notation (although I could be—and prob
@ -345,7 +344,6 @@ And then there is the \texttt{musixtex} package. It makes use of a \texttt{music
which produces this bit of music:
\begin{music}
\parindent10mm
\setname1{Piano}% whose name is Piano
\instrumentnumber{1}% a single instrument
\setstaffs1{2}% with two staffs
@ -356,7 +354,7 @@ which produces this bit of music:
\zendextract% terminate excerpt
\end{music}
What strikes me most is that most of that code is not in any way intuitive. The package is well-documented, but at 166 pages, it's going to take some work to become proficient. There's no reason you \textit{couldn't} learn this, but it's not something you're going to do overnight. Still, I think this might be the package I am looking for.
What strikes me most is that half of that code is not in any way intuitive. The package is well-documented, but at 166 pages, it's going to take some work to become proficient. There's no reason you \textit{couldn't} learn this, but it's not something you're going to do overnight. Still, I think this might be the package I am looking for.
\subsection{ABC}
@ -409,7 +407,7 @@ There is also a free and open-source software package (originally based on \TeX{
It is now \textit{later} and, well…here we are. I still haven't figured out Lilypond. But it is an exceptional program, and if you are interested in typesetting music, I encourage you to check it out.
\section{Summary}
As it turns out, incorporating musical notation into a text document (which was my original goal) is not that easy in \LaTeX{}. Most of the packages out there are either too simple to produce something useful like a music tutorial or even music notes. The \texttt{musixtex} package seems to have the most potential for something like this, but it is far from intuitive. (If \verb+\Notes\ibu0f0\qb0{cge}\tbu0\qb0g|\ql+ makes sense to you, I think we are definitely buying donuts in different donut shops.)
As it turns out, incorporating musical notation into a text document (which was my original goal) is not that easy in \LaTeX{}. Most of the packages out there are either too simple to produce something useful like a music tutorial or even meaningful music notes. The \texttt{musixtex} package seems to have the most potential for something like this, but it is far from intuitive. (If \verb+\Notes\ibu0f0\qb0{cge}\tbu0\qb0g|\ql+ makes sense to you, I think we are definitely buying donuts in different donut shops.)
\chapter{An Introduction to \LaTeX{}}
@ -423,7 +421,7 @@ Second, some things will look differently and behave differently for you dependi
\item Don't compare yourself to others. Your mileage can—and will—vary, because people learn things at different rates and in different orders.
\item Practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make things less shitty.
\item A willingness to experiment is your best guide.
\item You will get errors. Try to avoid getting the same error over and over again. Strive for better errors.
\item You will get errors. Try to avoid getting the same error over and over again. Strive for better errors that you can learn something new from.
\end{enumerate}
Also, if you have access to the source code so you can see how other people have done things, so much the better. (You can view the source code for this zine at \href{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/the-codex}{\texttt{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/the-codex}}.) In particular with \LaTeX{}, it can help if you create an MWE (minimal working example) when working with new things, to rule out interference from other bits of code.
@ -436,11 +434,11 @@ Also, if you have access to the source code so you can see how other people have
To start a new paragraph, simply skip a line. \LaTeX{} compresses white space, so if you are importing text from a text document, any lines that are adjacent to each other will be in the same paragraph. Additionally, multiple spaces will appear as a single space. For example, this code:
\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, label=White Space Example, breaklines=true, framesep=3mm]
\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, label=\fbox{White Space Example}, breaklines=true, framesep=3mm]
This is the first paragraph.
This text, although it is on a separate line, is also part of the first paragraph.
We have skipped a line, so this starts a new paragraph.
We have skipped a line, so this starts a second paragraph.
This line is also in the second paragraph.
Readers will not see
@ -449,12 +447,13 @@ spaces.
\end{Verbatim}
\noindent{} renders like this: \\
\hrule
\vspace{2mm}
\klab{0mm}{White Space Example}{2mm}
This is the first paragraph.
This text, although it is on a separate line, is also part of the first paragraph.
We have skipped a line, so this starts a new paragraph.
We have skipped a line, so this starts a second paragraph.
This line is also in the second paragraph.
Readers will not see
@ -464,9 +463,9 @@ spaces.
\hrule
\section{Document Structure}
\section{File Structure}
Every \LaTeX{}document has two parts:
Every \LaTeX{}file has two parts:
\begin{enumerate}[noitemsep]
\item A \textbf{preamble} in which you declare the document class and add any packages you may need, as well as set other variables such as the title and author.
@ -483,11 +482,11 @@ Within the preamble, you can declare the document's \textit{class}, which is a d
\documentclass[twoside]{report}
\end{Verbatim}
The class is described between curly brackets, but you can also include several options in square brackets. The above document class is a two-sided report. ``Two-sided'' means that it may have different margins, headers, and footers on right and left handed pages. Other options, such as paper size and font size, are available.
The class is described between curly brackets, but you can also include several options in square brackets. The above document class is a two-sided report. ``Two-sided'' means that it may have different margins, headers, and footers on right and left handed pages. Other options, such as paper size, are also available.
\subsection{The \texttt{document} Environment}
Anything not in the preamble goes in the \texttt{document} environment, which looks like this:
Your actual text goes in the \texttt{document} environment, which looks like this:
\begin{Verbatim}[commandchars=\+\(\)]
\begin{document}
@ -495,7 +494,7 @@ Anything not in the preamble goes in the \texttt{document} environment, which lo
\end{document}
\end{Verbatim}
\subsection{Document Sections}\label{docsec}
\subsection{Publication Structure}\label{docsec}
Each \LaTeX{} document can be divided into a hierarchical structure consisting of the following sections:
@ -509,7 +508,7 @@ Part
Subparagraph
\end{verbatim}
\noindent{} To add one, use:
\noindent{} To add one, use something like this:
\begin{verbatim}
\chapter[Books]{Books I Have Read}
@ -525,11 +524,11 @@ For best results, stick to the hierarchical structure shown above, as this is al
\subsection{Environments}
\noindent{}This is where \LaTeX{} shows its power, as environments are used to to take care of typesetting tasks. Every environment begins with \verb+\begin{<environment>}+ and ends with \verb+\end{<environment>}+. In fact, we've already seen one environment: the \texttt{document} environment, which encompasses our entire published document. Here are a few other useful ones:
\noindent{}This is where \LaTeX{} shows its power, as environments are used to to take care of typesetting tasks. Every environment begins with \verb+\begin{<environment>}+ and ends with \verb+\end{<environment>}+. In fact, we've already seen one environment: the \texttt{document} environment, which encompasses our entire published document. Here are a few other useful ones:
\subsubsection{Enumerate}
\texttt{enumerate} is used to create numbered lists. They can be nested to create an outline. To prevent \LaTeX{} from adding a lot of space between the item numbers, add the \texttt{enumitem} package pass and the \texttt{[noitemsep]} to the environment.
\texttt{enumerate} is used to create numbered lists. They can be nested to create an outline. To prevent \LaTeX{} from adding a lot of space between the item numbers, add the \texttt{enumitem} package and pass and the \texttt{[noitemsep]} to the environment.
For example, this code:
@ -577,7 +576,7 @@ For example, this code:
Similar to the \texttt{enumerate} environment, the \texttt{itemize} environment creates bulleted lists, which can also be nested.
As an example, we'll use the above example, but in a bulleted list:
As an example, we'll use the above example, but as a bulleted list:
\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, label=Itemize Example, framesep=3mm]
\paragraph{The First Punic War}
@ -639,7 +638,7 @@ As an example, we'll use the above example, but in a bulleted list:
\subsection{Math in \LaTeX{}}
\LaTeX{} has a couple of different environments that are useful for typesetting math (\texttt{align} and \texttt{array}, but they get a little beyond what I want to cover here.\footnote{Maybe in a later issue? I can, if there is interest.} In addition, there are other packages (in particular \texttt{amsmath} and \texttt{mathtools}) that greatly extend the power of LaTeX to handle mathematical typesetting, but again, they are beyond the scope of this zine.
\LaTeX{} has a couple of different environments that are useful for typesetting math (\texttt{align} and \texttt{array}, but they get a little beyond what I want to cover here\footnote{Maybe in a later issue? I can, if there is interest.}). In addition, there are other packages (in particular \texttt{amsmath} and \texttt{mathtools}) that greatly extend the power of LaTeX to handle mathematical typesetting, but again, they are beyond the scope of this zine.
There are two types of \textit{entry modes} for math in LaTeX. The first is \textbf{in-line mode}, which begins and ends with a dollar sign, and renders the math in the same line of text as the rest of the paragraph.
@ -689,7 +688,7 @@ Let's start with point \#1.
The two main commercial alternatives to Linux are macOS (Apple) and Windows (Microsoft).
macOS is expensive. The only way to get it is to buy an Apple product. I admit, Apple products are \textit{gorgeous} and the hardware is usually designed to last for a long time.\footnote{iPhones may be the exception to this.} But it is also \textit{expensive}. I've done a bit of cost comparison and the cheapest Macintosh laptop I can buy is easily five times the price of the cheapest Windows laptop I can buy.
macOS is less widely available. The only way to get it is to buy an Apple product. I admit, Apple products are \textit{gorgeous} and the hardware is usually designed to last for a long time.\footnote{iPhones may be the exception to this.} But it is also \textit{expensive}. I've done a bit of cost comparison and the cheapest Macintosh laptop I can buy is easily five times the price of the cheapest Windows laptop I can buy.
That actually makes Windows sound cheap in comparison. But is it?
@ -700,17 +699,17 @@ That actually makes Windows sound cheap in comparison. But is it?
\noindent\textbf{Oh look, it's our only diversion.}
\begin{multicols}{2}
We are in Late Stage Capitalism. That is, we have reached a stage of capitalism which is unsustainable on this planet alone. The entire point of capitalism is ``growth'' but when you are limited to an existence on a single planet that has no trade with other planets, that growth is limited by the amount of whatever resources that planet has. And when those resources run out—or it becomes impossible to make a profit by exploiting them—capitalism will collapse, and it will very like take billions of us with it.
\noindent{}We are in Late Stage Capitalism. That is, we have reached a stage of capitalism which is unsustainable on this planet alone. The entire point of capitalism is ``growth'' but when you are limited to an existence on a single planet that has no trade with other planets, that growth is limited by the amount of whatever resources that planet has. And when those resources run out—or it becomes impossible to make a profit by exploiting them—capitalism will collapse, and it will very like take billions of us with it.
These resources have always been \textit{physical} resources—wood, coal, oil, rare-earth elements, and the labor of the working classes to extract and process them.
These resources have always been \textit{physical} resources—food, wood, coal, oil, rare-earth elements, and the labor of the working classes to extract and process them.
Because those resources are finite, we've seen capitalism go off in other directions to find other resources to exploit. This explains why rich white guys with entirely too much time on their hands want to ride their penis-rockets into space—because asteroids are out there and they're just full of iron, cobalt, and other metals just waiting to be mined.
Because those resources are finite, we've seen capitalism go off in other directions to find other resources to exploit. This explains why rich white guys with entirely too much time on their hands want to ride their penis-rockets into space—because asteroids are out there and they're just full of iron, cobalt, and other metals just waiting to be mined and turned into cell phones.
But we've also seen capitalism go in a hitherto new direction: the digital direction. Capitalism is no longer interested in just mining iron or coal; it's also interested in mining \textit{data}. Data, it seems, is the one resource we can never run out of.\footnote{When I worked in retail, I was always told to push the extended warranties whenever I could. This was partly because the profit margin on them was incredibly high (extended warranties are basically a legal scam because there are so many terms and conditions you'll never be able to cash in) and ``they're the one inventory item we never run out of.''}
The primary kind of data they want is information about what we are interested in: what we want to buy, because if they know what we are interested in, they can then sell that information to advertising platforms who will slug your user experience full of advertisements for those exact things.
The primary kind of data they want is information about what we are interested in and what we want to buy, because if they know what we are interested in, they can then sell that information to advertising platforms who will slug your user experience full of advertisements for those exact things.
Order a ham sandwich for lunch online? That is now data. We know you like both ham and sandwiches. (Okay, this is really an \textit{assumption}, but algorithms are built by people, and they are only as good as the people who built them. In short, algorithms make the same assumptions as the people who built them.)
Order a ham sandwich for lunch online? That is now data. We know you like both ham and sandwiches. (Okay, this is really an \textit{assumption}, but algorithms are built by people, and they are only as good as the people who build them. In short, algorithms make the same assumptions as the people who build them.)
Order a ham sandwich on Monday, but order a turkey sandwich on Friday? That is also data. Now I know lots of things about you:
@ -727,7 +726,7 @@ Of course, they aren't selling that data to a local mom-and-shop sandwich shop d
As a result, when you think ``I could really go for a sandwich right about now'' you automatically think of the nearest Evil International Sandwich Shop and not the local mom-and-pop sandwich shop, simply because you saw an ad for the EISS, and when it comes to both hunger and money, your big huge mammalian brain depends on that little tiny reptilian bit at its core. You \textit{think} you are choosing, but you are not. Like a rat in a Skinner test, you are merely being rewarded for pushing the button that capitalism wants you to push.
And this is what Windows does. It gathers your data and ``shares'' it with other companies it has paid agreements with.
And this is what Windows does. It gathers your data and ``shares'' it with other companies it has paid agreements with. The price is low, but the cost is high.
\end{multicols}
Windows may appear to be low-cost or even free when you buy that new computer, but it does have a cost—your privacy. And because advertisers use some pretty sophisticated techniques to get you to buy their stuff, there is an additional cost—your ability to truly choose for yourself.
@ -758,7 +757,7 @@ Nemo is actually a fork of Nautilus (version 3.4, I believe) and includes a lot
It turns out that installing Nemo and making it the default file manager is fairly simple. These are the commands you need:
\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines,label=Enter each line separately, numbers=left, baselinestretch=1.2, breaklines=true]
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true
sudo apt purge nemo nemo*
@ -830,7 +829,7 @@ Anyway, because I couldn't figure out how to get this on SourceForge, I just dro
As I write this, the release of Ubuntu 24.04 is less than a year away. Unlike the release of Ubuntu 22.04, I am not in the least bit excited. And I will \textbf{not} be upgrading immediately, if at all. (Ubuntu 22.04 has ten years of security releases,\footnote{See \href{https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle}{\texttt{https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle}} for more information.} so I will be good for a while.)
I do have a spare machine that I can experiment with Ubuntu 24.04 on. The main problem is that I don't have a lot of time.\footnote{If I did, you'd be reading issue \#12 of this zine, rather than issue \#3.} So yeah, I can install Ubuntu 24.04 and ooh and aah over whatever is new and shiny (and I admit, ``new and shiny'' was a big part of the reason I was so eager to update to 22.04---I'm a human and our eyes are quite naturally drawn to ``new and shiny''). But I don't have the needed time to fully experiment with it and determine if it is suitable to my needs (which range from ``needs to be perfect'' to ``needs to be just the right amount of shitty'') or if it's another disaster-in-waiting.
I do have a spare machine that I can experiment with Ubuntu 24.04 on. The main problem is that I don't have a lot of time.\footnote{If I did, you'd be reading issue \#12 of this zine, rather than issue \#3.} So yeah, I can install Ubuntu 24.04 and \textit{ooh} and \textit{aah} over whatever is new and shiny (and I admit, ``new and shiny'' was a big part of the reason I was so eager to update to 22.04---I'm a human and our eyes are quite naturally drawn to ``new'' and ``shiny''). But I don't have the needed time to fully experiment with it and determine if it is suitable to my needs (which range from ``has to be perfect'' to ``can be just the right amount of shitty'') or if it's another disaster-in-waiting.
And yeah, the emphasis in the promotional material will focus on the ``new'' and the ``shiny'' because, like I said, human beings are just naturally attracted to those things. But \textit{new} and \textit{shiny} don't always translate to \textit{useful} and \textit{functional}. That was certainly true of 22.04 out of the box.
@ -860,7 +859,7 @@ A few people have noted on Reddit that the images I included in prior images are
This is a problem because that \texttt{paper\_cutter.jpg} image is 136kb in size and that \texttt{c128.jpg} image is 2.3 mb in size. Because these get included in \LaTeX{}, which then handles the scaling, the resulting pdf file is rather bloated, which is the exact opposite of what you want when you are distributing something via the internet.
Because I am scaling the paper cutter image by 0.5, the resulting file size should be about a fourth of that, or 34 kb. And because I'm scaling the c128 image by 0.13, the corresponding file size should be about 0.0169 of that, or roughly 40 kb in size. That's a huge difference.\footnote{Roughly, the size of your file should be approximately reduced by the square of your scaling factor. But these are jpg files, which are lossy, so it's never exactly that amount.}
Because I am scaling the paper cutter image by 0.5, the resulting file size should be about a fourth of that, or 34 kb. And because I'm scaling the c128 image by 0.13, the corresponding file size should be about 0.0169 of that, or roughly 40 kb in size. That's a huge difference.\footnote{Roughly, the size of your file should be approximately reduced by the inverse square of your scaling factor. But these are jpg files, which are lossy, so it's never exactly that amount.}
The problem is that I always envisioned this zine as being a physical object, not a digital one. I only uploaded it to my git repository because this is a learning project for me, and I wanted to keep track of any changes I made.
@ -868,7 +867,7 @@ But yeah, you should definitely resize your images before including them in any
\subsection{Installing \LaTeX{} Packages on Ubuntu}
\subsubsection{Method 1}
\subsubsection{Method \#1}
Every once in a while I run into a package that I want to use with LaTeX that is not installed on my system. Alas, there is no easy way to do this, at least that I found. \textit{Later}, I always thought. I'll figure that out later.
Like I've said elsewhere, I'm running a recently updated Ubuntu 22.04 system, and this worked for me. It may work for you, it may not. I can't even guarantee that it will work for me next time. (I suspect having a generic folder name like ``fonts'' may cause me issues down the road if I ever want to install some other LaTeX fonts.) But if I got it to work once, I'm pretty sure I can get it to work again. We shall see.
\subsubsection{Method 2}
\subsubsection{Method \#2}
A perhaps easier (and certainly more \textit{portable}) way of installing LaTeX packages is to add them to a local directory along the lines of:
@ -931,7 +930,7 @@ A perhaps easier (and certainly more \textit{portable}) way of installing LaTeX
/home/user/texmf
\end{verbatim}
This is how I installed the \textit{musixtex} package, and it is far simpler than what I have described in method 1.
This is how I installed the \textit{musixtex} package, and it is far simpler than what I have described in method \#1.
First, I downloaded the package and unpacked it. Then I copied its contents into my \texttt{texmf} directory, and finally updated the filename database:
@ -952,7 +951,7 @@ Mischief managed!
\section{What I learned About \LaTeX{} While Creating Something Else}
For reasons I don't understand I went down an internet rabbit hole reading about the book \textit{Flatland}, by Edwin A. Abbott. This is a book I had purchased years ago in my youth (thank you, Dover Thrift Editions!) but had never gotten around to reading. I found a copy in \LaTeX{} at \href{https://github.com/Ivesvdf/flatland}{\texttt{https://github.com/Ivesvdf/flatland}}. It was old---twelve years old, in fact---and it was set up as a single-sided A4 document. If you've been following this journey this far, you know that I'm pretty fond of booklets, and that I'm in North America, so everything has to be lettersize paper.\footnote{As an American citizen, I am bound by the U.S. Constitution to both completely disavow the metric system and be utterly confused by it, and to decry it as terribly confusing despite the fact that is based on dividing and multiplying by the number 10. This is part of our constitutional duty to vehemently oppose anything which makes sense and also makes life better, such as universal health care. I don't know, something about eagles and gravy and guns.}
For reasons I don't understand I went down an internet rabbit hole reading about the book \textit{Flatland}, by Edwin A. Abbott. This is a book I had purchased years ago in my youth (thank you, Dover Thrift Editions!) but had never gotten around to reading. I found a copy in \LaTeX{} at \href{https://github.com/Ivesvdf/flatland}{\texttt{https://github.com/Ivesvdf/flatland}}. It was old---twelve years old, in fact---and it was set up as a single-sided A4 document. If you've been following this journey this far, you know that I'm pretty fond of booklets, and that I'm in North America, so everything has to be lettersize paper.\footnote{As an American citizen, I am bound by the U.S. Constitution to both completely disavow the metric system and be utterly confused by it, and to decry it as terribly confusing despite the fact that it is based on dividing and multiplying by the number 10. This is part of our constitutional duty to vehemently oppose anything which makes sense and also makes life better, such as universal health care. I don't know, something about eagles and gravy and guns.}
I downloaded it, and decided to play around with it to see how much I could make it look like an actual book. My original purpose for starting this zine was to learn how to typeset things in \LaTeX{}, but it can be limiting since I've already figured out this format. Since I learn best from projects, another project was in order. This one fell into my lap at the perfect time.
@ -964,7 +963,7 @@ In \LaTeX{}, chapters can be grouped into ``parts'' using
part[]{}
\end{verbatim}
\noindent wherever you want a new part. (See the section on document sections on page \pageref{docsec} for more information.) Surprisingly, these pages still have page numbers, which I just find odd. You can remove them by adding the \texttt{nonumonpart} package.
\noindent wherever you want a new part. (See the section on publication structure on page \pageref{docsec} for more information.) Surprisingly, these pages still have page numbers, which I just find odd. You can remove them by adding the \texttt{nonumonpart} package.
\subsection{Adding Additional Text to ``Part'' Pages}
@ -988,7 +987,7 @@ As it turns out, you can make the text an optional argument to the \verb|\part|
The rest of it (that is, the \texttt{renewcommand} part) redefines the \texttt{endpart} to now include a \verb|\quote| environment, which is quite appropriate for an epigraph.
\subsection{Adjusting the Line Spacing}
\LaTeX{} was designed to write documents; as such, its ability to fine-tune certain document parameters, such as line-spacing, is fairly limited out of the box.\footnote{As it should be! Remember, the Unix Principle is to do one thing and do it well, not to be a Swiss army knife.} But if you need something, chances are that someone else has needed it before you and created a package that will do just that. In this case, the package you need is the \texttt{setspace} package.
\LaTeX{} was designed to write documents; as such, its ability to fine-tune certain document parameters, such as line-spacing, is fairly limited out of the box.\footnote{As it should be! Remember, the Unix Principle is to do one thing and do it well, not to be a Swiss army knife.} But if you need something, chances are that someone else has needed it before you and has created a package that will do just that. In this case, the package you need is the \texttt{setspace} package.
Add that to your preamble, and you can adjust the line spacing of your document by adding either \texttt{singlespacing}, \texttt{onehalfspacing}, or the \texttt{doublespacing} command to your preamble.
