Dear John, thank you for your kind answer and the historical excursions. Your detailed post may help and inform other readers, too. Thanks for your hint to TexStudio (I use[d] Texworks, Texshell, WinEDT). So TeX will not be the problem, but I have first to learn about texinfo.
| > Thanks for any hint or link by expert R users. | Oh, well, that excludes me. I'm not an expert. No, your answer includes you :) It was very helpful. Indeed, I should better have said 'enthusiastic R users' ;) best Wolfgang ----- Original Message ----- From: "John McKown" <john.archie.mck...@gmail.com> To: "Dr. Wolfgang Lindner" <lindn...@t-online.de> Cc: "Help R" <r-help@r-project.org> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 1:36 PM Subject: Re: [R] the making of _R_ eBooks | On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 3:50 AM, Dr. Wolfgang Lindner | <lindn...@t-online.de> wrote: | > Dear list members, | > | > I like the look and feel of the eBook versions of the R manuals very much. | > So I would like to generate eBooks (teaching material etc) in that look. | | I am not an expert. But I have looked at the source, so I can give you | some information. | | > | > Q1: is there a description how the _R_ ebooks have been produced? | | Looking at the source, it appears that the source manuals are in a | document markup language called "GNU Texinfo". | https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ | You can think of this as something akin to, but different from, HTML | or "markdown" encoding. Texinfo is an evolution by the system first | designed by Richard Stallman of MIT. He is the driving force behind | the GPL and most of the GNU software which forms the basis of the user | space commands for Linux and the *BSD operating systems. Texinfo is | then converted to TeX. TeX is the typesetting language designed by Dr. | Donald Knuth. TeX, nominally, is converted into a DVI printer control | language (DeVice Independent). But in the case of creating a PDF file, | there is a processor called "pdftex", | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PdfTeX, which produces a PDF file as | output . A good site for TeX is https://tug.org/ | | Texinfo has the plus of also having processor which will convert it to | UNIX "man" (manual) pages and HTML web pages. So one "source" document | can generate three different types of output document file types. | | Most people use a enhanced TeX called LaTeX instead of "plain TeX" | when using TeX. LaTeX can be read up on here: | http://www.latex-project.org/ A good TeX document processor is | TeXstudio at http://texstudio.sourceforge.net/ . I use this one myself | (which is not necessary a strong endorsement because I'm nobody | special). | | I feel the need to warn you that TeX is very powerful and, at least to | me, quite difficult, with a fairly step learning curve. Which may be | why the R project uses Texinfo because it is quite a bit easier to | learn. | | | > Q2: which (free) software was used for them? | | See the links above. On Fedora Linux, I get the TeX oriented software | from a bunch of packages which start with "texlive". More information, | including the processors for Linux, Windows, and Mac are at | https://www.tug.org/texlive/ | | > Q3: any other recommendations? | | You might consider LyX. | http://www.lyx.org/ | LyX is a document processor. It would likely be easier to use than the | above if you are used to MS Word or other word processing system. It | is cross platform: Linux, Windows, and Mac. It stores files in its own | textual format, which is somewhat human readable. LyX, like Texinfo, | translates its format into TeX as an intermediate on its way to its | ultimate destination. I am still learning LyX, but I personally like | it. | | Your mention of LibreOffice is also a fairly good one. I, personally, | use LibreOffice. But I don't use it for big documents. I have a | learned aversion for word processors because it is so easy for them to | be misused. In my opinion, a good document needs good metadata in it | as well as just "looking pretty". Word processor users tend to focus | on the format and not the content. That's just my opinion, based on | what I've seen where I work. | | > | > Seaching the internet gives me e.g. | > [1] | > https://sites.google.com/site/richardbyrnepdsite/ebooks-and-audiobooks/create-your-own-ebooks | > [2] opensource.com/life/13/8/how-create-ebook-open-source-way | > [3] http://scottnesbitt.net/ubuntublog/creating-a-ebook-with-libreoffice-writer/ | > | > but I m not sure, if there are better possibilities.. | > | > Thanks for any hint or link by expert R users. | | Oh, well, that excludes me. I'm not an expert. But maybe it was helpful anyway. | | > | > Wolfgang Lindner | > Leichlingen, Germany | | -- | If you sent twitter messages while exploring, are you on a textpedition? | | He's about as useful as a wax frying pan. | | 10 to the 12th power microphones = 1 Megaphone | | Maranatha! <>< | John McKown | | ______________________________________________ | R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see | https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help | PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html | and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
