07-08-2010, 11:50 PM | #1 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,213
Karma: 12890
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Device: Sony PRS-505
|
Proof of Concept: TeX-based ebook program in iPad
See this video of a talk from the TUG (TeX User Group) 2010 Conference.
Apparently in just a week he wrote up a TeX-based eBook reading program for the iPad in his spare time. It looks like it's nowhere near "ready", but if he can get this far in a week, this bodes well for the possibility of similar techniques being a distinct possibility in the near future. For those who aren't familiar, TeX is an advanced typesetting system which produces much higher quality typography than your typical ebook renderer, including end of line hyphenation, balanced whitespace distribution, pair kerning, ligatures, etc. I have no interest in the iPad, but it would be great if we could see similar technologies on other devices. That said, he think he could have done better with the sample. Why did he leave the margins so big? (By the way, there are other videos from the conference which people here might be interested, such as Donald Knuth's (the inventor of TeX) hilarious discussion of the successor to TeX.) |
07-09-2010, 01:23 AM | #2 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,385
Karma: 16056
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Asia
Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Sony PRS-505
|
Yes, it could be very promising if a TeX-based ebook program were developed. I've long wondered why all the big companies have doddled as they have, leaving ebook readers in the typographical stone age. Was it simply processing overhead, or was it laziness on behalf of developers?
It'd be wonderful if this was carried forward to end-products. For devices that are supposed to be "specialized" for reading, software like this should be a no-brainer. |
Advert | |
|
07-09-2010, 08:46 AM | #3 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,244
Karma: 3439432
Join Date: Feb 2008
Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (300ppi), Samsung Galaxy Book 12
|
It was a neat presentation, but as I pointed out in the Q&A at the end, he's essentially recreated the Wired Magazine app since the pages are ``merely'' rendered as images (one each per portrait / landscape).
The Knuth & Plass H&J algorithm is in the public domain, the problem is it demands quite a bit more processing power than the brain-dead 1-line at a time, greedy algorithms currently in use. Given that I used to use TeX on a 25MHz 68040 NeXT Cube though, it really should be feasible. William |
Tags |
latex, tex, typesetting algorithms |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
DR800 Shutdown mode - proof of concept | Shaggy | iRex | 51 | 09-16-2012 06:39 AM |
Penguin Interactive Books for the iPad: Concept Demo | daffy4u | News | 3 | 03-11-2010 11:33 AM |
iPad Processor May Be Based on Older Design | Sonist | Apple Devices | 0 | 03-01-2010 05:56 PM |
US-based ebook reader owners want more features | grimo1re | News | 18 | 09-09-2009 10:36 PM |
Proof Of Concept - RSS->PDF | sartori | Sony Reader | 12 | 10-07-2006 03:40 PM |