Hello VietNetters, Welcome to the new VietNet (tm) anonymous ftp archive server. All programs and/or information is "AT YOUR OWN RISK" and no one in the entire world is responsible for it or anything that happens because of the use/nonuse of anything here. Due to the slow response time on xlnvax.excelan.com server, I have created a new anon ftp server to replace xlnvax. The name of the new server is na.excelan.com [IP=130.57.6.3 for those who do not run name server] All VietNet archives are stored under directory "Vietnet" in the mail folder, compressed format (to save space). You need to ftp in the binary mode to get the file, then uncompress it, and in many cases, invoke "mail -f foo" to read the articles out of the mail folder. A directory "incomings" is available for those who would like to send files/programs to be distributed on VietNet. na.excelan.com is a SUN 4/280 with lots of space. Please note that this service is available only for those on the Internet. Any questions or comments, please e-mail directly to me at tran@na.excelan.com Tony Tran Internet: tran@na.excelan.com -------- Here is the up to date listing of all files stored under VietNet archive: -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 310 Feb 25 10:01 Bridge.doc.v1n2.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 147837 Feb 25 10:01 Bridge.v1n2.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 53029 Feb 25 10:01 dovui_tar.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 75989 Feb 25 09:56 teraida.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 4816 Sep 29 13:49 vietnam.culture.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 602059 Feb 25 09:55 vietnet.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 8639 Feb 24 09:47 vietnet.allergy.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 24219 Feb 3 09:54 vietnet.arts.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 18994 Feb 12 22:47 vietnet.awards.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 190885 Feb 22 07:39 vietnet.bio.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 3605 Nov 12 02:33 vietnet.bridge.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 2345 Jan 11 15:41 vietnet.demo.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 6331 Nov 30 08:59 vietnet.earthquake.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 11042 Oct 18 08:34 vietnet.expand.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 9562 Jan 11 15:47 vietnet.font.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 3412 Jan 30 22:32 vietnet.history.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 109027 Feb 24 18:12 vietnet.hongkong.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 1369 Feb 25 10:56 vietnet.info -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 1275 Feb 16 12:15 vietnet.info.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 16171 Jan 15 09:52 vietnet.joke.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 13872 Jan 22 17:11 vietnet.jokes.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 4333 Feb 11 21:34 vietnet.language.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 1608 Feb 21 05:39 vietnet.medicine.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 5266 Feb 2 12:45 vietnet.monthly.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 22877 Feb 7 20:44 vietnet.musics.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 22070 Feb 21 11:19 vietnet.news.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 34978 Feb 23 17:19 vietnet.newsgroup.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 1763 Feb 9 10:28 vietnet.paper.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 32842 Feb 23 17:00 vietnet.party.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 72241 Feb 23 16:55 vietnet.poem.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 95521 Feb 25 09:56 vietnet.politics.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 2483 Oct 11 15:53 vietnet.potluck.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 2680 Feb 22 23:33 vietnet.program.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 9454 Feb 22 23:34 vietnet.programs.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 2165 Feb 16 09:26 vietnet.questions.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 10376 Feb 20 20:34 vietnet.quiz.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 4000 Nov 2 10:21 vietnet.ref.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 105741 Feb 20 13:50 vietnet.refugee.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 8158 Jan 22 10:33 vietnet.refugee.nos.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 3710 Feb 16 07:57 vietnet.songs.tex.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 5634 Feb 8 09:41 vietnet.talks.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 52948 Feb 6 16:28 vietnet.tet.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 6749 Feb 14 01:44 vietnet.valentine.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 1007 Feb 8 13:42 vietnet.wantads.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 2962 Jan 10 07:11 vietnet.war.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 8029 Oct 31 00:42 vietnet.welcome.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 5344 Jan 24 07:42 vietnet.welcome.tosend.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 1272 Dec 19 13:42 vietnet.xmas.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 5093 Feb 25 10:02 vnroff.c.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 201433 Feb 25 09:59 vnterm.tar.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 19673 Feb 25 10:02 vntex.c.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 tran 147845 Feb 25 09:59 vntex.macro.Z VietNamese Tex Songs in subdirectory pub/Vietnet/songs: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1511 Feb 26 12:13 6.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1972 Feb 26 12:13 7.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1714 Feb 26 12:14 8.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 13352 Feb 26 12:26 VNTeX-demo.shar.Z -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 11205 Feb 26 12:27 VNTeX-source.shar.Z -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1521 Feb 26 12:14 ages.of.dreams.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 17239 Feb 26 12:14 book.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1356 Feb 26 12:14 cay.da.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1276 Feb 26 12:14 crow.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1096 Feb 26 12:14 day.di.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1635 Feb 26 12:14 de_lai.quan.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1386 Feb 26 12:14 do.dua.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1388 Feb 26 12:14 dreams.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1767 Feb 26 12:14 duongVN.amy.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 369 Feb 26 12:14 header.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 5777 Feb 26 12:15 hoang.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1307 Feb 26 12:15 hoi.trang.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2108 Feb 26 12:15 hom.nay.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1330 Feb 26 12:15 horse.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2381 Feb 26 12:15 index.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1531 Feb 26 12:15 innocent.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 891 Feb 26 12:15 intro.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2142 Feb 26 12:15 ky.vat.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1386 Feb 26 12:15 ly_ngua_o.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1330 Feb 26 12:16 manysongs.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1458 Feb 26 12:16 mat_troi.amy.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2248 Feb 26 12:16 moon.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1946 Feb 26 12:16 nghin_trung.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2233 Feb 26 12:16 nghin_trung.trung.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1584 Feb 26 12:16 ngua_o.trung.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2859 Feb 26 12:16 qc.vn.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1098 Feb 26 12:16 qua.cau.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 801 Feb 26 12:16 qua.keu.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1338 Feb 26 12:16 quoc_ca.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2076 Feb 26 12:17 s10.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1969 Feb 26 12:17 s11.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1516 Feb 26 12:17 s12.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1352 Feb 26 12:17 s13.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1211 Feb 26 12:17 s14.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1419 Feb 26 12:17 s15.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1352 Feb 26 12:17 s16.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1120 Feb 26 12:17 s17.tex drwxr-xr-x 3 tran 512 Feb 27 10:45 test/ -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1048 Feb 26 12:17 trong.com.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1965 Feb 26 12:17 tuoi.mo.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 5339 Feb 26 12:17 tuoi_hong.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 46566 Feb 26 12:26 uci-songs.vnt -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 10603 Feb 26 12:18 viet-macro.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1575 Feb 26 12:18 vietnam.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 2320 Feb 26 12:18 vn_que_huong.tex -rw-rw-rw- 1 ftp 1423 Feb 26 12:18 vong_tay.tex Here is a sample session of an Internet user from spectre.arc.nasa.gov trying to copy Vietnamese song using "ftp anonymous" to log in to na.excelan.com and copy VNTeX-source.shar.Z and a tex song: Script started on Tue Feb 27 10:49:12 1990 4.2 BSD UNIX (spectre.arc.nasa.gov) login: xxxx Password: xxxx Last login: Sun Feb 25 09:53:29 from 130.57.6.3 Sun UNIX 4.2 Release 3.5 (BONGO) #1: Sat Mar 4 08:40:38 PST 1989 TERM = (vt100) _4> ftp na.excelan.com Connected to na.excelan.com. 220 na FTP server (SunOS 4.0) ready. Name (na.excelan.com:tran): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password. Password: [*** Put your login name here ***] 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (128.102.128.58,1390). bin dev etc pub usr 226 ASCII Transfer complete. 25 bytes received in 0.6 seconds (0.041 Kbytes/s) ftp> cd pub/Vietnet/songs 250 CWD command successful. ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (128.102.128.58,1392). 6.tex 7.tex 8.tex VNTeX-demo.shar.Z VNTeX-source.shar.Z ages.of.dreams.tex book.tex cay.da.tex crow.tex day.di.tex de_lai.quan.tex do.dua.tex dreams.tex duongVN.amy.tex header.tex hoang.tex hoi.trang.tex hom.nay.tex horse.tex index.tex innocent.tex intro.tex junk ky.vat.tex ly_ngua_o.tex manysongs.tex mat_troi.amy.tex moon.tex nghin_trung.tex nghin_trung.trung.tex ngua_o.trung.tex qc.vn.tex qua.cau.tex qua.keu.tex quoc_ca.tex s10.tex s11.tex s12.tex s13.tex s14.tex s15.tex s16.tex s17.tex test trong.com.tex tuoi.mo.tex tuoi_hong.tex uci-songs.vnt viet-macro.tex vietnam.tex vn_que_huong.tex vong_tay.tex 226 ASCII Transfer complete. 662 bytes received in 0.4 seconds (1.6 Kbytes/s) ftp> ls *.Z 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (128.102.128.58,1398). VNTeX-demo.shar.Z VNTeX-source.shar.Z 226 ASCII Transfer complete. remote: *.Z 40 bytes received in 0.78 seconds (0.05 Kbytes/s) ftp> bin 200 Type set to I. ftp> get VNTeX-source.shar.Z 200 PORT command successful. 150 Binary data connection for VNTeX-source.shar.Z (128.102.128.58,1399) (11205 bytes). 226 Binary Transfer complete. local: VNTeX-source.shar.Z remote: VNTeX-source.shar.Z 11205 bytes received in 2.1 seconds (5.1 Kbytes/s) ftp> get vong_tay.tex 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for vong_tay.tex (128.102.128.58,1393) (1423 bytes). 226 ASCII Transfer complete. local: vong_tay.tex remote: vong_tay.tex 1461 bytes received in 0.36 seconds (4 Kbytes/s) ftp> pwd 257 "/pub/Vietnet/songs" is current directory. ftp> quit 221 Goodbye. _5> exitConnection closed by foreign host. na_44>exit script done on Tue Feb 27 10:50:49 1990 ======== README ======== VNTeX is a preprocessor (writen in C) that translates Vietnamese text written according to a specific set of rules into TeX's. (See below for those rules.) VNTeX takes an ".vnt" file and creates a corresponding ".tex" file. It also generates a TeX macro file called VNTEX-MACRO.tex. Afterward, TeX or LaTeX (your choice) must be invoked to produce the ".dvi" file. USAGE ----- To make VNTeX, type in the current directory % make Assuming the input file is "lang-toi.vnt", type % VNTeX -12 lang-toi.vnt # for 12 point size % VNTeX -11 lang-toi.vnt # for 11 point size % VNTeX lang-toi.vnt # default -- 10 point size A corresponding .tex file is created which must be run through LaTeX/TeX to create the .dvi file. % latex lang-toi.tex % tex lang-toi.tex The .dvi file can then be sent to the laser printer using the local command at your site. VNTeX has only been tested under TeX version 2.98 and LaTeX version 2.09 on Sun3 and Sun4 workstations and Sequent Balance running 4.2 BSD Unix. One person mentions to me that he receives a "memory capacity exceeded" message while running LaTeX on the .tex file which is produced by VNTeX. I think this is a problem of LaTeX, especially in early releases of LaTeX, not VNTeX's. In this case, asking the system administrator to re-make LaTeX with a larger memory would solve the problem. A better solution would be to upgrade TeX and LaTeX. RULES: ------ The rules for writing Vietnamese are as follows: 1. dd, DD ===> as in ddinh (nail), dda'nh (fight). 2. oo, OO ===> as in coom (rice), soon (paint). 3. uu, UU ===> as in thuu (letter), dduua (deliver). 4. ( ===> as in dda('t tie^`n (expensive), ra('n (snake). 5. Letters are written from left to right, followed by marks above the letter (if any) and then the period (da^'u na(.ng) below the letter (if any). For examples, Chie^`u chie^`u ra dduu'ng ngo~ sau, Tro^ng ve^` que^ Me., ruo^.t ddau chi'n chie^`u. Vuu`a ba(`ng ha.t ddo^~, a(n gio^~ ca? la`ng. 6. Vietnamese and English can be mixed freely. However, if any word contains the letters defined in rules 1, 2 or 3 (dd, DD, uu, UU, oo, OO), they should be escaped, e.g., should be written Nha` ha`ng Bamboo Garden =================> Nha` ha`ng Bamb\oo Garden 7. To distinguish the end-sentence character 'period' or 'question' from the diacritical mark da^'u na(.ng or da^'u ho?i, respectively, you must ESCAPE the mark by preceeding it with a backslash '\'. Mie^'ng khi ddo'i ba(`ng go'i khi no\. # '.' escaped Ye^u ne^n to^'t, ghe't ne^n xa^'u. # '.' not escaped because # xa^'u already has da^'u sa('c TYPING ------ When you first start typing Vietnamese according to the rules above, the diacritical marks would bother you somewhat, especially the marks ^, ` and ~. However, your speed will pick up eventually. For me, after almost 4 years, I can type Vietnamese as fast as I can type English. :-) Well, not exactly. The trick is that I am using emacs editor which allows me to bind special control keys to vowels with ^. Thus, I never have to reach SHIFT-6. For instances, in emacs: CTRL-C a --> a^ CTRL-C A --> A^ CTRL-C e --> e^ CTRL-C o --> o^ If you are interested, I will mail you a copy of my emacs file "VNTeX-mode.el". FONTS ----- Personally, I think the slanted font at 11 point looks best. However, in larger fonts (14pt or bigger) you need to physically draw the mark '?' yourself for the letters uu, UU, oo, and OO. I think this is acceptable because we don't deal with larger fonts often. CAVEATS ------- VNTeX is by any means complete. We just wanted something acceptable without having to spend a lot of time to develop it. I would be more than willing to assist anyone on a different approach, be it METAfont or whatever. I have some ideas on how to enhance the program (more vigorous checking, better font selection when switching to larger fonts, etc.), but I cannot squeeze more time into it. Please feel free to distribute VNTeX to anyone interested, provided that you leave the message at the beginning of the program. Also please keep me informed if you make any modification. My e-mail address is nguyen@ics.uci.edu. In case you accidentally delete the original .vnt file but still have the corresponding .tex file, I also include in this package a program called tex2vnt which would reverse the translating process. That is, tex2vnt takes the .tex file generated by VNTeX and produces the corresponding .vnt file. To generate this program, type % make tex2vnt. For those of you who don't know what TeX is, let me describe it VERY briefly. TeX is "a sophisticated document preparation system of Donal Knuth to produce high-quality typesetting, especially for mathematical text." It is like WordStar, WordPerfect, or MicrosoftWord for IBM PCs or MacWrite for Macs. Similarly, LaTeX consists of a high level set of TeX macros which would make it easier for users to learn and use TeX. If your system does not have TeX, you are out of luck, i.e., you cannot run VNTeX! However, if you have troff, you can request from Nha^n at Florida a different package (written in C) for typesetting Vietnamese. He posted it a while ago on VietNet. This package is a re-implementation of a Pascal package written by another VietNet member whose name I forgot. (Please forgive me! Our VietNet family has been growing so fast!) BTW, I still keep a copy of this troff package. Anyway, happy printing...