Hi Predrag, I am mostly interested in the speed... do you have an example that I can see (send privately to me)? You say also that it's easy to add movies to the slides, can you embed them, actually? This would be very interesting.
Pau 2008/3/19, Predrag Punosevac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Pau Amaro-Seoane wrote: > > Hi, > > > > very often I have to give a talk about my work etc... The slides > > contain a lot of math equations, plots and even sometimes some movies. > > > > I was used to latex-beamer to do all this because I want something I > > can edit with vi(m) and it fulfilled all requisites ... and I was used > > to it when I was using linux. > > > > I have switched to OpenBSD since some 1.5 years and I am very happy to > > report here, by the way, that OpenBSD _does_ start X on the projector > > where most linux peecees and macs fail :) BUT -and this is the main > > reason to write now- the pdf slides created with latex-beamer "feel > > heavy"... What I mean is that when using full screen (with xpdf or > > kpdf etc) it takes some 3-4 seconds to change a slide. I don't know > > why... I can provide you with a test talk, so that you udnerstand what > > I mean. > > > > This is very bad when somebody in the public asks a question of plot > > number 2 in slide #3 and you're in slide #55. Sure there are ways to > > overcome the problem, with the progress bar of latex-beamer, for > > instance, but still I don't like it. > > > > I just want to ask here in misc whether somebody has had the same > > problem and what other alternatives there are. > > > > I have noticed that a lot of people are using magicpoint out there. I > > had a look at it, but it seems not obvious to use when it comes to > > latex. As far as i know, there are these two possibilities: > > > > http://www.sonycsl.co.jp/person/nishida/mgp-users/msg00241.html > > > > http://www.sonycsl.co.jp/person/nishida/mgp-users/msg00290.html > > > > I have made some tests and I could not use all latex commands... I run > > into a snag in a number of occasions. > > > > Question: Do you have any recommendation / suggestion to prepare talks > > to be shown in a projector including mathematical equations, plots > > and, eventually, movies (I can live without this last point)? > > > > > > I am a mathematician so I am quite often in the same position as you to > give presentations which contain > lots of formulas and images. > > I use Powerdot class of Latex presentations (descendant of Prosper an > obsolete class of presentations ) which is as an alternative to the > Beamer class. For the comprehensive review of all classes of > presentations for latex you may check > > http://texcatalogue.sarovar.org/bytopic.html#present > > The advantages over Powerdot over Beamer are numerous. > Powerdot is far easier (has only 60 man pages v.s. Beamer man pages are > over 400 pages). > It is also very simple to incorporate movies into your slides. The > slides are easily customized > and in my point of view far more beautiful than the Beamer. > > The popularity of Beamer seems comes from the fact that you can use > pdflatex to produce pdf slides. > That is not possible with Powerdot as it uses some PostScript tricks. So > you will have to latex slides followed by > dvips and ps2pdf or dvipdfm to produce pdf slides. The ultimate goal of > course is to produce pdf slides. > > I noticed that one has to use Adobe Reader (I prefer Xpdf as well) which > is only available from ports due to the > license issues in order to have alive links on slides. That seems to be > built in feature ( I would call it bug) > which should be communicated probably up stream. The slides are very > responsive. I personally have not seen better > looking slides on any platform and I think I have seen it all. > > Powerdot class of presentations is part of TeXLive but not the part of > teTeX. As you know teTeX is > dead for about three years now and the TeXLive is official TeX > distribution for Unix maintained by TeX community. > TeXLive is available only from ports for OpenBSD 4.2. > However you will have to use port for 4.3 current (soon to be release) > as I stumbled upon a bug in Powerdot > class of presentation. The bug was in TeXLive source code and was well > documented. > It is already fixed by port maintainer for OpenBSD 4.3. > > As far as I know TeXLive will be regular package (you will not need to > use ports) starting OpenBSD 4.3. This is > only second Unix like system after Debian to have fully functional > TeXLive thanks to Edd Baret porter of TeXLive > for OpenBSD. On the last note I recommend that you install full TeXLive > which is about 1Gb but includes > all TeX/Latex features coded at the moment. I am not sure if the TeXLive > base includes Powerdot. I would guess yes. > > > Most Kind Regards, > Predrag Punosevac > > > Thanks, > > > > Pau
