From: Nick Bardsley <nbardsley <at> ICC <dot> CO <dot> UK>
Date: 15 mar 2000
Subject: OFF TOPIC A BIT - RE: Shogi Font

Helloa, Peter,

You're absolutely right re LaTeX and almost all OS's out there. I guess =
my newbie's enthusiasm for Linux got me carried away.

I didn't know about the Chinese Chess package. I don't believe it came =
with my distribution. Could you point me in the right direction re =
downloading this?

You're on the money re PS and PDFs. (I find the dvi/pdf manuals =
available for various Linuxy things much the nicest documentation =
around.)

Many thanks,

Nick

----------
From:  Peter Banaschak[SMTP:Peter.Banaschak <at> T-ONLINE <dot> DE]
Sent:  15 March 2000 08:55
To:  SHOGI-L <at> TECHUNIX <dot> TECHNION <dot> AC <dot> IL
Subject:  Re: Shogi Font

Ahoi, Nick !
As you may have noticed, there also is a LaTeX package for
Chinese Chess, together with a METAFONT source for the
pieces. Unfortunately, you're right that there is no Shogi,
not to mention a Shogi variations package. BTW, I'd be
insulted if you'd  narrow LaTeX to Unix/Linux users alone.
There are LaTeX systems for nearly every OS imaginable (I
personally use a Mac clone). Perhaps you should be asking
this question on the comp.text.tex newsgroup... The Shogi
boards shouldn't be the problem, not even the placement of
pieces on the board, but the appropriate METAFONT sources
for the pieces might be (and it would even be better if
someone made up a PostScript Type 1 fount as well). I'll
follow that closely, as I see the advantages of a LaTeX
package as well (it would make preparing nice-looking PDFs
rather simple). And of course it's a good idea to present
just another Shogi variant in an interesting way.

Peter

Nick Bardsley schrieb:
>
> I'm no expert on Linux by any means and certainly not an expert where =
the LaTeX typesetting system is concerned but I noted that it has an =
extension allowing the use of chess figures. It should not be too =
difficult to modify and extend that extension to produce a new one that =
allows Shogi figures.
>
> I mention this as a possibility which perhaps Linux and LaTeX savvy =
Shogi fans could work towards,
>
> I myself would like to produce a freely-available book exploring Wa =
Shogi (which is criminally under-resourced) and intend to use LaTeX =
(which idea originates from Colin Adams' use of this system to produce =
his Tenjiku book and articles).
>
> My problem will be how to represent Wa pieces in a clear and =
attractive fashion (because the purpose of the book would be to promote =
Wa by showing how an absolute beginner can have fun with this wonderful =
variant),
>
> Anyway, I haven't been much help, but I felt that the possibilities =
that LaTeX offers to writers of Shogi books and articles should be =
flagged up. It just needs someone to write that extension...
>
> Nick Bardsley