TeX Clinic

by Toni Walter

The TeX Clinic is a project, started last year, which takes place at the conference in Bachotek. It's open to everyone, who plans to or writes any document and need assistance with typesetting it. Even if "the Patient" doesn't know TeX or LaTeX very well, our Doctors will help him or her to prepare it or to repair it. The result will be a typographically pleasant document or at least a prescription, how to go on to meet his or hers needs.

How does it work?

A group of TeXnicians, willing to help, will show you how to begin and will advise you, if you won't be able to go on. The main principle of the Clinic is: you typeset your document by yourself, but you can – anytime – count on the advices and help of the experienced “Doctors”.

What do I need?

Willingness is the first thing you should take with you.
Then you will also need the text of your document or at least a small part of it. If you have already started to write it in any other program, such as MS Word, we could also help you to convert it to TeX or LaTeX.
If you are using any special format, please contact the Clinic Team before the conference, to arrange for the best way for preparing your work for the conversion.
It would be good, if you could take your own computer (a laptop or even a desktop PC). But if you don't have one or can't bring it to the conference, it won't be a problem. There is a PC room at the conference, which everyone can use.

Do I have to have TeX installed on my computer?

The answer is: yes and no. Of course it will be better if you have it, we will then be able then start immediately. But you can also count on our TeX nicians being able to install TeX on your machine during the conference.
We will also have some DVDs with diverse TeX distributions, so you can borrow one from us to install it on your computer.

TeX? LaTeX? ConTeXt? Or maybe XeTeX?

Between the Doctors, there are experts in every topic with TeX inside, and also some other, such as graphics or Emacs. If you have specific questions, better let us know befor the conference, to give the Doctors time to prepare. But mostly there shouldn't be a problem with answering any spontaneus questions on the spot.
If you don't know the difference between the various TeX flavors mentioned in the section title, feel free to ask our Team!

Do I have to sign up before?

It is not nessecary, but would give us a review, how many “patients” we should expect. See the contact section.

Does it cost anything?

No, you don't have to pay anything more than the normal conference fee.

Who are the experts?

These are the people, who we somehow know, for example from earlier conferences, which are willing to help others and have good knowledge in any topic connected with TeX or other reffering to graphics or typesetting.

Below you can find the current list of our experts. Some of them where active in previous years, but this year they can't come to Bachotek. They are marked with an asterisk. Because there are still some days left till conference start it is possible that the list will change. The complete list will be posted at the board near the conference room. The languages the Doctor speaks are given in brackets (the list is not yet complete).

• * Maciej Jan Głowacki – MeX [Polish]
• Jean-Michel Hufflen – BibTeX [French, German, English]
• Paweł Jackowski – Non-Conventional Methods [Polish, English]
• Jonathan Kew – XeTeX [English]
• Jacek Kmiecik – ConTeXt, MetaPost, LaTeX [Polish]
• Adam Kolany – TeX, MetaPost [Polish]
• Ryszard Kubiak – Psychiatrist with the specialization Emacsophobie [Polish]
• * Krzysztof Leszczyński – MeX, TeX [Polish]
• * Bogusław Lichoński – graphics, TeX [Polish]
• Jerzy Ludwichowski – General Practitioner [Polish, English, German, Russian]
• Mojca Miclavec - ConTeXt [Slovene, English]
• Grzegorz Murzynowski – LaTeX, possibly TeX [Polish, English]
• * Wojciech Myszka – LaTeX and pictures [Polish]
• Janusz M. Nowacki - fonts [Polish]
• Joanna Ryćko – Co-Ordinator, Surgeon LaTeXologist [Polish, German, English]
• Marek Ryćko – TeXuologist [Polish, English]
• Andrzej Tomaszewski – Typography [Polish]
• Adam Twardoch - fonts [Polish, German, English]
• Zofia Walczak – LaTeX [Polish, English]
• Staszek Wawrykiewicz – Surgeon of TeX implantations [Polish]

How can I contact the clinic doctors?

There is an e-mail address, which works 365 days a year, feel free to ask your questions.
It is: klinika@gust.org.pl
If you have any organizational questions or you want to inform us about your specific needs, please contact me directly: Joanna Ryćko