patrickg
patrickg on Hacker News
(author here)
True, of course. My main area is PDF and typographic programming, so I never think about the world out there...
Posted by
patrickg on Sunday October 18, 2026 @09:06AM
from the news.speedata.de dept.
Thank you (author here). I deliberately used the default settings. Typst mentions settings for the line breaking system in the manual (for example you can set the penalties for changing interword spacing between lines), the speedata publisher can switch on margin kerning.
There might be settings to speed up things, so if any of the authors provide me with the settings, I'd be happy to implement those.
Correct, I rarely submit something, I wasn't aware that I don't have to fill in all fields.
Posted by
patrickg on Wednesday February 11, 2026 @01:20AM
from the news.speedata.de dept.
I benchmark six different typesetting systems, typst ist by far the fastest. This article describes why the speedata Publisher is still my choice for producing product catalogs.
LuaHBTeX support has improved in the current version (next year's TeX-live), for example support for subsetting fonts.
I use the standard binary from TeX-live and use the integrated harfbuzz loader, which works like a charm.
The downloadable ZIP is ready to run and does not need any additional libraries. (That said, I include some helpers, for example for https access. )
(Author of speedata Publisher here)
Just a small note: the speedata Publisher ships with a LuaTeX, so you don't need it pre-installed.
Posted by
patrickg on Thursday February 22, 2024 @05:49AM
from the news.speedata.de dept.
In which sense “better output quality”?
I have a related feeling about TeX. It has superb output quality but the programming is awful. When LuaTeX finally arrived a few years ago, it was possible to do almost everything you have done before in the TeX language (starting with \backslashes) in Lua.
See http://wiki.luatex.org/index.php/TeX_without_TeX for an introduction.
I have (shameless plug) created a database publishing software using this technique (https://github.com/speedata/publisher/). Once in a while I have to use LaTeX and it feels a bit old school to do the macro programming.
My next project is to rewrite the TeX algorithms in Go - see https://github.com/speedata/boxesandglue. Already usable but not TeX like in any way (this is just a library, not a frontend software like TeX)
Did you try to enforce the AGPL somehow? In the sense that the user that puts it on a (web)server must provide the end user the source code? (The 'A' in AGPL).
https://openclipart.org is (somewhat) back. I think this was better browsable and searchable in the past. At least there is some contents available.
These pages are really valuable.
I started with a closed source software but I opened it shortly after. So I didn't start with this in my mind, but since I love open source software, I had the feeling that I should open it and try my luck. I love the idea of the GNU projet.
I give away my database publishing software (
https://www.speedata.de/) for free and make a living with offering services (helping companies producing high quality product catalogs and datasheets etc. using the software) Its not much, but I live a happy live.
I spend about 1/2 of the time doing services and 1/2 hacking on the software. Quite often, customers are paying for new features in the software so it is paid hacking. Great!
Posted by
patrickg on Saturday January 12, 2019 @01:37PM
from the openculture.com dept.
No official support for Mac yet... Interesting anyways, thanks
Data files and source code. Sure I have considered using line wrap, but I don't like it.
Yes, I've had an exchange with the author about this, and he said, it might be possible to tweak this, but his is buried in some obsucure configuration.
I really like Lua and hacking things in Lua, so this editor looks like its what I need. But there is one show stopper, that I have no idea how to avoid: scrolling horizontally on my Mac is terrible slow, and I have lots of files with long lines..
The author and the communtity around it is great, all questions that I had have been answered quickly. So every few months or so I download the newest package and look if anyting has changed meanwile.
But it should be possible to a) use a prepaid credit card or b) pay with good old cash. That way it is still possible to buy without getting tracked (while all the others that don't care use the loyalty card).
Not many comments about privacy. This is how I see it: You are identified when you enter the shop and amazon knows exactly the products you buy.
If you have the choice to buy or not to buy at the shop, that's fine, it is your decision. But let's imagine that in the not so far future, all shops in your neighborhood are like this. No way to go shopping whithout given exact trace of you, your location, the stuff you buy, the time you buy, the amount of food etc.
We all know that too much data is not good for us (yes, I am looking at you, my government).
While I like the idea of not standing in a line and wait, I really wish that these shops offer a prepaid anonymous card for those who don't want to be totally tracked.
Posted by
patrickg on Friday November 25, 2016 @05:26PM
from the openculture.com dept.
Posted by
patrickg on Friday November 25, 2016 @05:20AM
from the netzpolitik.org dept.
Short answer: no. In theory, it would be possible to increase the speed, but that would include a rewrite of these two font packages. Fontloading is not necessarily slow in Lua(TeX), but the mentioned luaotfload for example deals with all kinds of complex scripts which is not necessary in most cases.