	     MagicPoint - an X11 based presentation tool

			    March 9, 2000

MagicPoint is an X11 based presentation tool.  It is designed to make
simple presentations easy while to make complicated presentations
possible.  Its presentation file (whose suffix is typically .mgp) is
just text so that you can create presentation files quickly with your
favorite editor (e.g. Emacs).

This is one of the alpha releases of MagicPoint.  We're planing to add
a version control mechanism of .mgp file for forward compatibly.  But
currently, such a mechanism is missing. Please use this package at
your own risk.

MagicPoint is completely free but absolutely no warranty. For more
information, please refer to COPYRIGHT or COPYRIGHT.jp.  Please note
that some of the source codes is derived from other people's works,
and may have different distribution policies.  Be sure to check the
comments in the source codes.


			     INSTALLATION

Since MagicPoint extensively uses fonts in various sizes, we recommend
you to install good font rendering systems in your system.  Please
refer to README.fonts or README.fonts.jp for detail.

- Short summary for non-Japanese readers:

We recommend you to either:

    (1) compile MagicPoint with FreeType linked, or
    (2) use the X11 server with good outline font capabilities.

The former one is recommended.  For the latter case, it should be okay
if you have the adobe Type1 font in your X11 font directory.  There
are some advanced methods, such as modified X11 servers.

- Short summary to Japanese readers:

We recommend you to either:

    (1) compile MagicPoint with FreeType and VFlib linked, or
    (2) compile MagicPoint with FreeType linked, or
    (3) compile MagicPoint with VFlib linked, or
    (4) use an X11 server with outline English/Japanese font capabilities.

At this moment, MagicPoint uses FreeType only for English fonts, and
VFlib only for Japanese fonts.  Therefore, Approach (1) is the best.
(4) needs some special software as a standard X11 server will not
render Japanese scalable font files.


Follow the steps below to make MagicPoint:

	% ./configure
	% xmkmf
	% make Makefiles
	% make

Note 1: if you have vflib installed AND you do NOT want to compile the
vflib support into the binary, try the following option: 

	% ./configure --disable-vflib

Note 2: if you have FreeType installed AND you do NOT want to compile the
FreeType support into the binary, try the following option: 

	% ./configure --disable-freetype

Note 3: if you have to use a non-standard compiler, you must declare
your compiler by using "env" command, like:

	% env CC=gcc ./configure		# force gcc
	% env CC=shlicc2 ./configure		# force shlicc2 (bsdi3)

We cannot make a guess in the configure script, since "imake" may
dislike the compiler that was guessed by configure.  This applies to,
for example, Solaris without the Sun compiler license (gcc-only
environment).

Note 4: If you are willing to use the iso-8859-x character set
(i.e. you would like setlocale() to be called at startup), specify 
the --enable-locale option.

Invoking `configure' updates Imakefile.  So, do NOT forget to invoke
`xmkmf' everytime you update Imakefile.

It's a good idea to preview a sample file before installation.

	% ./mgp sample/tutorial.mgp

For more information, see sample/README or sample/README.jp.

When you believe that everything is OK, install MagicPoint as follows:

	% su
	# make install
	# make install.man

If you want to paste EPS figures into your presentation, you will need
to install "ghostscript" or "alike".

			     FOR MORE INFO

Official home page of MagicPoint is "http://www.Mew.org/mgp/".

Latest packages are available from "ftp://ftp.Mew.org/pub/MagicPoint/"
as well as this home page.

Pre-release snapshots are generated weekly, to
"ftp://sh.wide.ad.jp/WIDE/free-ware/mgp-snap/".  These snapshots MAY
NOT WORK AT ALL. Keep in your mind that these are just for people who
would like to hack.

Please send comments to the developer mailing-list "mgp@Mew.org".

There are two mailing lists for magicpoint users:
	mgp-users@Mew.org	(language: English)
	mgp-users-jp@Mew.org	(language: Japanese)
For subscription, please send an email to
	mgp-users-ctl@Mew.org	or
	mgp-users-jp-ctl@Mew.org
with "# guide" in the email body (without quotes).
