Programs to view HINT files
News
The HINT file format version 2.0 features a complete redesign of the short (binary) format used for viewing.
As a consequence, an updated viewer is required.
While it should be forward compatible with newer versions, it is not backward compatible with older versions.
Documentation
The hint viewer software consists of a backend, written in C and several
frontends. The backend is reusable and depends heavily on the HINT file format version,
the frontends are specific for an operating system.
Currently five frontends are (see below) available:
for Linux, Windows, Android, iOS and MacOS.
The Android HintView is joint work with Prof. Gudrun Socher.
Currently the most simple viewer is the viewer for Linux. Its
user interface consists just of a few key strokes and mouse movements
as described in the man page. All the viewers use the same backend.
The code for rendering pages is written in OpenGL and available in two slightly different
version, one for OpenGL and one for OpenEGL. If you want to
investigate the sources or want to implement your own viewer,
the Linux viewer is a good starting point.
A book (cover on the left) is in preparation. Documented sources will become available with the
printed documentation (or on request from the author).
Binaries and Sources
Binaries and sources using the old HINT file format version 1.4 can be found
here:
HINT version 1.4
- Windows: the Version 2.0.0 viewer supports HINT Format Version 2.0.
For easy inatallation use this setup file: setup_HintView_2_0_0.exe.
For manual installation just download the executable hintview.exe.
You may want to put it to directory on your search path and
associate the viewer executable with .hnt files.
- Android: The HINT viewer for Android is available from the
Play Store:
HintView
There are temporary problems with the Play Store. But here is a APK
for download:
hintview-2-0-app-release.apk
- Linux: For Linux there is a precompiled binary
hintview.
- Source: The source distribution hintview.tgz
should run/compile fine on Linux and MacOS if the required libraries and headers
(Linux: libdl, libglew, libglfw3 libfreetype, libX11, libXrandr, libXinerama, libXi,
libXcursor, libGL, libz, libpthread, libm, libc) are installed.
The documentation is available as a man page: hintview.1
- MacOS: Due to restrictions at my institutions, currently I can not offer a viewer in the
Apple Store (which is however the long term goal). Instead, you can download a complete Xcode project
which you can unpack, compile, and run on your computer:
HintView_MacOS.tgz.
This short video, demonstrating some of the
program, was made for Jonathan Fine's
TeX Hour on Thursday, September 29, 2022.
- iOS: Due to restrictions at my institutions, currently I can not offer a viewer in the
Apple Store (which is however the long term goal). Instead, you can download a complete Xcode project
which you can unpack, compile, and run on your computer:
HintView_iOS.tgz.
Example Files
Examples using the old HINT file format version 1.4 can be found
here:
HINT version 1.4.
The following files use the HINT file format version 2.0
and were produced using hitex.
Errata and Improvements
Data Protection Declaration
The Data Protection Declaration for the HintView application
can be found here.
Support
- These programs are still under continuous development. So don't ask for support.
- If you want to help, send me immediately an email to ruckert (at) cs.hm.edu.
- If you own a company and want to use HINT files and HINT viewers as part of your products,
send me an email to ruckert (at) cs.hm.edu.
Back to the project home page