The AeB Blog

Last Update: 07/14/2011

On this page,  I shall post white papers and interesting examples that I have developed using AeB and AeB Pro (AeB is the AcroTeX eDucation Bundle). These are a collection LaTeX packages bundled together. The AcroTeX Magazine was written by me just a few years, it summarizes the AcroTeX packages and bundles available at that time. Magazine was created using the AcroTeX family of LaTeX packages. (Acrobat /Adobe Reader, version 6.0 or later required.)

LaTeX (http://www.tug.org) is a mark up language for authoring documents, AeB was designed as a authoring system for creating online, interactive documents for the WWW, or for distribution on computer CDs, as PDF files. The AeB Pro extends the utility of AeB by giving the author extensive control over the PDF file. The components of AeB Pro require the use of the Adobe Distiller, while for AeB, other direct to PDF creators can be used, such as pdftex and dvipdfm.

Should you wish to make a comment on any of the articles contained in this blog, you can visit the AeB Blog Comment Page, in PDF naturally.

(04/01/10) I have revived my own online testing system that I developed between 2003 and 2006. Originally called TAOAS, it is now called Oa.sys (pronounced oasis, oa.sys is the AcroTeX Online Assessment System). You may try Oa.sys by going to the Oa.sys login page. and logging in using the username/password of aebblog/aebblog, or, you can first go to the Oa.Sys First Contact Page. The system uses classic ASP and Adobe's FDF Toolkit. Features of this system are quizzes/tests are in PDF, results are submitted and saved to a MS Access DB, there are various deadlines (a time when the quiz period begins, a time when the quiz period ends, and the time when the solutions can be viewed). The system makes a "round trip": student takes the quiz, data is saved, when the quiz solutions can be viewed, the field data is extracted from the database, and repopulates the quiz the student took.

I'll continue to develop the system in my leisure time, but I'm afraid my knowledge of server-side stuff is limited. A friend would like this system ported to Linux/Unix, but with Php or perl. I know very little of these scripting languages. I would like to develop a system that would make it easy to install for a instructor, and make it easy for the instructor to manage his/her own Oa.sys environment---setting up DB of students and passwords, setting up new quizzes (quizzes use AeB, of course), deadlines, etc. Any advice/help anyone can advance would be greatly appreciated. Any comments on the system can be made to me via the AeB Blog Comment Page, be sure to mention that you viewed Oa.sys from the AeB Blog.

Now, I simply must get back to my retirement!

dpstory@uakron.edu