The problem with xdvi reported in the previous What's New article has been fixed, and the new versions of TeX, xdvi, and dvips will become the default on RCS on Tuesday, February 3. On that date the current versions will move to "old" status, and you will need to enter the command setup tex-old from a UNIX prompt before running the programs. The old versions will be available until March 3.
Please note: xdvi will now build new font magnifications for screen display as required. When it does so, a large amount of output, including many bracketed numbers, will appear on your screen. Don't be alarmed! These are not errors, just the normal result of xdvi's making a few font. After xdvi has built up a substantial collection of font sizes, it will need to build new ones only rarely.
For a description of the changes and benefits of the new programs, please see the article, "TeX Updates," available in the January 14, 1998 hardcopy issue of The Kiosk, as well as on-line via the URL http://www.rpi.edu/Computing/Kiosk/Issue1S_98/Issue1S_98.html.