So, here I am compiling out test .tex files. These days, the manual is around 120,000 words and takes quite a bit of time to compile all the way to a .tex file. Given the chance for error in between clicking Compile and that file, I’m working in stages. I export a regular .md file from Scrivener, and then use the command line to invoke MMD manually. This way I can correct small errors in the .md file and try again, without having to recompile the .md file. Being an old Linux geek, for long jobs like this, I would append the “beep” command to whatever command I’d issued in the xterm session, so I could go off and do something else while the computer worked. The only problem is, Mac OS X doesn’t come installed with the venerable beep, probably because it doesn’t have a system beep like most PCs do. So I did a little Googling, and discovered an amusing remedy. You can make the Mac talk from the command line with the say command, and feeding it a string. So I tried this:
mmd2LaTeX.pl manual.md > manual.tex; say "All system nominal"Lovely. Hopefully someone will find that useful, if they in the final phases and waiting several minutes for a .tex file. 