vlsi4@erato.cs.kun.nl (Freddy Aries) (10/11/90)
From the postings and mailings I have drawn the following conclusions:
AmigaTeX (The commercial version by Tomas Rokicki, Radical Eye Software),
is the best by far. It's fast, complete (yes, including LaTeX, METAFONT
and much more), (according to the loads of reactions I got) it is widely
used, supports Amiga multitasking and ARexx and it has good IFF support.
There are lots of printer definitions available and they give fantastic
results.
Some people even seem to have bought the Amiga because of this incredible
TeX implementation - and they say they haven't been disappointed.
While I'm at it - the chance of finding anyone who is not satisfied with
AmigaTeX is even less than the chance of finding bugs in this implementation.
Of course, quality does have a price.
For people with less money to spend there are the Public Domain versions.
They all seem to work okay, but the distributions are not as complete, and
you will have to do a lot yourself.
PasTeX is an implementation of TeX 3.0, done by Georg Hessmann. It is
fully available via ftp, at
abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov [128.155.23.64] in "incoming/amiga/"
It has a good previewer, and it supports ARexx and IFF format (b/w only).
It is not as fast as AmigaTeX, but faster than eg. CommonTeX.
It is not complete as is - you will have to get font- , pk- and format-files
yourself - and it has only a small number of printer definitions: NEC P6/P7,
Epson FX 80 and HP DeskJet.
You can of course - as one of the repliers suggested - preview your files
on the Amiga, upload them to a workstation and print them out there.
At the moment the documentation is only available in german, but the author
assured me that they're working on an english version.
It does not include METAFONT, but another german (Stefan Becker) has ported
METAFONT 2.0 to the Amiga, which is now available by ftp at
ftp.Informatik.rwth-aachen.de [192.35.229.9]
CommonTeX seems to be rarely used. It is slower than PasTeX, does not have
ARexx support (I don't think it supports IFF either, but I'm not sure), and
it is not freely distributable. (Some parts are not available for distribution
by ftp, so the only way to get it is on disks, for about $6 per disk).
The disk version seems complete, including METAFONT, LaTeX and others.
It also includes a number of font-, pk- and format files.
That's about as far as my information on CommonTeX goes.
Then there is a number of other versions hanging around, (well, the TeX
sources are available in WEB, so about anyone could port it to the amiga).
but I think the ones I've mentioned are the best versions at the moment.
If anyone knows about a version he thinks is better and I haven't mentioned,
please let me know.
Freddy Aries
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
A F
F Freddy Aries A
A Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science F
F University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands A
A Email: vlsi4@erato.cs.kun.nl F
F A
AFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFyarnall@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (Ken Yarnall) (10/12/90)
In article <2282@wn1.sci.kun.nl> vlsi4@erato.cs.kun.nl (Freddy Aries) writes:
+From the postings and mailings I have drawn the following conclusions:
+
+PasTeX is an implementation of TeX 3.0, done by Georg Hessmann. It is
+fully available via ftp, at
+ abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov [128.155.23.64] in "incoming/amiga/"
+It has a good previewer, and it supports ARexx and IFF format (b/w only).
+It is not as fast as AmigaTeX, but faster than eg. CommonTeX.
+It is not complete as is - you will have to get font- , pk- and format-files
+yourself - and it has only a small number of printer definitions: NEC P6/P7,
+Epson FX 80 and HP DeskJet.
Thought that anyone who didn't know it already might like to know that one
can get the source for all of the computer modern fonts (TeX's standard
fonts) at labrea.stanford.edu, the `official' TeX ftp site, via anonymous
ftp. You can also find the new AMS-TeX 2.0 fonts there. Then all one needs
is METAFONT (and a little cpu time to spare), and you're good to go.
+METAFONT 2.0 to the Amiga, which is now available by ftp at
+ ftp.Informatik.rwth-aachen.de [192.35.229.9]
Well, there you are ;^)
+
+ Freddy Aries
+
ken
--
Ken Yarnall /// yarnall@opusc.csd.scarolina.EDU
Math Department, USC \\\/// yarnall@ucseast.UUCP
Columbia, S.C. 29208 \\\/ (803)777-5218
`You'd better tie me up.' -- from the movie, "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down"new@ee.udel.edu (Darren New) (10/12/90)
In article <2282@wn1.sci.kun.nl> vlsi4@erato.cs.kun.nl (Freddy Aries) writes: >It does not include METAFONT, but another german (Stefan Becker) has ported >METAFONT 2.0 to the Amiga, which is now available by ftp at > ftp.Informatik.rwth-aachen.de [192.35.229.9] For those of us on the wrong side of the Atlantic, I have grabbed this file and put it on louie.udel.edu [128.175.2.33] under /pub/mf2_0.lzh. I put another file from the same source called TeXDME2.lzh on louie also. If there are problems, let me know, as I have not checked the viability yet. I just wanted this to go out before umpteen million people started FTPing across the ocean. Cheers! -- Darren -- --- Darren New --- Grad Student --- CIS --- Univ. of Delaware --- ----- Network Protocols, Graphics, Programming Languages, Formal Description Techniques (esp. Estelle), Coffee -----
abrown@hpcvca.CV.HP.COM (Allen Brown) (10/18/90)
>> AmigaTeX costs in Germany about 1000.-DM (=660$). >> (TeX with one printer-driver) > Interesting. That is about 2 times what it costs here in the US. Someone > is trying to make big bucks on postage 8-) > lee Thomas Rokicki provides very good support. Someone appropriately described it as hand-holding. My guess is that it costs much more to hold someone's hand across the Atlantic than within the USA. -- Allen Brown abrown@cv.hp.com or abrown%hpcvca@hplabs.hp.com or hplabs!hpcvca!abrown or "Hey you!" Not representing my employer. Software means never having to say you're finished. ---J.D. Hildebrand
gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ralph Seguin) (10/18/90)
>Thomas Rokicki provides very good support. Someone appropriately >described it as hand-holding. My guess is that it costs much more to >hold someone's hand across the Atlantic than within the USA. Has anybody looked at the NeXT brochures? In the software included in 2.0 OS release, will be TeX, released by none other than Radical Eye. (I also still insist that it should be pronounced like sex 8-) See ya, Ralph gilgalad@dip.eecs.umich.edu gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu Ralph Seguin | "You mean THE Zaphod Beeblebrox?" 536 South Forest | Apartment 915 | "No. Haven't you heard, I come in six packs!" Ann Arbor, MI 48104 | (313) 662-4805