kushmer@bnlux0.bnl.gov (christopher kushmerick) (03/28/90)
Could users of TeX on the amiga plsease respond: What is best product. Is there a PD version (CommonTeX?) What abou the Radical Eye product?. How is documentation? Previewers? Speed? Email responses please Thanks in advance. Chris Kushmerick
bsuggs@hac2arpa.hac.com.hac.com (Brian Suggs) (03/29/90)
Chris,
I have successfully ported TeX, et al. to the Amiga from the web2c-4.893b
version. (TeX 2.993 + MF 1.9 = 4.893 :) ) I just received mail today that
TeX and MF have officially gone to versions 3.0 and 2.0 and I picked up the
web2c-5.0 source. This release is the one that's supposed to go public if
there are no problems, so... as soon as I verify that this version also passes
the trip and trap verification tests, I'll send it to Fred Fish or
comp.binaries/sources.amiga.
Notes on amiga versions: probably need more than 1Meg of RAM
(I have 3 Meg and show just under 2 Meg free when running TeX) Aborting with
control-C while reading the .fmt or .base file sometimes leaves locks on
files. Using the 'e' command to invoke the editor sometimes leaves locks on
files. (I'm working on finding the cause of these.)
I have used, but not thouroughly tested the following:
BibTeX, GFtoDVI, GFtoPK, PLtoTF, TFtoPL, (maybe more, this is off the top of
my head)
This doesn't include a previewer (although the one from the demo version of
AmigaTeX works nicely, only it exits after 10 screen draws)
I also have the source for the Beebe printer drivers of which I have used
DVIJEP on an HP Laserjet II
DVIE24 on an Epson LQ-850
DVIEPS on an Epson FX-286E
The speed is reasonable enough for me, even on a stock 68000 Amiga. (although
I do have to let MF run overnight to generate all the Computer Modern fonts.)
If you have any questions about this port, you can email me at
bsuggs@hac2arpa.hac.com
-Brianmurphy@newton.physics.purdue.edu (William J. Murphy) (03/29/90)
I haven't used CommonTeX, but I do own AmigaTeX from Radical Eye. I also use the Radical Eye NeXT TeX. I would have to bet the code is nearly identical. Both of the Radical Eye TeXs work great. I got hooked on AmigaTeX when writing this summer. Running LaTeX on the Amiga with 2 Floppies and 3 MB RAM was sufficiently faster than the Departmental machines that I did all of the work on the Amiga except printing. The previewer which is provided with Amiga TeX is what really makes it shine as a package. AmigaTeX is well worth the $200 that I paid for it. BTW, Didn't Marc Barrett say that there was a serious lack of serious software for the Amiga? Mr. Barrett have you used AmigaTeX? -- Bill Murphy murphy@newton.physics.purdue.edu Enjoying my Amiga 2000, but holding out for a real computer: The Amiga 3000!!