prem@andante.UUCP (Swami Devanbu) (01/12/89)
I've been reading about MacTeX and TeXtures in various places,
and it all sounds rather grim. However, I very much would
like to have a TeX on my Mac II. I'd like to have the following
available on it:
a) LaTEX readily available.
b) Preview included, including grafix from EPSF files.
c) Postscript Fonts (instead of Computer Modern) usable as
default.
d) full compatibility with Vax TeX guranteed
(I want to be able bring files from home to work,
back and forth).
e) Equation typesetting supported.
The reviews I've read say nothing about a). MacUser (MU) says TeXtures
wins on b), and loses big on c). Nothing is said about either for
d), though I suspect MacTeX loses, because MU makes vague noises
about it not being a "fully compatible" implementation of TeX.
As far as e), it appears that MacTeX loses, since it they have
"abandoned" the Computer Modern family of fonts.
But MacUser says that this will fix itself when the LUCIDA font
complete set is available from Adobe. Give me a break. What
happens now ? Does this mean to use equations with MacTex
I have to go to Adobe afterwards and shell out $200 or so to
buy the LUCIDA family ? Can't I just use the equation
stuff from Computer Modern family ? Gah.
Speaking of fonts, it appears that TeXtures ships with only
Computer Modern, and only 10 and 12 points at that. So for
large point sizes, they "recommend" that you use postscript
fonts, which as far as I can tell, they do not support.
So does this mean you have to break into raw postscript
for any kind of heading/subheading larger that 12 points,
and for footnotes etc smaller that 10 points ? Double gah.
Are there any other options ? Do people out there use TeX
on the Mac ? Any partisans for TeXtures/MacTeX who would like
to point out my errors/ignorance ?
Prem Devanbu
Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Dept.,
(W) 201 582 2062
(H) 201 757 3748
MH 3C-438 AT&T Bell Laboratories
600 Mountain Ave,
Murray Hill NJ 07974, USA
prem%allegra@research.att.com
{ihnp4,ucbvax,vax135,decvax,....}!allegra!premthisted@galton.uchicago.edu (Ronald A. Thisted) (01/14/89)
In article <15068@andante.UUCP> prem@andante.UUCP (Swami Devanbu) writes: >I very much would like to have a TeX on my Mac II. I'd like to have: > >a) LaTEX readily available. >b) Preview included, including grafix from EPSF files. >c) Postscript Fonts (instead of Computer Modern) usable as default. >d) full compatibility with Vax TeX guranteed > (I want to be able bring files from home to work, > back and forth). >e) Equation typesetting supported. [other stuff omitted] >Speaking of fonts, it appears that TeXtures ships with only >Computer Modern, and only 10 and 12 points at that. So for >large point sizes, they "recommend" that you use postscript >fonts, which as far as I can tell, they do not support. All LaserWriter fonts are supported completely. I am looking at a page with heading in 24-point Bookman, main body in 12-point Bookman, and an indented piece in 10-point Avant Garde. [Don't flame the typography; it was just a test!] The code is easy in TeXtures: \font\A=Bookman at24pt \font\B=Bookman at12pt \font\C=AvantGarde \A \centerline{This is a test of 24-point Bookman.} \bigskip \B This tests 12-point Bookman in \TeX. \par \advance\leftskip by25mm \C This little piece is in Avant Garde type; can \TeX tures do it? \par \rm You bet! \bye >So does this mean you have to break into raw postscript >for any kind of heading/subheading larger that 12 points, >and for footnotes etc smaller that 10 points ? Double gah. Clearly not. As a personal testimonial, I use TeXtures 1.01e [now distributed by Blue Sky Research (1-800-622-8398) and not Addison-Wesley], and I use it a lot on both my Mac II with 5Mb and 140Mb Rodime, and on my 1Meg Mac+ with a slooooow HD20 at home. It works quite well, supports preloaded formats (I use TABLE and PiCTeX as well as plain TeX, myself), and the previewer is superb, especially on the Mac II. It is fully compatible with TeX on Unix machines; I regularly prepare work on the Mac and then at a later date just do a file transfer to our departmental Suns. Ron Thisted Department of Statistics/The University of Chicago thisted@galton.uchicago.edu