flash@lehi3b15.CSEE.Lehigh.EDU (Stephen Corbesero) (02/13/88)
OK, I have gotten the source code for TeX and gotten it to compile on my 3B15. Then I went out and bought the books: The TeXbook, and the LaTeX user's manual. My question is still the same as before: 1) where can I get plain.tex? 2) What do I do after I run initex and read plain.tex? 3) What is virtex? 4) Are the LaTex macros available somewhere as well? 5) Why isn't Scribe better than TeX?
chris@trantor.umd.edu (Chris Torek) (02/13/88)
In article <306@lehi3b15.CSEE.Lehigh.EDU> flash@lehi3b15.CSEE.Lehigh.EDU (Stephen Corbesero) writes: >OK, I have gotten the source code for TeX and gotten it to compile on >my 3B15. [a surprise; I did not know 3B15s had working Pascal compilers---or perhaps you got a TeX-in-C distribution] >My question is still the same as before: > 1) where can I get plain.tex? It comes with the source code. At least, it *should* come with the source code. An annotated listing can be found in Appendix B of The TeXbook. > 2) What do I do after I run initex and read plain.tex? Use the \dump command to build plain.fmt: % initex This is TeX, version x.y for yoursys (INITEX) **plain \dump [much output] > 3) What is virtex? Virtex is a `virgin' TeX without the extra overhead required to make .fmt files. It can, however, *read* .fmt files: % virtex This is TeX, version x.y for yoursys (no format preloaded) **&plain * On some systems it is possible to `preload' formats; on Unix systems this is usually done by making a core dump, then combining the core dump and the virtex program into a new `preloaded tex'. This procedure is so system dependent that the best answer to `how?' is `obtain GNU Emacs'. > 4) Are the LaTex macros available somewhere as well? Only on just about every TeX distribution tape. > 5) Why isn't Scribe better than TeX? Maybe it is. Last time I checked, it also cost $10,000 for a binary release. We paid $75 for our TeX tape. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Computer Science, +1 301 454 7163 (hiding out on trantor.umd.edu until mimsy is reassembled in its new home) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: not easily reachable