gold@aecom2.UUCP (Yosef Gold) (12/14/86)
I am looking for information on using TeX on an Ibm pc for
typesetting small papers and resumes. How fast is it, and how easy
is it to use for small documents like this. Also, it is important
that it be able to easily manipulate multi-column newsletters.
Any information will be appreciated.
Yosef Gold
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Yosef Gold
...{philabs,cucard,pegasus,ihnp4,rocky2}!aecom!aecom2!goldtla@kaiser.UUCP (T Anderson) (12/19/86)
> I am looking for information on using TeX on an Ibm pc for > typesetting small papers and resumes. How fast is it, and how easy > is it to use for small documents like this. Also, it is important that it be able to easily manipulate multi-column newsletters. > Any information will be appreciated. > Yosef Gold > ...{philabs,cucard,pegasus,ihnp4,rocky2}!aecom!aecom2!gold I use TeX on an AT&T 6300 regularly. There are two sources: PC TeX from Personal TeX (20 Sunnyside, Suite H, Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415) 388-8853) and micro TeX from Addison-Wesley (Readin MA 01867 (617) 944-3700). I have only used PC TeX but all of the reviews I have read indicate that they work very much alike and are very matched in speed (though implemented very differently: PC TeX compiled from Pascal and Micro from C - no source included though so it doesn't really matter). I find the speed of processing quite acceptable, however, my 6300 runs TeX about twice as fast as an 4.77 MHz 8088 would. The primary speed limitation is on printing and that is more printer dependent than processor. I strongly urge use of a 24 pin printer such as Epson LQ series or at least 18 pin (Toshiba printers). The print quality on the 9 pin printers is just as good but is accomplished by 6 passes! while the 24 pin uses one. So the speed is much faster on the 24 pin. A typical page still takes between 30 and 120 sec to print depending on font. Of course a laser printer is ideal. TeX is not easy to learn if you want to use complex features but it is quite easy to use once you learn and is incredibly powerful. Most of the complexity can by put into macros since most people seem to do similar things in many documents (even when different than other people's similar things). As to multiple columns, TeX can do an excellent job of this, but it is not a built-in feature in standard TeX. It is done through macros and you will probably have to modify them to get them to do exactly what you want. I wouldn't recommend doing you first document in multiple columns. Learn to use TeX a little (or a lot) first, but it will do a very nice job when your ready to tackle it. -- -- Terry L Anderson AT&T Bell Laboratories -- Liberty Corners UUCP: ...!ihnp4!daimler!kaiser!tla TeleMail: Terry.Anderson (201) 580-4428