MRP.MIKE@melpn1.prime.COM (01/22/91)
A number of pieces of software that I have looked at recently
seem to have documentation written in TeX . Can anyone tell
me :
1) What is TeX, is it a desktop publishing package or
an alternative to runoff (nroff).
2) A number of sites have TeX which can be transfered by
anonymous ftp, unfortunately the volume of data seems
too daunting to transfer. What do I need to convert
TeX format files into postscript.
3) Can anyone in Australia exchange tapes with me so I can
look at TeX.
Mike Phillips (mrp.mike@melpn1.prime.com)
P.S Can't we get rid of duplication of messages in this mailing list
some items I am recieving 3 or 4 times.
P.P.S Wouldn't a better way of running this mailing list be to send
only a list of subject titles received each day to everyone on the
mailing list and then it would be up to the individual to request
the full details for any message. I am seriously considering
withdrawing my name as the volume of mail is becoming ridiculous.bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield) (01/22/91)
In article <9101212342.aa27053@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> MRP.MIKE@melpn1.prime.COM writes:
1) What is TeX, is it a desktop publishing package or an alternative
to runoff (nroff).
It's a document production system with a markup language. In that
sense, I guess it's philosophically more similar to *roff than to any
WYSIWYG "desktop publishing" systems.
2) A number of sites have TeX which can be transfered by anonymous
ftp, unfortunately the volume of data seems too daunting to
transfer. What do I need to convert TeX format files into
postscript.
You need the stuff in labrea.stanford.edu:pub/tex, which is the
original home of the TeX distribution. Browse around there to get
whatever you need. If you like, I can send you the FAQ document from
comp.text.tex.
P.P.S Wouldn't a better way of running this mailing list be to send
only a list of subject titles received each day to everyone
on the mailing list and then it would be up to the individual
to request the full details for any message. I am seriously
considering withdrawing my name as the volume of mail is
becoming ridiculous.
That's why I subscribe to the newsgroup comp.windows.x rather than to
the mailing list xpert@expo.lcs.mit.edu. They carry the same
material, but my news reader is more sophisticated at high-volume
message handling than my mail reader.gildea@expo.lcs.mit.EDU (Stephen Gildea) (01/23/91)
TeX is a text processing system similar to runoff and troff, but much much (MUCH) more advanced. It is extremely flexible. It runs on many types of systems (and I don't just mean many flavors of Unix) from large to small and produces the same results on each. Output to many types of printers (including PostScript) is supported. And of course, there are screen previewers for X. The TeX software is free, but most distribution points charge a few hundred US dollers to send you a tape. < Stephen MIT X Consortium