[comp.text.desktop] TeX for personal computers

news@sun.uucp (news) (08/19/87)

I am trying to decide on what type of computer to buy, a PC compatible
or a Mac Plus. Since my interest is to use TeX and LaTeX, I need to
know of people's experiences with TeX on either PC compatibles or
the Mac Plus.  Also, what printer drivers are needed and which printers
do they print out to, or does it not matter, as in producing .dvi files?

Ideally I want to get the cheapest printer, as I'm only doing this to
turn in reports to my boss so it doesn't need to be laser printed.
Besides I can't afford a laser printer!
A letter-quality dot-matrix printer such as the Epson would do.
Since my office will likely have a laser printer, I would like
to produce .dvi files instead of something which is specific to
a certain printer.

Also how do the previewers work? Do you need extra graphics cards
for the PC compatibles, how about the Mac Plus? 

Thanks,  Clare Chu
         chu@amvax.tn.cornell.edu
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jpalfke@parcvax.Xerox.COM (J. Peter Alfke) (08/20/87)

Clare Chu writes:
>I am trying to decide on what type of computer to buy, a PC compatible
>or a Mac Plus.
...
>Ideally I want to get the cheapest printer, as I'm only doing this to
>turn in reports to my boss so it doesn't need to be laser printed.

It sounds like your formatting is not going to be terribly complex, so why use
TeX at all?  Get a Mac and use Word or even MacWrite, and you should be able
to turn out nice documents much more easily than with TeX, and it's all
what-you-see-is-what-you-get.  And of course Mac documents can go from
Imagewriter to LaserWriter with no problem.

About the only uses I can see for TeX on the Mac are (1) Very complicated
formatting, esp. of mathematics, and (2) compatibility if you already have
lots of TeX files.

I've bashed my head against a bit of TeX, and if I could have done it all with
Word / MacWrite, I would have.

						--Peter Alfke
						  jpalfke.pa@xerox.com
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KMcCarthy@MIT-Multics.ARPA (08/20/87)

the first thing I wondered when I read your message is why are you using
TeX to write reports for only one person?  It seems like overkill.  A
good word processor will get you going much cheaper and look just as
good on an epson.  Anyway, that's your business.
   I have been using TeX on a pc.  The first thing you want is a very
fast pc.  I've got an 8mhz AT and I wish it was faster.  The dot-matrix
printer of choice is an Epson.  There are several nice printer drivers
around for it.  Note that an Epson compatible printer will NOT do.  TeX
device drivers work at such a low level that only the exact printer will
work.  Others may work somewhat, but they won't be satisfactory.  Most
preview cards will work with a hercules card, so you don't need any
special cards.
   I still think TeX is overkill and inappropriate for one-shot reports.
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news@sun.uucp (news) (08/20/87)

>I am trying to decide on what type of computer to buy, a PC compatible
>or a Mac Plus. Since my interest is to use TeX and LaTeX, I need to
>know of people's experiences with TeX on either PC compatibles or
>the Mac Plus.  Also, what printer drivers are needed and which printers
>do they print out to, or does it not matter, as in producing .dvi files?

I use MicroTeX and LaTeX on a Zenith Z-248 AT clone and I am very
pleased with it.  I routinely exchange files with both VAXen and
Sun's, and so far have found no compatability problems with text
files.  When using PC-NFS my .dvi files transfer OK, but when using
Kermit I cannot transfer binary files.  There are previewers for the
Zenith, but I have never tried them.  I just print drafts (one of the
joys of having your own laser printer).

There are a lot of printer drivers, both commercial and public domain,
and you will need one.  I would be cautious about depending on any dot
matrix printer.  They give a whole new dimension to the word slow.  I
had one (and burned it out).  ``Fast'' was 1-2 minutes per page,
readable was 5-10 minutes per page.  For an ordinary report you
started the printer, went to the movies, had dinner, a leisurely walk
home, and arrived in time to see the last couple pages print while you
had coffee.

Consider one of the cheap laser printers (HP Laserjet II or clone).
They lack Postscript but they are fine for TeX.  I paid only $1900 for
a genuine HP Laserjet II.  I bought my driver from Addison Wesley
rather than take the time to port the UNIX-tape's driver onto MSDOS.

I have not tried the Mac versions.  I made my decision to go PC rather
than Mac for two reasons: 1) I have an almost EMACS for the PC and 2)
the PC based solution with laser printer cost less than the Mac alone.
I miss the Mac graphics, but my drafting table still meets my needs.

				Rob  Horn
	UUCP:	...harvard!adelie!infinet!rhorn
	Snail:	Infinet,  40 High St., North Andover, MA
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news@sun.uucp (news) (08/21/87)

In article <26011@sun.uucp> you write:
>I am trying to decide on what type of computer to buy, a PC compatible
>or a Mac Plus. Since my interest is to use TeX and LaTeX, I need to
>know of people's experiences with TeX on either PC compatibles or
>the Mac Plus.  Also, what printer drivers are needed and which printers
>do they print out to, or does it not matter, as in producing .dvi files?

Try an Amiga.  The 500 (about $650, I think) is completely compatible with
the 2000 (about $1600, I think).  For an extra $250, you can add true
PC compability to the 2000 as a co-processor.  There is a very good
version of TeX available for the Amiga for about $300.

>Ideally I want to get the cheapest printer, as I'm only doing this to
>turn in reports to my boss so it doesn't need to be laser printed.
>Besides I can't afford a laser printer!
>A letter-quality dot-matrix printer such as the Epson would do.
>Since my office will likely have a laser printer, I would like
>to produce .dvi files instead of something which is specific to
>a certain printer.

Again, there is support for a wide variety of printers available for
for the Amiga.

>Also how do the previewers work? Do you need extra graphics cards
>for the PC compatibles, how about the Mac Plus? 

For the PC, probably.  Mac Plus, I don't know.  Amiga, no.

With the Amiga, you also get a multi-tasking operating system.  This
means that you can be editing one TeX file, TeX-ifing another, and printing
a third simultaneously.  Memory expandable to 8.5 Meg (without bank-swapping
kludges like the PC).  Graphics, sound, whiz-bang features, etc.  Also
a -very- large supply of public domain software.  (It seems to be an easy
port from un*x :-)
-- 
Internet:	casetek!patl@sun.com		PM Lashley
uucp:		...sun!casetek!patl		CASE Technology, Inc.
arpa:		casetek@crvax.sri.com		Mountain View, CA 94087
>> Anyone can have the facts; having an opinion is an art. <<
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uh2@psuvm.bitnet (Lee Sailer) (08/21/87)

I have experience with PC TeX for MSDos machines, and AmigaTeX, for the
Amiga.  Overall, AmigaTeX is faster and smaller, the previewer is better,
and the hardware needed to get going is cheaper.
     
PCTeX is also quite good.  There is a review in the latest Info World.
     
I usually prefer to go with the future instead of the past, since it
tends to be more interesting.  More hazardous too, though.
     
Lemm know if you want more info.
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root@hobbes.UUCP (John Plocher) (08/21/87)

| I am trying to decide on what type of computer to buy, a PC compatible
| or a Mac Plus. Since my interest is to use TeX and LaTeX, ...
| Ideally I want to get the cheapest printer, as I'm only doing this to
| turn in reports to my boss so it doesn't need to be laser printed.

We use MicroTex on an AT with an ALW+.  We used an IBM/Epson printer for a 
while, but it was worthless!  In High Quality preview mode on the Epson
it printed at the amazing rate of 4 pages per HOUR!

You can speed that up to about 5 minutes per page in draft mode....
-- 
John Plocher uwvax!geowhiz!uwspan!plocher  plocher%uwspan.UUCP@uwvax.CS.WISC.EDU
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mroth%sscafit-ab.arpa@afit-ab.arpa (Mark A. Roth) (09/09/87)

On the ALPS P2000G, Micro-TeX output prints quite a bit quicker than the
4 pages per hour stated in a previous posting at the highest quality mode
and even the draft modes.  The sample.tex file included in the distribution
printed in about 5 minutes in highest quality and < 1 min in draft mode.

Dot matrix printers are getting quite fast and still cost a lot less than
a laser printer.

BTW, output on the ALPS was really nice looking (and this is their 9-pin
printer, I wonder what the 24 pin printer will do with LQ-1500 TeX driver
from PC-TeX).

Mark Roth
mroth@afit-ab.arpa
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tla@kaiser.UUCP (T Anderson) (09/14/87)

> BTW, output on the ALPS was really nice looking (and this is their 9-pin
> printer, I wonder what the 24 pin printer will do with LQ-1500 TeX driver
> from PC-TeX).

Actually the 24 pin output with the LQ1500 looks WORSE.  This is
because the driver uses the single pass mode (only one pass of the
print head over each line) which is 180x180 dpi which is not as good
as the three pass 240x218 dpi mode used with 9pin printers.  The advantage
is three times the speed.  I've used the PC-TeX (actually
Personal TeX, PC-TeX is their TeX program) drivers for both Epson
9-pin and the LQ1500 and the faster speed of the LQ along with
single pass graphic mode makes the LQ1500 print about 6 times the
speed of the MX series.  I've not used any of the newer LQ's (1000,
800 and now 1050 and 850) but they should be even faster.  I gladly
gave up the little bit of quality difference for the speed.  I do
wish there was a single pass 240x240 mode or even 180x240 available
on the printer.  

			     --	Terry L Anderson
				AT&T Bell Laboratories -- Liberty Corners
				UUCP:     ...!ihnp4!kaiser!tla
				TeleMail: Terry.Anderson
				(201) 580-4428
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