abed@saturn.wustl.edu (Abed M. Hammoud) (04/08/91)
Hello, I am sure this must be a common question. So I am very sorry. I would like to know if there is a version of latex for the IBM compatible PC's. If there is, I would also like to know where I can get it from. An FTP site would be great.... thanks a million... -------------------------------------------------------------- | Abed M. Hammoud abed@saturn.wustl.edu| | Washington University. office:(314)726-7547 | | Electronic Systems & Signals Research Laboratory. | | Dept. of Electrical/Biomedical Engineering. | | St.Louis Mo U.S.A | --------------------------------------------------------------
dhosek@newton.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) (04/11/91)
In article <1991Apr7.224625.9352@cec1.wustl.edu>, abed@saturn.wustl.edu (Abed M. Hammoud) writes: >I would like to know if there is a version > of latex for the IBM compatible PC's. OK, time for the periodic Jon Radel plug... Public domain software for IBM PCs (and I believe he is beginning to carry stuff for other small machines as well) is available from Jon Radel. He has the five public domain versions of TeX and numerous other items. For more information write to the TeX Users Group who have taken over the distribution end of this service. The address etc. is at the end. Note that detailed technical questions beyond what's in the catalog may not be answerable. OK, now the various versions of TeX. I have little direct experience with the bulk of these packages (the only one I've used in for actual work is PCTeX and that not much), so I may make mistakes. The information is gathered mostly from documentation, advertisements (I assume they tell the truth) and discussion on the net, so if anyone has any corrections, please let me know and I'll correct this (I'm actually going to start keeping this as a file instead of re-doing it from memory each time the question is asked.) Note that DVI drivers included with one system can generally be used with any of the TeXs listed (e.g., one could use the emTeX drivers with PubliCTeX, say). Packages are listed in alphabetical order by name. Unless otherwise noted, commercial versions are available from TUG. Commmontex. Jon Radel reports that the PC version does not pass trip. In any event, it's only around v2.1 (or at least that's the latest version Jon has been able to get working under MS-DOS according to the last catalog I got from him). I suspect the whole effort was quietly abandoned with the advent of WEB2C. DosTeX. This is a shareware implementation of TeX. I'm not sure if it's been updated to TeX 3.0 or not. It includes the ability to make preloaded executables for LaTeX, AmSTeX, etc. There is also a DosMF. emTeX. In addition to TeX, there is also a version of MF, "big" versions of both TeX and MF (internal arrays have been modified to permit main memory arrays greater than the normal maximum... I forget what the sizes are, but they are slower) and I think there are also different executables for 286 and 386 based systems. This is public domain. Also distributed with it are numerous device drivers (I forget exactly what's included, but I will be spending some time in the next week pulling this apart so I can list it in the drivers column) and a picture editor and possibly a few other items. Includes TeX 3.0 and MF 2.0. $\mu$-TeX. (Formerly Micro-TeX). I don't really know too much about this since Arbortext hasn't seemed to be pushing it very much in their TUGboat advertising. The thing that sets it apart, as near as I can tell, is the fact that one can integrate it with an editor and previewer for an Amiga TeX-like environment. It runs $249 and is TeX 3.0. PCTeX. This is the oldest version of TeX for the PC (just barely edging out $\mu$-TeX (nee MicroTeX) for the title). The current release comes in three incarnations. The normal TeX (v3.0) which has 128K of main memory and is roughly the same speed as sbTeX and emTeX or slightly faster (I saw a speed chart from the DAnTe newsletter in College Station which compared the speeds of these and a few others which is how I know this. I believe they compared the versions of this spring and Personal TeX claims that they've boosted the speed by 10%, so I guess that it may now be slightly faster, I don't know for sure though), a version of TeX for the 386 with 128K of main memory and "Big" TeX for the 386 with 240K of main memory. They also have a version of MF. Prices are $249, $299 and $349 for the three versions of TeX. PubliCTeX. This is the only WEB version of TeX for PC in the public domain that includes source. It's also slower than molasses (I'm very sure it was at the bottom of the DAnTe newsletter chart). On the other hand, if you want to hack with TeX's insides and don't want to spend money... SBTeX. I think this version of TeX was marginally faster than emTeX although the last upgrade to emTeX may have changed that (hint to someone out there: it would be really neat to see a real comparison of the various versions of TeX for the PC in a future issue of TUGboat). This distribution is a minimal distribution rather than the hefty package distributed with emTeX, so you'll be getting more things rather than clearing things out. TeX 4 386. (Actually the 4 should be superscripted, but oh well). The ad says "A 'fat TeX' for 386 machines with 4 MEG of RAM". There was a more detailed note, but I didn't think to take it, not realizing until I was on the plane back to LA that they actually had a _different_ TeX implementation available. I assume it's TeX 3.0 and it costs $50. This may not be available from TUG so I'll include the vendor's address: TeXplorators Corporation; 3701 W. Alabama; Suite 450-273; Houston, TX 77027 (USA). TeXPLUS. This is a rewrite of TeX in CWEB. I think they include source. They do have TeX 3.0 and it may be a "big" TeX. I don't know anyone who uses this (although someone must or they wouldn't be able to afford the big ads in TUGboat). Included in the purchase price are HP and PostScript drivers and an editor ($195, $295 with a previewer). TurboTeX. This is an automated translation into C of TeX. The package includes TeX, MF, a few-odd drivers and some good documentation (Kinch, the creator of the package, makes a persuasive argument against WYSIWYG). It is slow, but a decent tack to take if you want to hack TeX since it's not too expensive with source option and at least faster than PubliC TeX (I would choose this over TeXPLUS for PC TeX source hacking since the code you'll be working with is that actually _in_ TeX the book, rather than the CWEB translation. You might choose otherwise). $150, $300 w/source. There are also a few other versions of TeX which I don't have information on hand for that are offered for prices in the $30-$150 range. I suspect these are largely repackaged PD versions. Anyway, since all I have handy is the TUG price list and some fliers from the TUG meeting, I don't have any information on those. The address for TUG is: TeX Users Group P.O. Box 9506 Providence, RI 02940 401-751-7760 tug@math.ams.com -dh -- Don Hosek | To retrieve files from ymir via the mailserver, dhosek@ymir.claremont.edu | send a message to mailserv@ymir.claremont.edu Quixote Digital Typography | with a line saying send [DIRECTORY]FILENAME 714-625-0147 | where DIRECTORY is the FTP directory (sans ---------------------------+ "anonymous") and FILENAME is the filename, e.g. "send [tex]00readme.txt". There is a list of files in each directory under the name 00files.txt. Binary files are not available by this technique.
form@pyuxe.uucp (71133-thomas a rowe(l670)r522) (04/11/91)
In article <1991Apr10.212036.1@newton.claremont.edu> dhosek@newton.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) writes: >In article <1991Apr7.224625.9352@cec1.wustl.edu>, abed@saturn.wustl.edu (Abed M. Hammoud) writes: >>I would like to know if there is a version >> of latex for the IBM compatible PC's. > >OK, time for the periodic Jon Radel plug... > >OK, now the various versions of TeX... >Commmontex... DosTeX... emTeX... $\mu$-TeX... PCTeX... >PubliCTeX... SBTeX... TeX 4 386... TeXPLUS... TurboTeX... > >There are also a few other versions of TeX which I don't have >information on hand for... VectorTeX. This version of TeX has been recently upgraded to Ver 3.0. It's claim to fame is are Vector Fonts instead of the traditional TeX bitmapped fonts. Older versions were able to use the standard TeX fonts, but that support has been dropped. VectorTeX will run in a 386 mode, and is compatible with MS Windows 3.0's HIMEM.SYS memory manager. Drivers for PostScript, PCL and a variety of dot-matrix printers are supplied with VectorTeX. The PS and PCL drivers work by actually generating and sending softfonts to the printer. Thus the printer's memory is used as a cache of sorts, and things print much faster than if the whole page is sent as a bitmap. VectorTex allows PCX and MacPaint graphics to be included -- it will scale PCX and MCP images. A screen previewer is also provided. All standard TeX typefaces are provided with VectorTeX. VectorTeX lists for about $300, LaTeX is another $100 (with the LaTeX typefaces). VectorTex is by MicroPress Inc., 67-30 Clyde St. #2N, Forest Hills, NY -- (718) 575-8038. I am not affiliated with MicroPress in any way. I'm just user -- a satisfied one. Christopher Rath (613) 594-3026
mike@cimcor.mn.org (Michael Grenier) (04/13/91)
From article <1991Apr10.212036.1@newton.claremont.edu>, by dhosek@newton.claremont.edu (Don Hosek): > In article <1991Apr7.224625.9352@cec1.wustl.edu>, abed@saturn.wustl.edu (Abed M. Hammoud) writes: >>I would like to know if there is a version >> of latex for the IBM compatible PC's. > > OK, time for the periodic Jon Radel plug... > > OK, now the various versions of TeX. I have little direct > experience with the bulk of these packages (the only one I've > used in for actual work is PCTeX and that not much), so I may > make mistakes. Don then talks about 5 MSDOS based TeX packages. There is also (at least) one commerical version of TeX for PCs that will run under UNIX called Scandia TeX for $195. There are certain advantages of a UNIX environment especially in some of the dvi drivers. A review exists in the Apr. Computer Shopper. -Mike Grenier mike@cimcor.mn.org