[comp.sys.amiga.multimedia] Best desktop publisher ???

dege@cs.umn.edu (Dege Jeffrey Charles) (01/14/91)

In <663@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) writes:

>  1) What software is available?  (Commercial, pd, ftp addresses...)

>  2) What special hardware is required?  (Monitors, memory, printers...)

>  3) Do you need a laser printer, or can you get reasonable output on a
>     dot-matrix printer?

>  4) Why on earth does D. Knuth say that it should be pronounced 'tek'? ;)

1.  I know of two versions of TeX that run on the Amiga.  One is a PD version
called PasTex.  The other is AmigaTeX by Radical Eye software (Box 2081,
Stanford Ca, 94309)  I found PasTex on Bix a while back.  It seems pretty
solid, but it lacks all of the fonts, the docs are in German, etc.  On the
other hand, AmigaTeX is widely recognized as the best implementation of TeX
available on any system, anywhere.
 
2.  To use TeX, you need a computer, a version of TeX that will run on your
system, a printer, and a driver for that printer.  AmigaTeX will run in
512k, but you'll get better performance with more memory.  TeX output is
portable, so you can print on any TeX system.
 
3.  TeX doesn't use the preference drivers, it has it's own special
utilities to print to specific printers.  PasTeX's selection is rather
narrow, AmigaTeX is somewhat wider.  Drivers are available for Postscript
printers, HP Laserjets, Deskjets, etc, and a stack full of dotmatrix printers.
Since my printer ISN'T supported, I went the Postscript route.  I'll print
the final copies at work, and only use my printer at home for previewing
(not that is often required, as the previewer is very nice.)
 
4.  TeX is spelled with greek letters, not Latin letters, so that isn't
TEE, EE, EKS, it's TAU, EPSILON, CHI.  
 
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