Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!ames!pioneer!woo
From: woo@pioneer.arpa (Alex Woo)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: TeXtures and MacTeX
Message-ID: <3643@ames.arpa>
Date: 12 Dec 87 19:38:08 GMT
Sender: usenet@ames.arpa
Reply-To: woo@pioneer.UUCP (Alex Woo)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 41
Keywords: disappointed with TeXtures.
Summary: How about a simple implementation?

I have been using various versions of TeX and LaTeX for several
years and like the fact that it is device independent so that
files created on one machine can be viewed or printed somewhere
else.  Unfortunately I have been very disappointed with TeXtures.
Here are some specific complaints:

1.  It is incomplete since it does not include "initex" or "virtex"
and therefore cannot easily use large macro packages.  Since TeXtures
does not include LaTeX, I mistakenly tried to \input lplain.  This
takes a long time and TeXtures coughs on the embedded form feeds.

2.  TeXtures seems to be able 6 months behind the OS.  Currently, it 
is impossible to print under system 5.0 or multifinder.  

3.  While the integrated editor/typesetter/previewer is nice, in many
ways I prefer the old fashion environment that is common on mainframes.
I prefer a different editor than TeXtures and I don't want the
overhead of previewing.  

Here are some TeX related questions:
a.	Does anyone know of a simple implementation
	of say the C-version of TeX or the original pascal version?  
	I would like to feed it a file and have it output a DVI file.
b.	I would like to hear some comments on MacTeX.  Since I have
	a number of home grown macro packages, I am especially
	interested in "initex" and the memory constraints.
c.	What about MathWriter(TM) or MW2TeX(TM) from Cooke Pubs?
	Does it really translate WYSIWYG input correctly or just
	close to what you really want?

Thanks for your comments.

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Alex Woo, MS 227-2		|	wu@ames-aero.arpa
NASA Ames Research Center	|	woo@ames-nas.arpa
Moffett Field, CA 94035		|	{seismo,topaz,lll-crg,ucbvax}! 
Phone: (415) 694-6010		|	ames!pioneer!woo
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  {hplabs,hao,ihnp4,decwrl,allegra,tektronix,menlo70}!ames!pioneer!woo
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