TeX (I've got it, but what is it?)

[Alex S. Crain]

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Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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In article <474 at kosman.UUCP> kevin at kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) writes:
>Hmmmm. I'm not even sure what newsgroup this should go in.
>
>I got the TeX/LaTeX/etc stuff for the unix-pc, as offered some time
>ago in this group.  It is neat stuff, has lots of fonts and so on.
>
>However, I find I had the wrong impression of what it was and how
>I would be able to use it.  Do I have to write a printer driver to
>do dot matrix stuff?  How is this to be sent to hard copy?

	TeX is a language for Electronic typesetting. the program TeX 
Takes TeX language source and converts it to a DeVice IndependFile (*.dvi).
This DVI file can then be displayed via the texview program that was included 
with your sources. (texview displays .dvi files on a unixpc). if you want
to print dvi files, you need an appropriate driver, in your case dvialw, for
Apple Laser Writer. do a "make dvialw" in the dvi sources directory for this.

	TeX is very powerful, and is usually more then what is called for.
There is a macro package caleed LaTeX that is easier to learn and use. The
two versions are implemented with two programs, tex and latex, the latter 
being the former plus a preloaded macro package.

>HOW DO I WRITE TEX SOURCE?
>
>There are almost no docs in the distribution, so what I'm really
>asking is where should I look for more.

What you want is the TexBook, available from addison-wesley. If you want to
start with LaTeX, get the LaTeX book by Leslie Lamport under the same 
publisher. Other books of interest include the MetaFont book, which describes
the MetaFont program, which is where TeX gets its font files, and "Electronic
Typeface & Typesetting" volumes A-F, by Donald Knuth, who designed the whole 
mess.


>Plus, and and ATT471 printer.  These are all capable of some fancy
>graphics things, if I can ever get them talking together.
>
>Help?

	You want to install
	tex	- the TeX program
	latex	- the tex program with the latex fonts preinstalled
	texview	- a DVI file display program for the unixpc
	dvialw	- a DVI->Apple Laser Writer program

NOTE: When building dvialw from the dvi sources, DO NOT DEFINE UNIXPC! the 
-DUNIXPC definition is to convert the sunview program to unixpcview (texview),
and should not be used for the other drivers.

BTW: TeX is a really neat program, and very powerful, but be prepared to do
some serious learning if you plan to get good at it. The syntax is terse, the
error messages are obscure, and the macro nature of the language is bizarre.

	I love it. :-) :-) :-)
-- 
					:alex.
					Systems Programmer
nerwin!alex at umbc3.umd.edu		UMBC
alex at umbc3.umd.edu