Message-ID:	<01BC8E9C.5622E0E0@dialup11.olsztyn.as.bptnet.PL>
From:	"dr J. Paul Bruns-Bielkowicz" <america AT polbox DOT com>
To:	"'Luis Hernandez'" <newton AT math DOT gatech DOT edu>
Cc:	"'djgpp AT delorie DOT com'" <djgpp AT delorie DOT com>
Subject:	ODP: About TeX
Date:	Sat, 12 Jul 1997 08:17:54 +-200
MIME-Version:	1.0

Hi
I have downloaded some of TeX and I am not sure if I should get the rest of it. 

    Now, with regards to TeX. The first thing that I can tell you is this:
    Who told you that `TEX is a great office program' gives you a non totally
    true advice. 

Actually I was told there is a great office clone and assumed that TeX was it. I will have 
to ask SET exactly what the name of the program is.

    
>       opening the *.htm docs my curiosity turned into confusion. I was 
>       confronted with copyrights and introductions that did not answer 
>       my basic questions. I still do not know much about TEX, but if 

    Honestly I don't know what's inside Kpathsea's nor webc's docs.  But
    I'm sure they must contains a least some copyrights.
    
I have nothing against copyrights and contribution notices. It is just that I think 
this project (these projects) could be a little simpler. A signpost or two would be
very helpful. What I am thinking of is a hybrid between a P5 brochure and a AAA
travel guide. Maybe both!

    If you're interested in learn a little about TeX, find a copy of Donald
    Knuth's The TeXbook (by the way, if you don't know who is Donald Knuth,
    let me tell you that  he's the author of TeX,  but that also HE IS the
    author of the Art of  Computer Programming!,  and those are books that
    everybody must --at least-- browse once in a life time)

Are there copies of these out there in the web. I know the local library where I am 
does not have one. Actually, I would be surprised to find one in any library in the country.

>       If writing is not something we do for clarity, especially the docs,
>       then what good are they? A suggestion and degression I shall add
>       -- (Name, ver, what am I?). Simple & sweet.

   I agree with you, but again, I'm not the author of the docs. I'm just like
   a typographer ;-).

Are there any people working on that hybrid between a P5 brochure and a AAA
travel guide. This could be a nice project. Unless someone has done it already; 
But then, where are the docs?

> 	Luis, could you please tell me a little about Tex. 

   The mayority of the mathematical books (and you can also
   include physics, biology, etc. and magazines) that you can find in a book-
   store were created using TeX. 

Does it do all this in color, maybe 24 bit, too? 256 will be just fine.;)

I mean is your life, you can pay for and live with Window$ if you want to ;-).

We are having summer break and I am working like mad preparing for the next school 
year. Unless it is sunny and warm. I escape with my family and friends 
from my terminal to the beach when the weather changes. 
Alas, you have brought up a question that has been at my mind for 
some time. Should I change the operating system at our school to GNU. I know its not easy to 
configure. My main question is this -- will it multitask windows programs as effectively
as Win95. Most of our teaching software runs native in Windows. Well, except the 
software I have been writing with DJGPP.


   please try to give a look
   at the source: The TeXbook, Donald Knuth. (Also, there's a lot of books
   about TeX and the various macro packages --think on that like libraries--
   that has bee written for TeX).

I am very interested, as I have stated before; Are they in the web?


   there are some spell checkers that
   can work with TeX (not really WITH TeX, but at least they can skip TeX
   commands). And, if your work involves the writting of texts in several
   (or at least more than one) languages then you can use Babel macros.

Babel macros! Very, very, very interested in obtaining and using these. Yes, my work at present 
involves three languages and I hope the number will be growing quickly.


   Some related web sites are:
   
   http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/
   http://wwwcn1.cern.ch/cnls/220/node56.html
   http://www.dante.de/
   http://www.brics.dk/~krisrose/Xy-pic.html
   http://www-pu.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de:80/users/ettrich/lyx.html
   http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Desktop_Publishing/TeX/
   

  >As I am thinking that this can be helpful to someone else, I'm going to
  >send a copy of this email to the djgpp also.

	I will keep the thread going. CC sent to DJ.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luis Hernandez. email: newton AT math DOT gatech DOT edu         29805 Georgia Tech Station
Math School, Georgia Tech.                                30332 Atlanta, GA, USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          "I don't want to achieve inmortality through my work,
                               I want to achieve inmortality through not dying"
                                                                    Woody Allen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm going to live forever or die trying"
Digital Hippie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


J. Paul

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| My Cyberspace for beginners on DJGPP & Allegro: 
| http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/2571/
| My Cyberspace on English http://www.polbox.com/a/america/ (coming soon!)
| J. Paul Bruns-Bielkowicz (Teacher)
| "Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit." G. C. Lichtenberg (1742-99)
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Raw text -