Two All-in-One Programs for the Mac

MACTeX Version 2.0 FTL Systems Inc. 234 Eglinton Avenue East Suite 205 Toronto, Ontario Canada. M4P I K5 (416) 487-2142 Requirements: MacPlus, Mac SE or Mac II. Hard disk highly recommended. Printer support: Apple Laserwriter Laserwriter Plus and any PostScript based printing device. Documentation: Comes with its own 110-page manual. TeXbook and LaTeX Price: $750 TeXtures Version 1.0 Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. 6 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867 (617) 944-6795 RequIrements: Runs on Mac 512, Mac 512 enhanced, Mac Plus, Mac SE. Mac II and Mac XL (the XL must have one megabyte of RAM). Hard disk highly recommended. Printer support: Apple image Writer I or II and Apple LaserWriter. Should work with any PostScript printer. Documentation: 125-page Users Guide. Price: $495. LaTeX and AMS-TeX, $45 each. Unlike their DOS counterparts, the implementations of TeX for the Macintosh are complete, all-in-one programs. Both provide an editor for the preparation of input files, TeX itself, a screen previewer and printer drivers. Both also take advantage of the Macintosh's graphics environment, permitting users to sup plement typesetting capabilities with Macintosh and PostScriptgraphics. The editors used to prepare the TeX input file are quite adequate. Cut, copy and Paste, as well as Find and Find/Replace functions are available. You also can move to a specific line number, which is important since TeX always provides the number of the line in which errors are detected. If you don't like the built. in editors, both programs allow you to use any text editing program-provided you always save the file in text (ASCII) format. Under MacTeX and TeXtures, TeX runs much as it does everywhere although these implementations enhance the peripherya bit. Both claim the honor of having passed the TRIP.TEX test, so both deliver a standard TeX engine. Both provide buttons to click when TeX pauses in the course of a run. If you quit the run because TeX has encountered an error, both programs whisk you into their editors and place you at the line in which the error was discovered. The previewer is a great boon, especially when working on the finer points of pages. It eliminates the need to go to the printer to see what the output will look like. On a Macintosh II, TeXtures compiles the file and starts the previewer so rapidly that it's the next best thing to an interactive system. These implementations allow for the importation of three different types of graphics. First, there are those generated by standard Mac programs such as MacPaint and MacDraw. With TeXtures, for example, you use the clipboard or the Scrapbook to paste graphics into the "picture window" maintained for each file. You use the TeX special command to include it in the document and then you can tell TeXtures to scale it. The second type of graphics are PostScript commands, which can be imbedded in documents directly. Third, there are encapsulated PostScript files. The first and third types of graphics insertions can be seen in the screen previewer. Although these Macintosh implementations share many features, the differences between them are more discernible than those between their DOS counterparts. The principal differences concern support of Knuth's Computer Modern typeface, speed and price. Unlike all other TeX implementations, MacTeX does not by default' set type using the CM fonts. Instead, FTL Systems has decided to concentrate its printer support on the fonts provided by Adobe in its PostScript printers. Therefore, you may not he able to directly use source files developed at other installations; you might need to adjust your TeX code to take into account the use of the PostScript fonts. The change in fonts is significant since it may generate error messages not previously encountered. The one exception to this is the CM fonts named emex (extensions), cmmi (mathitalics) and cmsy (symbols). TeX uses these fonts for mathematics, and there are no equivalent fonts in the Adobe system. They can be printed and displayed on screen. To print them, you must copy the font file into your System Folder, so MacTeX can download to the LaserWriter. To break TeX out of its technical typesetting niche, FTL Systems has oriented Mac TeX to the desktop publishing market. This move is not unwarranted--TeX is an excellent general typesetting program. Nevertheless, experienced TeX users may be disappointed by the lack of printing support for the CM fonts. In addition, those with exacting typographical demands may object to the abrupt and forced juxtaposition of Computer Modern and Times Roman. Although TeXtures support of CM fonts is a boon, its major weak point lies in this area. If the program can't find the metric file for a CM font, it substitutes a Macintosh font, both in the previewer and the printer. While that is not disastrous-you can always add the metric file to memory-TeXtures does not tell you when it has made such a substitution. It is possible to compile and print a long document and forget to tell TeX tures where to find a critical but rarely used font. The printed result is horribly ugly blots that disfigure typeset pages. TeXtures really should alert the user if it cannot provide the genuine font. In speed and price, the advantage lies with TeXtures. It costs $495; MacTeX is $750. The bench marks provided here indicate clearly that TeXtures is faster in compiling the DVI file. Both programs are worthy implementations of TeXThe methods they offer to integrate graphics with TeX, a feat that is difficult or impossible with other TeX implementations, are of particular importance. The programs have their own distinct "flavors." Mac TeX has been steered away from the typical TeX implementation in order to make it more appealing as a desktop publishing program. It can translate MacWrite files automatically into TeX files, thus sparing users the need to encode files by hand. The program may appeal to those whose primary interest is standard desktop publishing. TeXtures, on the other hand, couples its exploitation of the Macintosh graphics environment with a more "traditional" implementation. For the experienced TeX user, TeXtures may be the better choice. since TeXtures fully supports the Compouter Modern typeface, it may also be a slightly better choice for typesetting technical and scientific notations.

Two All-in-One Programs for the Mac

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