TeX Distributions

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Revision as of 06:50, 31 August 2005 by 218.214.2.65 (talk) (→‎MikTeX hints: added link to new page "MikTex Problems")
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< Installation hints | Update Hints | Linux Installation >

Historically there were a lot of different TeX distributions. Nowadays there are only a few wide spread. We mention only those that are free and support ConTeXt:

NameOSHomepageRemarks
TeX Livea lottug.org/texliveweb2c, based on teTeX and fpTeX; no installer on Windows
teTeXLinux, Unixtug.org/tetexweb2c
fpTeXWin32fptex.orgweb2c, based on teTeX
MikTeXWinmiktex.orgwith GUI
proTeXtWintug.org/protextbased on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live
gwTeXMacOS Xrna.nlweb2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install and update GUI ("i-Installer")
minimal ConTeXtWin, Lin, Macpragma-ade.comweb2c
  • web2c is a common base for TeX distributions, see tug.org/web2c. It uses the kpathsea tool and its ls-R database for file searches.

web2c hints

  • use mktexlsr (same as texhash) to rebuild the file database after every install or change!
  • Beware, older web2c distributions keep ConTeXt’s (Perl/Ruby) scripts at .../context/perltk, newer at .../scripts/Perl/context! Make sure to delete the older ones! See also Update Hints

MikTeX hints

  • MikTeX has a "rebuild database" menu entry; use it after every install or change!
  • You should enable write18 in miktex.ini (MikTeX's counterpart to texmf.cnf) to get MetaPost support working.
  • See MikTex Problems for more.

alternative TeX processors

TeX the program writes only DVI output; with ConTeXt we normally use pdfeTeX, a merger of eTeX and pdfTeX &#150; it's nowadays probably the most used TeX processor and part of all(?) distributions. But there are more...

NameOSHomepageRemarks
pdf(e)TeX"all"pdftex.orglatest version at freshmeat or sarovar
MetaTeXPOSIXmetatex.orgtries to provide a fast pdfTeX, MetaPost etc. and kpathsea replacement as C libraries (pre-alpha state)
NTSJavaCTANOO re-implementation of TeX in Java as a base for further enhancements
ExTeXJavaextex.orgmerger of NTS with eTeX, pdfTeX and Omega (pre-alpha state)
Aleph"all"?CTANOmega/eTeX merge (former eOmega) by Giuseppe Bilotta (beta state)
XeTeXMacOS Xsil.orguses Mac special features; bidirectional typesetting; supported by ConTeXt since Context 2004.10.07