TeX Distributions
< Installation 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:
Name | OS | Homepage | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
TeX Live | a lot | tug.org/texlive | web2c, based on teTeX and fpTeX |
teTeX | Linux, Unix | tug.org/tetex | web2c |
fpTeX | Win32 | fptex.org | web2c, based on teTeX |
MikTeX | Win | miktex.org | GUI |
gwTeX | MacOS X | rna.nl | web2c, based on TeX Live |
- 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!
MikTeX hints
MikTeX has anywhere a "rebuild database" menu entry; use it after every install or change!
alternative TeX processors
TeX the program writes only DVI output; with ConTeXt we normally use pdfeTeX, a merger of eTeX and pdfTeX -- it's nowadays probably the most used TeX processor and part of all(?) distributions. But there are more...
Name | OS | Homepage | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
pdf(e)TeX | "all" | pdftex.org | latest version at freshmeat or sarovar |
NTS | Java | CTAN | OO re-implementation of TeX in Java as a base for former enhancements |
ExTeX | Java | extex.org | merger of NTS with eTeX, pdfTeX and Omega (pre-alpha state) |
Aleph | "all"? | CTAN | Omega Unicode TeX variant (former eOmega or Gamma?) by Giuseppe Bilotta |
XeTeX | MacOS X | sil.org | uses Mac special features; bidirectional typesetting; supported by ConTeXt since Context 2004.10.7 |