< Installation hints | Update Hints | 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; has installer and a package manger. |
teTeX | Linux, Unix | tug.org/tetex | web2c; not supported any more, TeX Live is recommended instead. |
fpTeX | Win32 | xemtex | not maintained any more, see XEmTeX |
XEmTeX | Win | xemtex | |
MikTeX | Win | miktex.org | with GUI |
proTeXt | Win | tug.org/protext | based on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live |
W32TeX | Win | fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp | with XeTeX and the latest ConTeXt |
gwTeX | MacOS X | rna.nl | web2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install and update GUI ("i-Installer"). Now unsupported |
MacTeX | MacOS X | tug.org/mactex | web2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install. Actually the simplest MacOSX install. |
minimal ConTeXt | Win, Lin, Mac | pragma-ade.com | web2c |
- 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.
TeX engines
TeX the program writes only DVI output; with ConTeXt we normally use pdfTeX, LuaTeX or XeTeX and generate PDF.
Name | OS | ConTeXt | Homepage | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
pdfTeX | "all" | Yes | pdftex.org | latest version at freshmeat or sarovar |
XeTeX | "all" | Yes | sil.org | supports OpenType and all other fonts installed on OS, Unicode, bidirectional typesetting, Mac special features; Windows version not officially released yet - see W32TeX above |
NTS | Java | No | CTAN | OO re-implementation of TeX in Java as a base for further enhancements; discontinued, see ExTeX |
ExTeX | Java | No | extex.org | merger of NTS with eTeX, pdfTeX and Omega (pre-alpha state) |
Aleph | "all"? | Yes | CTAN | Omega/eTeX merge (former eOmega) by Giuseppe Bilotta (beta state) |