Re: Text processing under Linux - newbie question
Hi Alex,
> I've heard such words as "TeX", "LaTeX", "TeTeX", "Emacs" that should
> deal with subj. But where can i find some kind of "introduction" and
> "feature description" for this apps and "general conception" for using them.
Emacs is a text editor.
TeX is a typesetting system developed at Stanford University by
Donald E. Knuth. It uses a compiler-program called "tex" to interpret
the ASCII-source files of the documents. LaTeX is the name of the most
commonly used macro package by Leslie Lamport. teTeX is the TeX/LaTeX/..
distribution by Thomas Esser. Your Debian comes with this
distribution.
In TeX/LaTeX the content and the markup are completely seperated, sort
of HTML with style sheets. You type your text into your favourite
texteditor, e.g. Emacs, run the TeX-compiler and view the device
independet output. You are able to program you own macros and to
easily extend/replace the existing document classes.
The concept is somewhat archaic, just remember that TeX 1.0 what released
in 1979, twenty years ago. For further information refer to www.ctan.org.
There is a list of TeX-related books on this web-site.
Oh, and as opposed to MS word TeX/LaTeX handles 50+ pages without
thought...
If you are after a software with GUI, drag 'n' drop and WYSIWYG you may
want to take a look at Startoffice (www.stardivision.de) or at the
Linux version of WordPerfect.
My suggestion is to get either Lamport's "LaTeX handbook" or the LaTeX
introduction by Helmut Kopka (available in English and German)
and start using LaTeX.
Cheers -- Stephan
--
Stephan Engelke engelke@math.uni-hamburg.de
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