Info-Mac 4/Info_Mac IV CD-ROM (Pacific HiTech Inc.)(August 1994).iso/Information/Software/tex-for-the-mac.txt

Internet Message Format | 1994-06-09 | 28KB

Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 18:44:03 -0500
From: Scott Kaplan <[e-mail]>

I received email from a Chunsheng Ban <[e-mail]>, who passed
on some additional information about the state of TeX/LaTeX on the Mac.  For
anyone concerned, I figured it would be worth the time to update this file
by including the rather useful paragraph below.  The rest of the file, beyond
this paragraph, contains the same group of replies I got when I asked the net
people about TeX implementations on the Mac.

Scott Kaplan
Amherst College
[e-mail]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: Chunsheng Ban <[e-mail]>

The current version of OzTeX is 1.6. It has been a shareware since
version 1.5. You can print DVI files on a QuickDraw printer without
using a separate utility. It has a new format NFSS LaTeX which
replaces the Times-LaTeX format. You can use many PostScript fonts
in addition to Times (NFSS=New Font Selection Scheme). It adds virtual
font capability to OzTeX.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: [e-mail]

I can highly recommend the freeware OzTeX package found on midway.uchicago.edu.
OzTeX is a no-nonsense, but robust (at least under System 7.1) Mac
implementation of TeX 3.14 that'll let you preview the .dvi files and print
PostScript to printers or files. If you don't have a PostScript printer,
there's also an application called DVI72-MAC that will let you print to at
least some QuickDraw printers (it works like a charm with my StyleWriter at
home producing an output that rivals that of the (DEC and Apple) laserprinters
at work - hard to believe, I know.). And yes, it also supports lobotomized TeX
(a.k.a. LaTeX), INITeX and hence any other format you may care to dream up
yourself.

I use the OxTeX package (along with the no-nonsense freeware text editor
BBedit) all the time on my PowerBook and LC at home as a portable alternative
to my main (VMS VAXstation) TeX implementation. I have yet to encounter any
compatibility problems in transferring .tex .dvi and .ps files back and forth
between VMS TeX and OzTeX. The same combination oughta work just fine with
Sun/Unix Tex as well.

Peter Jakobsen
European Space Agency

[e-mail]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: "Dr Alun J. Carr" <[e-mail]>

First, if you're a novice, stick to LaTeX. Read Lamport's book. {\em Don't}
under any circumstances read Knuth's `The TeXbook' until you need the
information that is in it.

As for software, what you want is OzTeX. This is available by anonymous FTP
from

    midway.uchicago.edu.

It is freeware, written by Andrew Trevorrow.

OzTeX comes with a full set of 300 dpi Pk-format Computer Modern fonts for
TeX and LaTeX, but not the AMS fonts. Also included is LaTeX 2.09.

OzTeX has a DVI (the compiled output from TeX) file previewer built in, so
you can see what your document looks like before committing it to paper.
OzTeX will generate Postscript files from a DVI file, or print direct to a
Postscript printer.

If you want to print a DVI file to a QuickDraw printer you need to use
either James Walker's DVIM-72-Mac DVI printing application (an old-ish
version is bundled with OzTeX; the latest version is available by anonymous
FTP from bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu, where you can also pick up the word-wrap
patches for BBEdit), or OzPSPrint. Note that with DVIM-72-Mac, if you
include a PICT graphic in your document, you must explicitly leave space for
it (if you don't, OzTeX will preview it OK, but DVIM-72-Mac will place it in
the wrong position on the page). It's probably worth turning OFF the `draw
offscreen' option in DVIM-72-Mac, as I've found it produces bizarre bugs on
my Centris 650. DVIM-72-Mac will not use TrueType or Postscript fonts, but
OzPSPrint will (though the quality of PICT bitmaps is reduced to 72 dpi with
this application, which is a problem---for some reason OzTeX will take a 400
dpi bitmap and render it at 72 dpi in the Postscript file it outputs).

The editor of choice is Alpha (available from sumex-aim.stanford.edu, 25 US
dollars shareware) which, when you edit a file with a `.tex' extension, will
put up a menu which allows you to insert templates for most of the LaTeX
commands (it's almost like using a word processor---if you want to emphasize
a word (let's say: Fred), just double-click on it, select Emphasize from the
LaTeX menu, and the appropriate formatting information will be put in place
(i.e. Fred becomes {\em Fred\/})).

Also available from sumex-aim is the Excalibur spelling checker (freeware)
for LaTeX documents. My problem is that it has an American English
dictionary).

If you want a more sophisticated version of LaTeX, check out AMS-LaTeX (from
e-MATH.AMS.com). The font-handling in this is superior to ordinary LaTeX.

For maintaining BIBTeX databases, use HyperBIBTeX (sumx-aim) a hypercard
stack which makes the construction of BIBTeX databases very easy. You will
also need MacBIBTeX.

I picked up a copy of MacMakeIndex from somewhere as well...

You may be interested in looking at DirectTeX (shareware, 100 US dollars) as
well, which runs under MPW. It's nowhere near as friendly as OzTeX and the
documentation is appalling. But it does have a nice method of using METAFONT
to generate PK-format fonts that you don't have (handy if you're moving up
to a 600 dpi printer).

The bottom line is that while TeX is a grossly un-Mac-like concept, the Mac
is one of the best-served platforms for TeX-ing documents.

Hope this helps.

Contact me if you need any more information.

Regards,

Alun

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: [e-mail] (peter c halverson)

Both OzTeX and Textures are standalone TeX/LaTeX implementations that also
provide on-screen previewing.  Textures is a commercial application from a
place called Blue Sky Research.  OzTeX is freeware; the best place to get
it is midway.uchicago.edu.

I've used both; Textures is somewhat faster, and has smoother factilities
for dealing with TeX and Macintosh fonts; OzTeX, on the other hand, uses
the more general PK format for fonts, which is good if you're trying to
keep things the same across different platforms, but a bit clunky when used
in conjunction with other Mac fonts.  OzTeX is also somewhat easier to
configure, and, of course, is free.

>From the comp.text.tex FAQ:

    OzTeX is a free version TeX for the Macintosh.  Version 1.3
    corresponds to TeX 3.0, and can be configured in "large" versions
    that can handle huge macro packages, e.g. LamsTeX.

    OzTeX uses standard pk fonts and tfm filesand creates standard dvi files.
    Includes a DVI previewer, and PostScript driver.

Hope this helps.

Pete Halverson                                      INET: [e-mail]
GE Corporate R&D Center                       UUCP: uunet!crd.ge.com!halverson
Schenectady, NY

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: tom prusa <[e-mail]>

  i have used TeX on the macintosh for almost 5 years now and let
me tell you that the macintosh is an extremely friendly
environment to work with TeX.  As you probably know, LaTeX is
just a set of TeX macros so any real TeX implementation will
also work with LaTeX (once LaTeX has been configured for that
implementation).
   for the mac there are two implementations.  first, there is oztex.
oztex is a FREE version of tex.  i used it for about a year or so.
it is excellent (far better say than the expensive versions my
colleagues here use on their PCs). it is available via ftp from
tank.uchicago.edu under the pub/OzTeX subdirectory.  given the
price, it is hard to beat OzTeX.  second, there is Textures.  Textures
is a commercial implementation of TeX.  I use Textures, but that
is mostly because I bought an earlier version of it before oztex
was available.  A couple of years ago I actually thought that
oztex was superior and I switched.  Since then textures has been upgraded
(twice) and I switched back (at the cost of a $99 upgrade fee).  okay,
why did i switch?  well, first of all, textures has a bit nicer
user interface (less like a mainframe, more like a macintosh). second,
the upgrade included the CMR fonts in postscript format, which allows
me  to use them with other programs, like Canvas. textures is
available from blue sky research at 800-622-8398 (pacific time zone).

oh, by the way, both versions are unbelievable slow on 68000
level machines (like my MacPlus at home) so I hope you have
a 68030 machine or above.

Tom Prusa
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Economics
SUNY at Stony Brook

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: [e-mail] (James Lawry student tel 2-70511)

OzTeX is what you want. It is available by ftp from
a number of places - ftp.tex.ac.uk, midway.uchicago.edu,
and I'm sure mac-archive.umich.edu has it somewhere as well.
It's up to about version 1.42 or v1.43 now, but I have
v1.3 and have yet to notice any missing features that I need.

The program is basically a .dvi compiler and viewer rolled into
one. I run it under system 7 with a text editor and my file open,
and OzTeX running as well.

What sort of printer do you have? Or are you not worried about
printing from your Mac? If your printer is PostScript, the OzTeX
program will print directly to it. I'm not lucky enough to have
a PostScript printer, so I don't know how well this works.

If you have a QuickDraw laser, StyleWriter, HP DeskWriter,
ImageWriter ... anything not postScript, then you need a separate
program to print out. It's called DVIM72-Mac, and most sites store
it with OzTeX. Warning! Get the latest version: I had difficulties
with the program at first, and I posted to the UseNet group
comp.text.tex asking about it. The author of the program, Jim Walker
promptly mailed me back (isn't the InterNet great?) and told me
that the latest version is 1.9.6, available by ftp from
bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu. It works a treat for my StyleWriter.

Incidentally the whole printing business is a little fiddly because
the program doesn't use the Macintosh system fonts, and the fonts it
does use are not in the Mac format and are bitmaps, rather than outlines.
Now before you say "What a primitive program!", this is to maintain
compatibility with other versions -- the printouts I get on my StyleWriter
are indistinguishable from the ones on the Laser printer at our
department, running of a network of Sun-4's.

The font files are called PK-files. Being bitmap fonts, you need an
awful lot of them! And which ones you use depends on the resolution
of your printer. If your printer is 300 dpi it's not too bad: all the
files are readily available. You'll see all these files in the ftp
archive like pk300.sit, pk329.sit,pk360.sit, pk432.sit etc. You'll
probably only need those four. (There are bigger sizes, but I don't
seem to ever use them. Anyway they take up megs of disk space).

If you have a StyleWriter or other 360dpi printer, you'll also need
one which is pk394. This was kindly uploaded to ftp.tex.ac.uk the
other day, but I haven't downloaded it yet. The DVIM72 program is
reasonably clever at substituting fonts if you haven't got a particular
size, but it doesn't actually scale the characters up, it just spaces the (small) letters to the spacing the larger size would have had.
Nevertheless that's fine for proof prints at home for me and I can
bring the .tex file or.dvi file into the office to print on the laser.

The only problem with both programs is resources. The OzTeX package
takes about 2.5 Mb of space on my hard disk, and that's after throwing
away all the PostScript parts and a lot of the big fonts. I wouldn't
like to run it on a less than 4 Mb machine as well. The DVIM72 program
doesn't take up much space (and the latest version doesn't require
much of a partition either); but on my system, which has the StyleWriter
on the standard Apple print spooler, the temp files are about 1.5 Mb!
I suppose the program has to generate huge 360 dpi bitmaps. But the
thing refused to print when I only had 1Mb free on my hard disk,
because it couldn't create the spool file.

Nevertheless I find this system most satisfactory for TeX. It handles
LaTeX as well: you say you're a complete TeX novice, so excuse me if
you know this already, but LaTeX is to TeX what BASIC is to assembly
language, i.e. LaTeX lets you get the job done fairly well by making
common tasks easy while the real pros can fiddle around in TeX to
their heart's content. If you've just started using TeX, then I expect
it's LaTeX you're using.

James Lawry.

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From: [e-mail] (Eloise Kleban)

You've probably had responses to your question about TeX on the Mac,
but just in case... There are commercial TeXs available, but they
are expensive.  The only free version that I know is OzTeX.
One warning - it's *big*.  You need lots of disk space - my TeX folder
is 10.2 meg.  Enclosed below is an item on OzTeX that was posted some
time ago:
***********
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 91 21:28:57 EST
From: [e-mail] (David R. Morrison)
Subject: OzTeX

Mark Perry recently asked for comments about OzTeX.  I've been a daily user
for 18 months now, and I wouldn't be without it.  It is the only public domain
version of TeX for the Macintosh, and it is much closer than its commercial
cousins to the implementations of TeX which exist on other platforms.  OzTeX
reads and writes standard dvi, tfm and pk files, which can be exchanged (in
binary) with unix boxes and presumably with other machines as well.  It produces
PostScript output, which can be sent directly to a LaserWriter or saved to disk.
There is also a facility for using built-in PostScript fonts in place of the
standard TeX fonts.

The interface is not completely Mac-like, but then again, TeX itself is a
rather un-Mac-like thing.  There is no integrated text editor, so you must
either use a DA (\SigmaEdit is supplied with OzTeX), or your favorite word
processor to generate the input files.  TeX itself runs in a window with
a command-line interface, although it is started with a menu selection.  Once
the document has been processed, there is a nice previewer (in a separate
window) which provides several different magnifications.  The display is not
perfect in the previewer, since it is based on 300dpi bitmaps.  However, I
believe that the maximum magnification is a 300:72 ratio, so that you can see
the final product accurately (although larger than life).

The most recent version, OzTeX 1.3, has implemented Knuth's final standard
version of TeX:  TeX 3.0.  It has also provided an easy way to change the
amount of memory which TeX uses, and expand the capacity considerably.  (This
is really necessary to use new macro packages like LamsTeX, AmS-LaTeX, and
even AmS-TeX 2.0.)  In this larger size, it requires a couple of megabytes
to run, but the smaller configurations will run comfortably on a 1 meg Mac.

My OzTeX folder (which contains a rich selection of fonts and input files, not
just the basics) currently occupies just under 8 megabytes on my hard disk.

The major drawback I am aware of vis-a-vis the commercial products:  the
commercial products run a bit faster during document processing, and TeXtures
uses Macintosh fonts which produce a better screen display (although they are
less compatible with other versions of TeX).

OzTeX 1.3 can be acquired by anonymous ftp from midway.uchicago.edu, and several
other sites.

     David Morrison
     ([e-mail])
*************************
Hope this is useful!
Eloise Kleban
[e-mail]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: Neal Carothers<[e-mail]>

    There are public domain versions of the TeX program available
for just about any machine/system under the sun.  A (free!) version
for the Mac, called OzTeX, is available through anonymous ftp at
midway.uchicago.edu (and probably other sites, too).  The full package
includes the capability of processing Plain TeX and LaTeX files.  In
order to use the whole mess, though, you'll need roughly 10 MB of free
disk space...  TeX uses a ton of fonts, and these take up a lot of
room.  In actual practice, though, you won't need them all.  With
some experimentation, you'll easily be able to trim that down to
just a few megs (I use a stripped down version at home that takes up
only about 2 MB, and a larger version at work).
    As a former novice myself, I can tell you one of the pleasant
things about TeX.  Everything about it is free!!  There are several
large TeX archives on the 'net, with lots of free goodies.  Helpful
hints for beginners, along with fancy stuff for experts.  Check out
the ftp site: niord.shsu.edu.  You should be able to find several
beginner's guides there; I would recommend "A Gentle Introduction to
TeX", by Michael Doob (called gentle.tex in the archives), and the
Univ. of Oregon TeX Primer (author and archive filename escapes me
just now...).  Either of these will help you get started using Plain
TeX.  After you've gotten your feet wet, you may want to invest in one
of the many books available about TeX.  A good choice for a novice is
"A Beginner's Book of TeX" by Seroul and Levy, Springer-Verlag, 1991.
    LaTeX is another animal altogether...  In brief, LaTeX is a
huge collection of Plain TeX macros which have been designed to make
TeX easier to use (the name LaTeX is supposedly short for "Lazy TeX",
or so I'm told).  The only drawback with this scheme is that LaTeX is
not compatible with Plain TeX.  In addition, it lacks some of the
flexibility of Plain TeX.  But that's not to say that it isn't the
better choice.  Just a word of warning about the differences.  I only
know of one beginner's guide to LaTeX available on the 'net.  It's
called "Essential LaTeX", but it's very brief and doesn't cover any of
the technical stuff like typesetting mathematics and the like.
    As you can probably tell, I use Plain TeX myself and don't
know very much about LaTeX.  I think it's fair to say that with either
choice this much is true: It's not too tough to get started composing
simple documents.  You could be up and running in a few days.  But it
may take you months to feel really comfortable with it; there is a
decidedly high learning curve for doing _complicated_ things with TeX.
Personally, I think it's well worth it.  As a mathematician, I've
found no other way to typeset the things I want printed.  And as
someone who corresponds with other mathematicians through e-mail, I've
found no other way to send complicated ideas as pure text (you can't
depend on anyone having access to MacWrite or Word or whatever, but
everybody has access to TeX).
    I hope this helps.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.
You might also want to check out the newsgroup comp.text.tex devoted to
TeX, LaTeX, and related issues.  In particular, look for their FAQ
file in news.answers.  It might save you some searching.

Neal Carothers
[e-mail]

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From: [e-mail] (Harold Herchen)

No, you are not offbase at all.  It is not stated in your message, but I presume
your machine at home is a Mac.  Since it is presumeably not a Quadra 950,
speed might be a consideration.  In that case, I would strongly recommend
Textures version 1.5, which is three times faster than its closest competition.
This is because Textures is written in assembler, not C or Pascal.  It is
easy to create dvi files in it.  Just do a Save As from the typeset window
and select the dvi option.

There are three main windows in Textures.  One for the input text and TeX
or LaTex commands, one for any pictures you may include, and finally the
typeset page(s) window.  This is where Textures really shines.  In version
1.5, you can type your words or equations into the first window, and
immediately see the finished product in the typeset window.  This is really
fantastic for equations especially.  Both TeX and LaTeX can be used easily:
switching between them simply  requires pulling down a menu and selecting
one or the other.  I use both,  along with TeXsis, AMSTeX, and ReVTeX,
depending on my purpose, and who I am going to share the files with.

The downside is the cost of the program.  It is $495 for regular users, but
there is an academic discount of $245, and I believe students can buy
it for $125, but that was one year ago, and prices may have changed a bit.
Their nearest competition is OzTeX, which is free, but not nearly as good.
Overall, for documents less than say 400 pages, Textures has no peer on the Mac
or any other machine.

Enjoy!
Harald Herchen       [e-mail]

P.S.  I don't work for Blue Sky.  I am a very satisfied experimentalist who
writes alot of papers and proposals with it.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: [e-mail] (Rick Zaccone)

I also suggest that you get a copy of Excalibur, a LaTeX spelling
checker.  It's available from sol.cs.bucknell.edu in pub/mac.  The
current version is 1.3.1, although 1.3.2 will be ready real soon.

Rick Zaccone
[e-mail]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: [e-mail]

I thought I'd pass on a tip for minimizing the hard disk space required by
OzTeX.  The fonts, namely the pk files, are the primary culprit, but you
can set things up so that you only load in the fonts (i.e., their bitmapped
representations) that you actually need.

The top level OzTeX folder contains two sub-folders, TeX-fonts and
PK-files.  The TeX-fonts folder contains files named *.tfm, which are
your font metric files (i.e., they describe the font's characteristics
for the purposes of typesetting, but they are not the font itself).
You need to have all of the tfm files available on your hard disk all
the time.  The PK-files folder is divided into several sub-folders:
300, 329, 360, 432, 518, 622, and 746.  These sub-folders represent
different magnifications, and they contain fonts, named *.pk, at that
magnification.  This is where the bitmapped representations that are
actually used in printing get stored.

Now while you need to keep all of the tfm files available, you can
load the pk files (in their appropriate magnification folder) as you
need them.  I keep a different floppy (for each magnification folder)
that contains all the pk files for a particular magnification.  Then
when OzTeX tells me it needs, say, cmr10.329pk, I just pull out the
floppy with the 329 folder, and copy over cmr10.329pk to the 329
sub-folder in PK-files.  You'll find that you really don't need most
of the PK files to print typical documents.

How does OzTeX tell me it needs the font?  Well, it throws up a dialog
box during the dvi preview for each page, but you can look under Page
Info under the View menu to see all of the fonts it uses for the
entire document and which are missing.

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Charlie

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: [e-mail]

You don't say what your platform is, but I assume it is a Mac.  You can find
TeX on wuarchive.wustl.edu, as follows:

mirrors3/archive.umich.edu/mac/misc/tex:
total 7848
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive      2739 Mar 28 19:21 00index.txt
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive     85292 Mar  1 21:10 dvim72mac1.96.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    374829 Jan 14 21:50 excalibur1.3.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    145400 Oct  8  1991 imgdvim.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive     87197 Oct  8  1991 makeindex.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive   1095429 Oct  8  1991 ozinp.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive   1012912 Mar  7 14:31 oztex1.42.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    617864 Oct  8  1991 pk300.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    638050 Oct  8  1991 pk329.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    695725 Oct  8  1991 pk360.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    737638 Oct  8  1991 pk432.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    899046 Oct  8  1991 pk518.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    647860 Nov 25 02:23 pk622.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive    792759 Nov 25 02:38 pk746.sit.hqx
-r--r--r--   1 root     archive     71117 Oct  8  1991 polish.sit.hqx

oztex is the interpreter, ozinp is inputs to tex (formats, font metrics,
etc.), dvim72mac allows you to view dvi files on screen, excalibur, I believe,
is an editor, imgdvim converts dvi files to print on an imagewriter, the
pkxxx files are precompiled font tables and makeindex is used to format
indexes (run tex, then makeindex, then tex again to include index).  There
is a font compiler (mf, for metafont), available from midway.uchicago.edu
as:

pub/tex/macintosh/metafont:
total 944
-rw-r--r--  1 368      500        955776 Sep  9  1990 macmetafont.sit

Lots of font sources are available from ftp.uu.net under the directory
tree starting at pub/text-processing/TeX, gatekeeper.dec.com under
pub/text/TeX, nic.funet.fi under pub/TeX/TeX-3.14 and at wuarchive.wustl.edu
under mirrors4/tex (.../ams/amsfonts/sources, .../cm, .../latex, .../lib,
.../local/cm, .../local/lib, .../tugboat).

I hope this helps.
-Steve

Steven R. Allen - [phone]  M/S 4H-31
[e-mail]   / "Dang, I know I left it here somewhere!"
(BEMS)  SGDI03(S0140780)          / "What?"  "My mind.  I've lost my mind!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: "Dr Alun J. Carr" <[e-mail]>

OzTeX {\em is} impressive for a piece of freewae, isn't it? I think the TeX
community represent what good computing is all about---excellent tools,
freely distributed.

BTW, did I mention the LaGrafix application (also at midway.uchicago.edu)?
It's a Mac drawing application which generates the LaTeX input for a picture
using the LaTeX picture environment. It's a little crude, but handy for
putting together quick and dirty flowcharts and the like.

AMS-LaTeX has better font-handling than LaTeX, so that if you specify a
typeface that doesn't have a corresponding .tfm file, it will intelligently
select the best alternative (this doesn't happen too often, though, as OzTeX
is distributed with all the fonts LaTeX uses with 300 dpi printers and all
the matching .tfm files). AMS-LaTeX also has some extra styles for papers to
be submitted to the AMS and an AMS book style. In addition, it adds in some
features developed from AMSTeX for typesetting some {\em really} complex
math.

You only need the AMS fonts if you are into heavy mathematics (the sort that
most engineers like myself would never ususally come across). They also
include a Fraktur typeface and a Cyrillic typeface. The Fraktur may just be
for use in math mode, not for setting books in German in a traditional
style, and the same may possibly be true of the Cyrillic. In other words,
they may only be available in order to give mathematicians a whole load of
extra symbols to play with, as they exhausted the standard Roman and Greek
character sets ages ago (hence the use of the Hebrew character Aleph for
infinities in infinite set theory, and Fraktur R and I for the real and
imaginary parts of complex numbers---in fact, these specific cases are
already catered for in the LaTeX font distribution as they are now
relatively common).

To install AMS-LaTeX properly, you need to hack some of the files that come
with OzTeX to increase memory allocations (and change the memory allocation
in the Finder's Get Info box). It's also 10--20% slower than standard LaTeX.

In other words, the LaTeX that is distributed with OzTeX is more than
adequate for getting started with (and functions exactly as described in
Lamport's book). You will only find problems if, for example, you want a
bold italic word (for example, italicizing a word in the middle of a block
of bold text), as \em or \it turns off the \bf attribute. This is solved in
AMS-LaTeX (but then a lot of standard hacks stop working, like using \rm in
math mode to put in a piece of text).

Regards,

Alun