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Groups > alt.os.linux.slackware > #26620

Re: TeX and Scribus

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Martha Adams wrote:
> I think that in fact, Slackware's old plain TeX is an excellent
> starting point.  Good practice would be to provide that, and then
> offer the various elaborations for those who find some need for
> them.  In the mean time, I think it's worthwhile to mention that
> Knuth's seminal book, 'The TEXbook', surely connects closely to
> TeXs such as Slackware's, so that a beginner can start with a
> plain TeX and that book, and work herself into a very useful
> capacity for using it.  I wonder how people get started with those
> later elaborated varieties?

Usually by reading the "Not So Short Introduction To LaTeX2e", which is
an excellent introducton to (current) LaTeX. Beginners shouldn't start
with plain TeX, since it's a very low-level format. You wouldn't tell a
novice programmer to start out learning C or C++ these days, you'd
rather suggest someting like Python. In fact, most users will never need
to use TeX directly, because LaTeX does everything they need and more.

But if someone starts learning LaTeX using Slackware's aging teTeX
system, they'll probably run into incompatibilities between teTeX's
LaTeX and current LaTeX very soon. And when they turn to some online
forum, news group or mailing list, the first thing they'll hear when
they ask any question is "upgrade your TeX installation".

I'm not saying that Slackware should start shipping TeXLive, but I do
think it's ridiculous to claim that Slackware shipping a 10-yo TeX
distro is a *good* thing. It's clearly a compromise.


-- 
Joost Kremers                                   joostkremers@fastmail.fm
Selbst in die Unterwelt dringt durch Spalten Licht
EN:SiS(9)

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Thread

TeX and Scribus "john@wexfordpress.com" <john@wexfordpress.com> - 2016-04-04 08:12 -0700
  Re: TeX and Scribus Martha Adams <mhada@verizon.net> - 2016-04-05 01:42 -0400
    Re: TeX and Scribus Joost Kremers <joost.m.kremers@gmail.com> - 2016-04-05 07:25 +0000
      Re: TeX and Scribus W. Greenhouse <wgreenhouse@riseup.net> - 2016-04-05 14:15 +0000
        Re: TeX and Scribus Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2016-04-05 21:13 +0000
          Re: TeX and Scribus W. Greenhouse <wgreenhouse@riseup.net> - 2016-04-05 21:20 +0000
        Re: TeX and Scribus JohnF <john@please.see.sig.for.email.com> - 2016-04-06 07:14 +0000
          Re: TeX and Scribus Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2016-04-06 18:26 +0000
            Re: TeX and Scribus W. Greenhouse <wgreenhouse@riseup.net> - 2016-04-06 20:47 +0000
            Re: TeX and Scribus JohnF <john@please.see.sig.for.email.com> - 2016-04-07 00:11 +0000
              Re: TeX and Scribus Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2016-04-07 05:17 +0000
                Re: TeX and Scribus Unknown <dog@gmail.com> - 2016-04-11 05:13 +0000
    Re: TeX and Scribus "john@wexfordpress.com" <john@wexfordpress.com> - 2016-04-05 07:00 -0700
    Re: TeX and Scribus Jim Diamond <Jim.Diamond@deletethis.AcadiaU.ca> - 2016-04-05 21:35 -0300
      Re: TeX and Scribus Martha Adams <mhada@verizon.net> - 2016-04-06 21:17 -0400
        Re: TeX and Scribus JohnF <john@please.see.sig.for.email.com> - 2016-04-07 04:54 +0000
        Re: TeX and Scribus Joost Kremers <joost.m.kremers@gmail.com> - 2016-04-07 07:46 +0000
        Re: TeX and Scribus W. Greenhouse <wgreenhouse@riseup.net> - 2016-04-07 14:10 +0000

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