Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!rex!uflorida!gatech!eedsp!smg From: smg@eedsp.eedsp.gatech.edu (Stephen McGrath) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Re: Converting TeX/LaTeX to/from desktop publishing formats Message-ID: <1399@eedsp.eedsp.gatech.edu> Date: 21 Nov 90 21:11:02 GMT Reply-To: smg@eedsp.gatech.edu (Stephen McGrath) Organization: DSP Lab, School of Electrical Engineering, Ga. Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332 Lines: 128 Several weeks ago I posted a request for information on means of converting between TeX/LaTeX and other word processing/desktop publishing formats. Most of the replies I received were requests to pass on any information I came up with; it seems a lot of people are struggling with the same problem. Here follows a summary of the more informative replies I received; thanks to all who replied. -Stephen -------------------------------------------------------- From: "Halvorson,Peter J" I don't know about converting formats but I'd stick to LaTeX. I've been using it on a SPARCstation for a year now, and have found nothing to match it. I have had no trouble creating and including graphics in my papers. A workstation seems to be the perfect machine for Latex they have multitasking, multiple windows ( text editor, previewer, spell checker, ...), and excellent free software ( which also means free upgrades) such as fig (a drawing program), ispell ( a spell checker), half a dozen screen previewers ( on most workstations you can get a semi-legible full page), gnuplot ( data plotting program), gnuemacs ( the best text editor), point and click/ user friendly editors also, and pbmplus ( convert various graphic formats). You can also use a home computer to log into a workstation at school, and only have to keep one set of files. You can get a 15 MIPS, megapixel, 8 Mbyte memory workstation for $3000 - $4000 ( Sun and NeXT). You can get a file server, and add disks at $2000 per 660 Mbytes. Having tape drives, hard drives, and printers shared by all the workstations is trivial. Aside from the publishing, there is a lot you can do with a good workstation, number crunching ( these will give you answer sooner than a lightly loaded nve1), programming, worldwide email. The NeXT machines include a lot of valuable software for free, such as Mathematica, Improv ( an excellent Lotus spreadsheet, free until the end of 1990), Webster's online dictionary and thesaurus, and a lot of other software. You can also mix and match your workstations, they will work together. If you want to try FrameMaker, you can go down to the Rich building. It is supposed to be a typical to good DTP program. I find it very hard to work with, to me, it's much easier to manipulate an ASCII source file than a WYSIWYG display. The only extra feature of maker is that is can do a better job of placing figures wherever you want, and wrapping text about them. Disclaimer: I'm very enthusiatic about workstations. I've had one on my desk for a year and love it. The department has 5, and is planning to get a couple SPARC 2's ( 25 MIPS) and a NeXT ( maybe with the 32 bit graphics accelerator). -------------------------------------------------- From: barry%reed.BITNET@VM1.gatech.edu re your query about Latex compatibility with DTP systems: our Textures system (Macintosh, sorry!) is a complete TeX (and yes, Latex) system that allows import of pictures or graphics from other Mac applications AND export of finished pages or type to Adobe Illustrator, PageMaker, Quark Xpress, etc. If the Mac hasn't been ruled out of your consideration, you might give us a call... -------------------------------------------------- From: Hsin-Kung Chuang I think The Publisher of ArborText, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan is the answer. In can accept TeX and LaTeX as inputs without any conversion if one does not want to use the normal WYSIWYG mode. It has tools similar to MacDraw and MacPaint. Figures can be included easily. Images on the screen can be captured and put into documents. I have not seen many desktop publishing packages, but I think the Publisher is most suitable for communities with large TeX and/or LaTeX users. After all, ArborText is one of the vendors which sell TeX previewers and dvi converters. The Publisher does come with a LaTeX (and TeX?) converter, but it does not do a good job, one may need to add a lot of macros to have a complete conversion. I know it runs on Sunview and X-Window, that means it covers almost all kinds of UNIX workstations. For information on other platforms, you probably have to get it from the company directly. I hope the information is useful to you. Andrew Chuang -------------------------------------------------- From: mark@motown.altair.fr Please post a summary of what you get on this topic, as I'm sure there is lots of interest. Our own experience is with The Publisher from Arbortext. We chose it precisely because it generates LaTeX-compatible output and can accept LaTeX files as input, which it converts to its internal format via SGML. We were somewhat disappointed with the long learning curve that The Publisher seems to impose on new users, but once over that, we are generally pleased with the results. The Publisher is not really WYSIWYG; rather it replaces the cryptic LaTeX formatting commands with buttons in the text. It uses an xdvi-like previewer to show you what the page will look like. Entering graphics or mathematical formulae is done with Arbortext's own utilities, which gives you LaTeX's first-rate page formatting without having to learn LaTeX. Error messages tend to resemble those from LaTeX, so that your LaTeX hackers will be likely to understand Publisher problems pretty quickly. We use The Publisher mostly for articles and short documents; I can't comment on how it would handle a major book-length manual, for example. -------------------------------------------------- From: Arthur van Horck I would very much apreciate you forwarding any relevant information to me as well: we're struggling with the same problem... The only filter package I know of (Filtrix, by Blueberry), that runs on Suns under SunView, does not include TeX/LaTeX as one of the convert to/from options (which is a nust). Neither is it available under X-windows, which would be an asset. Thanks in advance, Arthur van Horck -- Stephen McGrath School of Electrical Engineering, smg@eedsp.gatech.edu Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332