Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!csc.anu.edu.au!csis!ken
From: ken@csis.dit.csiro.au (Ken Yap)
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: Re: TeX under CP/M ???
Message-ID: <1991Jan1.231853.14879@csis.dit.csiro.au>
Date: 1 Jan 91 23:18:53 GMT
References: <9101010801.AA12762@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: CSIRO Division of Information Technology
Lines: 23

>Ben Wildasin asked for it.
>
>Ben, I am addicted to TeX and no less to CP/M.
>But TeX under CP/M, I wouldn't try to turn the dream into reality.

I second that. Don't even think of it. I just finished a tangle (sorry
for pun) with getting TeX running on a Tandy 6000 (68k based Xenix
machine) with 1 M memory and tens of Mb of disk. My major problems:

Needed flexnames cpp (got free version).
Needed long identifiers (used shortc and cpp).
Bug in compiler for large multi-d arrays.

And the sheer amount of time needed to compile and test.

I would say the minimum configuration that will support TeX comfortably
is 1 M memory, 20 Mb disk, flexnames C compiler with 32 integer type.
Below this you'll need ugly tricks.

So go buy yourself a cheap PC clone instead.

Oh, if there are any t6k readers, I'll announce the diffs in the Tandy
newsgroup soon.