Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!att!linac!mp.cs.niu.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!msp33327
From: msp33327@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Michael S. Pereckas)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: PCTex/MicroTex
Message-ID: <1991Apr19.182355.2049@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 18:23:55 GMT
References: <1991Apr18.021856.9558@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> <8423@idunno.Princeton.EDU> <1991Apr19.122614.21050@news.larc.nasa.gov>
Sender: usenet@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 55

In <1991Apr19.122614.21050@news.larc.nasa.gov> jcburt@ipsun.larc.nasa.gov (John Burton) writes:

>In article <8423@idunno.Princeton.EDU> bathurst@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Bruce Bathurst) writes:
>>Recently I bought a copy of pcTeX 3.0, and I'm quite happy with
>>[...stuff deleted...]
>>programs from Personal TeX.  I "saved" money by buying all three
>>programs together from Personal TeX.
>>
>>PcTeX 3.0 for the PC, screen viewer, and driver for the Laser Jet
>>II and III sell together for $499.  I comes with LaTeX, BiBTeX,
[......]

>Perhaps you should check the FAQ list for this newsgroup...there are several
>PD versions of TeX/LaTeX/BibTex for the PC...I'm not against people spending
>money but...

>For the money (or lack) EmTeX is a wonderful package. It contains EVERYTHING
>you'll need, TeX, LaTeX, BibTeX, Metafont, dvi* => dvi drivers for most popular
>laser AND dot matrix printers. As for an editor, try using microemacs...I've 

[....]
>newsgroup for the location of microemacs). The total price for this? ~$50
>for the TeX & LaTeX manuals (which I purchased through a bookstore). I've
>used both PCTeX and EmTeX, I like EmTeX MUCH better! (and there are other things
>I can use $500 for...:-)

I used to use PCTeX 2.93, which I got really really really cheap
through a university site license.  It was a fine product.  It
includes an excellent introductory manual written by Michael Spivak.

Recently, I decided to try EmTeX version 3.  It works great.  The
documentation is rather weak, but if you know basically what you are
doing, it is no real problem.  The price is right.  And you get a big
version at no extra charge.

I found the PCTeX dot-matrix printer drivers to be quite poor.  Now,
this may have improved since, and I don't want to give Personal TeX an
undeserved bad name, but that was my experience, and I switched to the
EmTeX drivers some time ago.  I didn't have any documentation for the
PCTeX drivers, which may just have been a quirk of the site license,
and I couldn't find any way to adjust the position of the output on
the page.  This is a problem...  And the EmTeX previewer is possably
the best there is.

In short, PCTeX itself is an excellent implementation.  I was very
unimpressed with the drivers at that time, but this may have improved.
However, EmTeX is just as good, and it costs a great deal less.  As
far as I can see, the only thing you really give up is the excellent
manual.  

--

< Michael Pereckas  <>  m-pereckas@uiuc.edu  <>  Just another student... >
   "This desoldering braid doesn't work.  What's this cheap stuff made
    of, anyway?"  "I don't know, looks like solder to me."