(La)TeX for different machines
We list here the free or shareware packages;
another question addresses
commercial TeX vendors’ products.
- Unix
- The only current distribution of TeX for Unix systems
(including GNU/Linux and other free Unix-like systems) is
TeX Live, which is distributed as part of the
TeX collection.
Members of many TeX user groups receive copies of the collection
(on CD and DVD), as part of their membership of the
groups.
MacOS/X is also a Unix-based system; however users should refer to
the information below, under item “Mac”.
- texlive
- Browse systems/texlive/
- Linux
- GNU/Linux users are supported by TeX Live (as noted
above).
A free version of the commercial
VTeX extended TeX system is available
for use under Linux, which among other things specialises in direct
production of PDF from (La)TeX input. Sadly, it’s no
longer supported, and the ready-built images are made for use with a
rather ancient Linux kernel.
- texlive
- Browse systems/texlive/
- vtex
- systems/vtex/linux (gzipped tar, browse)
- vtex required common files
- systems/vtex/common (gzipped tar, browse)
- PC: Windows post-95
-
MiKTeX, by Christian Schenk, is a comprehensive distribution. It has
its own previewer, YAP, which is itself capable of printing,
though the distribution also includes a port of dvips.
The current version is available for file-by-file download (the
HTML files in the directory offer hints
on what you need to get going). The MiKTeX developers provide a
ready-to-run copy of the distribution, on CD (for purchase) via the
MiKTeX web site; otherwise the
setup executable is available on CTAN, together with
all the optional packages.
ProTeXt, part of the TeX
collection by Thomas Feuerstack, is
a further option for installing MiKTeX. It bundles a MiKTeX
setup with some further useful utilities, together with a PDF
file which contains clickable links for the various installation
steps, along with explanations.
Windows users are also supported directly by the TeX Live
distribution; a system is provided on the installation disc of the
TeX collection (and it can, with some difficulty, be run “from
the disc” without installing anything).
XEmTeX, by
Fabrice Popineau (he who created the excellent, but now defunct,
fpTeX distribution), is an integrated distribution of TeX, LaTeX,
ConTeXt, XEmacs and friends for Windows. All programs
have been compiled natively to take the best advantage of the
Windows environment. Configuration is provided so that the
resulting set of programs runs out-of-the-box.
The (Japanese) W32TEX distribution was motivated by
the needs of Japanese users (Japanese won’t fit in a “simple”
character set like ASCII, but TeX is based on a version of
ASCII). Despite its origins, W32TEX is said to
be a good bet for Western users, notably those whose disks are short
of space: the minimum documented download is as small as
95 MBytes. Investigate the distribution at
http://www.fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp/kakuto/win32-ptex/web2c75-e.html
A further (free) option arises from the
CygWin bundle, which presents a
Unix-like environment over the Win32 interface; an X-windows server
is available. If you run CygWin on your Windows machine, you have
the option of using TeX Live, too (you will need the X-server, to
run xdvi). Of course, TeX Live components will look like
Unix applications (of course, that’s presumably what you wanted),
but TeX under CygWin also reputedly somewhat slower than native
Win32 implementations such as MiKTeX or XEmTeX. The (now
obsolete) teTeX distribution is provided as part of the CygWin
distribution, and but you can build your own copy of TeX Live from
the current sources.
BaKoMa TeX, by Basil Malyshev, is a comprehensive (shareware)
distribution, which focuses on support of Acrobat. The distribution
comes with a bunch of Type 1 fonts packaged to work with BaKoMa
TeX, which further the focus.
- bakoma
- systems/win32/bakoma (gzipped tar, browse)
- miktex
- Acquire systems/win32/miktex/setup/setup.exe (also available from the
MiKTeX web site), and read installation instructions from
the MiKTeX installation page
- protext.exe
- systems/win32/protext/
- tetex
- obsolete/systems/unix/teTeX/current/distrib/
- PC: MSDOS or OS/2
- EmTeX, by Eberhard Mattes,
includes LaTeX, BibTeX, previewers, and drivers, and is
available as a series of zip archives. Documentation is
available in both German and English. Appropriate memory managers
for using emTeX with 386 (and better) processors and under
Windows, are included in the distribution. EmTeX will operate
under Windows, but Windows users are better advised to use a
distribution tailored for the Windows environment.
A version of emTeX, packaged to use a
TDS directory structure, is separately available as
an emTeX ‘contribution’. Note that neither emTeX itself, nor
emTeXTDS, is maintained. Most users of Microsoft
operating systems, who want an up-to-date (La)TeX system, need to
migrate to Win32-based systems.
- emtex
- systems/msdos/emtex (gzipped tar, browse)
- emtexTDS
- obsolete/systems/os2/emtex-contrib/emtexTDS (gzipped tar, browse)
- PC: MSDOS
- The most recent MSDOS offering is a
port of the Web2C 7.0 implementation, using the GNU
djgpp compiler. While this package is more recent than
emTeX, it still implements a rather old instance of (La)TeX.
- djgpp
- systems/msdos/djgpp (gzipped tar, browse)
- PC: OS/2
- EmTeX, by Eberhard Mattes (see
above), was actually developed under OS/2, and lives happily
in that environment.
OS/2 users may also use a free version of the
commercial VTeX, which specialises
in direct production of PDF from (La)TeX input. (This
version is, like the Linux version, unfortunately no longer supported.)
- emtex
- systems/msdos/emtex (gzipped tar, browse)
- emtexTDS
- obsolete/systems/os2/emtex-contrib/emtexTDS (gzipped tar, browse)
- vtex
- systems/vtex/os2 (gzipped tar, browse)
- vtex required common files
- systems/vtex/common (gzipped tar, browse)
- Mac
- OzTeX, by Andrew
Trevorrow, is a shareware version of
TeX for the Macintosh. A DVI previewer and PostScript
driver are also included. (Members of UK TUG may
acquire the software without further payment, as part of a
membership deal.) OzTeX does not run, natively, under MacOS/X,
but will run with a sufficiently recent CarbonLib (see
http://www.trevorrow.com/oztex/ozosx.html).
Other questions about OzTeX itself may be directed to
oztex@midway.uchicago.edu
Another partly shareware program is
CMacTeX , put together
by Tom Kiffe. CMacTeX is much closer than OzTeX to the Unix
TeX model of things (it uses dvips, for instance).
CMacTeX runs natively under includes a port of a version of
Omega.
Both OzTeX and CMacTeX run on either MacOS/X or on a
sufficiently recent MacOS with CarbonLib
(v1.3 for OzTeX, v1.4 for CMacTeX).
From its 2005 release, the TeX Live disc set
includes MacTeX. Details (and a downloadable distribution set)
may be found on the
TUG web site; the distribution
is also on CTAN.
A useful
resource for Mac users
has a news and ‘help’ section, as well as details of systems and
tools.
The MacTeX-on-OSX mailing list is a useful resource for users;
mail MacOSX-TeX-on@email.esm.psu.edu to subscribe.
- cmactex
- nonfree/systems/mac/cmactex (gzipped tar, browse)
- mactex
- systems/mac/mactex/
- oztex
- nonfree/systems/mac/oztex (gzipped tar, browse)
- OpenVMS
- TeX for OpenVMS is available, though
it seems unlikely that the version on CTAN is the latest
available.
- OpenVMS
- systems/OpenVMS/TEX97_CTAN.ZIP
- Atari
- TeX for the Atari ST is available from CTAN.
- Atari TeX
- systems/atari (gzipped tar, browse)
- Amiga
- Full implementations of TeX 3.1 (PasTeX) and Metafont
2.7 are available.
- PasTeX
- systems/amiga (gzipped tar, browse)
- TOPS-20
- TeX was originally written on a DEC-10
under WAITS,
and so was easily ported to TOPS-20. A distribution that runs on
TOPS-20 is available via anonymous
ftp
from
ftp.math.utah.edu in \path{pub/tex/pub/web
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