[OS X TeX] Re: Newbie is confused by Getting Started document

[Bob Harris]

Gary wrote:
> Of course anything that can be done with TeXShop can also be invoked
> from the command line. If that is your cup of tea, go for it. You will lose
> the ability sync between source and preview (invaluable in long docs)
> and several other nice things that it provides, but it sounds like you
> aren't really interested in anything new. [;-)]

(chuckle) Well It's not that I'm uninterested in learning something
new.  Last week I started using Adobe Illustrator for the first time,
a month ago I started fiddling around with composing music (pun
intended), soon I will be learning haskell so that I can use haskore,
and this past weekend I started making some furniture.  I have a
limited budget of time and I don't have a strong interest in latex.
New tools come with an added risk in terms of time-- I've been through
many failed time-wasting installations of traditional unix tools on
the mac in the past.

As I noted in my first message I used latex in the early 1990s and am
now being forced to use it for a class.  I will have to typeset a half
dozen homework assignments with it, nothing more, and relearning how
to do mathematical notation in latex will take some time.  I don't see
myself using it long term, so anything that shortens the
get-it-up-and-running curve offsets the lack of bells and whistles.
That's why they call these things *personal* computers.

I do appreciate the help, the info, and the advice.  Very much so.  I
may still try TeXShop some time later this week, but for the time
being I have to typeset the first homework assignment.

Thanks,
Bob H

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