[OS X TeX] your wiki needs you?

[Alain Schremmer]

On Sep 17, 2008, at 5:28 PM, Joseph C. Slater PE, PhD wrote:

>
> On Sep 17, 2008, at 5:01 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:
>
>>
>> On Sep 17, 2008, at 4:25 PM, Dr. Clea F. Rees wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed 17th Sep, 2008 at 12:43, Maarten Sneep seems to have written:
>>>
>>>> <snip>
>>
>> Considering that, once upon a not too distant time, I was in the  
>> category "starting out with TeX", I absolutely agree with the  
>> above even though I am pretty sure I had no idea what a "front  
>> end" was.
>>
>> Perhaps something like "integrated systems", in which the editor  
>> and the viewer work with each other out of the box, e.g. TeXShop +  
>> Preview, might be useful and you could even have a sub page  
>> entitled "synchronized systems".
>
> Thus the page 'Getting Started'. I would hope that page would  
> attract new users and is sufficient to kick start this understanding.

True, but I think that you still vastly the admittedly fear driven  
lack of understanding of people considering a possible alternative to  
MS Word. This is of course not to belittle the page 'Getting Started'.

> "Integrated systems" would really require octave for me, so.... no  
> integrated system exists (I do all my plots using octave via  
> gnuplot). Therein lies the problem. 'Front Ends' doesn't have an  
> alternative meaning in people's minds, so we can define it (as has  
> been for years) and put the definition right at the front 'getting  
> started'.

I have no quarrel with this (I am using gnuplot but … ). However, the  
definition only appears on the fourth line of "Front Ends". And how  
about, indeed, "combined systems"?

> TeXShop + Preview is certainly a combination that could use a page  
> on it's own. Someone just has to jump in and start writing it up  
> (staying within the principles of the wiki- see guidelines for  
> editing)


> FYI: TeXshop doesn't work out of the box. You have to install a  
> distribution as well.

By the way, although it is now an eternity old, is it possible that,  
with due and dire warning, my piece

	http://www.tug.org/pracjourn/2005-2/schremmer/

might still be relevant to "Getting started"?

And now for the expected disclaimer: I am so ignorant that, every  
time I have to update something on freemathtexts.org I procrastinate  
as long as I possibly can and then cling desperately to my desk as I  
press the final button. So, to my great shame, I must confess that my  
nerves could not take editing the wiki. For instance, I don't even  
know what a "redirect" is. And yes, I agree, I could learn, but as  
some on this list are aware, my learning speed is that of a very slow  
turtle. At best.

Rueful regards
--schremmer