\documentclass{report} \begin{document} \title{Availability of \LaTeX{} systems} \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Availability of \LaTeX{} systems} \author{}\date{}\maketitle The traditional \TeX{} implementation is a Command-Line Interface (\textsc{cli})\index{CLI@\textsc{cli}|textbf}\index{\textbf{Acronyms}, defined!CLI@\textsc{cli}|textbf}, that is, a `console' program which you run from a Unix or Mac shell window or an MS-DOS command window by typing the command \verb+tex+ or \verb+latex+ followed by the name of your document file. In automated (unattended) systems, this command is issued from within a Unix shell script or MS-DOS/Windows batch file. All the popular distributions for Unix and MS-DOS/Windows, both free and commercial, deliver this interface as standard (te\TeX{}, fp\TeX{}, MiK\TeX{}, PC-\TeX{}, Turbo\TeX{}, etc). While it is quite possible to run \TeX{} and \LaTeX{} this way, it is more normal to use an editor as your interface to the program as well as to your document. This allows you to control \LaTeX{}, the typeset display, and other related programs with a mouse-click or menu item. This is the method assumed in this booklet. In both the editors used for examples (\product{Emacs} and \product{WinEdt}) the typesetting process is logged visibly in an adjoining text window so that you can see the progress of pages being typeset, and any error messages that may occur.\footnote{Some recent versions of \product{Emacs} hide this window by default but it is easily revealed.} This method is called \textbf{\textit{asynchronous}}\index{asynchronous@\textbf{\textit{asynchronous}}} because the typeset display only updates \emph{after} you have typed the text and processed it, not \emph{while} you type it. \label{synchro}% Some commercial implementations of \TeX{} offer a \textbf{\textit{synchronous}}\index{synchronous@\textbf{\textit{synchronous}}} typographic interface: \product{Textures} for the Apple Macintosh from Blue Sky Research, \product{Scientific Word} from MacKichan Software, and \product{V\TeX{}} from MicroPress, Inc (both for Microsoft Windows) are three examples. At least one free version for Linux and MS-Windows (\product{Lyx}) offers the same kind of interface. In these, you type directly into the typographic display, as with a graphical wordprocessor, using the font controls of whatever Graphical User Interface (\textsc{gui})\index{GUI@\textsc{gui}|textbf}\index{\textbf{Acronyms}, defined!GUI@\textsc{gui}|textbf} are appropriate. With a synchronous display you get your instant textual gratification, but for complete control of the formatting you still need access to the \LaTeX{} language. There are several methods available free for Unix and some other systems for close-to-synchronous updates of the typeset display (such as Jonathan Fine's \product{Instant Preview} and the \TeX{} daemon), and for embedding typographic fragments from the typeset display back into the editor window (David Kastrup's \package{preview-latex} package). Whatever method you choose, the \TeX{} Live CD-ROMs and the \textsc{ctan}\index{CTAN@\textsc{ctan}} are not the only source of software. The following vendors offer robust commercial implementations of \TeX{} and \LaTeX{}, and if you are in a position where their enhanced support and additional features are of benefit, I urge you to support them. In most cases their companies, founders, and staff have been good friends of the \TeX{} and \LaTeX{} communities for many years. \end{document}