Hiya,
TeXLive is a distribution of the TeX, LaTeX, XeTeX, LuaTeX, etc.
typesetting systems. It is multiplatform (that is, it can be used on
vertualy all computer platforms). The main installation schemes are for
Windows and Mac but many others also exist for various linux flavours.
It is free and can be installed from the net, by downloading the iso and
making a dvd or mounting and installing from there, or by joining TUG
and getting a free DVD with your membership.
Regular/constant updates are obtained from a range of ctan mirror sites
around the globe.
The LaTeX, etc. typesetting systems are really a composition of macros
(packages) and various supporting binaries built upon the TeX
typesetting system. The packages are binaries are all supported by and
army of volunteers and there is a mechanism for additional packages to
be contributed. That means if you area having issues with a package you
can often email the maintainer direct or you can open it in a text
editor and fix it yourself if you are skilled.
Traditionally, TeX has used the ASCII character set but more modern
systems now use all available font systems, for example LuaTeX and XeTeX
are designed to use OpenType fonts.
Other packages allow for output to multimedia players too.
Alan
On 29/10/13 9:54 PM, Shmuel Wolfson wrote:
What exactly is TeXLiv? They don't explain it very well on the site.
Regards,
Shmuel Wolfson
052-763-7133
On 28-Oct-13 8:48 PM, Alan Litchfield wrote:
Interestingly, Syed's comments mirror my own trajectory but I have
been using LaTeX et al for as long as I have been using FrameMaker.
I doubt I will be moving past version 10 unless my clients continue
to request I upgrade (to match compatibility with their software). I
doubt I will be taking any short term licensing options because files
are not created for short term use.
Importantly for me, TeXLive is free and has a strong and vibrant user
base.
Alan
On 29/10/13 7:22 AM, Syed Zaeem Hosain ([email protected]) wrote:
Hi, Joseph.
You are not the only one who is abandoning FrameMaker … if you look
at my posts in the past months, I have done the same although I have
been using it since 1988 off and on. I am still on the list for old
times sake, though. J
Please do send me your detailed reasons in an off-list e-mail –
would like to know /your/ decision trigger! For me, it was the (a)
recent over-pricing for some version upgrades that should have been
done as free bug fixes, (b) the Adobe trend (albeit not yet
announced for FrameMaker) to SAAS as the only licensing mechanism,
and (c) their abandonment of small users (i.e., number of licenses)
from their multi-year update licensing system.
Today, *all* my new documents are no longer in FrameMaker. I am
/only/ using it for maintaining and changing old documents, and if
the change is large enough, I move it off FrameMaker. That takes a
couple of days – even for the large documents – and then I am fine
for the future! In time, all my old documents will be moved from
FrameMaker.
However, I have not chosen Flare as my platform, although it looks
quite capable. Switching to it is expensive (of course, if they made
me a $199 one-time offer to switch from FrameMaker to Flare, I would
do it! J)
For now, /for my needs (which may not apply to everybody)/, a
combination of Word 2013 for short documents (less than 10 to 20
pages), and LaTex (for large multi-hundred page specifications) is
proving quite workable. Not perfect, and not as flexible as
FrameMaker, but the costly “upgrades” of FrameMaker is not
acceptable, and the trend to equally costly SAAS is a deal-breaker.
BTW, LaTeX in particular allows me to achieve **complete**
look-and-feel consistency in my specifications – formatting is
separate from text entry – and I value that highly. It was my reason
for selecting FrameMaker over Word about 12 years ago for my current
company.
Regards, and good luck!
Z
*From:*[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Joseph
Lorenzini
*Sent:* Saturday, October 26, 2013 10:13 AM
*To:* FrameMaker Forum; [email protected]
*Subject:* So Long and Thanks for the Fish -- Migrating from
FrameMaker to Flare
Hi all,
I have used FrameMaker for over 5 years. I have used it to produce
thousands of pages of documentation. And I honestly thought that FM
was a great tool...for a time. Plus, the community was super helpful.
So its with some regret that I am telling you that I am leaving this
community and the TCS suite. I am adopting Flare as a replacement.
Please note I am no evangelist of Flare nor do I think that there's
One Right Tool. FrameMaker can be a great solution for some and if
works for you then great. The reasons why I made this choice were
driven by a specific business and use case
There are many reasons for this but that would cause this post to
grow quite large and I didn't want to flood this community with a
gigantic post about why I am not using its tool anymore.
That said, my experience of why and how i migrated may be of
interest to others in this forum. If you'd like a detailed
explanation and are curious to learn more, I would be happy to share
those details with you offline. Feel free to email me.
Sincerely,
Joseph Lorenzini
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AlphaByte
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