[OS X TeX] (La)TeX packages important/worth to mention

[Maarten Sneep]

A few small comments

On 30 Dec 2005, at 16:07, Peter Dyballa wrote:

>   • \ConTeXt{}\footnote{\url{http://www.pragma-ade.com/}}, a \TeX{}  
> dialect that allowing much more control on a document's design and  
> look;

dialect -> macro package, just like LaTeX is a marco package on top  
of tex. Perhaps you should mention that the Context release in MacTeX  
is newer than the one that is in teTeX at this moment. The manuals  
are in /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.tetex/doc/context (and below).  
texdoc cont-eni should open the main manual, but the various  
components have their own detailed manuals.

> What else should mentioned for newcomers?

I don't know about the second edition of "The LaTeX Companion", but  
all packages mentioned in the first edition are available (and then  
some). At this moment xindy is missing (though it will compile on OS  
X, the next release should have it), but I think pretty much all  
other packages mentioned in the second edition are available, making  
it a very useful guide to the system. Can someone who actually has a  
copy of the second edition confirm this?

Of course the distribution contains a lot that isn't in the  
Companion: Context has its own set of manuals as does Memoir. Still,  
the book is a good overview, better than you'll be able to condense  
into an article (It'd better be, that book is over 1000 pages).

I hope I don't state the obvious, with the usual suspects: geometry,  
graphics/graphicx, natbib, amsmath, and more like these very standard  
packages.

Maarten

Chutzpah is the quality of a person who would murder both of his  
parents and then plead for mercy from the court because he's an orphan.

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