[OS X TeX] Preferences of TeXShop

[Herbert Schulz]

On Nov 2, 2007, at 7:41 AM, RA Friedrich Vosberg wrote:

> Morning.
>
> Could somebody please explain me the difference between the setting  
> »standard script«(?) (in German »Standardskript) beneath the sixth  
> preference panel »typography«(?) (in German »Schriftsatz«) and the  
> setting »distiller« beneath the preference panel »various«(?) (in  
> German »Verschiedenes«).
>
> I do not really understand what those settings do.
>
> TIA and kind regards, Friedrich

Howdy,

`TeX + Ghostscript' is really a misnomer; it should really be `TeX +  
dvips + Distiller'. The Distiller is the program that converts ps->pdf.

The TeXShop->Preferences->Typesetting->Default Script setting chooses  
the default `engine' for converting tex->pdf: Pdftex uses the pdftex  
engine to directly convert tex->pdf, TeX+Ghostscript uses the `TeX +  
dvips + Distiller' path and personal script is something you might  
use in special cases (set under TeXShop->Preferences->Misc->Personal  
Script). Note: this sets the default, you can overide this in Typeset  
menu on a individual bases or by using the

%%!TEX TS-program = xxxxxxxx

line near the start of your source file.

Finally, the TeXShop->Preferences->Misc->Distiller option tells  
TeXShop whether to use Ghostscript's Distiller (ps2pdf13) or Apple's  
Distiller (pstopdf) to do the ps->pdf conversion when you use the  
`TeX + dvips + Distiller' method for processing tex->pdf.

Hope that helps.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)



------------------------- Helpful Info -------------------------
Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
List Archive: http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/
List Reminders & Etiquette: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/list/