[OS X TeX] Re: TeXShop Feature Request

[Ross Moore]

Hi Alain,

On 01/06/2010, at 2:04 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:

> As it happens, so far, there are probably very few people in case  
> b) but getting a minimal, one-click installation would seem to be a  
> necessary condition for their numbers to increase.

I'll agree with this ...
>
> As such, though, BasicTeX would seem to be quite inappropriate as  
> "[i]t contains all of the standard tools needed to write TeX  
> documents", which, in this case, is exactly not the point. For  
> instance, the end-user would certainly not need "MetaFont, dvips,  
> ConTeXt, MetaPost, and XeTeX".

  ... but not this.

I'd say that XeTeX *is* exactly the flavour that they would want ...


  ... since they'll want to (over)use all the fancy fonts that are
on their system, and type some of the strange characters that can
be obtained relatively easily --- indeed they will copy/paste
out of documents on the web, and expect to get the same characters
within their output.

>
> So, how about a MinimalTeX?

This would probably be based on XeTeX rather than pdfTeX.

TeXworks -- also by Jonathan Kew, and others, is meant to be
a significant step in such a direction.

Also, the concept of TeX on the iPad may well lead to such a beast,
as this will not permit a lot of the Free and Open Source software
applications that accompany a TeX distribution --- for legal reasons,
as well as practical limitations.

  see e.g.,
    http://www.fsf.org/news/2010-05-app-store-compliance/

>
> Fearful regards
> --schremmer

What is to be fearful of?

	Cheers,

		Ross

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Ross Moore                                       ross.moore at mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
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