Re: The Problems of TeX

William F. Adams <willadams@xxxxxxx> wrote:

There're lots of people who've been able to d/l mactex and TeXshop and
make use of them w/ the default settings.

That claim is false.

Well, the TeXShop documentation explains that changing the default
settings is something that people /ought/ to be doing. I did read it,
you know.

The defaults give you `your standard language' and as-you-type spelling
checking. That's not usable when writing TeX documents.

The big problem is the total absence of explanation of what's going on -
the user is supposed to just know by direct mental transfer or something
that this red underlining means the `as you type' spelling checker is
doing its thing (yes, some of us don't know these things), and is also
supposed to `just know' that CocoAspell needs installing.

<shrug>

The stupid defaults would merely be annoying if documentation were
provided of any decency.

If you choose not to accept
these (which is your right), then you shouldn't be surprised that you
need to read up on how to manually change the settings away from the
defaults.

My word, you're patronising. The problem with the defaults is that some
of them - and I explained the details which you decided to ignore
completely so you could turn this personal instead of dealing with the
specific problems I've mentioned - aren't suitable for use.

Of course, you'd rather waste time attacking me personally than deal
with the issues. Somewhat dishonest of you, I feel.

Most people are willing to accept the limit of one folder for adding /
updating packages in which is specific to one user

Most people just accept what they're given as the inevitable shape of
the world. I'm not at all bothered about `most people'.

A failure to provide a system-wide additions folder is a major flaw if
you ask me. ISTR that's not the case with MacTeX 2007, mind.

--- though one can
of course make a folder visible to all users (in say ~/Users/Shared)
and make an alias of it for each user who needs TeX as I've previously
suggested.

It's what I did to begin with, once I found out about the system-wide
additions folder that MacTeX 2007 provides.

Will Robertson knows that lots of people

How many? And how do they compare to the numbers pissed off people?

are successful w/ mactex
'cause he participates on mailings lists where people discuss their
use of TeX on Mac OS X.

I know that some people are really pissed off with MacTeX and the TeX on
MacOS X mailing list because I've had contact with them.

It's the pissed off people you need to think about, not those who are
content.

TeXshop ships w/ spell-checking turned on 'cause that's the default
for the nstext object and it's assumed that people will install
cocoaspell:

http://people.ict.usc.edu/~leuski/cocoaspell/

Maybe it is, but users are not told about these assumptions, are they?

It seems that you have failed to even begin to understand the basic
problem.

(and in any case CocoAspell screwed up my Mac's spelling checking right
royally when I installed it.)

I believe it's bundled on the mactex.dmg, if not it's probably on an
extras disk image, if not, it's easy enough to install.

Not after last time, I'm not. Screwed up the built-in spelling checker
completely, was a major pain to uninstall, and the author showed
absolutely no interest at all in tracking down the source of the problem
when I emailed him about it.

So: buggy code, tricky to uninstall, and an author who doesn't give a
damn? Not for me.

Have you considered writing up all of what you've learned about
customization and uploading it to CTAN or submitting it as an article
for TUGboat?

I've not yet managed to find out enough to be willing to do that. What
I have is a recipe for installing MacTeX which appears to give me what I
need. But that's all. I've learnt very little.

If I were to spend some days on the job, I could figure out an
explanation for what the various stages of the recipe do. But it would
take an awful lot of work that I'm not currently capable of doing.

Rowland.

--
Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorry - the spam got to me
http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk
UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Old chestnut - Vista forgets folder settings
    ... Vista still does not remember my folder settings (the option is ... The *only* thing that helps is to revert to Windows Classic ... Windows Explorer started remembering its settings ... Yeah, and if your just installing programs, gotta have an AV to turn off and on before and after. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Mandrake Woes
    ... I got a cheap computer from eBay for a Linux box, a Kayak XAs, monitor ... Installation was fun and easy for the first disk. ... Error installing another ... But when I restarted Gnome the settings didn't take effect, ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Mandrake Woes
    ... I got a cheap computer from eBay for a Linux box, a Kayak XAs, monitor ... Installation was fun and easy for the first disk. ... Error installing another ... But when I restarted Gnome the settings didn't take effect, ...
    (comp.os.linux.hardware)
  • Re: The Problems of TeX
    ... I had never done any non-trivial configuration of TeX distributions ... But you do fall into the category of `Unix expert', ... because you have learnt how to use the documentation. ... neophytes have succeeded in installing and then productively using ...
    (comp.text.tex)
  • RE: Terminal Services Connectivity
    ... TS absolutely can be run securely thru a firewall. ... is open TCP Port 3389 on the firewall's WAN Port to the Private IP Address of ... Customize a non-admin account's desktop settings with the above ... Lock down the file system "BEFORE" installing any end-user software, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services)