From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Oct 10 00:56:02 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AF48716A41A for ; Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:56:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jahnke@sonatabio.com) Received: from smtp.wizwire.com (smtp.wizwire.com [209.218.100.6]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 928A313C45A for ; Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:56:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jahnke@sonatabio.com) Received: from [192.168.0.100] (207-104-43-151.starstream.net [207.104.43.151]) (authenticated bits=0) by smtp.wizwire.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id l9A0tQp0013704; Tue, 9 Oct 2007 17:55:26 -0700 From: Frank Jahnke To: icantthinkofone@charter.net Content-Type: text/plain Organization: Sonata Biosciences, Inc. Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:54:06 -0700 Message-Id: <1191977646.982.96.camel@pinot.fmjassoc.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.12.0 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-WizWire-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-WizWire-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-MailScanner-From: jahnke@sonatabio.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: wyswyg editors for tex (was re: replacement for openoffice) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: jahnke@sonatabio.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:56:02 -0000 > Can you explain the difference between troff and groff. I thought > groff is the more useable troff, or do I have that backwards, or is > that only a fbsd replacement? troff is the old Unix utility that drove a C/A/T typesetter. That was a real liability -- not everyone has a typesetter -- so it later was extended as ditroff (or titroff -- really!): device (or typesetter) independent troff. There were also a few commercial packages that extended basic troff to cover more devices. groff was an independent recoding of the entire troff family by James Clark; the first release was in 1990. It has useful extensions to troff (like picture inclusion and ease of mounting more fonts), but it is code-compatible with troff. These days troff is dead, and everyone uses groff. I refer to it as troff primarily for historical reasons -- the comparison with TeX originated with troff in the old days -- though it is not quite accurate given how it is used currently. If you have never seen phototype from a C/A/T device, you are missing something, While not as good as the commercial typesetters that drove Mergenthalers, the quality is stunning. What we have now on laser printers is a very poor cousin of the original.