6 ms·
40 years of TeX! At this point it's worth emphasising that if you're a regular user of LaTeX - even and especially via Overleaf - and have a bit of spare change
by nanna 8y ago
40 years of TeX! At this point it's worth emphasising that if you're a regular user of LaTeX - even and especially via Overleaf - and have a bit of spare change, please consider supporting the development of the project and the community by joining the TeX Users Group (TUG).
https://www.tug.org/ https://www.tug.org/
Or a local group:
https://tug.org/usergroups.html https://tug.org/usergroups.html
One of the perks of TUG membership is that you get free TeXLive install DVDs sent to your door every year (as many as you need, in my experience).
You also get a subscription to TugBoat, the TeX Users Group Magazine, which is full of curios for the TeX aficionado.
[Edited to replace UK TUG group link with link to global TUG directory]
- arianvanp 8y agoWhat do I do with a DVD though? Can just download the tarball from online
- nanna 8y agoSure you can, if that's more convenient for you. Personally I find it much faster to install from the DVD, and I imagine I'm not alone.
- mruts 8y agoWhy don't you just use your package manager? That seems a lot simpler... and a lot less environmentally wasteful.
- jimhefferon 8y agoSometimes things in the package manager can be a bit out of date. For the great majority of LaTeX-ers it may well not matter, but some people want or need up to date. Some people also prefer the layout (where various configuration files are kept, for instance).
- mruts 8y agoBut the DVDs are once a year.. I find it hard to believe that if you cared about the most up-to-date LaTeX distribution you would update once a year via DVD.
- jimhefferon 8y agoI'm sorry? Tex Live, MacTeX, and MikTeX all have a utility that you use to make updates online. Something like this, for TeX Live. tlmgr update --all As for the CD distribution, which sometimes people point to as showing that TeX is somehow 90's-ish, I'll just say that the world is full of all kinds of people in all kinds of circumstances. People want them, so the developers provide them.
- analognoise 8y agoI don't even think I have anything to play DVDs anymore.
- DangerousPie 8y agoDoes anybody still use DVDs? I haven't had a machine with a DVD drive in at least 5 years.
- anonu 8y agoHave you ever installed a complete Tex platform? It's about 1GB of packages. I find the DVD thing a bit funny - but I can imagine it makes installs go quite a bit faster. And considering its a 40-year old technology - its not like you really need the latest commit.
- JasonFruit 8y agoThe worst part of setting up a fresh OS installation for me over a rural satellite connection is inevitably installing TeX. It takes forever, and between the OS and it, I won't have any data left for the rest of the month.
- pjmlp 8y agoPlenty of them.