> I would like to update my installation > as I think I may be using LaTeX before long.
This doesn't address your issue /per se/, but if you'll indulge me, I'll ramble a bit about LaTeX and text files. For the past three years I used LaTeX for everything, including papers suitable for publishing. Since I mostly needed LaTeX for special symbols and peculiar formatting, I decided to now use the full range of Unicode in text files instead. I find it's much faster to write, since I worry less about finely adjusted fonts and layout, I don't have an edit-compile cycle, and I can grëp all my notes and output. This way probably wouldn't get a paper accepted at an international conference for a research operating system, but it seems alright for my own purposes, and to present information to my colleagues at work.[1] The only thing I miss about LaTeX is italics and sidenotes, but I can /forward slant/ and use footnotes after paragraphs, which is close enough to serve the same purposes (special, literal, or foreign-language text, and notes near referring text) without seriously interrupting the flow of text. [1] A short text file dumped to a line printer beats, in expository power, a huge animated powerpoint deck any day. I don't buy "boring" or "too complicated" as a good reason to mutilate a technical discussion. The point is to /understand/, not buy into a pitch: if you understand, you'll agree or not on the merits. If you only think you understand, and are actually persuaded by me, then we both may make a bad decision, and my pitch derailed both of us. > -Steve Jason Catena
