I'm a long-time TeX user (over ten years now) who tried first to learn
computer-driven typesetting by looking into LaTeX. I was, however,
unhappy
about a number of things in LaTeX (it was, among other things, a bit too
rigid for what I wanted to do) and downgraded to plain TeX, where I have
done all my typesetting ever since.
Now I understand LyX is built on top of LaTeX. I would like to be able
to retain the power and flexibility of plain TeX while at the same time
have access to the screen-oriented features that LyX has to offer. Is
that possible? Please don't tell me that since LaTeX is built on top of
plain TeX plain TeX is available all the time for you do as you please
with it, because you know better than I do that this is not how it
works.