From: gopal...@widget.ecn.purdue.edu (Nath S. Gopalaswamy) Subject: Re: Where does one get real troff these days? Date: 1996/04/27 Message-ID: <4ltk9v$qtp@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 151783707 references: organization: Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN newsgroups: comp.text In article >> On Mon, 22 Apr 1996 21:17:57 GMT, m...@research.att.com (Mel :>>> Melchner) said: : :npn> To get "the real troff": AT&Ters can get free binary versions (but :npn> not source!) from babel.ho.lucent.com, Everyone else can buy :npn> source (but not binary!) from Lucent Software Solutions, :npn> 1-800-462-8146. There is no support group anywhere. There is no :npn> one to complain to if this explanation distresses you. There is no :npn> one who understands it better than I do, if you are unsatisfied :npn> with my explanation. I seldom read this newsgroup so please send :npn> follow-ups to n...@research.att.com (lucent.com works, too). : :This is one of the best illustrations yet why the availability of GNU :software is important: but for groff (the GPL'ed troff extended clone by :James Clark) there would be little joy for many who would rather not :switch to SoftQuad's dialect of troff. I use groff to write my reports and thesis etc, and I am really thankful to the people who continue to work on it and improve it. I believe it is easier to use and roll your own macros in troff compared to TeX/LaTeX (which I used until about 2 years ago). I think if the same amount of interest which now goes into LaTeX had gone into groff, it would be far superior to LaTeX and more popular. GNU is probably the best free source of software that can compete with commercial applications like SQ. Nath.