From: mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere   
      
   Javier  writes:   
      
   > maus  wrote:   
   >   
   >> Lamport's book on latex is all you will ever need.   
      
   Tnx for the pointer, saved for reference, but see below.   
      
   > [snip]   
   > latexmk makes compiling documents much nicer....   
   > [snip]   
   > Another thing that will piss off somebody from the UNIX world is how   
   > poor the manpage documentation is.  There is an info manual.   
   > It does document the language quite well, but does not say much about   
   > the CLI tools.  In emacs you should see it with   
   >   
   > M-: (info "(latex2e) Top")   
      
   Gak!   
      
   > I began using both LaTeX and UNIX almost at the same time, so I was   
   > not really questioning the design of TeX when I was learning, but the   
   > OP...   
      
   That would be me.   
      
   > ...who has been using UNIX for decades, will be shocked by the design   
   > of the TeX tools.   
   >   
   > For the OP, I would think twice before diving into LaTeX.  It has many   
   > pitfalls, error reporting is not always clear and takes long time to learn.   
   > If the OP has a simpler way of writing letters, I would put LaTeX aside.   
      
   This is probably the course I'll follow.  "Never say never..." but I   
   have way too many other things to do, most of them more useful and   
   more interesting, to undertake beating up Latex without a compelling   
   motive.   
      
   Tnx,   
   --   
   Mike Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)