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In <1993Jan9.005258.28116@news.acns.nwu.edu> tcarr@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Thomas Carr) writes:

>A simple and probably stupid question.
>Will NeXTTeX 3.0 work only on NS3.0?  I'm still on NS2.1.

I'll answer here, since this question arises occasoinally and the answer
may be of general use.  
 
NeXT-TeX consists of basically three separate parts, TeX itself, dvips, 
which is the "driver" from .dvi files to Postscript, and TeXview, which
is the screen Previewer.  The differences in TeX between NeXT-TeX 2.0
and NeXT-TeX 3.0 are fairly minor.  You could use TeX for years without
noticing them. However, dvips and TeXview have changed a great deal.
Unfortunately, TeXview 3.0 works only with NS 3.0.  Also, after about 
dvips5490 there is a relationship between the version of dvips and the 
version of TeXview (TeXview is basically a "viewing window" for dvips
on the NeXT's Display Postscript screen) which means you can't mix and
match randomly.  So, if you stay on your 2.1 system the most up to date
thing you can do is to run NeXT-TeX 2.0, and then get the package 

nexttex-alpha.tar.Z 

off of Labrea.stanford.edu (36.8.0.47 I believe) which contains the last
versions of dvips and TeXview compatible with NS 2.X (and a few other goodies
like an improved hyphenation trie).  

>How can I get a copy of NeXTTeX, version "which ever one runs on my
>machine?"  

NeXT-TeX comes with the extended OS.  If you go to 3.0 it will be in a
package on the CD-ROM.  If you stay with 2.1 then it shoudl be on the 
MOD, or, if you don't have that, you can get it from someone who does.
It comes in a 6 MB file called nexttex.tar.Z.  The accompanying README
tells you how to install it (a small child could do it, providing he/she
can type "make tex" :)

If you stay with 2.1, do the installation,  then go to labrea and get the
upgrade to the "alpha" version of NeXT-TeX 3.0.  This will give you most
of the functionality of NeXT-TeX 3.0 (although some nice little features
are missing) and it also seems to be extremely stable.  I used it heavily
for about 9 months without major problems.  

If you need more specific help you can reach me by E-mail.

>Thanks,  Tom

You're welcome, Tom