TeX Collection 2004 contains three TeX products on a single DVD.
proTeXt is a new TeX distribution for Microsoft Windows. It provides an easy installation even for less experienced users.
The distribution is based on Christian Schenk's MiKTeX with additional tools:
proTeXt guides the installation via a PDF document (requires Acrobat Reader), which provides clickable links to install the various components, along with explanations.
By starting Setup.exe in the root directory of the DVD you can choose between an English, German and Polish installation guide.
CTAN, the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network, is a worldwide set of Internet servers making TeX software available. The DVD contains a snapshot of German CTAN node dante.ctan.org from November 2004. The snapshot is located in DVD's directory ctan. You may find further information in ctan/README.HTML.
TeX Live is a ready to run TeX-System for Linux/Unix and Mac OS X.
TeX Live is based on Web2C and teTeX with extensions. You may either run TeX Live directly from DVD or install it on your hard disk. The TeX Live system is located in directory texlive2004. Please run the script ./install-tl.sh in this directory to start installation.
Further information regarding TeX Live is available in the document texlive2004/readme.en.html.
Currently, TeX Live contains binaries for following systems:
Though Windows binaries are included, there is unfortunately no installer for Windows in recent TeX Live version. They must be installed from Unix.
For this reason, last year's TeX Live 2003 Demo CD (with a smaller set of packages) is included in the directory texlive-demo-2003b. Though there are some bugfixes included compared to the original release from TeX Collection 2003 it is not as up-to-date as the current TeX Live 2004. Nethertheless this version may be helpful for users who must maintain Unix and Windows installations in parallel. For Windows-only users, we recommend proTeXt.
This DVD was possible by the help of several volunteers:
This DVD is distributed by Lehmanns bookstore in Germany and TUG in the United States. A major part of the edition may also be found in a book from Franzis publishers in Germany. The DVD is also distributed by many local TeX user groups, including Dante and TUG, to their members.
The support from these companies and organizations was also essential for the creation of this DVD.
We encourage donations for MiKTeX development. Please refer to the MiKTeX homepage for details.
If you want to support your local TeX user group please have a look at the list of users groups.