[texhax] latex vs. pdflatex

[Jan Bruners]

Hi Erik,

I recently posted a similar question on a different TeX-related mailing list because I never recognized pdftex's advantages. This is what they told me:

pdf(la)tex is basically faster and "the future". It allows to embed jpeg images and the hyperref package has less problems with pdflatex. 

(la)tex + dvips + ps2df is slower (trivially), but it is needed for certain PostScript-related packages, such as pstricks. This is why I always use (la)tex. Moreover, it is necessary if you want to embed eps graphics.

There are some workarounds to use pstricks with pdflatex, but I found all of them to be relatively complicated. On my system (PowerBook G4), I never had problems with latex.

Best,

Jan

Erik T. Ray wrote:

>As a sys admin I have to maintain a latex environment for researchers. 
>The problem is, my users are using both latex and pdflatex, and I want 
>to standardize on just one. In my experience, there are subtle 
>differences and it is difficult to use the same .sty files for both 
>environments. Does anybody have advice on which one I should pick, or 
>if there is a good reason to provide both? If the world is moving 
>toward one of them, I would like to be in the majority.
>
>Initially I sent this question to pdftex, but then I realized that the 
>answer to my question would likely be biased.  ;-)