TexLive versus Miktex
Both of them are based on Tex.
(Mactex is wrapper on TexLive distribution of Tex and opens to Mac system, while Miktex is for Windows system.)
In recent versions, the differences between MiKTeX and TeX Live have narrowed, Package coverage between the two is similar.
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Only MiKTeX can do 'on the fly' package installation and focus on Windows system, as TeX Live is more focussed on having a system that works well on multi-user systems and multi-platforms.
- Faster compilation (especially in case of graphics files)
Refer to :
https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/20036/what-are-the-advantages-of-tex-live-over-miktex
For Mac, I use Mactex (Smaller Basictex)
Download:
http://www.tug.org/mactex/index.html
Useful tools for BasicTex as below,
Issues (keep updating)
1. Why choose 'smaller basictex'?
Pros: It is smaller (only approximately 78M) than standard version (approximately 3.2G)
Cons: However, smaller basictex only have basic Tex environment, many others useful packages (fonts for IEEE Trans) don't in it and need to be install manually.
E.g. : Missing 'pplr7t' font file, I cannot find file 'pplr7t'
Refer to :
2. How to install extra fonts?
At first, you should find which package includes this font, so how to know it?
Using 'tlmgr' (after install mactex, we will have it)
tlmgr --help
sudo tlmgr search --global --file pplr7t
It shows that: file 'pplr7t' is in 'palatino' package, so I need to install palatino package. How to install package?
sudo tlmgr install palatino
Refer to :
https://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/2008-November/019330.html
[tex-live] Missing fonts in BasicTex for Mac
> Howdy, >> On the mactex-support list we've had a couple of reports of problems with > missing fonts (in particular ptmr7t when using the times package or the > IEEEtrans document class) from folks that have installed BasicTeX which is > based on the "TeX Live basic scheme" with the addition of "LaTeX recommended > packages", > "ConTeXt format", "MetaPost (and Metafont) drawing", "PSTricks packages", > and the "XeTeX macros." >> Can one use tlmgr to install a collection of fonts that would include the > missing fonts and which collection would have these fonts? Maybe better, is > there a way to use tlmgr find out which collection has these fonts so I > don't have to bother this list with things like this?
More usages of 'tlmgr', please google what you need.
Refer to :
https://www.tug.org/texlive/doc/tlmgr.html