TeX capabilities of debian

[Charles Blair <ceblair@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>]

   I'm trying to decide whether to use the debian version of TeX or 
(as I'm presently doing) maintain a DOS partition primarily for emTeX.
Thanks to Ian Jackson for warning me against trying to run emTeX from
dosemu.

   (1) I have 4 MB of RAM so X is not an option.

   (2) The Packages-master file says texbin depends on metafont, but I
could not find an entry for a metafont package.

   (3) The non-X alternative for viewing dvi files seems to involve
ghostscript.  I am presently not using postscript fonts, and this seems
to introduce a significant extra level of complexity.  The Packages-master
file says ghostscript depends on xR6shlib, and I could not find an
entry for this.

   (4) My machine is not directly connected to a printer.  With emtex,
there is a specific command (dvihplj) which converts the dvi file to
another file.  I then copy this file to a floppy, take it to a DOS
machine which is connected to a printer, and copy the file to
a printer with the /b switch.  Could I do something similar with debian TeX?
(again, I would like to avoid postscript/ghostscript.  The printer is
a laserjet which may or may not support postscript)

    I realize many of my problems involve rather specialized needs.  Thanks
for your patience.

Charles Blair