AMS-TeX with TeXworks

Question

I downloaded MiKTeX and got TeXworks. A document in TeXworks can be typeset with several alternatives: LaTeXmk, pdfTeX, pdfLaTeX, pdfLaTeX + MakeIndex + BibTeX, XeTeX, XeLaTeX, XeLaTeX + MakeIndex + BibTeX, ConTeXt (LuaTeX), ConTeXt (pdfTeX), ConTeXt (XeTeX), BibTeX, MakeIndex.

But I miss AMS-TeX, and this is what I need. I have a ten-year-old preprint written in AMS-TeX which I need to update and send to a journal for publishing, but I no longer work at a university and I don't have access to the TeX facilities I used to have. All I could do was to download MiKTeX to my home computer (with Windows).

So I wonder: is there any possibility for me to get AMS-TeX to work within any of the alternatives above? And is the command file amsppt.sty available somewhere and possible to use, with some of the above alternatives?

Maybe AMS-TeX today is considered obsolete, but that is what I once learned. I never learned LaTeX despite that it quickly became standard, since it used to be possible also to use AMS-TeX. Anyway, my preprint has 100+ pages, and I don't want to rewrite it completely with LaTeX or something else. I hope this won't be necessary.

Answer 1

Here is a step by step description.

1. Make sure the amstex package is installed in MiKTeX

2. Open TeXworks and choose the "Preferences" menu

   

3. Go to the "Typesetting" tab and this window will appear; click on the "+" button in the lower half

   

4. Fill the window as follows

   

   In order to add the lines in the "Arguments" field, click on the "+" button.

5. Click OK in this window and in the Preferences window.

6. Choose "amstex" from the drop down menu

   

7. Click the "Typeset" button (the green one).

8. Enjoy AMS-TeX in flamboyant PDF format.

Here's the final picture