[Groff] Questions about groff

[Chuck Martin]

I joined this list about a month ago because I wanted to learn about
groff.  Up until now, I've done nothing but lurk, but at this point,
I'd like to ask a few questions.

  1. I've read that troff should be pronounced "tee-roff", but I
     haven't seen anywhere how groff should be pronounced.  Is the
     correct pronunciation "jee-roff", or should it be pronounced
     as it's spelled, with one syllable and a hard g?
  2. What is the difference between groff and TeX/LaTeX?  Are they
     just two tools to do the same job, like the difference between
     vi and emacs, each with its own supporters, or are there some
     applications where groff is more suitable and others where
     TeX/LaTeX would be a better choice?
  3. I have been unable to find a description of each of the popular
     macro packages, and what they are designed for.  I assume each
     has a particular type of document it was designed to create,
     such as letters, books, scientific papers, etc.  I know that
     the man and mdoc macros are for man pages (although I'm not
     sure I'm clear on the differences between the two), but what
     the mm, ms, and me macros?
  4. I have a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 870Cse printer.  When I tried
     to print documents using the -Tlj4 option, the printing was
     incorrect.  In particular, right justification didn't work, and
     the ligatures were all wrong.  I assume this has to do with
     incompatibilities between the Deskjet 870Cse and the LaserJet 4
     built-in fonts and the fact that the lj4 device description file
     and font files were created for the latter.  Is there a source
     for these files for other printers, or alternatively, a way to
     create them easily?
  5. Is it possible to create graphs with groff?  I've heard of a
     preprocessor called grap, but where is it available?  I prefer
     using text-based programs, and I've been using the public domain
     spreadsheet program, sc, and would like to be able to convert
     some of my spreadsheet data to graphs.
  6. I work for a small family-owned retail business, and the primary
     applications I'm interested in at the moment are the following:

        * Making signs, either one to a page, or four to a page, on
          commercially available perforated card stock, with borders.
          This would require the ability to print in some relatively
          large fonts, possibly 72 points or so, and most of them
          would require landscape mode.  We also need to print peel
          and stick labels for labeling jars and bottles.  It would
          be nice to be able to also use some of the fonts available
          to some of the graphical spreadsheets and word processors,
          including those that come with MS Windows for Excel, etc.,
          as we are now using Excel for some of this, and I'm trying
          to eliminate Windows completely to avoid having to reboot
          for these jobs.  Can this be done?
        * Writing letters.  We don't do many letters, but it would be
          nice, and I would think that this is probably one of the
          more common uses for groff.
        * I would like to be able to create a professional looking
          employee manual, probably two columns in landscape mode,
          to be folded in half and stapled at the fold.

     Would any of the available macro packages be suitable for any of
     of the above, and if not, how difficult would it be to create my
     own macros?  Where can I find documentation on how to create
     macros?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me in getting started
with groff.

Chuck