The tar file latex2e.tar.gz contains a "mini" distribution of latex2e,
set up for the 3b1, to use in conjunction with the "bigvirtex" binary
which is available here.

The tar file contains 2 directories.  The first, formats, contains the
latex2e format file.  The other, macros contains the .sty files, etc.,
needed by latex2e.

This is *not* a complete distribution of latex2e -- for that you need to
go to one of the CTAN sites, of which ftp.shsu.edu:/tex-archive is one.
The tar file here contains only those files that you would install from
the complete distribution.  In particular, it does not include the files
necessary to remake the format file.

Two additional notes.  First, the format was made assuming that you have
the "extra" cm files provided by the AMS.  You probably won't know the
difference unless you use bold math symbols.  Also, the postscript
related files are also included.  (The necessary tfm and vf files for
using ps fonts are in ps-tfm-vf.tar.gz.)  The relevant directories at
CTAN are
	tex-archive/macros/latex2e/core
	tex-archive/macros/latex2e/contrib/supported/psnfss

The distribution is the 1994/02/03 one.

If you don't want to replace the old latex yet (which is probably
prudent), put the "macro" files in a separate directory, and make
a shell script latex2e containing something like
    #!/bin/sh

    TEXINPUTS="/usr/local/lib/tex/macros/latex2e:$TEXINPUTS"
    export TEXINPUTS

    bigvirtex \&biglatex2e "$@"

--Andy Fyfe					andy@cs.caltech.edu