Hello,

for the record:
I compared the result produced by p9p eqn and heirloom eqn (heqn).
With the source ('a')

.EQ
aαb
.EN
.EQ
a alpha b
.EN
.EQ
a \(*a b
.EN

p9p produces 3 different and heirloom 3 almost (but not completely)
identical results.
[It's a mess...]
I used
9 eqn a | 9 troff | 9 tr2post | 9 psfonts > b.ps
heqn a | 9 troff | 9 tr2post | 9 psfonts > b2.ps
The two attached .ps display this.
R