LaTeX/Installation
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Installing "LaTeX" is not a simple one-click download and install. Multiple programs often need to be downloaded and installed in order to have a suitable computer system that can be used to create publishable output, such as PDFs. The basic requirement is to have TeX and LaTeX. Optional, and recommended installations include an attractive editor to write LaTeX source documents (this is probably where you will spend most of your time), and a bibliographic management program to manage references.
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[edit] TeX and LaTeX
TeX and LaTeX are available for most computer platforms, since they were programed to be very portable. They are most commonly installed using a distribution, such as teTeX, MiKTeX, or MacTeX. This, however, does not include any editor or advanced graphical user interface. Other programs, that are not part of the distribution, are used to write and prepare TeX and LaTeX files.
[edit] UNIX/Linux
UNIX and Linux users have a wide choice of distributions; the most common are teTeX and TeX Live. Ubuntu and Debian users can install one (not both!) of these systems using the system's apt package manager.
[edit] Mac OS X
Mac OS X users may use the MacTeX, supporting TeX, LaTeX, AMSTeX, ConTeXt, XeTeX and many other core packages.
[edit] Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows users can install MiKTeX onto their computer. This distribution has advanced features, such as automatic installation of packages, and simple interfaces to modify settings, such as default paper sizes.
[edit] Editors
TeX and LaTeX source documents (as well as related files) are all text files, and can be opened and modified in almost any text editor. A few recommended editors include:
- Cross-platform
- Linux-only
- Mac OS X-only
- Windows-only
[edit] Bibliography management
Bibliography files (*.bib) are most easily edited and modified using a management system. These graphical user interfaces all feature a database form, where information is entered for each reference item, and the resulting text file can be used directly by BibTeX.
- Cross-platform
- Mac OS X-only
[edit] Graphics tools
[edit] Xfig
Xfig is a basic program that can produce vector graphics, which can be exported to PSTEX. It can be installed on UNIX/Linux platforms. With, Ubuntu or Debian distributions, it can be easily installed using apt.
On Microsoft Windows systems, Xfig can only be installed using Cygwin-X; however, this will require a fast internet connection and about 2 gigabytes of space on you computer. With Cygwin, to run Xfig, you need to first start the "Start X - Server", then launch "xterm" to bring up a terminal. In this terminal type "xfig" (without the double quotes of course) and press return.
[edit] Inkscape
Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor, which can export images to .EPS files, which may then be imported into LaTeX (see LaTeX/Importing Graphics). It can run natively under Windows, Linux or Mac OS.
An extremely useful plug-in is textext, which can import LaTeX objects. This can be used for inserting mathematical notation or LaTeX fonts into graphics (which may then be imported into LaTeX documents).
