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Installing LaTeX tools for Windows I. LaTeX Compiler: MikTeX - This is a TeX/LaTeX system for Windows. Install only the basic system; if there are any additional packages you require MikTeX will download them from the internet as needed. It is recommended that you run the MikTeX Update Wizard (from the Start menu) every couple of weeks to make sure you have the latest release of the installed packages.
II. Viewer/Converter: Ghostscript & GSview - LaTeX generates postscript file by default; the best way to interact with these is using GSview (which requires Ghostscript). It is a much better alternative to using the dvi viewer.
III. Editing Environment: TeXnicCenter - This is an integrated development environment (IDE) for developing LaTeX-documents, which interfaces directly with MikTeX. It is freely available under the GNU General Public License. It is a recent arrival in the software scene, and worth giving it a try. WinEdt - This is an alternative to TeXnicCenter, also designed specifically to create LaTeX documents and to interface directly with MikTeX. This is not freeware, so you will need to enter the group's license number after installing it (Register winedt from the help menu). The license information you need is:
IV. Referencing Tools: JabRef - This is a bibliography manager for bibTeX files. It is the recommended program to manage your own .bib files (and local versions of the group reference.bib file you might have). It also has the capability of directly importing references from PubMed.
V. All-In-One Document Tool: ProTeXt - Highly Recommend!! proTeXt aims to be an easy-to-install TeX distribution for Windows, based on MiKTeX. Simply download the .exe file, double click to extract the program and then click on the proTexXt icon in the folder. A .pdf file will launch and it will walk users through the installation process with clickable links of all the components listed above. |
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Installing LaTeX tools for Mac OS X I. LaTeX Compiler: Fink - The Fink project is an effort to port and package open-source Unix programs to Mac OS X. Before installing Fink you need to make sure you have X11 installed from your installation disks. Download the fink package and type the following commands in Terminal at the command prompt:
II. Converter: ImageMagick - ImageMagick is an open source software suite for displaying, converting, and editing image files. To install type the following commands in Terminal at the command prompt:
Xfig - Xfig is an open source software for drawing and editing existing figures in .eps format. To install type the following commands in Terminal at the command prompt:
III. Editing Environment: There are many environments available for developing LaTeX documents, most are free so choosing one is a matter of what feel comfortable. Below is a list of available free popular environments:
IV. Referencing Tools: JabRef - This is a bibliography manager for bibTeX files. It is the recommended program to manage your own .bib files (and local versions of the group reference.bib file you might have). It also has the capability of directly importing references from PubMed. Papers - Highly Recommend!! Organizes, edits, searches several journal search engines, produces BibTeX files, and more. |
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Installing LaTeX tools for Linux I. LaTeX Compiler: Yum or apt-get - The Linux operating systems come with their own system to port and package open-source programs. yum is the software installation tool for Red hat linux and Fedora Linux; it is a complete software management system. Whereas, for Ubuntu the software installation tool is apt-get. Other Linux operating systems have different names for their porting and packaging system. I will use apt-get in the examples below because I favor Ubuntu, but to find out commands for other operating systems simply do a Google search. sudo allows a permitted user to execute a command as a superuser or another user (usually root); it requires that users authenticate themselves with a password. Type the following commands in Terminal at the command prompt:
II. Converter: Xfig - Xfig is an open source software for drawing and editing existing figures in .eps format. To install type the following commands in Terminal at the command prompt:
III. Editing Environment: There are many environments available for developing LaTeX documents, most are free so choosing one is a matter of what feel comfortable. Below is a list of available free popular environments:
Kile - Kile is a user friendly TeX/LaTeX editor for the KDE desktop environment. To install type the following commands in Terminal at the command prompt:
GNU Emacs - GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor, and more. IV. Referencing Tools: JabRef - This is a bibliography manager for bibTeX files. It is the recommended program to manage your own .bib files (and local versions of the group reference.bib file you might have). It also has the capability of directly importing references from PubMed. |
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Recommended Books Helmut Kopka and Patrick W. Daly. Guide to LaTeX. Addison Wesley, 4th edition 2005. - I have a copy of this book if anyone wants to borrow it. I found this book to be useful in getting to know what LaTeX is all about. It is also not very wordy and gives ample examples. M Goossens, S Rahtz, F Mittelbach. The LaTeX Graphics Companion: Illustrating Documents with TeX and Postscript. Addison-Wesley, 1997. - This book is a useful reference for creating graphics, but we currently do not have a group copy.
Also, in the group library we have the following books:
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Recommended Websites I mainly use the TeX Resources page from the American Mathematical Society, as the links are always updated. |
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Download Document Template |
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Download Poster Template Sample Poster 1 (.zip) - Vertical style Sample Poster 2 (.zip) - Portrait style (box style) Sample Poster 3 (.zip) - Portrait style (condensed information) |
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Download Beamer Presentation Template |
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Additional Documents |
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Creating a PDF using LaTeX The best way to create a PDF file for your document is to use Adobe Distiller on the postscript file created by dvips. Make sure you use the high quality setting, as this will ensure that all fonts get embedded in the file. dvi2pdf and pdfLaTeX are other options, but at this point they still have limitations. For example, pdfLaTeX can only use graphics that are in pdf format. Feel free to try out the different alternatives, and see which one you are most comfortable with. |
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Unix Commands to Compile LaTeX Documents I. Converts .tex file to .dvi, then .ps, then .pdf Below is what you would type at the command prompt to compile and open your compiled .pdf document. In general, you would use this way if you have .eps figure files. Note: you can also use this way of compiling even if you have other format files (.jpg, .png, .pdf), but you have to reference a converter in your \usepackage definitions. I prefer this way because I save all my figures in .eps format.
Example: latex filename.tex; dvips -Ppdf filename.dvi -o filename.ps; ps2pdf filename.ps filename.pdf; open filename.pdf II. Converts .tex file to .pdf In general, you would use this way if you have non-.eps figure files (.jpg, .png, .pdf). Note: you can convert your figures from .eps and use this command as well.
Example: pdflatex filename.tex; open filename.pdf III. Convert .tex file to .html file for putting latex documents on the web (does not work with beamer)
Example: htlatex filename.tex |