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Installing (La)TeX



Start Here (if you’re starting from scratch)

The Bottom Line

💰 Download and install MikTeX.

💰💰 [OPTIONAL] Download and install an editor. The MikTeX distribution includes a simple editor and previewer. I listed some additional full featured editors below. There are many free editors and you should try a few before you settle on one.

💰💰💰 [OPTIONAL] Download and install Ghostscript (and Ghostview if you want it). You don’t need this if you just use pdflatex, but you might want to get it to keep your options open.


💯 For details on these steps and more, just keep scrolling down.


MikTeX

🥸 Get MikTeX and install it. MikTeX is simple to install - just go to the MikTeX Homepage and download a (basic system or complete system) setup wizard. The basic system is a quick set-up that automatically pulls packages off the internet as you need them. This should be fine for most users.

🧌 Is there an alternative to MikTeX? Yes- it’s called Tex Live

🥉 NOTE: The MiKTeX installation now includes TeXworks, which is an editor and a pdf reader/previewer. So basically, all you need to start pdflaTeXing is MiKTeX. If you’re just starting out, then this should be fine … for awhile However, my suggestion is to get one of the TexMakers and SumatraPDF-TeX instead of using TeXworks.


Editors

🎭 There are many different editors and a nice list and discussion of editors can be found at stackexchange … it seems to be updated peridoically. I’ll just list a few below.


TexMaker and TexStudio (and others) come with built-in previewers that are pretty good, but they don’t seem render graphics very well (this may have changed because I haven’t checked in many years). The BEST option is to get 💥💥 SumatraPDF💥💥. It is small and you can use it as general pdf reader instead of acrobat. You can easily configure many editors to use it; see this page for Configuring editors with SumatraPDF. Some editors allow inverse search, but it is specific to the editor… an internet search on “inverse search [name of my editor]” will do the trick.


A NOTE ON FONTS: Most of these editors use fixed width or monospace fonts, and while monospace system fonts are better than they used to be, I still use Bitstream Vera Sans Mono in all my editors. It is very good in that it is easy on the eyes and it’s easy to distinguish between similar looking characters such as “l” , “1” , “i” and “o” , “0” , “O”.

🦁 If you came down here looking for additional LaTeX fonts, you can find information about them at The LaTeX Font Catalogue.


Ghostscript

👻 I recommend getting Ghostscript. It’s not necessary if you use pdflatex, but other programs depend on it. It’s small, so storage shouldn’t be a problem.


Spell check

📲 This is an old topic… most 21st century editors check spelling. Gnu Aspell is still around (but old), and if you need additional dictionaries, you can use the ones from Open Office:

Some editors use the spelling engine of OpenOffice and you can download dictionaries for it, if necessary. The dictionary files are archives with an .oxt extension. If you have something like 7-zip (free), you can expand it. If not, just change .oxt to .zip and use your native extracter. You’ll need 2 files, the .dic AND the .aff file. Put them in a convenient location and then configure the editor so it knows where those files live.


LaTeX in Presentations

🥳 Use BEAMER. It’s not easy, but to get started:

First, go here BEAMER CLASS EXAMPLES and download the first example, example-1.tex. Compile the file and MikTeX will automatically download everything it needs to compile the file if it is not there already (assuming you let MikTeX install what it needs on the fly - this is set in the MikTeX Options). Play around with the file… make some minor changes and compile it again until you feel comfortable with what you’re doing.

Then go back to website and download each of the other example-x.tex files, play with them … add or change some things … and compile them. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how to work the beamer machine. If you still need help, google “beamer” and you’ll find all sorts of examples (Beamer User Guide).

🧟 BUT, if you MUST use PowerPoint (you’ll need Ghostscript), use Iguana Tex. I’ve tried it and it works like a charm.


Providing CODE in Your Documents

👩‍💻 After trying various methods, I think the best way to include code in a document is to use the package called Listings. The Wiki LaTeX Book has a nice page on using the package. MikTeX will install it, if necessary, when you put \usepackage{listings} in the preamble and compile.


Math, TeX and HTML

☕ Javascript method: MathJax:

Here’s what you can do. Inline math is kewl, $ X_t = \int_{-\pi}^\pi e^{i\omega t}dZ(\omega)$. Even blackboard bold works: $ {X_t;\, t\in \mathbb Z } $. Then some display:

\[\int_0^\infty \frac{x^3}{e^x-1}\,dx = \frac{\pi^4}{15}\]

This is easy to use- just a line in your head (of your web page) does the trick. Try it, your friends will be amazed. If you want to see the code for this stuff, right click on an expression and choose “Show Math As”


For long and complicated math, I think using a pdf file is the best way to go. If you don’t want to use javascript, then using html tables, you can do some complicated expressions … the problem is that different browsers will display the expressions differently (see web math). Simple expressions such as X(t) = ∫ eiωt dZ(ω) are easy to do with HTML 4.


You say you suck at LaTeX

… and you want to learn more. 😔

The key to getting started with LaTeX, as with most things, is to start small; do something that you can throw away. And use the internet to search on things like “latex union” to figure out how to write things like A ∪ B .


Here are some other links to great TeX sites …

latex lion … find out what is up with the TeX lion and try to figure out why it’s wearing lipstick and has a perm and wears glasses, and why someone would associate a lion with TeX in the first place, and why you still see that damn thing.




That’s all Folks!