Getting LaTeX
LaTeX is a set of macros for the TeX typesetting system. It is freeware and beats the hell out of any existing WYSIWYG word processor. LaTeX allows the writer to concentrate on what is to be communciated rather than how pretty it looks. LaTeX takes care of `pretty;’ the writer can worry about making the message clear.
MacOS X
Read Wierda’s synopsis of TeX on MacOS X first. For the beginner, I think TeXShop is the best choice of editor; hell, it’s great for power editors too. The TeXShop website also tells you how to obtain and install Gerben Wierda’s distribution of teTeX: the software engine that actually does the typesetting. For those of you who are more familiar with emacs, I recommend AquaMacs or my Carbon Emacs package available on SourceForge.
For the one-stop shopper, hit the MacTeX Distribution on the TUG site. Everything you need to get started is there with and easy download (or two).
Windoze
If you are unfortunate enough to still be using this sad excuse for an operating system and can keep the machine running for a few hours, then you can install MikTeX. Read the whole site: it gives you links to download the wizard that installs the whole thing, suggestions for editors: WinEdt (shareware) and TeXnicCenter (freeware) have been recommended), and troubleshooting hints. I would recommend reading this Setup page; it is a straightforward guide. A step-by-step guide can be found here as well.
Linux
Every major Linux distribution has teTex as an option for installation. If you didn’t install it, take a look for it and give it a whirl. The best editor for LaTeX on unix-like systems (including MacOS X, if you are not so timid) is emacs. emacs is the standard unix-like system editor (my apologies to vi users), and has RefTeX installed. Your Linux distro might have AUCTeX as well. Read the links for RefTex and AUCTeX to see how to activate them in emacs.
Learning about LaTeX
There are a very large number of resources on the web for beginning LaTeX users. I recommend Getting Started with LaTeX, and LATEX as an Alternative to Conventional Word Processing Programs. It will take a while to get going with LaTeX, but it is well worth the effort. Here is what a paper written in LaTeX looks like when typeset with my coursepaper template. Also, the LaTeX for Logicians web page has grown and is being maintained very well.
University of Calgary LaTeX Support: UC has a small site dedicated to supporting TeX and LaTeX users at UC here. I am going to be finally re-writing the UC thesis class file in January 2006.
The TeX mdimporter
I have re-written my mdimporter for any TeX source file (with the appropriate extension). Presently, it indexes .tex, .latex, .ltx, .ctx, and .texi files — I have excluded .cls, .sty, etc. They return way too many hits on simple searches. I am still in an experimental mode, so nothing is for sure just yet. You can download the current TeX mdimporter (universal binary) here.
This is the XCode source for the importer.
Files
- courseoutline: (v 0.9) A template for writing course outlines. The .cls makes writing course outlines a little less messy and more modular. Macros for \instructor, \officehours, \coursename, etc. allow you to just drop the values in and fire off a new outline. This is still in testing and I would appreciate any feedback.
- coursepaper: (v 1.0) a template based upon article.cls. It is designed for short papers and assignments for university, college or high school courses.
- ucalgary-thesis: (v1.0) This is a class package designed for people writing master’s theses or doctoral dissertations at the University of Calgary, Alberta. The template deals with titlematter, margins, etc. according to the FGS guidelines. It can also be found on CTAN. UC provides a class package, but it is quite old and does not conform to the newest FGS standards.
