TeX is a progenitor of math typesetting software.
It can be used for precise placement of text on a page, or for document organization concepts like title, author, abstract and section.
The TeX language is written in plain ASCII text, so it can be written with basic text editors and formatted later by TeX.
The basic "write-render" workflow can be augmented with programming editors (like emacs, kate, vi) or with TeX editing environments (kile, TeXshop, etc.).
Equations written in TeX's math mode can be exchanged over low-fidelity media like plain-email and instant-messaging.
TeX output can be dvi, ps or pdf.
CTAN has an online catalog of TeX resources.
LaTex Source Editing with Kile, a TeX IDE. |
Pdf LaTeX output can be indexed by search engines. |
HTML can also be generated from TeX. |
TeX Resources
Why LaTeX? from the American Mathematical Society
TeX User Group (TUG)
Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2e
Math Mode Examples from Meta-Wiki
The PracTeX Journal - TUG's online journal on practical TeX use.
TUGboat - A print journal for TUG members, posted online roughly a year after print.
HyperTeX
BibTeX - A TeX based file format for storing citations and generating bibliographies
TeX4ht can convert latex files to web pages.
TeX Software
If you have other TeX software installed and added to this list, let the computer staff know.
Software listed as "TeX Editor" typically has a one-click, or one-command way to render TeX to dvi, ps or pdf.
TeX Distributions
The easiest way to set up TeX is with a 500MB TeX distribution that includes many current TeX tools.
The TeX distribution to download depends on what operating system you run.
All three distributions are hosted by the TeX User Group (TUG.org).
- Windows - proTeXt is an installer for MikTeX, Ghostview and some extra software.
- Linux, Windows - TeXLive is included as a package in most versions of Linux.
- Mac OS X - MacTeX is a TeXLive installer for Mac.
Windows, Mac and Linux
Texmaker TeX Editor
Linux
Applications/Publications
acroread Adobe Acroread
ggv Gnome Ghostview
ghostscript Postscript Utilities
gpdf Gnome Pdf
gv Ghostview
jadetex TeX Without Limits
kile TeX Editor
passivetex XML to TeX
psutils Postscript Utilities
tetex TeX Utilities
tetex-xdvi # An X viewer for DVI files.
texinfo TeX Variation for Documentation
xmltex Namespace-aware XML parser written in TeX.
xpdf A PDF file viewer for the X Window System.
Applications/Multimedia
kdegraphics - /usr/bin/kpdf
transfig Utilities for creating TeX documents with portable graphics.
xfig An X Window System tool for drawing basic vector graphics.
Inkscape Desktop illustration software for making vector graphics.
Applications/Systems
lyx Quasi-WYSWIG LaTeX editor
Macintosh
MacGhostview Postscript Viewer
OzTeX Tex to Dvi to Postscript
Preview Pdf Viewer
Reader Pdf Viewer
TeXShop TeX Editor
Textures TeX Editor and Live Render
Windows
TeX Tools
MikTex TeX Utilities
TeXnic Center TeX Editor, Open Source
WinEdt TeX Editor, Shareware
WinShell TeX Editor, Free Download
Previewers
Ghostview Postscript Utilities
Reader Pdf Viewer
Tips and Tricks
Inverse Search Between PDF and TeX Source
While proofreading TeX documents, it's helpful to go between matching points of the PDF/DVI and source versions of the document.
The source is made before it's pdf, so to search from the source to the PDF is called a forward search.
The opposite direction (from PDF/DVI to source) is called inverse or reverse searching.
The mechanism to perform forward or inverse searches depend what software is editing the TeX source, and what software is previewing the PDF/DVI.
Some key and mouse combinations to do searches are in the table below.
* Shortcut commands in Emacs and Vim are user chosen.
TeX Inputs
LaTeX can include other files using the \input{} command.
By default LaTeX searches the directory the main TeX file is in, but can search other directories if they are listed in the TEXINPUTS environment variable.
Environment variables like TEXINPUTS are used by command line shells (sh, csh, zsh, bash) to define behavior.
Details for how to set environment variables differ for different shells, bash is the default shell on Linux and Mac OS X.
To set up a TEXINPUTS directory you can do the following steps.
- Make a directory called TEXINPUTS in your home directory with the following command.
mkdir ~/TEXINPUTS
- Add the following lines to the bash configuration file ~/.bashrc using an editor like emacs, gedit, or vi.
TEXINPUTS=.:$HOME/TEXINPUTS:/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex
export TEXINPUTS
- Close the shell and restart it, or log out and log back in.
- Verify TEXINPUTS is set by running echo $TEXINPUTS in the shell.
You should see the directories that were set in the ~/.bashrc file.
Figures with XFig and Inkscape
Many people have used xfig to make illustrations for LaTeX papers.
Xfig is illustration software that's been around since 1985, though Xfig may no longer under development.
Inkscape is another illustration package, and it can load xfig files.
Inkscape's user interface is a much closer match to other desktop software people may have used.
LaTeX text can be set using the menu Effects->Render->LaTeX Formula.
For bulk figure conversion from fig to eps or svg, fig2vect is available, but not included in the default Fedora distro.
To convert a single figure, use Xfig to export as SVG (available in xfig 3.2.5alpha5).
