Lost with LaTex - Where do I start?

Valmont

I'm finally sick to death of Microsoft word. I will be writing a dissertation in a few months and I'm not doing it in word again. I'll learn how to use this LaTex thing and be done with it.

I'm really out of my depth here computing-wise and I don't even know where to start. Where do I download LaTex? Is there a "starter" package anywhere? I followed one link, downloaded it and had something called Babylon 8 hijack all of my browsers.

Any help much appreciated.

Turtwig

These were ones that first got me really into it. . There's probably better out there though.

With regard to downloading latex, this can be quite tricky, so I suggest you download an editor e.g TeXnicCenter
. You'll also need a basic package (Download the file under the heading "Installing a basic MiKTeX system", to start with. Also this tool will come in very handy.

Once you've got the basics nailed, you'll probably find yourself exploring other avenues of LaTeX and that's when you'll really find how versatile it can be.

djpbarry

I'll second what Malty_T has already said. I work with a TeXnic Center/MikTex combo and it works pretty well, so I'd suggest you install MikTex, then install TeXnic Center - it should detect your MikTex installation automatically. Essentially, MikTex is a version of LaTex (there are various different distributions) and Texnic Center acts as your editor and interface with the LaTex software. So that's your basic set-up sorted.

As for actually learning to produce documents with LaTex, there's a decent wikibook on the subject that you may find useful.

To get started, and make sure everything's working ok, pop something simple like this into your editor:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}

\begin{document}

Hello World!

\end{document}

After compilation, your output should look like this.

Clinker

I'll just mention that the latest version of MiKTeX (2.8) includes an editor, so now you can just download MiKTeX and you're ready to go. I haven't actually used the editor: I use Gnu Emacs, but you probably don't want to get into that. TeXmaker is another nice editor you could use. I tried TeXniccenter for some time about five years ago and it corrupted some source files on me so I haven't used it since: maybe the current version is safe! Link to TeXmakerX a version of TeXmaker.

Turtwig

Clinker wrote: »

I tried TeXniccenter for some time about five years ago and it corrupted some source files on me so I haven't used it since: maybe the current version is safe!

I actually had the same problem with Technic, so I'll recommend another editor that I found to be much more reliable. That said, others had problems with this one.

TIMMAY!

Just a word of caution. I used latex to write my dissertation and it was by no means straightforward to get the pictures where I wanted them.
In the end I got it to work and they looked great but if your going to have a lot of pictures its worth having a look at how to incorporate them into a latex document before you start. For some things its not worth the trouble.

But overall I was very happy I used it and I got a really professional looking layout for my dissertation.I would definately encourage it.

TIMMAY!

To get you started just download like one of the other posters suggested http://miktex.org/

then try to create the letter on this page

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Letters

djpbarry

TIMMAY! wrote: »

Just a word of caution. I used latex to write my dissertation and it was by no means straightforward to get the pictures where I wanted them.

You mean you had trouble positioning 'floating' objects where you wanted them? Yeah, that can be a bit tricky, but it still beats painstaking manipulation in word processors.

Valmont

Ok, so I installed Miktex and yes, it comes with an editor. I'll say now that before I ran djpbarry's little test, I had the wrong about about LaTex, I thought it was a juiced up word processor! This is so much better, I'm already seeing the hours of Microsoft Word trickery vanish even though it will undoubtedly take time to learn the language of LaTex. Thanks for the help guys/gals!