From: Peter Jay Salzman To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 22:12:08 -0800 begin Gabriel Rosa : > can anyone recommend a good latex tutorial or book? I've never really done > any work with it, but I'll be writing a paper in the next couple of weeks > that needs to be formated for print. every latexer needs two books: the leslie lamport book <-- to learn the latex companion <-- to reference pete From: Jonathan Stickel To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version) Reply-To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 11:12:31 -0800 I just started using LaTeX this past year and now use it for all of my documents. I got started with a wonderful free guide called "A (Not So) Short Introduction to LaTeX2e." It can be downloaded from a number of sites, but here is one: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/ It was necessary to buy "The LaTeX companion" when I wanted to do some more advanced math formulae and figures, but it is actually a very difficult read. Buy the way: I prefer to TeX in Emacs because it has a built in LaTeX mode. Good luck! Jonathan To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex From: Peter Jay Salzman Reply-To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 11:21:04 -0800 begin Jonathan Stickel > I just started using LaTeX this past year and now use it for all of my > documents. I got started with a wonderful free guide called "A (Not > So) Short Introduction to LaTeX2e." ah, yeah. i've seen this; it's a good document. good advice, jon. > It can be downloaded from a number of sites, but here is one: > > http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/ > > It was necessary to buy "The LaTeX companion" when I wanted to do some > more advanced math formulae and figures, but it is actually a very > difficult read. yeah, the companion is definitely a "must have". i suppose lamport's book isn't crucial if you get the not so short intro to latex, but the companion is very necessary to do anything "intermediate" or higher with latex. as for being a "hard read", i agree, but it wasn't meant to be a "read". it's a reference. so if you need for sectioning to look different from the default, you look up "sectioning" in the index. of if you want to learn how to make a customized bibliography, you look up "bibliography". of you you want your float "Here, Damnit!" you look up "float". or if you want to create customized page numbering or a running header, you look up "pagestyle". definitely a reference. the only section i found almost unusable was chapter on NFSS (the font system). pretty much everything else is a 1-3 page read that's certainly do-able. btw, if you want to see the most non-linear and difficult book i've ever read (other than a field theory book), check out DEK's "the tex book". that book is absolutely absurd! pete From: "Mark K. Kim" To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex Reply-To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 03:37:33 -0800 (PST) Just type, in a file called "myreport.tex": \documentclass{report} % you can also use "article" or "book" \usepackage{doublespace} % for ENL courses, you'll want this \begin{document} \title{My Title} % set document title \author{Gabriel Rosa} % set your name % \date{\today} % this is default so you don't need it \maketitle % make the first page title Blah blah \emph{really} blah, then blah blah \strong{really really} blahed. \end{document} Then, from the command line, type: latex myreport.tex # first to generate cross references latex myreport.tex # second to apply cross references latex myreport.tex # and third for a safe measure dvips -f myreport.dvi -o myreport.ps # generate PS from DVI lpr myreport.ps # and print! If you want previews: xdvi myreport.dvi or use gv with "consistently check file for changes" (or whatever it's called) option so you don't have to rerun gv everytime you want to view your changes. I prefer gv over xdvi because PS files are stand-alone whereas DVI requires external resources (ie, if you include pictures, DVI requires you keep the picture around so it can grab the file when it displays the document) and it's more of an exact replica of what you'll see when it's printed. Using a makefile so you don't have to type all these commands all the time is a good idea. Everything else, you can learn one at a time... TOC, indexing, cross-referencing, figures, tables, chapters, sections, subsections, drawings, graphics, etc., etc., etc. And oh yeah -- `xfig` is your friend. -Mark