SCOTT M. BAILEY AND CHRISTOPHER RARIDAN

Transcription

1 L A TEX FOR WINDOWS XP OR WINDOWS 7 SCOTT M. BAILEY AND CHRISTOPHER RARIDAN Abstract. In this article, we introduce L A TEX and show how to download, install, and configure MiKTeX 2.9 (a L A TEX distribution), and TeXworks (a L A TEX editor), on a machine running Windows XP or Windows Foreword As a suggestion, we encourage the reader to print and read this entire document before attempting any of the processes given within. Although we have made every effort to describe the following processes sufficiently, you may run into difficulties. If that happens, please contact the contributors (See Acknowledgments) for assistance. If you wish to visit any of the Web site links provided in this document, please copy and paste them into the address/url bar of your favorite browser. Because you will be downloading some rather large files very soon, it is recommended that you connect your computer to the Internet via an Ethernet cable rather than using a wireless connection. In addition, if your computer is set to sleep or hibernate after some period of inactivity, it may be to your benefit to disable these options temporarily. You will need approximately 2GB of free space on your computer Date: December 19, Key words and phrases. download, install, configure, TEX, L A TEX, MiKTeX, TeXworks, Windows XP, Windows 7, PC. Part of the Clayton State University Senior Capstone Experience. 1

2 2 S.M. BAILEY AND C. RARIDAN for the complete L A TEX system, which will consist of two components: MiKTeX 2.9 (a L A TEX distribution), and TeXworks (a L A TEX editor). 2. What is (La)TeX? TEX (pronounced tech as in technical and sometimes written as TeX) is a mathematical typesetting program developed originally in 1978 by Donald Knuth to create professional documents, such as those found in mathematical journals and textbooks, because he was frustrated with the proof copies [6] he had received of the second edition of his textbook The Art of Computer Programming. This textbook, often referred to as [t]he bible of all fundamental algorithms, [1] has been expanded over the years to become a four volume set [3], each volume of which uses digital typography based on TEX. In addition, Knuth is the author of several books about TEX, including [4] and [5]. L A TEX (pronounced lay-tech and sometimes written as LaTeX) was created in 1985 by Leslie Lamport (and now maintained by the LaTeX3 Project) as a way of using TEX. According to Wikipedia [7]: L A TEX is based on the idea that authors should be able to focus on the content of what they are writing without being distracted by its visual presentation. In preparing a L A TEX document, the author specifies the logical structure using familiar concepts such as chapter, section, table, figure, etc., and lets the L A TEX system worry about the presentation of these structures. This aside, L A TEX is a programming language very much like the hypertext markup language that is used to make most Web sites. That is, L A TEX uses commands which must be compiled in order to construct

3 L A TEX ON A PC 3 mathematical expressions. For anyone not familiar with computer programming, there is a bit of a learning curve upon first being introduced to L A TEX syntax. Lucky for us there is a wealth of information about L A TEX available on-line! For a very good general introduction to L A TEX, see en.wikibooks.org/wiki/latex. Visit the TEX Users Group (TUG) at org/. For the most part, you can find just about anything you could ever hope to know about L A TEX using your favorite on-line search engine. There are also many good books concerning L A TEX, such as Grätzer s More Math Into L A TEX [2]. 3. MiKTeX According to Christian Schenk, the author and principal developer of the MiKTeX (pronounced mick-tech ) distribution of L A TEX: MiK- TeX is an up-to-date implementation of TeX and related programs for Windows (all current variants). There are two versions of the complete MiKTeX system, one for 32- bit computers and one for 64-bit computers. Unfortunately, the 64-bit Net Installer is still experimental, which means that you may experience problems should you choose to download that version. You should have no problems installing the 32-bit version on a 64-bit machine Downloading MiKTeX. The MiKTeX 2.9 Net Installer executable file may take up to 10 minutes to download, and downloading the actual MiKTeX package files will probably take about an hour.

4 4 S.M. BAILEY AND C. RARIDAN The process is mostly automated; we just have to get it started. Most of the instructions below could be summarized by saying just click [Next] when prompted! (1) Visit (2) From the left-hand navigation menu, under Download, select the latest version of MiKTeX, currently MiKTeX 2.9. (3) Under the heading Installing the complete MiKTeX system, click the [Download] button next to MiKTeX 2.9 Net Installer. (4) Once the executable file has finished downloading, double-click the file and click [Yes] or [Run]. (5) On the Copying Conditions page, check I accept the MiK- TeX copying conditions and click [Next]. (6) On the Task page, select Download MiKTeX and click [Next]. (7) On the Package Set page, select Complete MiKTeX and click [Next]. (8) On the Download Source page, scroll down to a United States location, select an HTTP host by clicking the appropriate line, and then click [Next]. Be sure to select an HTTP host! (9) On the MiKTeX Distribution Directory page, note the path of the distribution (you may want to write this down) and click [Next]. (10) On the Information page, click [Start]. (11) The Executing page will open indicating The main task is being executed.

5 L A TEX ON A PC 5 (12) When the Overall Progress status bar indicates that the MiK- TeX download process is complete, click [Next]. (13) You should receive a message that says You have successfully completed the MiKTeX Setup Wizard. MiKTeX has been downloaded successfully. You can install MiKTeX by running the wizard again. (14) Click [Close] Installing MiKTeX. Installing MiKTeX will take about an hour. The process is mostly automated; we just have to get it started. Most of the instructions below could be summarized by saying just click [Next] when prompted! (1) Double-click the MiKTeX executable file again to start the installation process, then click [Yes] or [Run]. (2) On the Copying Conditions page, check I accept the MiK- TeX copying conditions and click [Next]. (3) On the Task page, select Install MiKTeX and click [Next]. (4) On the Package Set page, select Complete MiKTeX and click [Next]. (5) On the Shared Installation page, select Anyone who uses this computer and click [Next]. (6) On the MiKTeX Distribution Directory page, make sure the path is the same as in Step 9 in Section 3.1, and click [Next]. (7) On the Installation Directory page, choose the location for MiKTeX (the default should be fine), note the path (you should write this down), and click [Next].

6 6 S.M. BAILEY AND C. RARIDAN (8) On the Settings page, set your preferences. Preferred paper should be Letter and Install Missing packages on-the-fly should be Yes. Click [Next]. (9) On the Information page, click [Start]. (10) The Executing page will open indicating The main task is being executed. (11) When the Overall Progress status bar indicates that the MiK- TeX installation process is complete, click [Next]. (12) If all went well, you should receive a message that says You have successfully completed the MiKTeX Setup Wizard. (13) Click [Close] Updating MiKTeX. After installing MiKTeX, you should update the packages. It is likely that at this point, updating MiKTeX is unnecessary since you just downloaded the most current version, but individual packages are updated more often than the MiKTeX distribution is. Even if the MiKTeX packages do not at this time require updating, they may in the future and you can return to this tutorial for review of the process. (1) Open the Windows Start Menu and select All Programs. (2) Select MiKTeX 2.9. (3) Select Maintenance (Admin) > Update (Admin). (4) On the Update Source page, select I want to get updated packages from a remote package repository. (5) Under that heading, select Use the nearest package repository.

7 L A TEX ON A PC 7 (6) On the Updateable Packages page, if there are updates to some of the MiKTeX packages that you just downloaded, they will appear in a list. If there are updates available, continue to Step 7; otherwise, there are currently no updates available, so click [Cancel] and move on to Section 3.4: Configuring MiKTeX. (7) Click [Select All] and then [Next]. (8) It may be necessary to repeat Steps 1 7 several times before all packages are updated. (9) Once there are no remaining packages to be updated, click [OK] or [Cancel] Configuring MiKTeX. After updating MiKTeX, you should configure the settings. (1) Open the Windows Start Menu and select All Programs. (2) Select MiKTeX 2.9. (3) Select Maintenance (Admin) > Settings (Admin). (4) On the MiKTeX Options (Admin) page, select the [General] tab. (5) Under Maintenance, click [Refresh FNDB]. This will refresh the file name database. (6) Under Maintenance, click [Update Formats]. This will update all format files. (7) Under Paper, make sure that Letter is set as the default paper format.

8 8 S.M. BAILEY AND C. RARIDAN (8) Under Package Installation, make sure that Yes is selected for installing missing packages on-the-fly. (9) Click [OK]. (10) It may be necessary to rebuild the format files again. If so, click [OK]. 4. TeXworks TeXworks is a very easy to use editor that comes with MiKTeX. Because it comes included with MiKTeX, it is ready to use with no additional configuration. However, it is our opinion that a few small changes will make your experience with this editor much more pleasant. Once you configure TeXworks the first time, you will not have to do so again. (1) Open the Windows Start menu and select All Programs. (2) Click MiKTeX 2.9 then right-click TeXworks. (3) Choose Pin to Taskbar, Pin to Start Menu, or Send to > Desktop (create shortcut) according to your preference. (4) Open TeXworks. (5) Click [Edit] then [Preferences]. (6) Select the [Editor] tab and under Editor defaults select Courier New and set the font size to 14. (This is just a suggestion, choose whatever font and size you like, but Courier New 14 seems to one of the easiest to read on the computer screen.) (7) Select the [Preview] tab and under Default scaling select Fit to window. (8) Click [OK].

9 L A TEX ON A PC 9 If you would like to learn more about TeXworks, click on [Help] and select A short manual for TeXworks. 5. Conclusions You now should be ready to work with MiKTeX via the TeXworks editor and view your output as a PDF with the built in viewer for TeXworks. Please continue to the next tutorial entitled My First L A TEX Document for more information about using these components. Acknowledgments This work was created as to be used as part of the Clayton State University Senior Capstone Experience. The contributors to this document are (listed in alphabetical order): Scott Bailey Christian Barrientos Anthony Giovannitti Elliot Krop Christopher Raridan Anthony Stinson David Williams ScottBailey@clayton.edu ChristianBarrientos@clayton.edu AnthonyGiovannitti@clayton.edu ElliotKrop@clayton.edu ChristopherRaridan@clayton.edu AnthonyStinson@clayton.edu DavidWilliams@clayton.edu Please feel free to contact the contributors if you have any questions or comments concerning this document. [1] Byte, September References

10 10 S.M. BAILEY AND C. RARIDAN [2] G. Grätzer, More Math Into L A TEX, 4 th ed., Springer Science + Business Media LLC, New York, [3] D. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-4A, 1 st ed., Addison-Wesley Professional, Massachusetts, [4] D. Knuth, Computers & Typesetting, Volume A: The TEXbook, 1 st ed., Addison-Wesley Professional, Massachusetts, [5] D. Knuth, Computers & Typesetting, Volume B: TEX: The Program, 1 st ed., Addison-Wesley Professional, Massachusetts, [6] D. Knuth, Digital Typography, Center for the Study of Language and Information Lecture Notes, Massachusetts, [7] Wikipedia, LaTeX Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, pedia.org/w/index.php?title=latex&oldid= Accessed 13- December Department of Mathematics, Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia 30260