Written by D. K. McGrath
5 February 2008
This document is written for the purpose of walking through a Microsoft Windows
installation of the LaTeX document formatting system. This document presupposes
a working network connection. It is recommended that this network connection
be broadband, due to the size of the downloads necessary. All links in this
document were correct at the time of writing.Installation of Base LaTeX System
Obtain the MiKTeX Net Setup Wizard from the MiKTeX
website. The program is located on the Download/Install
page.
Direct Link: Click here to download the MiKTeX Net Setup Wizard
Upon completion of this download, launch the wizard. Choose "Download only," and click Next. I would recommend the full install, as that includes AMS-TeX, the graphics packages, slide packages, etc. Also, it is easier to install everything now, as opposed to installing in a piecemeal fashion. Anyway, make your selection, and click Next. Select a mirror which is close geographically, and click Next. The download will begin, and will likely claim some ridiculous amount of time until completion. Don't worry, it won't take that long. Assuming you have a decent broadband connection, I would estimate 1-2 hours at most (just for reference, on my DSL connection, it took ~35 minutes).
After the download completes, the wizard will prompt you to exit. After it quits, lauch it again, only this time select "Install", then click Next. Select the same size installation which you chose to download, and click Next. It is safe to accept the defaults, so hit Next until installation begins. Installation takes a while, and depends on the resources available. Upon completion, you will have a working LaTeX install. There are a few more steps to go through before it's really useful though.
Navigate to the Ghostscript, Ghostview, and GSview website, and select the link " GPL Ghostscript 8.61". You will need to scroll down to the "Windows" section. Download both AFPL Ghostscript 8.61 for Win32.
Now, go here, select GSview release v4.9, and download the installer.
After you have them both downloaded, install Ghostscript first, then GSview. You should now have a working PostScript installation.
I don't know why I am even bothering with this section, as most people already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. If you don't, install it. It's useful to have, and not just for LaTeX. If you can't find it on your own, you probably shouldn't be using LaTeX either. (I have to leave something for you to do on your own, don't I?)
While you can edit your source in Wordpad, and compile it from the Command Prompt, I would recommend installing what is referred to as a TeX Environment. There are many environments available for LaTeX: emacs + aucTeX, WinEDT, TeXnicCenter, etc. My recommendation is TeXnicCenter. It is easy to use, feature rich, and open source, and I'll walk through setting it up. If you choose to use a different environment, you're on your own.
Navigate to the ToolsCenter.org website, and click the "Download" link under the TeXnicCenter heading on the left hand column. Download "TeXnicCenter Setup, Version 1 Beta 7.01 ('Greengrass')." You might need some of the other files, depending on your system. However, on a standard Windows XP installation, with current patches, the only file you need is the setup.
Direct Link: Click here to jump directly to the SourceForge download page.
In case you are unfamiliar with Sourceforge downloads, you will need to select a mirror to download the file. It is a good idea to pick the one which is closest geographically.
After the download is complete, install TeXnicCenter. When installation is complete, launch the program. It should autoconfigure, but if not, see here.
You are now done. You have a complete LaTeX install, and a properly configured environment. A few tips:
Until you are ready to create the final product, leave the Build Type as LaTeX => DVI (this can be seen in the drop box in the missle of the uppermost toolbar). This allows you to place your cursor on a section of input, and have the Yap jump directly there in the output, just by hitting F5. This also works in reverse. Double clicking on a section in Yap will take you to the source which created that section.
Syntax highlighting is a beautiful thing. Use it. It's on by default.
Play around with TeXnicCenter. It can do a lot of things to help you. It has a mediocre spell checker, but it is TeX aware, which is a very helpful thing. There are other checkers out there, if you decide you want a better one, and TeXnicCenter allows you to use an external spell checker.
Learn the key commands. They will make your life much easier, as you won't have to lift your hands from the keyboard to do most tasks. You might feel otherwise, but when typing, the mouse is not your friend.
When creating complex (or even not so complex) math formulae, compile often. It's easier to pick up on and fix an error if you know where it is to within a few lines. This holds for any time you're using a lot of commands, not just math, but math is where are most likely to forget a brace, or some such thing.
For the most part, learning to use LaTeX isn't that difficult. While it has an initially steep learning curve, after you get past that, it levels out quite nicely. The more you use it, the easier it will be (and the more irritated you will be by poor typesetting).
If any part of this document is unclear, just email me about it. Hopefully,
all the kinks will have been worked out of it before I've been gone too long.
Select "Yes, configure TeXnicCenter for the use with MiKTeX," and click Next. In the first text box, "Enter the full path of the DVI-viewer to use:" enter (assuming you did a default install) "C:\texmf\miktex\bin\yap.exe" (without the quotes"). For the second text box, enter "--single-instance" (again without the quotes). For the third box, use "--single-instance -s %l%tc.tex %tc.dvi"
Summary (in order):
C:\texmf\miktex\bin\yap.exe
--single-instance
--single-instance -s %l%tc.tex %tc.dvi
After entering this information, hit Next. If you have Acrobat installed, the next screen up will be the Finish screen. Since most people do, I will not include the configuration options. Click Finish, and you're almost done. All you have left to do is change a single option in Yap, and edit a file.
In Yap (which you can get to by clicking Start -> Programs -> MiKTeX -> DVI Viewer), click View -> Options. Click on the Inverse Search tab, and in the Program: drop box, select TeXnicCenter.
In your favorite editor (Wordpad, TeXnicCenter, Notepad, etc.) open the following file:
C:\texmf\dvips\config\config.ps
Scroll down to where you see
@ A4size 210mm 297mm
@+ %%PasperSize: A4
@ letterSize 8.5in 11in
@ letter 8.5in 11in
@+ %%BeginPaperSize: Letter
@+ letter
@+ %%EndPaperSize
(and there will be others as well)
And change it to look like this:
@ letterSize 8.5in 11in
@ letter 8.5in 11in
@+ %%BeginPaperSize: Letter
@+ letter
@+ %%EndPaperSize
@ A4size 210mm 297mm
@+ %%PasperSize: A4
This tells dvips to use standard US letter size paper, as opposed to what the
rest of the modern world uses, A4.