General ⇒ LaTeX with Windows XP, not easy!

[rephioh]

If my observations are incorrect, please excuse me as a beginner.
I am forming the conclusion that LaTeX is best used with a Unix type OS rather than Windows. For example, in order to implement the LaTeX compiler, I must utilize the DOS emulator for Windows XP. The instructions I have been following, from Mr Oetiker, present a brief file that I copied into a .tex ASCII file. Then, to compile it, I had to go to the DOS emulator, find the directory containing my LaTex1.tex file by using the cd command several times (not easy!) and finally issueing the command "latex LaTeX1.tex" The execution went well except that it produced a .dvi file. I had selected .pdf from the drop-down menu in the toolbar, but with no effect apparently. Thus, I could not read the LaTex1.dvi file produced by the LaTeX compiler.

This effort seems to be like reading the work of an economist: you must invest so much of yourself to understand it that you become an enthusiast for it.

In the course of reading the instructions and various notes, I get the distinct impression that were I using UNIX things would go far more automatically. If Windows is not advantageous as an OS for LaTex, then I have invested many hours with no return. Tell me I am wrong, please!

[frabjous]

I find your remarks very confusing. If you're running LaTeX from a command-line DOS prompt, what "drop down menu" could there be? Probably getting a PDF rather than a DVI would just have been a matter of typing in "pdflatex" rather than "latex" before the file name.

Some things might go more smoothly with a UNIX-type system -- after all, things in general go smoothly on UNIX-style systems, since well, Windows is overpriced ____ by comparison, but overall, there really isn't that big a difference with regard to using LaTeX in particular. If I wanted to compile from the command-line on my linux system, I'd still have to change directories to the right directory too. But in general, I use an IDE like TeXworks or TeXmaker instead of a command line.

It doesn't need to be so complicated. You should be using a Windows LaTeX IDE like TeXnicCenter or TeXworks to make your life easier on Windows too. Then you shouldn't have to mess around with DOS prompts, etc.

I started on Windows using the (MikTeX-based) ProTeXt distribution, which also includes TeXnicCenter and Ghostscript, which should ease you in. Resources for Beginners page here at LaTeX-community too.

LaTeX does have a steep learning curve at first, whatever your system, but it's worth it.

[rephioh]

Frabjous, thanks for your reply.

If not from the DOS emulator, where does one enter the command "pfdlatex 'mysource.tex'"? How does the system know where to find "mysource.tex"? I don't see these questions answered in the "Short Introduction".

Thanks!

PS, I should have mentioned that I am using TeXnicCenter.

[frabjous]

I don't use TeXnicCenter anymore, but if I remember right, there's a button called "QuickBuild" or "Build and View Output" or something like that. (I think it's also bound to a key, like Ctrl-F5 maybe.) If you have LaTeX => PDF selected as your build profile, hitting that button will call pdflatex for you, and then launch your PDF viewer. If you still have trouble, ask in the TeXnicCenter forum.

Of course this wouldn't be in lshort, since it's TeXnicCenter-specific.

You might also try TeXworks, which is easier to use (though arguably less feature-rich).

[localghost]

[…] I should have mentioned that I am using TeXnicCenter.

Move the mouse cursor above the icons in the tool bars and stay some time to get a quick info about their function.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten¹

[rephioh]

"Build" seems an odd word (in English) for "compile", "execute" or "run". None of my words are found in the help index. Even the word "build" is not to be found in that index. I have tried to draw upon my limited German for words a German would use, but bauen seems odd as a German verb for the operation. Einsetzen (run) much better.

Not to pick on LaTeX, I notice the inadequacy of many help indices in other programs, Windows, for example. My training is in physics and math, and I may be a bit over the hill but I wonder what disciplines would suggest "build" as a suitable word for implementing LaTeX on the source file and find the word so appropriate that it is neglected in the index! What LaTeX does, as I understand it, is the digital equivalent of typesetting. How about "typeset"? I guess there are many words that could be used, but not include such an especially essential function in the index is puzzling, at the least.

Thanks to all!

[phi]

Some general remarks: Contrary to popular belief, there is no "DOS emulator" or "DOS prompt" in Windows (well, there is one, but no one uses it, hopefully), what you are talking about is the command line processor, known as "shell" in Unix environments, which is completely unrelated to DOS. There is almost no difference between operating system as far as LaTeX is concerned; you can use the CLI or a GUI in all of the major operating systems. Often one uses the CLI commands when addressing general questions since they comprise the lowest level of the major TeX distributions and are equivalent regardless of operating system or editor; this does not prevent using an editor, of course, but again, this is unrelated to the operating system. LaTeX is equally "complicated" on every operating system.

[rephioh]

Phi: Would you agree that if there is no DOS "emulator" in XP, there is a facility by which one may use commands (eg: cd, dir, ren, ...) that assimilate DOS commands? Could we then refer to a DOS "assimilator"?

Thanks again to you and others for your and their comments!

[adrian]

I use TeXnicCenter with XP with no problems.

If the .tex file is open (for editing), then pressing Ctrl+F7 should "build" the
file, and produce a PDF output. (I think the term "build" is an allusion to
building source code (a .cpp file, say) into an executable program. The process
is similar with .tex to PDF.)

To ensure that PDF is the output, use the Build -> Select Output Profile
menu options, and select LaTeX => PDF in the dialog box.

Hope this helps,
Adrian