Get started with Latex on Linux

Question

Impressed by is-latex-worth-learning-today, and many how-to's on Windows,

How do you have someone started with LaTeX on Linux.

How do you generate a pdf out of it and give up the OOO Word processer.

Update:

Thanks to all the suggestions given in here. I was able to create an awesome ppt using the Beamer class: http://github.com/becomingGuru/gids-django-ppt. I found this approach to far better than using powerpoint and the like.

Those interested may checkout the TEX file, with many custom commands and the corresponding presentation.

Answer 1

It depends on your Linux distibution and your preference of editors etc. but I would recommend to start with Kile (a KDE app) as it is easy to learn and installing it should install most of the needed packages for LaTex and PDF generation. Just have a look at the screenshots.

Answer 2

To get started with LaTeX on Linux, you're going to need to install a couple of packages:

1. You're going to need a LaTeX distribution. This is the collection of programs that comprise the (La)TeX computer typesetting system. The standard LaTeX distribution on Unix systems used to be teTeX, but it has been superceded by TeX Live. Most Linux distributions have installation packages for TeX Live--see, for example, the package database entries for Ubuntu and Fedora.

2. You will probably want to install a LaTeX editor. Standard Linux text editors will work fine; in particular, Emacs has a nice package of (La)TeX editing macros called AUCTeX. Specialized LaTeX editors also exist; of those, Kile (KDE Integrated LaTeX Environment) is particularly nice.

3. You will probably want a LaTeX tutorial. The classic tutorial is "A (Not So) Short Introduction to LaTeX2e," but nowadays the LaTeX wikibook might be a better choice.

Answer 3

I would recommend start using Lyx, with that you can use Latex just as easy as OOO-Writer. It gives you the possibility to step into Latex deeper by manually adding Latex-Code to your Document. PDF is just one klick away after installatioin. Lyx is cross-plattform.

Answer 4

LaTeX comes with most Linux distributions in the form of the teTeX distribution. Find all packages with 'teTeX' in the name and install them.

• Most editors such as vim or emacs come with TeX editing modes. You can also get WYSIWIG-ish front-ends (technically WYSIWYM), of which perhaps the best known is LyX.

• The best quick intro to LaTeX is Oetiker's 'The not so short intro to LaTeX'

• LaTeX works like a compiler. You compile the LaTeX document (which can include other files), which generates a file called a .dvi (device independent). This can be post-processed to various formats (including PDF) with various post-processors.

• To do PDF, use dvips and use the flag -PPDF (IIRC - I don't have a makefile to hand) to produce a PS with font rendering set up for conversion to pdf. PDF conversion can then be done with ps2pdf or distiller (if you have this).

• The best format for including graphics in this environment is eps (Encapsulated Postscript) although not all software produces well-behaved postscript. Photographs in jpeg or other formats can be included using various mechanisms.