Installing the Typesetter
The typesetter is the program which actually does the hard work of laying out your document and turning it into a nice PDF file. On Windows, you should download and install MiKTeX. When you install MiKTeX, be sure to choose "Letter" instead of "A4" for your default paper size. On a Mac, there are several options for LaTeX installations. The easiest to use is MacTeX. This is an absurdly large installation, but it contains every possible thing that you would ever want to do with LaTeX. If you don't want to install 750 megabytes of stuff, you can go with the much more reasonable BasicTeX package. On Linux, you probably already have LaTeX installed or can easily install it through whatever package system you use.
Installing an Editor
You can write .tex files using any text editor like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on a Mac. But it is easier to get a LaTeX editor which already knows how to do all the typesetting for you. These editors will also color your LaTeX file to make the structure and any errors easy to see, and add support for spell-checking and other amenities. On Windows, most people use WinEdt. On Macs, TeXShop is the most popular.
Writing a LaTeX File
Here is a sample PDF file and the .tex file that made it. The easiest way to learn TeX is to just mess around with a sample file like this one.
This is a sample showing how to use graphics in
a TeX file. To compile the file, you also need to download this graphic and put it in the same folder as the TeX
file.
More LaTeX Information
There is a lot of information here or by searching Google for "latex tutorial". It can be overwhelming, because LaTeX can do so much. Try working with the sample file and modifying things bit by bit to get an idea of how it all works. Email me if you are having trouble with any aspect of this typesetting process.
Last Updated 6 Sep 2007