Open Source Using LaTeX

Hi guys,

I am a new user here, and, after a brief search, I could find no discussions about the LaTeX documentation language. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it for making complicated documents, such as posters, and has any tips that they wish to share. Has anyone got a favourite editor? I have little experience with it and could not easily decide between the various software available.

It seems that it doesn't get much exposure and I'm not sure why. Sure, it's more complicated than word or open office, but it sure makes stuff look pretty!

Cheers,

Sam

 

Hi Sam, I wrote my thesis in LateX, and boy was it fun! I used the MiKTeX package for compilation and I wrote using VIM, having schooled using VI on an old silicone graphics workstation.
LateX is fantastic, great for large documents as you just write, not worrying about formatting. Sure you can get stuck every now and then but it does produce great results. I probably have some resources knocking around somewhere if you need them, probably also a copy of my thesis which will have a hell of a lot of different examples of tables, longtables, figures and formulae.
Best of luck!

 

Hi (Dr?) phenoptix,

Thanks for the reply! I chose MikTeX too, so that is reassuring, however I have never heard of VIM. I shall have a look into it. I am planning on writing the report for my masters next year in LaTeX, which is why I was prompted to have a look.

Thanks for the luck, and for the offer of extra material. I will give you a shout if I need some help!

 

VIM imho is the best editing program out there for program editing. Apparently there are also fans of something called emacs, they are the sworn enemies of VI fans.
VIM will highlight all the syntax neatly for you and allows easy navigation through your document with simple keyboard commands. It can be tricky to learn but once you have you'll be wanting to use it all the time, I know I do!

 

for Latex, i used TeXworks that came with Miktex. nice and simple, elegant interface, a pleasure to use. (for Windows) for Mac, my group member used TeXshop, similar design to TeXworks.

i wrote many university reports on it, my masters research and a part of a group design report. the outcome was a really nice, professional looking document without much effort on my side, just do "\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}" or any other template at the start. so easy to change from IEEE transaction to my university standard format.

i found google to be the best resource. just type in google "Latex" followed by whatever you want to do, i always gotten an answer.


@phenoptix, never heard of VIM, but have used some VI editor in Unix based systems. are they related?
also, are you the guy Bit-tech mentioned in their podcast, selling LED's?

 

Having written my dissertation and a scientific paper in LaTeX, I have to say TexShop on the mac is by far my favoured LateX software. That, xcode and having the unix architecture to run scientific programs on are the only reasons I bought a mac. For posters though, again presenting scientific results, Adobe Illustrator remains my program of choice. LaTeX is for text heavy documents really, TeX being a typesetting program. It gives you the feel of tinkering with a digital printing press and is fantastic I agree, but the graphics packages are add-ons and not suitable for posters.

 

VIM or more correctly GVIM is a progression from VI, it has all the power of VI but with some neat extras like being able to use the arrow keys without penalty and unlimited undo. When I explained the latter advantage to my professor at the time he said that would make my code sloppy!
As for the podcast, I didn't know about that! I certainly sell LEDs, I'm downloading from itunes now, when was the mention?

 

lol, don't worry about it, it was a couple months ago, they said someone emailed their podcast address advertising LED's.

many thanks for GVIM, i'll look into it. VI is very powerful and those helpful additions will sure make editing a lot easier.

 

Yeah listened through, that wasn't me, although it did get a mention so I may give it a go!
Good luck with GVIM @wuyanxu and good luck with LaTeX@00parrys

 

I use a thing called Texniccenter it works pretty well. I have also found having a programmable keyboard is fantastic for latex as you can set the keys to input the required command.

We have Win Shell on the Uni computers which is alright if you want no frills and just be able to type everything...

 

Thanks phenoptix!

@bumfluff I have Texniccenter and got on with it pretty well. The only issue is that it's windows only, and I would maybe like something that would run on Linux too, for convenience.

What is everyones opinion on Lyx? Again, I have very little experience with it, but from what I can tell the fact that you don't go near raw code is both it's greatest strength and greatest weakness depending on the user.

 

On Windows, I'm a e Text Editor guy. Before that it was a combination of Notepad++ or vim for Windows. On Linux it's definitely either vim or kate depending on the mood.

As far as LyX, I don't know. I do most of my TeX work by forming out everything I need then going back and applying the formatting needed to make it look right. It does look interesting though...

 

I did my final uni report and placement report in latex. I use vim. Some of the formatting for posters could give you problems, so look at the underlying language tex, its more formatting orientated. Good luck, never again will presentation bother your content!