miércoles, 5 de febrero de 2014

Installing LaTeX on Mac OS X

Previously, I wrote a tutorial on how to install LaTeX on Windows. This time, I’ll do the same thing for Mac OS X. I’m using OS X 10.7 (Lion), but I’m sure this guide still holds for Mountain Lion, Leopard or earlier versions of OS X. The scope of this tutorial is to show you how to install the complete LaTeX package, including my favorite free editor (Texmaker). The installation will be a lot shorter than that for Windows users :)

Installing MacTeX


The governing LaTeX distribution for Mac OS X is MacTeX. This distribution is actually an all-in-one package as it not only contains the LaTeX distribution, but also several editors and other useful stuff. So let’s cut to the case: head over to the MacTeX website (or here). If you follow the link you can immediately download it. Note that this download is about 2 GB and thus may take a while to be downloaded (depending on your internet connection).

Once you’ve downloaded the distribution, install it by double-clicking the .dmg file. The rest will speak for itself, as the installation procedure is just the same as any other Mac software.

Now, open your Applications folder and search for a folder called TeX. This contains everything you need, as can be seen here. TeXShop and TeXworks are both open source LaTeX editors, released under the GPL. If you want to use one of these, you can start right away. Personally I prefer another editor: Texmaker. It will be shown in the next section how to install this one (which is no rocket science ;)). Furthermore in the TeX folder we see BibDesk, a handy tool for maintaining references for BibTeX. We also see LaTeXit, a great tool that can be used to add LaTeX equations to Powerpoint for instance.

Installing Texmaker


As I said before, you already get two LaTeX editors with the MacTeX installation. However, I’m used to Texmaker so I’ll show you how to install this editor as del (this one is really easy). Head over to the Texmaker website. Next, go to the download section in the menu on the right and download Texmaker. You probably need the 64 bit version, depending on your Mac hardware. Once you downloaded the file, drag and drop it to the Applications folder and your ready to LaTeX!
Anything else?

That’s it? Yes! However, for the control freaks among us there is an extra distribution for MacTeX called MaxTeXtras. You can find it here. This download contains several editors (like Texmaker), utilities, tools and demos you might find handy. Have fun!

source

Installing LaTeX on Windows

In this guide, I will show you how to install the needed components of LaTeX on Windows. In this tutorial Windows 7 is used, but the steps will be similar for other versions.

Installing MiKTeX


MiKTeX is a free TeX distribution for Windows systems. The current version is MiKTeX 2.9. The survey starts at the MiKTeX website. In the menu, click on MiKTeX 2.9 and scroll down to download the MiKTeX 2.9 Net Installer. This is the installation file that will be used to download the MiKTeX distribution. Run the file once it is downloaded. The installation wizard of MiKTeX will now pop up.

First, agree with the copying conditions and click next. In the following window, click ‘Download MiKTeX’ to download the distribution to a directory on your computer. Again, click next. Next you will be prompted whether you want install Basic or Complete MiKTeX. I recommend you to download the complete distribution, since it will save a lot of time in the future. Note that the complete package is quite large (1.2 GB) and it takes a while to install. So you’ll need a steady internet connection and enough space on your hard-disk. The next thing you have to choose is the source where the package will be downloaded from. Search for a source that is located in your country, or nearby. After you click next you’ll have to choose a directory where MiKTeX will be installed. This was the last step, the downloading will now begin. Note that this installation will take a while.

Once its finished, navigate to the directory where you’ve installed MiKTeX. There are a lot, really a lot, of files here. However, there is only one .exe file. Run this file (called setup-2.9.3959.exe for this version). This time, the real installation of MiKTeX will take place. This process will again be quite lengthy.

Installing the editor


In order to actually compile LaTeX documents, we need an editor. For windows, the most used editors are probably TeXnicCenter and Texmaker. I might add an overview of all editors in the future, but that is not where this tutorial is about. Personally, I like Texmaker the most, so let’s install that editor right away!

On the Texmaker website, go to the download section to download Texmaker for Windows. The current version is 2.2.1. We’re going to download the Executable file (.exe). When the downloading is complete, don’t run the installation wizard! Wait for the MiKTeX installation to be completed. This way, Texmaker will automatically configure the settings for you. Once you’re ready to install Texmaker, agree to the GPL license by clicking ‘I Agree’ and choose a directory to install the editor. Done! Wow, that was fast :-)

The installation of LaTeX is now complete. A guide to create your first document might be added in the future. For now, here are some references.

source: