The TeX/LaTeX text processing programs, as well as many related programs, have been installed on the WinNT machines in the VCC North PC Lab. To gain easy access to the excellent WinEdt editor/shell and to find documentation, open the TeX-LaTeX folder, which is inside the Instructional Software folder on the desktop. (The Emacs editor is also available for those who are familiar with it and prefer to use it.)
We recommend that you use the editor/shell called WinEdt for preparing and processing LaTeX (or TeX) documents. Note that, on these machines, if you double-click on a file with a .tex extension, WinEdt will open.
When you start the WinEdt application, a window will open that provides a menu bar and a toolbar. The File menu provides the usual selections, including opening an existing file or creating a new one, and the Tools menu provides spell checking. Other menus help with inserting LaTeX code for many common tasks. On the toolbar, you will find icons for running the LaTeX program on your file, previewing the resulting .dvi file, and using dvips either to make a .ps file or to send the output directly to the printer in the lab. You can also run GSView (Ghostview) to view your .ps file if you made one. (These functions are also available via the Accessories menu.) The WinEdt Help menu provides extensive on-line instructions.
You can use WinEdt to print your LaTeX (or TeX) documents. From the toolbar (or the Accessories menu), you may choose to send directly to the local printer, or to put the PostScript output in a file. If you choose to send to a file, you may view it on the screen with GSView; you may also print from GSView if you wish.
DO NOT PRINT FROM WINDVI, the screen previewer. Although Windvi has a print command, it is still under development and does not work properly.
If you need to learn the LaTeX language, please see the Doc folder (inside the TeX-LaTeX folder). We recommend starting with the file rpi109.pdf, a tutorial document. Note that Memo RPI.109 is also available in printed form at the VCC Help Desk.
To write a thesis with LaTeX, first see Memo RPI.110, available at the VCC Help Desk or in the file rpi110.pdf in the Doc folder.
Inside the folder c:\applications\tex\RPI-examples\, you will find subfolders containing general LaTeX examples, resume examples, and thesis examples. The RPI-Thesis subfolder contains template files, which you may copy and use to get started. This folder also contains the file thesis.cls, in case you want to copy the RPI thesis class to your own computer.