LaTeX + 15 characters

Topic Ideas
21

That is a huge topic.
Here is a list of what I have installed

ii  tex-common                                    6.18                                   all          common infrastructure for building and installing TeX
ii  texinfo                                       6.8-6+b1                               amd64        Documentation system for on-line information and printed output
ii  texlive-base                                  2022.20230122-3                        all          TeX Live: Essential programs and files
ii  texlive-binaries                              2022.20220321.62855-5.1+deb12u2        amd64        Binaries for TeX Live
ii  texlive-extra-utils                           2022.20230122-4                        all          TeX Live: TeX auxiliary programs
ii  texlive-fonts-extra                           2022.20230122-4                        all          TeX Live: Additional fonts
ii  texlive-fonts-recommended                     2022.20230122-3                        all          TeX Live: Recommended fonts
ii  texlive-lang-english                          2022.20230122-1                        all          TeX Live: US and UK English
ii  texlive-lang-greek                            2022.20230122-1                        all          TeX Live: Greek
ii  texlive-latex-base                            2022.20230122-3                        all          TeX Live: LaTeX fundamental packages
ii  texlive-latex-extra                           2022.20230122-4                        all          TeX Live: LaTeX additional packages
ii  texlive-latex-recommended                     2022.20230122-3                        all          TeX Live: LaTeX recommended packages
ii  texlive-luatex                                2022.20230122-3                        all          TeX Live: LuaTeX packages
ii  texlive-pictures                              2022.20230122-3                        all          TeX Live: Graphics, pictures, diagrams
ii  texlive-plain-generic                         2022.20230122-4                        all          TeX Live: Plain (La)TeX packages
ii  texlive-pstricks                              2022.20230122-4                        all          TeX Live: PSTricks
ii  texlive-science                               2022.20230122-4                        all          TeX Live: Mathematics, natural sciences, computer science packages

There are language packages, eg

texlive-lang-english - TeX Live: US and UK English
texlive-lang-european - TeX Live: Other European languages
texlive-lang-french - TeX Live: French
texlive-lang-german - TeX Live: German
texlive-lang-greek - TeX Live: Greek
texlive-lang-italian - TeX Live: Italian
texlive-lang-japanese - TeX Live: Japanese
texlive-lang-korean - TeX Live: Korean
texlive-lang-other - TeX Live: Other languages

That is not a complete list.
I dont see Dutch… but maybe Other European languages?

For an editor I use my favorite vi. I dont believe in special editors for every task.

Occasionally you will encounter a Latex doc that requires a special font. For example I have used the package fonts-inconsolata

Documentation?
I find CTAN unhelpful.
I usually google for examples or read the Lamport book.

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22

I was using something like this:

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

That seems to be right according to this source

I have no experience with unicode in Latex.

And a word of warning.. Latex is a huge topic. Start doing small things and learn in steps.

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23

Same as everywhere. Don’t take the second step before the first. :smile:

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24

So, I’ve seen three different tex distributions.

  • latex. Of this one I’m not sure what the advantage is.
  • luatex. This would allow the user to use lua inside a tex file. I don’t quite see the point of doing so, so I’m interested in hearing about a use for this (please… In plain English mere mortals can understand).
  • xetex, which supports unicode and truetype fonts right out of the box, which is good… But do I – a fiction writer – need truetype or opentype fonts with TeX?

I am visually impaired, so I like to make things a bit larger for the final pdf or epub, so I don’t need binoculars to read the document.

Xetex seems to be the most fitting for me… at least, according to what I could find.

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25

I was using TeX Live, app. 20 years ago, as it was available in my distro and was before in Windows as well. But nowadays I’m done with LaTeX, I no longer need it.

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26

I have only ever used Latex.
It would seem Xetex is setup for your Unicode, but does it have all the other things Latex has.

The other option is to stick with plain Latex and use @abu 's declaration to implement Unicode.

Why do you need to enter Unicode?

\newfont{cmd}{fontname}
defines a command that you use dynamically to set the current font.
Example
\newfont{\myfont}{Truetype} defines the command \myfont` which you can use anywhere except inside math to change the current font to Truetype.

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27

Today’s editors are supporting Unicode, and if you have to write in a language with umlauts (äöü) …

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28

Or the french accents, é è á. I might not know all of them; I’m not a french native.

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29

You need this book

latex1
latex1761×924 58.9 KB

It will walk you through all the Latex topics.
That is an old edition… have a look at Abebooks… there are secondhand ones available quite cheap.

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30

Available online:

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31

Oh, that is great. I might get the new edition myself.
@xahodo … you should start with that book.

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32

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I’ve found a Dutch book on LaTeX here.

I still believe a comparison of pdflatex, luatex, and xetex would be a good idea for itsfoss. Perhaps a description of all the various utilities added to the various latex distributions would be nice as well. This could really help the beginner.

I’m settling on xetex, as it has support for truetype fonts, of which I have a bunch installed.

EDIT: oh, I found out it’s almost 30 years old.

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33

That is the translator. You mean plain Latex.

I am not sure we have anyone who could do such a comparison.

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34

" LaTeX developers have announced that they no longer support new LaTeX functionalities on the XeTeX engine, and encourage users to migrate to LuaTeX, another Unicode-supporting engine.[3]"

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35

Drat. XeTeX had everything nice and automated. No worries about fonts, no worries about unicode input. Guess I’ll have to admit defeat then.

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36

There are a lot of excellent sites to get info on laTeX and questions asked and answered on sites dedicated to this system.

My usual Go-To for questions is https://tex.stackexchange.com/

Another good site is LaTeX - Wikibooks, open books for an open world - this site is updated constantly

And, of course, the Grand-daddy of all things TeX , the TUG - Tex Users Group website (you will have to do a search since I am limited to two links)

Personally, my primary Tex installation on Linux, Mac, and Windows systems is the Tex Live distribution itself instead of the various distros’ versions. You get everything available including all the documentation written for all the various modules and tutorials.

On my Linux distro (Fedora) I install the entire package on /usr/local/ and download nothing from the Fedora Repositories. If you’re comfortable with LaTex/TeX it’s the best way to get all the fonts and get regular updates of everything when it is released instead of waiting for the various distributions to update their separate packages, often months, or longer, behind fixes, etc. Just go to the Tex Users Group site, TUG, and click on the Tex Live Menu,

I hope this helps.

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37

I use Latex, but I have always taken the distro version.
I guess, because I use Void, which is rolling release, the distro version is up to date enough for me.

You can use a limited subset of Latex here in discourse.

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38

I’ve used latex in the past - painted it on to stage props for the theatre I was working at… Horrible stuff - to stop it setting it comes in buckets / tubs full of ammonia and it stinks!

I’m also allergic to latex - i.e. I’m not only lactose intolerant, but latex intolerant! :smiley: - i.e. it’s on my notes whenever I’m getting a procedure done at the hospital… it’s not life threatening - but it does severely irritate my skin and leave red marks where it’s been touching for like more than a minute or so…

I even wear gloves when I’m dealing with inner tubes…

I did not know that! I learned something new today! I’d heard of Latex as a typesetting “thing” - i.e. it was used in big printing shops before desktop publishing… I knew that “x” in Greek was for a hard “ch” sound… and it’s used for the greek number “chili” - i.e. we should really be using xilograms and xilometres :smiley:

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39

It is the Greek letter Chi
\chi
So Te \chi and Late \chi
are spelt with a Greek letter
hence the ch sound

The ‘La’ prefix comes from Leslie Lamport, the author of Late \chi

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40

I thought that’s what I wrote?

There’s a Greek rock (hard rock) band I’m fond of - they’ve actually toured Australia before - saw them in 2019 - they’re called 1000Mods - because they’re from a town on the Peloponnese called “Chilimod” (spelled with χ)…

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