Do you need to write your first thesis paper or do you want your publication published in a famous journal?

So LaTeX is for you. LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting based on Donald E. Knuth’s TeX typesetting language or certain extensions. It is most often used for medium-to-large technical or scientific documents but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.

Well, definitely *NIX systems have built-in latex support, but in windows you need to set it up for yourself. As few monthes ago I have started writting my first thesis paper using latex and for some reason I have used windows system, I need to setup latex environment in windows. Definitely a annoying, time consuming task, So I have decided to share it

I am going to describe it step by step, please follow these steps as described, its important. I am assuming you have Windows XP or later versions and you have administrative privilege.

Step 1:: Setting Up Environment

• Right-click on the “My computer” icon and choose Properties. Select the “Advanced” tab.Then click on “Environment Variables”.
• Create a “user variable” called “DICTDIR” with value “c:\usr\local\lib“. [ To create a new user variable, just hit "New" under "User variables for <System User Name> or to edit an existing one just hit Edit ]
• Create a “user variable” called “HOME” with value “c:\“
• Create a “System variable” under “System variables” called “Path” with the value c:\program files\emacs\bin;c:\program files\MiKTeX 2.7\miktex\bin;c:\program files\ghostgum\ghostview\gsview\;c:\usr\local\bin;c:\program files\ghostgum\gs\gs8.51\lib;c:\program files\ghostgum\gs\gs8.51\bin [There is a huge possibility that this variable is already there. In that case, just append the value]
• A restart of your system may be required.
• Run command prompt and type “set” to check if all these variables with their required values are set.

Step 2:: Required Software

• Download latest version of Emacsfrom here. Direct link: emacs-22.3-bin-i386.zip
• Download latest version of MikTeXfrom here. Direct link: basic-miktex-2.7.3164.exe
• Download latest version of Ghostscript from here. Direct link: gs863w32.exe
• Download latest version of GSview from here. Direct link: gsv49w32.exe
• Download latest version of AUCTeX from here. Direct link: auctex-11.85-e22.3-msw.zip
• Download .emacs from here

Step 3::Installation

• Put the .emacs file [you will get it after unzipping emacs.zip file] in C: [or your predefined HOME]
• As Local TexMF Tree, create a directory named “Local TeX Files” in C: [or your predefined HOME]
• Unzip emacs-22.3-bin-i386.zip to c:\program files\ . Rename the c:\program files\emacs-22.3 directory to c:\program files\emac. Run the file c:\program files\emacs\bin\addpm.exe.
• Unzip auctex-11.85-e22.3-msw.zip to c:\program files\emacs\site-lisp.  Rename c:\program files\emacs\site-lisp\auctex-11.85-e22 to c:\program files\emacs\site-lisp\auctex.
• Run gs863w32.exe. Choose c:\program files\ghostgum\gs as installation directory. Accept everything else.
• Run gsv49w32.exe. Choose c:\program files\ghostgum\ghostview as installation directory. Accept everything else.
• Run basic-miktex-2.7.3164.exe. When prompted for “Path to installation folder”, choose c:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7. When prompted for “Create local TEXMF tree”, choose c:\Local TeX Files as “Path to root folder”. Accept everything else.

Step 4:: Opening Emacs in Latex Mode

• Type M-x latex-mode. As soon as you hit “Enter” after writing the command, you will notice “Command” and “LaTeX” menus.

Step 5:: Compiling Latex Files in Emacs

• Press C-c C-c <Return> to run latex.
• Press C-c C-l to view results of the compilation
• Press C-c C-c <Return> to run latex again
• Press C-c C-c <Return> to run latex again, again
• Press C-c C-c <Return> to run View. It will take a while to create fonts etc. the first time.
• Press C-c C-c FILE <Return> <Return> to run dvips (Note that the command is FILE and not Dvips as one might expect)
• Press C-c C-c Print <Return> <Return> to run GSview (Also somewhat misleading name)
• If you want to print the document, do it from GSview.

A million dollar secret, when you asked to do the following, use your brain

• C-c C-c = Hold CTRL while pressing c twice
• C-c C-l = Hold CTRL while pressing c, release c, While holding CTRL, press l (“ell”), release both
• M-x = Hold ALT while pressing x

And last but not the least, download Basic Latex Commands. This pdf file will help you to learn basic latex commands.

So start writting your thesis

• After downlaoding an ISO from any source, you must validate the SH1SUM or MD5SUM which one is required in your case to verify the security and integrity of your ISO.
• You can manually mount the ISO image to check its content when you are in Linux using the code

  su -c 'mount -o loop -t iso9660 <isofilename> <mountpoint>

• You can use VMware Player to boot your ISO image, even you can install it as a virtual OS in Linux. With this free software, you can not only verify the image but you can also test the installation without changing your current installation of Linux. Download it from here.

Some useful links about the topic:

• http://fedoraproject.org/en/verify
• http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-from-usb-stick.html
• http://en.opensuse.org/Download_Help

So after a long time, Fedora 9 (Sulphur) has been released. The version includes some must need features.

Here is the list..