How can I use LaTeX on the CATS machines?




First, create your file--say labreport.tex. Next you run latex, which is in /usr/athena/bin. You may need to add public and graphics to your environment (type 
 bind_locker graphics
to add the graphics locker, for instance). Now it is time to run latex. Typing 
latex labreport
would get you started. If you are lucky, this makes a labreport.dvi file; if you aren't lucky, you have to deal with latex error messages, which is not a lot of fun (note that it gives you the line number of the line that it barfed on). To get that to postscript, run dvips. Typing 
dvips -o labreport.ps labreport
should get you a labreport.ps file. You can check that your postscript file is in good shape by running ghostscript. Typing 
ghostview labreport.ps
should give you results to tell you if you successfully made a readable postscript file. If you did, you can mail that file to your TA.

Let me know what I forgot and I will add to this documentation.

larrabee@cse.ucsc.edu