TeX and LaTeX
What is
TeX? TeX is a document formatting language
(and the program that processes it) written by
Donald Knuth for the professional preparation of
complex publications. It excells particularly at
formatting mathematical equations and for
managing two-dimensional presentations of data
(tabular and otherwise).
What is
LaTeX? LaTeX is a set of macros written by
Leslie Lamport as a "front-end" to TeX that makes
articles, reports, theses, dissertations, and
books easy to create and manage.
Issues with LaTeX and Fonts
Unfortunately, most installations of
LaTeX use bitmapped fonts instead of postscript
fonts. The difference is unnoticable for
printing; however, the resulting PDF files are
barely legible when viewed on screen. The figure
below illustrates the difference in quality when
viewing a PDF file at 100% of full size.
| figure 1. Relative Quality of Bitmapped and Postscript Fonts as viewed at 100% of screen size. |
 |
bitmapped fonts
(View as
PDF) |
postscript fonts
(View as
PDF) |
The problem gets worse the more you zoom out.
The figure below illustrates the difference in
quality when viewing a PDF file at 75% of full
size.
| figure 2. Relative Quality of Bitmapped and Postscript Fonts as viewed at 75% of screen size. |
 |
bitmapped fonts
(View as
PDF) |
postscript fonts
(View as
PDF) |
To avoid the problems caused by bitmapped
fonts, you must download the appropriate
postscript fonts and correctly configure your
installation of LaTeX before attempting to
generate a PDF file. There are a number of
variants of LaTeX, the procedure for installing
the correct fonts differs according to the
variant and version of LaTeX you are using. See the next section for more information.
Generating a PDF file from LaTeX
The procedure for generating a PDF file
differs according to the variant and version of
LaTeX you are using. The table below provides
links to helpful references for several of the
most common variants of LaTeX.
LaTeX
(Unix) |
Most installations of LaTeX for Unix are
pretty standard. You can find links to a
lot of resources at the home page of the
TeX User's Group, http://www.tug.org/.
You can find a general FAQ at http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq. This
document includes information on creating PDF from
LaTeX.
|
PCTeX
(Windows) |
PCTeX is a
commercially developed version of LaTeX for
Windows. The web site listed below offers a 30 free trial of their
software. Details on obtaining PCTeX can
be found at:
http://www.pctex.com/trial-versions.html/
You can find instructions for creating a PDF
file from PCTeX at:
http://www.pctex.com/pdf.htm
|
MikTeX
(Windows) |
MikTeX is
a more or less free version of LaTeX for
Windows. The documentation for MikTeX
includes information on installing additional
packages, including the postscript fonts
required to generate a usable PDF file. |
LaTeX Template for ETDs
This is an older LaTeX template for ETDs that
conforms to the Graduate School recommendations
for margins, running heads, and page numbers.
Save this file as "etd.tex", then try creating
PostScript and PDF versions of the example ETD.
You will be able to tell immediately if you need
to install the special fonts where dvips can find
them. Download the ETD LaTeX
Template
Please note that this template was written in 1997.
Portions of the code may not be compatable with later versions of LaTeX.
Free Postscript-to-PDF Service
The PS2PDF service is provided as a means for ETD authors without access
to Adobe Acrobat to create PDF files. This service has been provided by Adobe to introduce
users to their products. It requires login to their server and allows 5 free PDF conversions.
If you are unfamiliar with the process of creating a PDF file using this service,
be assured that Adobe provides clear instructions and support if you are experiencing problems.
If you have already created your postscript file and would like to convert it now,
please visit:
http://createpdf.adobe.com/index.pl
|
