1 Introduction: What is LaTEX?

LaTEX is a text-processing program supported by SIPB as an alternative to Scribe^{TM} which is supported by Athena. LaTEX is a more powerful and a more flexible program than Scribe^{TM}. Consequently, there are many advantages to using LaTEX over Scribe^{TM}. For example, LaTEX has a very powerful math typesetting facility, which makes mathematical documents easy to generate. It is also capable of generating documents in foreign languages complete with accents and non-English characters, such as the German ß character. At first glance LaTEX is not as straightforward as Scribe^{TM}. However, it is so much easier to write technical papers with LaTEX that is it well worth the effort to learn how to use it.

2 Getting Started

First of all, to use LaTEX you must be logged into a workstation. To get more information on using a workstation, see the Essential Workstation document available from Athena, and the Inessential Guide to Athena available in the SIPB office.

Second, you must have the SIPB file system attached. To do this, type attach sipb. This command makes LaTEX, as well as other SIPB programs, available to you. If you plan on using SIPB programs often, you might want to add the lines:

attach sipb
rehash

to the end of your .login.mine file, so that the programs will allways be available when you log in.

In addition, you must modify your PATH variable, which tells the system where to find programs that you use. To tell Unix to use the /usr/sipb programs in addition to the standard programs, add the following line in your .cshrc.mine or .cshrc file:

set path=(. $HOME/$bindir /usr/sipb/${hosttype}bin $path)

This will put SIPB programs in your path before standard Unix and Athena commands. The programs in the SIPB directories which have the same names as standard Athena programs are designed to be more useful than the standard Athena versions, and so we recommend putting the SIPB directory in your path before the Athena path. If you wish to use the Athena-supplied programs rather than the SIPB programs, put the /usr/sipb/${hosttype}bindir after the $athena_path in the lines above. To tell UNIX to use this new path you need to type the command source .cshrc.mine immediately after making the changes. The next time you login, it will happen automatically. For more information about the PATH variable refer to the Inessential Guide to Athena available in the SIPB office.