Update on Kile and Texmaker (and some TeXworks)

Alright, well I tried running Texmaker on my old laptop last night and was having trouble, probably due to my laptop.  Anyways I keep getting drawn back to Kile, so I think I will move between both.  I will probably stay on Kile when on Ubuntu and use Texmaker when I have to use Windows.

So one feature about Kile I really like, is its find and replace abilities.  I didn't really like TeXworks or Winedt's find features.  TeXworks is ok, but Kile's is quite nice, and IMO, blows the others out of the water.

Kile's find feature:

Well I just found out with a quick test that Texmaker's is just as good.  Both Kile and Texmaker make it seamless to quickly find words with an on the fly popup menu while TeXworks and Winedt made it painful where you had to keep hitting crtl+f!

Texmaker's find feature:

Ok, just got burned.  I just tested TeXworks again for a screenshot, and I noticed that there is an option for "Find all places" or something like that.  It also has a dropmenu for previous searches.  So TeXworks seems to be maybe just a notch under Kile and Texmaker.  I also imagine that Winedt has a similar feature that I missed too.

 So as of right now, to me, Kile and Texmaker seem to be the best LaTeX editors for Ubuntu/Linux where Texmaker is cross-platform so I would use it for Windows.  They both have a few better features than the others, but otherwise are pretty equal.

More on LaTeX editors: TeXworks, Texmaker, Kile, GEdit-LaTeX, Vim-LaTeX, TEA Text Editor, LaTeXila, and Winefish

Whelp, here I am again, debating on what LaTeX editor to use, :P.  I think I am going to try Texmaker out again.  The reason I am switching is that (not sure if was TeXworks itself, but I was using it so I am going to blame it, :P) I opened chapter 2 of my thesis and got a bunch of junk!  I don't know wth happened, but it looked like it had become corrupted.  It looked as if a log file was saved instead of my work.  Luckily, most LaTeX editors have backups of everything.  However, the latest backup TeXworks had wasn't the latest I know I had completed and saved!!  Luckily, I hadn't done much to the chapter so it will be easily fixed.

Thus, I am irritated with TeXworks so I am going to try Texmaker again.  The reason why I am trying Texmaker and not Kile is the fact that Texmaker is cross-platform.  A few things I have noticed since using Texmaker again.  One, is that I think my issue with the syntax coloring has partly to do with the type of font.  So I am going to experiment with fonts to see how they please my eyes.  However, Texmaker does not let you preview fonts like Kile, a con.

Here are some pics on Texmaker's font and syntax coloring and Kile's syntax coloring.

Another small thing that I don't like about Texmaker as compared to Kile and TeXworks is that in Texmaker you have to open up files one by one.  You cannot select more than one file at a time while in Kile and others like TeXworks you can.

Also, when scrolling through the tabs in TeXmaker, you cannot scroll through the last tab into the first again for a cycle while in Kile you can.  Heh, I may be switching to Kile again!  Oh well, a learning process

A few more editors to possibly try are Linux/Ubuntu's GEdit (text editor).  It has a LaTeX plug-in.  There is also a similar software/program/text editor to Emacs called Vi/Vim which stands for Vi Improved.  A few more in Ubuntu's software repositories are TEA Text Editor, LaTeXila, and Winefish.

One note about Vim and Emacs is that they are designed for optimizing keyboard use.  They maximize time spent using the keyboard with tons of shortcut commands.

http://projects.gnome.org/gedit/

http://www.vim.org/

http://vim-latex.sourceforge.net/

http://winefish.berlios.de/

http://tea-editor.sourceforge.net/

http://latexila.sourceforge.net/

A few discussions I found through Google over LaTeX editors.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=793738

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1235043/what-latex-editor-do-you-suggest-for-linux

http://www.latex-community.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=9151

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=486126

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/gummi-simple-latex-editor-written-in-pythongtk.html

http://www.ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1559670

http://askubuntu.com/questions/501/whats-the-easiest-way-to-get-started-with-latex

Best editor for Debian. - http://www.latex-community.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9033&start=0

Here is a great in-depth blog post that reviews some LaTeX editors.  Has some cool animated pictures!!

http://www.charlietanksley.net/philtex/editors/

Linux/Ubuntu Directory Structure

I thought this was interesting and helpful so I decided to repost it.  It is from 2006, but I think it is still valid.

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/linux-or-ubuntu-directory-structure.html

In the Linux operating system, all filesystems are contained within one directory hierarchy. The root directory is the top level directory, and all its subdirectories make up the directory hierarchy. This differs to other operating systems such as MS-Windows which applies a separate hierarchy for each device and partition.

/bin - binary applications (most of your executable files)

/boot - files required to boot (such as the kernel, etc)

/dev - your devices (everything from drives to displays)

/etc - just about every configuration file for your system

/etc/profile.d - contains scripts that are run by /etc/profile upon login.

/etc/rc.d - contains a number of shell scripts that are run on bootup at different run levels. There is also typically an rc.inet1 script to set up networking (in Slackwar), an rc.modules script to load modular device drivers, and an rc.local script that can be edited to run commands desired by the administrator, along the lines of autoexec.bat in DOS.

/etc/rc.d/init.d - contains most of the initialization scripts themselves on an rpm-based system.

/etc/rc.d/rc*.d - where “*” is a number corresponding to the default run level. Contains files for services to be started and stopped at that run level. On rpm-based systems, these files are symbolic links to the initialization scripts themselves, which are in /etc/rc.d/init.d.

/etc/skel - directory containing several example or skeleton initialization shells. Often contains subdirectories and files used to populate a new user’s home directory.

/etc/X11 - configuration files for the X Window system

/home - locally stored user files and folders

/lib - system libraries (similar to Program Files)

/lost+found - lost and found for lost files

/media - mounted (or loaded) devices such as cdroms, digital cameras, etc.

/mnt - mounted file systems

/opt - location for “optionally” installed programs

/proc - dynamic directory including information about and listing of processes

/root - “home” folder for the root user

/sbin - system-only binaries (see /bin)

/sys - contains information about the system

/tmp - temporary files

/usr - applications mainly for regular users

/var - mainly logs, databases, etc.

/usr/local/bin - the place to put your own programs. They will not be overwritten with upgrades.

/usr/share/doc - documentation.

Finding the .config folder in Ubuntu

The ~/.config folder can be found in your homefolder and will be named what ever you called it (I guess the login name).  Mine for example is timbarber/.config since that is my login name.  You will also have to click on "Show Hidden Files" under the View menu.  It took me awhile to find this with Google so that is why I am posting it!  Also, it is needed to find the ~/.config/inkscape/extensions folder to deposit the two Tex Text files.

More on TeXworks

A few things I have noticed about TeXworks since I have started using it. One, you cannot tab your files together as in Kile and Texmaker. This can be a little annoying if you have several files to work with and end up with a bunch of open windows on your OS system bar. This doesn't bother me enough to switch back at the moment. Second, there are no keyboard shortcuts that I am aware of for quick typing such as a math environment (such as, I think it is crtl+atl m for Kile and ctrl+shft m for Texmaker, I may have those backwards). Kile also does offer the nice amenity of auto-completion of words and environments (not sure if Texmaker had this or not, I think it auto-completes environments). Finally, it seems that in TeXworks when an error appears, you correct it, and try to re-run the file, TeXworks gets "stuck" so you have to clear the auxiliary files (such as .toc, .aux, etc.). Not a big deal, but I originally though you had to clear by hand, but luckily TeXworks has a command under the File menu to do this. A little annoying since it erases the memory of the bibliography and cross-references so you might have to run pdflatex two or three times.

I googled something like "keyboard shorcuts for math environment in TeXworks" and found a log/forum of some people asking for this to be implemented in TeXworks. Looks like a patch is here and could work. I haven't tried it yet. Have at it:

http://code.google.com/p/texworks/issues/detail?id=17

LaTeX - TeXworks, Kile, Texmaker, and others such as GNU Emacs & AUCTeX, LyX, and GNU TeXmacs

I am still experimenting with several LaTeX software and editors.  So far I have tried Texmaker and Kile extensively.  They are both pretty good, but not the best.  One thing I don't like with either is the syntax coloring (it may have better color available, but I haven't found it yet; I think there is an option to change colors, but I am not sure how much it improves with Kile or Texmaker).  To me it is harder to read the less colorful syntax highlighting of Kile and Texmaker.  However, Kile is a little better syntax coloring-wise than Texmaker, and Kile also has a few better features (it's been awhile since I have used Texmaker so I don't remember the differences, I just like the layout of Kile better than Texmaker).

However, I have recently tried TeXworks, and so far it is much more simple than Texmaker or Kile.  TeXworks seems to have much better syntax coloring, and it is an easy option to find and turn on or off.  It also recently helped me catch an error that TeXworks nor Kile could catch.  TeXworks it also cross platform so it works for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  This is especially helpful since I just had to use a Windows machine and use Winedt (as a frontend and MikTeX as the TeX compiler), which has only a free-trial for 30 days that I just found out about.

One good thing about Kile and Texmaker is that they will restore an old session so you don't have to re-open everything like you do in TeXworks.  Texmaker has an "Restore Previous Session" selection under the File menu.  However, only after you have opened up files before and closed Texmaker without closing the files.  Kile does the same except it does it automatically when the program is opened.

Anyways, TeXworks (as a frontend and TeXlive as the compiler) is what I am going to be trying out for now.  Really, Texmaker and Kile are not bad at all.  It is just more of a personal preference for cross platform and aesthetics.

I have also been attempting to use Emacs and AUCTeX or GNU TeXmacs editor.  Right now, Emacs is a little scary looking (not enough GUI for me), and GNU TeXmacs seems to be a LaTeX frontend similar to LyX.  I will try to update more on these later as from what I hear learning Emacs can be quite powerful.

Shots of TeXworks (click to enlarge a bit):

Shots of Kile and Okular:

Shots of Texmaker:

Link to AUCTeX documentation: http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/manual/auctex.pdf

Link to TeXworks documentation: http://ftp.ctex.org/pub/tex/tools/editors/TeXworks/manual.pdf

Link to GNU Emacs: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/

Link to GNU TeXmacs: http://www.texmacs.org/

Link to LyX: http://www.lyx.org/

Link to Texmaker: http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/

Link to TeXworks: http://www.tug.org/texworks/

Link to Kile: http://kile.sourceforge.net/