[Tex/LaTex] a good LaTeX compiler for Windows

distributionswindows

I've googled around, and I haven't found a definitive compiler for latex (.tex files) on Windows. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Best Answer

You're looking for a TeX distribution. See e.g. TeXLive or MiKTeX.

(Recommended) The XeLaTeX/LuaLaTeX way with polyglossia

You'll need a Tamil font installed on your operating system; I used Noto Serif Tamil and Noto Sans Tamil as example below.

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage{tamil}
\setotherlanguage{english} %% OPTIONAL if you have some English text in your book

 %% Select fonts for Tamil
\newfontfamily\tamilfont[Script=Tamil]{Noto Serif Tamil}
\newfontfamily\tamilfontsf[Script=Tamil]{Noto Sans Tamil}

%% OPTIONAL; Select fonts for English
\setmainfont{Times New Roman}
\setsansfont{Arial}

Then compile the document with xelatex or lualatex.

The pdfLaTeX way with the itrans package

Typesetting Tamil is possible with the itrans pakcage, but it's not packaged properly in MikTeX. You will need to install it manually. Download itrans53-win32.zip from CTAN. After unzipping the contents (say C:\itrans53\), assuming <texmf> being your local TEXMF tree,

Move the contents of the lib folder into <texmf>\tex\latex\itrans
Move the contents of the fonts folder into the appropriate locations, i.e.
- *.mf in <texmf>\fonts\source\itrans
- *.afm in <texmf>\fonts\afm\itrans
- *.tfm in <texmf>\fonts\tfm\itrans
- *.pfb, *.pfa, *.pfm in <texmf>\fonts\type1\itrans
- *.ttf in <texmf>\fonts\truetype\itrans
Refresh the file name database (e.g. via MikTeX Options/Settings)

Then try out the minimal example I gave in my answer to this related question. You would need to evoke itrans.exe in the itrans53\bin folder. (However I'm not sure if it works in 64-bit Windows.)

Best Answer

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(Recommended) The XeLaTeX/LuaLaTeX way with polyglossia

The pdfLaTeX way with the itrans package

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