[Tex/LaTex] Configure TexStudio for first use

installingmiktextexstudio

I am trying to configure TexStudio for first use. If it makes any difference I downloaded Protex onto a machine running Windows-XP.

Under Options Configure TexStudio on the left I click Commands when I have the following:
DVI Viewer – the path includes a folder that does not exist, but it points to a file I do have (yap.exe) so I am assuming I can just change the path so that it leads to where the file actually is. Alternatively, does it make more sense to change my directory tree so that the file is where the path says it should be?

PS Viewer – the path includes a folder that doesn't exist, and leads to a file I do not have (gsview32.exe).

Ghostscript – the path includes a folder that doesn't exist leading to a file I do not have (gswin32.exe)

Additionally, in MiKTex Maintenance Settings on the Roots tab, I notice there is nothing under Path which suggests to me that even if I got TexStudio working MikTex would not know where the files are.

Is anyone able to advise how I should proceed from here?

Best Answer

  1. It's perfectly fine to change the path in the TeXstudio options. That's what they are for.

  2. GhostView / GhostScript are two external programs for viewing and converting PostScript. You only need them if you use a TeX -> PS or TeX -> PS -> PDF workflow (i.e. using latex). This is rarely used nowadays and you would know if you have that special requirement. If you don't know about this and only want to create PDF as output pdflatex is most certainly the way to go. Then you can ignore GhostView and GhostScript.

  3. By default, MikTeX doesn't put it's bin folder on the PATH. This means you have to specify the full path to the commands in Òptions -> Commands`. Alternatively, you may put the bin folder on the PATH yourself. Then the command name is sufficient. Note: This is also handy when you want to run some tools from the command line.

  4. You can test, if TXS finds pdflatex by going to Options -> Check LaTeX Installation. At the top of the System Report there should be something like this:

    where pdflatex: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\pdflatex.exe
    
    PDFLATEX: pdflatex -version
    MiKTeX-pdfTeX 2.9.4487 (1.40.12) (MiKTeX 2.9)
    Copyright (C) 1982 D. E. Knuth, (C) 1996-2006 Han The Thanh
    TeX is a trademark of the American Mathematical Society.
    
  5. MikTeX Settings -> Roots tab: It is empty by default if the checkbox "Show MiKTeX-maintained root directories" is not checked.