Re: LaTeX

[ciccio <ciccio@arrakis.es>]

J.Olwoch@reading.ac.uk  says:
>I cannot get LaTeX to work. When I try to LaTeX a file, the following
>message comes up:
>
>This is TeX, Version 3.1415 (C version 6.1)
>I can't find the default format file!

A format file is a binary version of a TeX-macro collection. First of all you
should get the macros themself: Hookup to the net and then type
ncftp ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/base.tar.gz
This works because those FTP-servers pack and compress directory trees.
Maybe you'll also want
ncftp ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/packages.tar.gz
Unpack the base and check out the install instructions for your installation.
Normally it should just consist in running initex on unpack.ins and then on
latex.ltx (or at least something real similar). You'll have to move the some
system files to a place where TeX can find them. Just read the instruction.

HTH

ciccio