MiKTeX Readme File

Revision 1.20a

April 1999

Christian Schenk <cschenk@snafu.de>


Table of Contents


What is it

MiKTeX is a free TeX distribution for Windows (9x/NT).

What should you download?

The MiKTeX distribution consists of the MiKTeX Setup Wizard (setupwiz.exe) and accompanying Zip files. Download the components (Zip files), that you want to install. Download all components, if you intend to redistribute MiKTeX.

msdll.zip
Various dynamic link libraries by Microsoft. It's highly recommended that you download this Zip file.
lcore.zip
The MiKTeX core distribution: shared libraries.
xcore.zip
The MiKTeX core distribution: executable files.
core.zip
The MiKTeX core distribution: non-executable files.
latex.zip
The LaTeX core distribution & Babel. You should download this Zip file if you intend to use LaTeX and/or Babel.
latexpkg.zip
Standard LaTeX packages. You should download this Zip file if you intend to use LaTeX.
urw.zip
URW PostScript fonts. You should download this Zip file if you intend to use Yap and standard PostScript fonts.
amslatex.zip
This component includes the AMS-LaTeX package and the AMS fonts. You should download this Zip file if you intend to typeset mathematics.
cmps.zip
Computer Modern fonts in Type1 format. You should download this Zip file if you intend to use pdfTeX and/or Dvipdfm.
amsps.zip
AMS fonts in Type1 format. You should download this Zip file if you intend to use pdfTeX and/or Dvipdfm and if you typeset mathematics.
latexger.zip
This component includes the `german' LaTeX package. You should download this Zip file if you write in german.
ecfonts.zip
This component includes the European Computer Modern Fonts and Text Companion Fonts. You should download this Zip file if you write in an european language.
dvipdfm.zip
This component includes Dvipdfm. This utility converts DVI files into PDF files. You should download the Zip file if you want to create PDF documents.
metapost.zip
This component includes the MetaPost application. MetaPost is a graphics language based on METAFONT, but with PostScript output.
lhfonts.zip
This component include the LH fonts in various encodings. You should download this Zip file if you want to typeset cyrillic texts.
psutils.zip
Utilities for manipulating PostScript documents. Some of these utilities require Perl.
tth.zip
This component includes TtT. TtH is a TeX to HTML translator.
pdftex.zip
This component includes pdfTeX. pdfTeX can be used to convert TeX documents into PDF documents.
etex.zip
This component includes e-TeX. e-TeX is a feature-enhanced version of TeX.
texinfo.zip
This component includes the programs Makeinfo, Makertf and Texindex.
eplain.zip
Extended Plain TeX macros.
xomega.zip
The Omega executables. Omega is a unicode-enhanced version of TeX.
omega.zip
The Omega input files.

For every Zip file you will find a .lst file which shows the Zip file's contents.

The download directory contains an index HTML page (index.html), which contains shortcuts to all downloadable files.

Installation Instructions

  1. If you still have MiKTeX 1.11 installed on you computer, then you should use the uninstall option of MiKTeX 1.11.
  2. Make sure that you have enough disk space. A complete MiKTeX installation consumes approximately 40MB of disk space.
  3. It is highly recommended that you login as Administrator, if you're installing MiKTeX on a Windows NT computer.
  4. Choose a location for the installation directory, say c:\texmf. This directory receives the files of the MiKTeX distribution.
  5. You can cause MiKTeX to deposit newly created files (fonts, memory dumps, filename databases) in a separate directory tree. This directory tree is called the Local TEXMF Tree. If you decide to create such a tree, then you must choose a name for its root directory, say c:\localtexmf. Benefits that a local tree provides include the following:
  6. Decide whether you want to incorporate a preexisting TEXMF tree. For example, if you have a TeXLive CD in CDROM drive e:, then it is possible to include e:\texmf in the MiKTeX search path.
  7. Start the MiKTeX Setup Wizard (setupwiz.exe).
    1. When prompted for the installation directory, enter the name chosen in step 4.
    2. When prompted for the local TEXMF directory, enter the name chosen in step 5 or check the button `No local TEXMF tree', if you don't need a local tree.
    3. When prompted for the list of additional TEXMF root directories, enter a semicolon-separated list of preexisting TEXMF root directories. Check the button `No preexisting TEXMF directory trees', if you just want to use the TEXMF tree that comes with MiKTeX.

The Setup Wizard does not change the PATH variable, i.e. you have to add something like

set PATH=%PATH%;c:\texmf\miktex\bin

to your autoexec.bat.

Configuring dvips

Dvips is configured as follows:

If these settings are not suitable for your site, then you have to edit the Dvips configuration file CONFIG.PS. You will find this file in the directory DVIPS\CONFIG relative to the TEXMF root directory. See the Local Guide for more information.

Where are the docs?

The Local Guide is available in a variety of formats:

  1. As a DVI document viewable/printable with YAP:
    c:\texmf\doc\miktex\miktex.dvi
    
  2. As a Windows Help file:
    c:\texmf\doc\miktex\miktex.hlp
    
  3. As an HTML document:
    c:\texmf\doc\miktex\miktex.html
    
  4. As a PDF file viewable with Acrobat Reader:
    c:\texmf\doc\miktex\miktex.pdf
    

For up-to-date information, visit the MiKTeX Project Page (see below).

Mailing Lists

miktex@dsts.dk

There is a discussion list for MiKTeX. To join the list, send an email to miktex-request@dsts.dk which contains the word `subscribe' as the first line in the message body.

MiKTeX Project Page

Latest news are available on the MiKTeX Project Page:

http://www.snafu.de/~cschenk/miktex

Copying

As far as I know, all programs in the MiKTeX distribution are freely redistributable for non-commercial purposes, i.e. the whole MiKTeX distribution is freely redistributable for non-commercial purposes. See the respective source files for details.

The MiKTeX distribution comes with absolutely no warranty of any kind.


This document was generated on 13 April 1999 using texi2html 1.56k.