LaTeX in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

I like to create PDF documents with LaTeX. Hence I was looking for a neat LaTeX environment for Ubuntu and I have decided to try the gedit LaTeX Plugin. In this post, I will describe how to install, configure, and use this plugin for the gedit text editor.

1. Install the gedit LaTeX Plugin via the Ubuntu Software Center. Type gedit-latex-plugin in the input box and click Install.

2. Open the gedit text editor. Type Text in the main menu and choose the first item.

3. Activate the plugin. Click Edit > Preference > Plugins and check Latex Plugin 0.2.

4. Save the document with a .tex extension and select the master document. Click Save and choose a location and file name, e.g. ~/test.tex. Then you will be prompt to select a master document, choose the file you have just created.

5. Enter some LaTeX code. You can use the following example:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
    \title{Hello World}
    \author{John Natty}
    \maketitle
    This is a test sentence.
\end{document}

6. Compile the PDF document. Click the arrow on the right side of the LaTeX toolbar and choose LaTeX → PDF.

7. Congratulations! You have just created a PDF document using LaTeX in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal.

Please feel free to leave a comment or question.