Andrei Iacob

I just started to write my BSc degree thesis (I should have finished the first chapter for review last Monday, yes, I know I’m in trouble) and like I said, I’m writing it in LaTeX. The last time I wrote a document using LaTeX was for the Process Algebra and Concurrent Calculus course last semester (it was an article about web service orchestration description in WebPI Calculus - maybe I’ll write about it in the future) I used WinEdit as the editor. It was fine, but.. I don’t know.. It didn’t have “the right stuff” for me.

So, this year, I did whatever programmer does when he wants to write something in certain language or on in a certain technology. He searches for an Eclipse plugin. And I found it here (It would of been really funny not finding it, after all, Eclipse has a plugin for Gmail and Rss). Afterwards, I said.. well.. if I’m working in Eclipse, I mind as well use source-control. But I don’t have a remote location where I can put my repository. Or maybe I do… there are lots of free subversion hosting services for open-source projects. It’s a little unethical, but read the disclaimer. So this solves the “OMG, a power outage busted my hard-drive and I have to rewrite the whole damn thesis again” problem. Not to mention the huge UNDO button that source-control gives you.

I’ll start describing the necessary steps for configuring the workspace..

1. Installing MikTex.

• Download from here: http://miktex.org/2.7/Setup.aspx (yes, by the time I’m writing this, It’s in Beta, but we’re early adopters, aren’t we?)
• Double click de installer, next next next, etc..

2. Assembla

• This is for the subversion hosting, so all you have to do is to make an account.
• Assembla also provides collaborative facilities, etc.
• In the preferences, add the subversion facility and if you are a little of a paranoid (or you’ve just discovered a killer compression algorithm), you can make it private.
• You get a url for the subversion, kind of like tools.assembla.com/svn/x, where x is the name of your project. Keep this in mind for later.

3. Install SubCwlipse

• If you don’t have Eclipse, that’s too bad.
• If you do, go to http://subclipse.tigris.org/install.html
• For me It didn’t go that way. I downloaded the zips and installed it manually.

4. Install TexLipse

• Same as the above.
• Go to http://texlipse.sourceforge.net/manual/installation.html
• You’re going to get something like:

5. Configure TexLipse

• Go to Window -> Preferences -> TexLipse -> Builder Settings
• Before:

• After:

• Go to Viewer Settings
• After:

6. Configure SubClipse

• Go to Window -> Show view -> Other -> SVN -> SVN Repository
• Right Click on the Repository -> New -> Repository Location
• Enter the url from Assembla.
• You will be asked for the account and password.

And you’re on your way…

You can find tutorials on LaTeX or Subversion using a search engine.

Happy coding.. uh.. writing.