Getting upto speed with Latex

(This is a blog I wrote about two year ago, when I was using bloglines. But recently I followed it thought I should put here too).

If you are thinking of writing a paper or academic paper, latex will be one of the great tools to use.
These days, I am using it for couple of reports and thought of writing down the things I did, for some one to get upto speed with Latex soon. For me it took some time for me to get all things working, but I hope following instructions will help you to be familiar with latex within about 30 minutes.

Step 1
Obviously you need to install Latex in your system. I am using Ubuntu edgy and it doesn't come with Latex pre-installed. So its is the time to install it. (If you have different OS, you might wanna look at this)

sudo apt-get install tetex-base tetex-bin tetex-extra

Step 2
You can write latex without an editor or you can use a basic tool like emacs. BUT ... I am not that expert so I got a very good eclipse plugin for latex. TeXlipse is a very good eclipse plugin which has syntax highlighting/prediction, generating docs, links to frequently used symbols, etc.,
You can install it using Eclipse "Software Updates". Follow the comprehensive installation instructions here.
There are couple of configs you need to do after that, especially to give paths to latex. Some times the TeXlips installation automatically pick them for you.
Having installed the plugin, try creating a sample project following these instructions.

Step 3
Now it is the time to dig in to latex. You might wanna start following the very basic tutorial from wikipaedia and then follow this.
There are lots and lots of guides for more information on latex, on the web.

You are done !! This is a great tool, especially when you are dealing with references and maths symbols.

Update : My friend Ajith has something to add in to this, which I think will be a good suggestion to this. Thanks Ajith.

"There is a tool called texmaker (both for windows and linux) and as for Ubuntu linux can be installed easily through synaptic/aptget , just search for texmaker and it should be there."