<div>Thank you to the several that have commented and offered suggestions. Below is a sample of unedited text that I am playing with.<br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-left: 40px">\documentclass{minimal}</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px"><br></div><div style="margin-left: 40px">\usepackage{fontspec}</div><div style="margin-left: 40px"><br></div><div style="margin-left: 40px">\setmainfont[Script=Lao]{Saysettha MX}</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">
\begin{document}</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">1. ພະຜູ້ເປັນເຈົ້າເປັນຜູ້ລຽງຂ້າພະອົງຂ້າພະອົງມີທຸກສິ່ງທີ່ຕ້ອງການ. 2. ພະອົງໃຫ້ພັກເຊົາຢູ່ໃນທົ່ງຫຍ້າອັນຂຽວສົດເເລະນໍາໄປຍັງບໍ່ນໍ້າອັນສົດໃສເເລະມິດງຽບ. 3. ພະອົງໃຫ້ຂ້າພະອົງມີເເຮງຂື້ນໃໝ່ທັງນໍາສູ່ທາງອັນຖືກຕ້ອງຕາມທີ່ໄດ້ສັນຍາ.4. ເຖິງວ່າຜ່ານຮ່ອມອັນມືດໜາພະຜູ້ເປັນເຈົ້າຂ້າ ຂ້າພະອົງກໍຈະບໍ່ຢ້ານກົວເພາະພະອົງຢູ່ດ້ວຍ. ໄມ້ຄ້ອນເເລະໄມ້ເທົ້າຂອງພະອົງກໍປົກປ້ອງຮັກສາຂ້າພະອົງໃຫ້ພົ້ນ. 5. ພະອົງຈັດງານລ້ຽງໃຫຍ່ສໍາລັບຂ້າພະອົງບ່ອນທີ່ສັດຕູທັງໝົດເຫັນຂ້າພະອົງໄດ້; ພະອົງຕ້ອນຮັບຂ້າພະອົງດັ່ງເເຂກຜູ້ສໍາຄັນເເລະຈອກຂ້າພະອົງກໍລົ້ນໄຫລຢູ່. 6. ພະຄຸນຄວາມດີກັບຄວາມຮັກອັນຍິ່ງໃຫຍ່ຈະປະດັບຂ້າພະອົງໄວ້ສືບໄປເເທ້ເເຫລ້ວ! ພະວິຫານກໍຈະເປັນເຮືອນຂອງຂ້າພະອົງຈະຢູ່ທີ່ນັ້ນຕາບເທົ່າສີ້ນຊີວີ.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">\end{document}</div><div><br></div><div>I am working on a mac at the moment (but will use linux when I get back to the office next week).<br></div><div>After typing</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">
pdflatex filename.tex </div><div>I receive the following information followed by an error message</div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-left: 40px">This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.10 (TeX Live 2009)</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">
entering extended mode</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">(./laotexmac.tex</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">LaTeX2e <2009/09/24></div><div style="margin-left: 40px">Babel <v3.8l> and hyphenation patterns for english, usenglishmax, dumylang, noh</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">yphenation, german-x-2009-06-19, ngerman-x-2009-06-19, ancientgreek, ibycus, ar</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">abic, basque, bulgarian, catalan, pinyin, coptic, croatian, czech, danish, dutc</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">h, esperanto, estonian, farsi, finnish, french, galician, german, ngerman, mono</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">greek, greek, hungarian, icelandic, indonesian, interlingua, irish, italian, ku</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">rmanji, latin, latvian, lithuanian, mongolian, mongolian2a, bokmal, nynorsk, po</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">lish, portuguese, romanian, russian, sanskrit, serbian, slovak, slovenian, span</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">ish, swedish, turkish, ukenglish, ukrainian, uppersorbian, welsh, loaded.</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">(/usr/local/texlive/2009/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/minimal.cls</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">
Document Class: minimal 2001/05/25 Standard LaTeX minimal class</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">) (/usr/local/texlive/2009/texmf-dist/tex/xelatex/fontspec/fontspec.sty</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">(/usr/local/texlive/2009/texmf-dist/tex/generic/ifxetex/ifxetex.sty)</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">! </div><div style="margin-left: 40px"> ********************************************</div><div style="margin-left: 40px"> * XeTeX is required to compile this document.</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">
* Sorry!</div><div style="margin-left: 40px"> ********************************************.</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">\RequireXeTeX ...********************************}</div><div style="margin-left: 40px"> \endgroup \fi </div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px">l.18 \RequireXeTeX</div></div></div><div style="margin-left: 0px"><br></div><div style="margin-left: 0px">I tried adding \RequireXeTeX and got the following error</div><div style="margin-left: 40px">
<div><br>! Undefined control sequence.<br><recently read> \RequireXeTeX <br> <br>l.2 \RequireXeTeX<br></div></div><div><br></div><div style="margin-left: 0px">Thank you,</div><div style="margin-left: 0px">
<br></div><div style="margin-left: 0px">Brian Wilson</div><div style="margin-left: 0px">Asia-Pacific International University</div><div style="margin-left: 0px">Translation Center</div><div><div><div> <br>
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