Installation instructions

[Peter Flynn]

On 07/06/2024 12:31, David Carlisle wrote:

> I've only ever used a command line installer, multiple screenshots of 
> graphical installers seems to make it look far more complicated than it 
> is, but perhaps that's just me.

Me too, but a huge number of beginners used to ask for a step-by-step by 
guide, largely because they didn't understand the terminology.

> Your steps do need an update though as the DVD isn't routinely made 

That was what has triggered this edit cycle :-)

On 07/06/2024 13:23, Markus Kohm via tex-live wrote:

> The greatest difficulties are to be expected if a simple user tries
> to install on his domain-managed company computer in the administered
> company network.
In those cases I recommend Overleaf or Papeeria.

On 07/06/2024 13:27, Jacob Gyntelberg wrote:

> Perhaps the new generation of users do need it?
I did wonder about that. I am still baffled by the level of 
non-knowledge of many users in the TeX server on Discord, and how they 
manage without knowing what a screen or a mouse is for.

On 07/06/2024 14:24, Norbert Preining wrote:
 >> https://latex.silmaril.ie/formattinginformation/instsw.html
 >
 > Ouch, that is seriously incorrect :-( at least for Linux.

This is why I am updating it.

> * the screenshots are for Debian based systems (Ubuntu is just a
> child system here, they are doing NOTHING wrt TeX, just taking what
> Debian provide)

Synaptic was an example of an interface, nothing to do with who supplies 
the software. I never use it, and I believe the major distros all have 
their own "software centers" which are even slower and more cumbersome. 
I always recommend commandline installation for this reason, but there 
are still people who want to click on Software Center for everything.

 > * Running texconfig postinstall: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO No no no...
 >    was that enough?
 >    Why do you put this in there?

So that users can end up with something that prints properly. Without it 
you may get the wrong default paper size and some wrong MF resolution.

I can remove it if someone can certify that a virgin installation on a 
virgin OS will correctly default to Letter for Americans and A4 for 
everyone else, and set the MF resolution to HP-300 or something sensible.

I have no idea why the MF resolution should affect anything nowadays 
unless someone uses one of the last remaining MF fonts, or makes a 
mistake in a font name which results in TeX furiously trying to build 
the font from a non-existent MF source. It simply shouldn't be 
necessary, but I have had installations where it defaults to silly 
things like Epson 120dpi.

Thank you all for your contributions.
With luck, this will all be trashed by the weekend.

Peter