Hi Stefano, Thanks a lot for your answer. I'm not very familiar with LaTeX, so it was very helpful. Is it easier to keep certain TeX distributions synced than it is for others, or is it just a case of updating them both regularly? I currently use MikTex on Windows and I am planing to use MacTex on Mac. Also, it has occurred to me that there may be problems using an imported BibTex bibliography across two different operating systems. Assuming the same .bib file was present on both systems, would there be problems with LyX locating it on one OS if it had been imported on the other OS? I would think that the directory the .bib file is located in is important, but I don't know any specifics. Any experience you may have of this would be very welcome. Thanks again for your help. Thanks, Andrew
Date: Fri, 10 May 2013 08:02:47 -0500 Subject: Re: LyX on PC and Mac From: stefano.fran...@gmail.com To: landronim...@gmail.com CC: pandy1...@hotmail.co.uk; lyx-users@lists.lyx.org On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 3:17 PM, Liviu Andronic <landronim...@gmail.com> wrote: On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 9:28 PM, Andrew Rodgers <pandy1...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote: > Hello, > > I hope this is the right place to ask this question, if not, then I > apologise. > > I would like to know how compatible the Windows and Mac versions of LyX are. > Very. > Is it easy to start writing a LyX document on one platform and then save it, > open it on the other platform, and continue to work on it. Also, are there > any common problems associated with doing this? Any information you can give > me on this would be greatly appreciated. > Editing should just work. Compiling to LaTeX is a different matter and will depend on the local LaTeX distribution. Hi Andrew, I'd like to expand on Liviu's and Richard's answer. If you are already well-versed with LaTeX, ignore what follows. Perhaps it may help other users with similar questions. LyX files will be perfectly compatible across different operating systems. You will be able to move them across platforms without ever worrying about losing anything. However, things get more complicated when you want to produce a pdf file from LyX. LyX converts its source file to a Latex file and then compiles it into pdf with the help of the local TeX installation. TeX is a very large system including literally hundreds of package and it is always possible that the installation on one platform lacks some packages present on the other one. Sometimes you may get errors because the two platforms you are working on have different versions of the same package(s) installed. I use LyX on 4 different machines (2 Linux, 2 Macs) and I periodically need to spend some time managing the four TeX installations and keeping them into a reasonably synchronized state. You'll have less problems if you stick to standard LaTeX engines, classes, and packages. Be prepared to invest more time if you decide to use "cutting-edge" portions of the TeX system (i.e. LuaTeX, Biblatex, etc.) Cheers, Stefano -- __________________________________________________ Stefano Franchi Associate Research Professor Department of Hispanic Studies Ph: +1 (979) 845-2125 Texas A&M University Fax: +1 (979) 845-6421 College Station, Texas, USA stef...@tamu.edu http://stefano.cleinias.org
