grapeshot wrote:
If you start a new document and go to Document -> Settings... ->
Document Class -> Document class, are *all* the classes listed as
unavailable, or just some (including scrbook)?
Checking my document classes as per the instructions indicates that most,
but not all classes are unavailable, including scrbook.
If any of them are marked available, then LyX was able to find MikTeX.
If they are all
unavailable, LyX had a problem configuring itself. In that case, you
can try the following:
1. Make sure that the MiKTeX bin directory is on your system command
path.
THIS advice has me very puzzled. WHAT does this mean?? Where do I check
this?
This is a Windows issue, not something you would fix in LyX. In XP,
right click My Computer, click Properties, Advanced, Environment
Variables. You'll see varialbes named "Path" in both lists; the one on
top is used only when you're logged in, while the one on the bottom is
used when any user is logged in.
But this would be to check whether MikTeX was on the system path, and
apparently it is, or else the LyX configuration script would not find it
and LyX would say that none of the document classes are available.
I checked the paths under "Tools" and "Settings".
Here's an image of what it shows for my paths.
http://pic30.picturetrail.com/VOL1511/6799618/14409421/331519515.jpg
I noticed that my Documents Templates path seemes hosed up. It reads:
C:\Program Files\LyX15\Resources\.\templates\
But when I check the actual path, it's more like
C:\Program Files\LyX15\Resources\templates\ (That's WITHOUT the extra ".")
However, I'm not smart enough to know if this is right or wrong. Also, I've
tried changing it, and it has had no effect on anything as far as I can
tell, PLUS it keeps changing back every time I re-open LyX.
The dot translates as "this directory", so it's redundant but harmless.
I also note that in this window, my PATH settings seem to be:
C:\Program Files\LyX15\bin;C:\Program Files\LyX15\python;C:\Program
Files\LyX15\ghostscript\bin;C:\Program Files\LyX15\imagemagick
If THIS is the path that I'm supposed to be checking, it clearly says
nothing whatsoever about MiKTeX. Am I supposed to type in something
different here? If so, what?
No, the system command path (which tells DOS where to look when you run
a program that's not in the current directory) was the concern, but only
if *no* classes are available.
2. Tools -> Reconfigure, then restart LyX and see if things are better.
I've tried various times to Reconfigure LyX, but that hasn't resolved my
problem.
If not ...
3. At a DOS prompt, run 'kpsewhich article.cls'. If MiKTeX doesn't
find article.cls, your MiKTeX installation is somehow screwed up. If
the OS doesn't find the kpsewhich command, either you didn't get the bin
directory on the command path or your MiKTeX installation is severely
messed up. Assuming MiKTeX is ok ...
I tried the kpsewhich command at a dos prompt. (at C:\ that is) and I get a
message back that says "The system cannot execute the specified program."
I'm not sure what exactly this message means, but it can't be good.
I can't argue with your assessment of that. :-) It sounds as though
Windows is finding kpsewhich (which is a MikTeX program) but that the
file is corrupted or not a DOS program. (This could happen if you
somehow installed, say, a Linux TeX distribution, except that then it
wouldn't be MikTeX.)
At this point I have to confess that I'm WAY beyond my computer knowledge
and have absolutely no idea of what to do. For all these hours of puzzling
over this, I seem to be no further towards figuring out how to make LyX
properly open the help documents. And if those won't open, how can I be
confident that anything else I may want to do in LyX would work properly?
Can you help me out??
ER...for reference, I am running Windows XP SP3, and used the installer
LyX-1.5.6-Installer.exe to install. Based on the comments in this thread,
that appears to have been the wrong one to use. Should I uninstall
everything and start all over? If so, what all do I need to uninstall?
Did you install MikTeX yourself, or did the LyX-1.5.6-Installer.exe
install it? I don't think that installer contains MikTeX, but I get
confused by the various installer names.
If DOS won't run kpsewhich, then I think there may be a problem with
your MikTeX installation. If so, reinstalling LyX won't fix it; you'll
need to either repair MikTeX or uninstall/reinstall MikTeX. But it's
still a bit unclear what's going on; I've never seen that particular
error message with kpsewhich. (FYI, kpsewhich is a program that tells
you where your LaTeX distribution, in this case MikTeX, is finding
various LaTeX files -- and, by implication, *if* it's finding those files.)
Let's try a different tack here. Start in LyX, by looking at Help ->
LaTeX Configuration. Look for a few of the missing classes, and note
down what package they're in. For instance, scrbook is in
macros/latex/contrib/koma-script/ (this is section 4.26, at least in LyX
1.5.6). You'll only need to worry about the last part of the path
(koma-script here), which is the package name.
Now run the MikTeX package manager (should be in the Start menu as
"Browse Packages"). Look for the packages you noted down (e.g.,
koma-script) and see if they're installed. If not, use the Package
Manager to install them. First click Repository -> Change Repository
and make sure you're set to download from the Internet. (Also make sure
you have a live Internet connection.) Highlight the package(s) you want
to install and click the + button, then sit back and watch the progress
reports. Once the packages re installed and the installer is done with
its housekeeping, try to reconfigure and restart LyX and see if there's
any improvement.
/Paul
