LaTeX is the main program, but it has multiple parts, or packages which add functionality. Packages expand LaTeX and allow LaTeX to have greater functionality. On the CLAS servers we have LaTeX2e, the most recent version of LaTeX, installed. We also have a number of packages installed which should be more than adequate for your composition and printing needs.
Packages are activated with the \usepackage[options]{package} command. In this command, package is the name of the package you want to use and options is a list of keywords which trigger the special features of that package. The packages can also be activated in the preamble to the document, as with using the graphicx package that reads: \usepackage{graphicx}For packages we have installed, check out the list by going to the shell and typing
cd /opt/tetex_1.0.7/share/texmf/tex/latex
Then type ls on each of the files to see the styles installed; or, see a text version of most of them here.
For LaTeX images must be saved in EPS format. For pdflatex images must be saved in JPG, PNG, or PDF format. For more on graphics in LaTeX, please see the page on formatting images.
The LaTeX files themselves must be saved as .tex files. For more on how to convert these files to PDF and other formats, see the page on converting documents.
The CLAS system currently allows for LaTeX to PDF, RTF, PS, and HTML conversions.