MiKTeX News

Christian Schenk

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Table of Contents

MiKTeX 2.1 News
Improved Setup Wizard
Package Management
MiKTeX Update Wizard
Shared Network Installation
Visual C++ Run-time Files

MiKTeX 2.1 News

Highlights

  • MiKTeX Setup Wizard now has built-in download functionality: all required packages will be downloaded by the wizard.

  • Introducing package management: packages (i.e. macro packages, fonts, …) can be installed subsequently with the help of MO (MiKTeX Options).

  • The new update wizard makes it easy to update installed packages.

  • Improved support for shared network installations.

Improved Setup Wizard

MiKTeX Setup Wizard has been thoroughly rewritten. New features include:

  • Built-in download functionality: only the setup wizard (setup.exe) has to be downloaded by the user. All the rest (i.e. all required packages) will be downloaded by the wizard.

  • Easier package selection: to simplify matters, there are only three package sets to choose from:

    “Small MiKTeX”

    This is a basic MiKTeX system with TeX, pdfTeX, recommended LaTeX packages and Type1 fonts (download size: ≈ 23 MB).

    “Large MiKTeX”

    This adds Omega, ConTeXt, e-TeX and more (download size: ≈ 60 MB).

    “Total MiKTeX”

    This includes all available packages (download size: ≈150 MB).

Package Management

MO (MiKTeX Options) has a new property page, which allows a user to install new packages from the Internet. Likewise, it is possible to remove installed packages.

MiKTeX Update Wizard

The new MiKTeX Update Wizard searches the Internet for updated MiKTeX packages and installs them on demand.

Shared Network Installation

Support for shared network installation has been improved. See the MiKTeX Manual, for more information.

Visual C++ Run-time Files

Microsoft's Visual C++ run-time components (mfc42.dll, …) will no longer be installed. These components are already integrated into Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Users of older Windows versions can run vcredist.exe, a self-extracting executable that installs the latest version of the Microsoft Visual C++ run-time files and operating system components. vcredist.exe can be downloaded from the MiKTeX Download Page .