I haven't spent much time with LyX, but that would have been my first thought. I didn't know that it can export to LaTeX. I will have to look at that - does the BaKoMa TeX actually generate and save LaTeX? I believe that the reason we haven't pushed LyX is the actual file you're working on *isn't* LaTex. The site license of ~ 1500 euros isn't cost prohibitive *if* it includes the 3 platforms and not just one, though we might get it for just Linux I suppose. We do need some way to try and convince people to use LaTeX rather than Word... 

--
James Pulver
LEPP Computer Group
Cornell University


-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Yasha Karant
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 9:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: LaTeX in general

As the issue of LaTeX on EL6 has just arisen (albeit from a how to 
install from the distro departure), I have a related question -- 
responses off list are fine.

The majority of my students, and most of my colleagues as well as staff, 
are used to some form of WYSIWYG word processor.  I have found three 
alternatives for this approach that are to a greater or lesser extent 
compatible with LaTeX:  LyX, Texmacs, and BaKoMa TeX.  The latter 
essentially is a full LaTeX GUI word processor, but is licensed for a 
heavy fee.  Neither LyX nor Texmacs is fully LaTeX compatible to the 
best of my determination.

Of the near GUIs for LaTeX, the best I have found to date is TeXstudio 
that seems to have better/easier functionality than Kile. 
Unfortunately, what we need is something closer to BaKoMa TeX -- the red 
highlighted error display of the offending line in TeXstudio is very 
useful for a more-or-less experienced LaTeX user, but not of nearly as 
much utility for someone used to MS Word or OpenOffice amongst the 
current stable of word processors.

Discussion of this topic on LaTeX lists seem not yield much -- it is 
expected that all LaTeX users will be fluent, read about the latest 
and/or needed feature packages, etc.  Most of those whom I know do not 
feel that text formatting a document (journal article, conference 
presentation, etc.) should involve as much "technical competency" as 
writing a useful and moderately sophisticated computer program in, say, 
C++ (or for the more difficult situations, Nvidia CUDA or some dialect 
of MPI).

Conversion to MS Word doc or docx format also are needed; entities such 
as ABET require the documents in MS Word format (bijectively accessible 
from OpenOffice et al., but not so with a LaTeX application).  These 
seem to be lacking from the typical LaTeX applications.  Journals and 
conferences still provide some form of LaTeX template or will accept a 
PDF file output from LaTeX.

Suggestions for alternatives and approaches are invited and appreciated.

Yasha Karant