Quickest way of applying thesis to tex template

Question

I am trying to apply my thesis to a TeX template. I have pdflatex installed on a Linux box (in my university), but cannot get it to work. When I point to my TeX file as below, it gives an error:

Enter file name: /users/ugrad/oconnorp/Downloads/CUEDThesisPSnPDF/thesis
! LaTeX Error: File `Classes/CUEDthesisPSnPDF.cls' not found.

Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
or enter new name. (Default extension: cls)

Answer 1

Reason for the error:

• There is no change in directory by cd /users/ugrad/oconnorp/Downloads/CUEDThesisPSnPDF before running pdflatex from the CUEDThesisPSnPDF directory.

• cd should be done as CUEDthesisPSnPDF.cls (class file) is located in Classes/CUEDthesisPSnPDF where the pdflatex would be searching as it is mentioned in the argument of \documentclass[]{} as below.

    \documentclass[oneside,12pt]{Classes/CUEDthesisPSnPDF}
  

• Hence the .cls(class)/.sty(style) file location was not known to pdflatex engine. Instead you ran pdflatex from a different directory, but did not provide name of the .tex file and the location of .cls and .sty files. Program was just exited by typing X.

Correct Approach

• Run pdflatex thesis after the cd /users/ugrad/oconnorp/Downloads/CUEDThesisPSnPDF to satisfy the CUEDthesisPSnPDF.cls location at Classes/CUEDthesisPSnPDF

• Command line/Terminal way of running pdflatex fileName.tex should work always and its the best verification test incase of errors from Editors. Ideally there is no need for latex editor, its for GUI user experience and synctex/view pdf facilities.

Verify a latex installation: Commandline/Terminal:

• To verify/test a latex installation(TeXlive or MiKTeX) using commandline/terminal, one can use

latex small2e to get the small2e.dvi (or)

latex sample2e to get the sample2e.dvi

pdflatex small2e to get the small2e.pdf (or)

pdflatex sample2e to get the sample2e.pdf

pdflatex sample2e to get the sample2e.pdf

xetex opentype-info to get the opentype-info.pdf

Notice, there is no need for .tex extension

Mentioned by: jon in his comment

Portable LaTeX editor: Without sudo rights:

• When one don't have a LaTeX editor installed on Ubuntu and also don't have sudo/admin rights. use portable version of TeXmaker LaTeX editor depending on the 32bit(i386) or 64 bit (x86_64) linux.

• Test whether linux is 32 bit or 64 bit using uname -a at terminal. 32bit portable editor can run on both.