The sources of papers submitted to IWINAC events are only allowed in LATEX2ε format. In this page there are some hints about tools to build the papers in LATEX for MS-Windows type systems. UNIX type systems, like GNU/Linux, usually already include LATEX tools and LYX editor. Although some of the free-software applications referenced in this page are cross-platform, and can be used in other platforms (or online without installation), there are some specific hints for Macintosh systems at the end of this page.

Free-software tools

The best option is to use the graphical editor LYX for MS-Windows that can export to true compatible LATEX. To install it, you must download the "Bundle" .exe installer that has all the necesary components, including the TEX processor MiKTEX. But, if you prefer a more code oriented graphical shell, then you could use TEXnicCenter or TEXworks or TEXstudio or TEXMAKER or vx editor or WinShell instead.

In all cases, be sure you have correctly installed a TEX processor. The recommended one is the distribution MiKTEX (easy to install, or already included in "LYX for MS-Windows", see above). Please, don't forget to install (copy) the files from LaTeX2e Proceedings Templates download (formerly llncs2e.zip) in the local directory (usually, for example, "C:\Program Files\Miktex 2.5\tex\latex\llncs" and then refresh FNDB in the TEXMF database of MiKTEX options dialog).

Of course, there are many other alternatives to them (editors and processor) in free-software. You can find more links and extended explanations, for example, in the web pages about "TEX and Other Selected MS-Windows Freeware" by Eric Schechter.

Commercial tools

You can opt for a commercial integrated system like: PCTEX, TRUETEX, or Scientific Word [see note bellow], or the services of VTEX. In all those commercial systems, please be sure to use the llncs template from Springer and to export your paper to the most compatible or portable LATEX source and don't forget to export the figures to eps files and include them in the compressed archive.

Note: Users of Scientific Word, must convert their figures to .eps format (in the old days, WMF2EPS was used for that) and then insert them in the document with the menu option "File->Import Picture...", instead of .wmf images. To generate the compatible LATEX file they must use the menu option "File->Save As..." and select the format "Portable Latex" to save with a new name (not too long and without spaces). That new .tex file saved is the one to send (it is truly compatible), together with the .eps files and the Postscript or PDF, in a compressed file to the IWINAC submission web form.

Conversion

Also there are some programs that allow the conversion from ODF (OASIS Open Document Format, .odt), or Microsoft-Word (.doc, .docx), or WordPerfect (.wp) to TEX, like the recommended export filter Writer2LATEX, also as an extension for LibreOffice (OpenOffice), or even commercial conversion programs like, for example, Word-to-LATEX, or GrindEQ-Word-to-LATEX, or Word2TEX, or online-converter Docx2LaTeX. In all these cases, please, don't forget to check and review the converted file, and to ensure it uses the required style "llncs.cls" for papers.

Additionally, you can just "export only the text" from your original program and, insert the text into one of the LATEX editors given above (or online) to markup the contents (as title, sections, paragraphs, etc.). The program WMF2EPS (shareware) can be helpfull to convert figures and images from MS-Windows to the EPS format used in LATEX.

On-line services

As a last resort, you could find usefull to edit, compile and store (with versions control) your LATEX documents in an on-line service like Overleaf (+ShareLATEX), Authorea or Verbosus with basic functionality for free. They do not require any installation as they work from a web browser, and even from small devices, and they allow collaborative edition (this may require a small fee in some cases) with remote storage included.

Specific hints for Macintosh systems

Special recommentation for MacOS-X: try the Fink system (it includes many TEX / LATEX related freesoftware packages in an easy way to install) and Finkcommander, then select inside Finkcommander, for example, to install the "lyx2-mac" or "lyx2-x11" package, and its dependencies (like MacTEX, etc.) automatically. There is also a specific page of LYX for MacOS-X.

For Macintosh systems in general, there is more information in the MacTEX FAQ and also there are some TEX converters for Macintosh (OS 9).

Some software applications referenced here for MS-Windows are cross-platform and could be available for Mac systems. Of course, the on-line services (referenced just above in this page) can also be used as an alternative.