Creating LaTeX documents

DVI files
(e.g., MyDoc.dvi)

``DVI'' stands for ``device independent'', and is intended as a useful intermediate stage for a document. A file in DVI format, like MyDoc.dvi, can be converted to the form needed for a particular printer or computer monitor.

These days, there are no longer so many choices of printing format; usually we want the document in PostScript format (for printing) or in PDF format (for computer viewing). For converting a DVI file to PostScript, you use the Unix command dvips -Ppdf:

unix>   dvips -Ppdf MyDoc.dvi -o
to create the file MyDoc.ps. To convert to PDF use dvipdf:
unix>   dvipdf MyDoc.dvi
which creates the file MyDoc.pdf.

Previewing

On Unix systems running X Window System there is a nice previewer by which you can view the document in DVI form, xdvi:
unix>   xdvi MyDoc.dvi
It provides the quickest visual check on the compiled document; then if it looks good, you can proceed to convert it to PDF or PostScript.