From the command line [Unix terminal]

• latex file.tex (processes the file-watch for errors)
• xdvi file.dvi (look at the dvi output file--not required)
• dvips file.dvi -o file.ps (Converts the device independent file to a postscript file. Do not forget the -o option, which sends the output to a file. The default is to send the output to a printer, which wastes paper.)
• gv file.ps (Examine the final postscript otuput)
• pstill -vcccgipto file.pdf file.ps (convert the postscript file to a pdf file for maximum portability)
• acroread file.pdf (to view the pdf file)

Alternatively, if you include pdf instead of postscript graphics, or need to include bitmapped graphics, you can create a pdf file directly from the raw tex, using pdflatex file.tex instead of latex file.tex. You can then skip directly to the last step, viewing the pdf file.

There are lots of other commands, like latex2html, tth, and ttm which can convert raw tex files into other formats. Use the apropos command to find other conversion possibilities if you are interested.