Intro
All I wanted to do was to convert a markdown (.md) file to pdf for crying out loud. I heard it was possible and good to use pandoc. For years I ran the command I was supposed to. Looks like this:
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf
But all I got was this:
pdflatex not found. Please select a different --pdf-engine or install pdflatex
The Solution
I searched stackoverflow and all the usual help-me sites but most were suggesting more installation steps than I had time for. In a last effort, I… (shame on me)…. I used chatGPT and (double shame) it gave me the best and fastest solution as follows:
sudo apt install texlive texlive-latex-extra
Once all these latex products (gasp) had fully enveloped my laptop, I simply ran the original command and.. boom. Pretty PDFs everywhere I look! Yay…
Not gonna lie, though, the command above installed a boatload of stuff. Would be neat if there was a ‘lighter’ way to do this but at least this works and so does Pandoc.
