Get started with basic Latex

Recently i had to write a report in latex.
Started as following:

1. Installed latex on ubuntu...
sudo apt-get install latex

2. Installed a pdf reader on Ubuntu..
i chose to install xpdf for this purpose.

After this to test the latex thing..
vi firstExercise.latex

Opened up a file:
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\begin{document}
This is the tex file...
\end{document}

!wq

To convert this latex to .pdf extension...
>>latex firstExercise.latex
This creates a .dvi file...

>>dvips -Ppdf -G0 -f -o firstExercise.ps firstExercise.dvi
This creates a .ps file...

>>ps2pdf firstExercise.ps firstExercise.pdf
This creates a .pdf file...

Read this file using xpdf...
We can view this file and feel happy and excited about putting our first step in Latex world...

Saurabh