[Novalug] Replacement for abiword??
Beartooth
karhunhammas@Lserv.com
Sun Jan 21 14:52:01 EST 2007
On Sun, 21 Jan 2007, gregory pryzby wrote:
> SNIPPING and reply below
>>>> we looked at OpenOffice, and found it slow to launch, at least
>>
>>> that can be sped up, but I need to look up the magic key
>>> stroke.
>
> Someone (Ken?) posted how to turn off the java stuff which is what
> makes it slow. You can start java on boot or user login and that
> addresses the slow start up also.
>
>>>> 9/10 bloat for our purposes, and far too complex to learn to
>>>> use.
>>>
>>> Complexity is an issue I can't solve.
>>
>> We see no need -- except that imposed by OO, which we
>> therefore abjure -- to learn umpteen dozen controls meant for
>> illustrations, PowerPoint presentations (don't even want to know
>> what those are!), etc. ad nauseam, just in order to be able to
>> find the few we need.
>
> You don't have to. I am really confused.
Maybe what we looked at was a large superset of what we
need have. It took forever to launch, and seemed like something
you'd need a pilot's license to navigate. I have kept all of OO
off every machine we have in consequence. I'll open it and turn
of java-everything as soon as I get it finished installing on
one.
> You start OO writer (ooffice on my system) and you are in a
> text editor. Just start typing. There are pull downs as well as
> icon menus that allow you to format.
>
> While I am the last to tell someone the best way to do things,
> I have always found the easiest way to write, get in all the
> text. Once it is in, then format. You can create or use
> templates if you want.
>
> I found OO as similar to wordperfect (
> http://linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/downloadwp8.html#DOWNLOADURL ) and
> wordstar but maybe that is me.
I took a look at that; it sounds like more than I could
well manage (and certainly more than I want to) -- as I had
feared -- just to get it up and running on one machine, let alone
maintain it. Sorry, Jo!
I'm in process of installing, or have installed, lyx,
koffice-kwrite,kofice-kword, and what I hope is the minimum of OO
on all my machines, and will on Jo's. Am I missing something?
It's her choice, after all, not mine. I'll get them into
the same panel drawer with Abiword, or on the panel near it (hers
may not be in a drawer, since it's a main app for her). Then she
can try them all for the next for starting up novel. which is in
process of gestation.
>> By 'plain' I meant the colloquial sense : no
>> illustrations (let alone animation), no math symbols, no
>> foreign alphabets,... -- basically no anything but what you'd
>> see in an ordinary whodunit off a bookshelf. The book is a
>> novel, and a mystery of some sort. (She hasn't let me read it
>> yet.) It's not a textbook, nor a computer manual, nor anything
>> like that.
>
> As with most applications, there is more that you can do if you
> want, but you can do simply editting. I know people who write
> letters (no text, etc) with OO.
>
>> She needs to be able to produce a manuscript fit first
>> for submission to an agent, then to a publisher, and finally
>> to a printer -- and it will most likely have to be converted
>> at the outset to an M$ format, given the benightedness of many
>> such people. (In fact, iiuc the agent requires an initial
>> sample in hard copy. No computer need apply.)
>
> And that is very doable. I think saving as PDF and sending that
> is a better solution so some knucklehead doesn't edit something
> by mistake. That is included and free w/ OO
Hmmm ... Are the likes of literary agents and fiction
publishers likely to be conversant with PDF??
>> That includes pagination, margins, line skipping,
>> indentation, and I'm not at all sure what all else; but
>> certainly centering, switching font sizes, italics, ... --
>> whatever it takes to make printouts look like book pages, only
>> double- or triple-spaced on a typewriter. (Anybody remember
>> those?)
>
> Sure.... :)
>
>> I'm not the user -- just the nearest thing she has to
>> tech support.
[...]
> lyx is the application you want.
Got it or geting it on all machines. Thanks again!
> I really think OO can do what Jo needs and you can easily
> support her and we are only an email away ;)
You just said a mouthful. I follow novalug daily anyhow,
and would much rather spend hours here than minutes on the
abiword list -- especially if I have a problem! Jo, raise OO two
notches for that, please!
--
Beartooth Squirreler, Wordcrafty Staffwright
Hunting is life, life hunting. That is all
ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
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