[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.



More information about the Novalug mailing list