Very Computer

by **Will** » Wed, 26 Nov 1997 04:00:00

I just got my Linux system working and I'd like to try the Linux
best-of-breed type applications. I'm looking for a word processor,
spreadsheet, and maybe a desktop publishing package to start.

Thanks.

Willy

"Just because I'm moody
doesn't mean you're not irritating."

(from Hallmark shoebox greetings t-shirt)

by **Christopher Brow** » Wed, 26 Nov 1997 04:00:00

>I just got my Linux system working and I'd like to try the Linux
>best-of-breed type applications. I'm looking for a word processor,
>spreadsheet, and maybe a desktop publishing package to start.

See: <http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/wp.html> and
<http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/spreadsheets.html> for a list of fairly
much all of the software of that sort that exists.

There are no word processors that are free that are generally
considered to be "best-of-breed;" the wp.html page has a "rant" that
may explain why this is.

NeXS is probably the best of the spreadsheets; WordPerfect is probably
the best standalone word processor. ApplixWare seems to get the
highest marks when looking at an "integrated Office suite."

by **Oleg Duli** » Thu, 27 Nov 1997 04:00:00

> I just got my Linux system working and I'd like to try the Linux
> best-of-breed type applications. I'm looking for a word processor,

Personally I use ApplixWare that is available from Red Hat and the Linux
Mall. ApplixWare is an all-in-one office package, it is around $70 for
students and faculty, or around $100 or so for others. There is a
developer's edition that can be used for rapidly creating applications,
sort of like Visual Basic. You may also like WordPerfect, but it is
unreasonably expensive, I think. StarOffice can be obtained for free,
AFAIK, however I can't report on its features for I was never able to
install the damn thing (this is not meant to flame StarOffice, if
someone knows how to make it work please let me know.)

I also learned TeX/*and use them in combination with XEmacs that
has a nice TeX editting mode. But, TeX is for geeks only, although I
find it more powerful than any office package I've used.

Oleg

--
============================================================
Oleg Dulin, http://www.veryComputer.com/~dulino/
---=== Ad Astra Per Aspera ===---
Clarkson University LUG http://www.veryComputer.com/~linux
============================================================

by **David Lee Lamber** » Thu, 27 Nov 1997 04:00:00

> I also learned TeX/*and use them in combination with XEmacs that
> has a nice TeX editting mode. But, TeX is for geeks only, although I
> find it more powerful than any office package I've used.

TeX is the only online format in which Physical Review Letters, as well as
the other journals published by the American Physical Society, will accept
papers. I have a five-year-old, 400+ page electronics textbook that was
completely published in TeX; the layout is way better than a lot of other
stuff I've seen. Now, you may have included mathemeticians and physicists
as your definition of 'Geek', but my dad is a physicist who uses TeX,
and he's nowhere near being a hacker.

TeX isn't "for geeks only", it's "for serious work".

I used to use TeX for my writing assignments in English class, as well as
other generic word-processor work. Then I used Microsoft Works, then I
went to Word, then I had to s*Word and now I use Corel PerfectOffice
under Windows 95 for one- and two-page reports and letters. I'm trying
to get Wine to run PerfectOffice; not that I dual-boot, but right now
I'm using it on a 486-33 that's trying to run Win95, but the application
binaries (a CD full of them) are on my Linux server, as a network
installation. If I could get it to run under Linux, I could divorce the
486. Alternately, I guess I couls get WordPerfect for Linux, but then
what would I do with this copy I already have? Sell it? It was an
Academic CD that I got a really good deal on.

David Lee Lambert Hack Programmer and Student
Admin of lmert.dyn.ml.org http://www.veryComputer.com/
My web pages are at http://www.veryComputer.com/~lamber45

by **bme..** » Fri, 28 Nov 1997 04:00:00

>> I also learned TeX/*and use them in combination with XEmacs that
>> has a nice TeX editting mode. But, TeX is for geeks only, although I
>> find it more powerful than any office package I've used.
>TeX is the only online format in which Physical Review Letters, as well as
>the other journals published by the American Physical Society, will accept
>papers. I have a five-year-old, 400+ page electronics textbook that was
>completely published in TeX; the layout is way better than a lot of other
>stuff I've seen. Now, you may have included mathemeticians and physicists
>as your definition of 'Geek', but my dad is a physicist who uses TeX,
>and he's nowhere near being a hacker.

I convinced my then girlfriend to use*over WinWord for her
diploma thesis. The thesis looks great, and she never lost anything due
to the computer "playing up". By the end of it all, she was very glad that
I had initially applied a bit of pressure to make her go that way --- and
that feeling only intensified when she entered the workforce where she had
to use Word on a daily base. She is a dietitian by training and a marketeer
by choice.

My brother, OTOH, chose to use WinWord for his PhD thesis. A few days before
the due date he called me up in panic because he couldn't load the files
anymore. Seems the file had gotten too big, and Word just didn't like it.
Nothing he could do other than go back to a several day old backup. Oops.

My neighbour recently called me up because she had the same problem with
a group assignment --- trying to load it would crash WinWord. At least this
time I was physically close, so I could help her a little bit by taking the
file over to my linux machine and run "strings" on it, recovering the text
though not the formatting or the links to embedded diagrams.

Bernie

--
============================================================================
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...
...let's go exploring"
Calvin's final words, on December 31st, 1995

by **Oleg Duli** » Fri, 28 Nov 1997 04:00:00

Quote:
> TeX isn't "for geeks only", it's "for serious work".

True and I want to apologize for making a joke and not putting a smiley
next to it :) The original poster said that he had just installed Linux
and I don't think learning TeX is of a higher priority for him at this
point. I may be wrong...

Quote:> 486. Alternately, I guess I couls get WordPerfect for Linux, but then
> what would I do with this copy I already have? Sell it? It was an
> Academic CD that I got a really good deal on.

Argh... That's the problem I had. Just get ApplixWare student edition. I
wanted to get rid of Windows completely so I had to shell a few bucks
out. You could also resort to TeX. And, yes, I use TeX for my English
papers as I can use ANY computer on campus to preview and print it.

============================================================
Oleg Dulin, http://www.clarkson.edu/~dulino/
---=== Ad Astra Per Aspera ===---
Clarkson University LUG http://acmpc.sos.clarkson.edu/~linux
============================================================

Very Computer

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word

Which Linux word processor should I try that I can compare to MS Word