Post #197,955
3/10/05 4:12:23 PM
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Hi all. Got a question.
Long time! Hope everyone is doing OK.
I'm trying to determine whether or not there's enough Linux software out there for me to move Help Desk production and upkeep into a Linux environment. I'd like to migrate off XP for everything but day job and games.
Anyone know if there's a vector graphics application out there in the Linux world powerful enough to handle my shoddily drawn work? In past attempts I've always been frustrated by the inability to draw freehand and have those lines be converted to bezier... usually you get very simple bezier tools (draw line and then edit nodes) and a freehand tool that might as well be a pixel brush.
Also, has font handling improved at all? I haven't had the luxury of running more than one machine for a while so I haven't been able to fool around with anything, but last time I tried getting Linux to recognize truetype and postscript fonts could be difficult, and getting individual applications to share those fonts even more so.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #197,960
3/10/05 4:47:24 PM
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Hi back
Glad to hear from you.
Sorry, no hint for you, no graphics in my work. just wanted to say hi.
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Post #197,963
3/10/05 5:05:21 PM
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Try this - very pretty
[link|http://www.inkscape.org/|http://www.inkscape.org/]
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Post #197,964
3/10/05 5:32:53 PM
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Aha!
That looks pretty impressive... and there's even a version for Windows, so I can test it out beforehand.
Thanks for the link.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #197,970
3/10/05 6:45:13 PM
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Fonts seem easy to me.
On Debian it's just an apt-get. Dunno about other platforms.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #198,003
3/11/05 7:14:26 AM
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Even easier than that.
On a fontconfig-enabled system, just drop 'em into ~/.fonts and you're golden.
Peter
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu Linux]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
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Post #198,018
3/11/05 8:14:09 AM
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Re: Even easier than that.
OK, so then font handling has improved a lot. That's good to know.
And the other day I found a web design app called Nvu that looks like a genuine Dreamweaver clone. Thank God.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,020
3/11/05 8:30:32 AM
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Dreamweaver?
Does it still produce HTML that is an affront to all that's good, righteous and standards-compliant?
Peter
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu Linux]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
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Post #198,023
3/11/05 8:34:22 AM
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Re: Dreamweaver?
No, actually Dreamweaver is pretty clean these days. Not as clean as hand-crafted, but pretty darn clean. And faster than hand coding... oh so much faster...
I used Dreamweaver for the Ubersoft.net redesign. The only truly awful code on my site is the banner ad/newsbox junk that the Keenspot scripts dump into my pages.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,049
3/11/05 12:07:05 PM
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OT: How about PageMaker?
I still haven't found anything remotely close to what I could do it PageMaker in 1994. How long does it take to clone things, anyway?
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #198,050
3/11/05 12:13:26 PM
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Re: OT: How about PageMaker?
No DTP apps for Linux? I thought they'd have at least a few by now.
I guess publishing is no longer hip.
Or maybe the Linux answer is "learn SGML." :)
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,051
3/11/05 12:16:48 PM
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Maybe this?
[link|http://www.scribus.org.uk|http://www.scribus.org.uk]
Looks like it has potential.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,072
3/11/05 2:19:53 PM
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Scribus, is vera nice .
If you are into learning a few thing, give [link|http://www.texmacs.org/index.php3|TeXmacs] a try. I like it. It is mainly pointed at the Scientific community... But dang, it does nearly anything you want. I have yet to come into a issue it doesn't handle yet. Does Forms Really nicely too. I am not saying it is an easy application (but then Illustrator, FlashMX, Photoshop, etc, aren't either) It is just usable from a different Mindset.
Scribus, is nice and easy. My wife uses it for the Church Bulletin now.
Oh and of course, if you want something to contrast look at [link|http://www.gimp.org|The Gimp] website. Might give you some food for thought. Recently it became able to manage CMYK as layers.
Have fun. Nice to see you back, at least for a while anyway. Most of the real volatile people are gone. Ross and Norm to name a couple. But we got some new ones hanging around here, which seem to fit in somehow.
Cheers.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Military Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #198,092
3/11/05 5:17:24 PM
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Scribus isn't close
Trying not to sound elitist here, but if you think Scribus or TeXmacs are decent replacements for PageMaker, you never spent much time with PageMaker. Either that, or I've never seen anyone use TeXmacs in a way that remotely approached what I did with PageMaker.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #198,095
3/11/05 5:31:35 PM
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Re: Scribus isn't close
Well what specific features of Pagemaker are you looking for?
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,124
3/11/05 10:13:18 PM
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The basic concept
PageMaker was based on the idea of physical paste-up. You grab an image or piece of text and place it. Each article is an atomic piece. Everything else I've seen starts with the idea of a single document, and you're just changing formatting.
Think of using something like Word, but everything is a text box or image box. And the tools are designed to work with them that way. Also, for multiple columns you can grab the continuation widget from the bottom of one column and continue that piece of text on another page.
It really addresses the difference between one person making one document, and one person assembling the output of several people into a larger work.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #198,126
3/11/05 10:44:22 PM
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Re: The basic concept
Scribus uses the paste-up format. As a matter of fact, one of the reviews I read on it specifically talked about how it went this route instead of using the word processor "smart typewriter" model.
Scribus uses paste-up, allows you to create frames, link text between frames, handle manual kerning, handles four-color separations... it probably doesn't have *every* feature PageMaker has, but it's definately a DTP app instead of a word processor.
Based on what I've read, mind. Haven't had a chance to play with it yet. Soon... very soon...
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,128
3/11/05 11:00:19 PM
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I tried it briefly
I tried not to give up just because it was different from PageMaker. I really wanted it to be good. I just found it too hard to do what I wanted.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #198,232
3/12/05 4:23:48 PM
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Not, too hard, differently designed.
Scribus can do nearly everything *I* want except for Database merging integration.
TeXmacs does this for me. I use TeXmacs as a text rendering tool. More a typesetting style of use. There are many many plugin/addon/templates/etc for Texmacs... it is insane the amount of customisation is available.
Go look at the TeXmacs website, it is just the tip of the iceberg. Remember TeX is the basis, remember CTAN?
It can do three style of "document notation" all in the same document. Or you force it to convert on saving. You can even save it any number of way as well.
I don't know about you, I still have my Pagemaker v5.0 disks hanging around and still use it from time to time only because of familiarity.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Military Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #197,972
3/10/05 7:45:39 PM
3/10/05 7:46:05 PM
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SHould also look at Sodi Podi. Fonts... easy peasy
They are working at making it as Poerful as possible.
[link|http://www.sodipodi.com/|http://www.sodipodi.com/]
Fontconfig works mighty well.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Military Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
Edited by folkert
March 10, 2005, 07:46:05 PM EST
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Post #197,984
3/11/05 1:03:10 AM
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s/sodipodi/inkscape/
Inkscape is the SVG editor for actual normal people.
Peter
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu Linux]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
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Post #198,002
3/11/05 7:11:44 AM
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I understand that.
But, it had to be said.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Military Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #198,042
3/11/05 11:17:18 AM
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LOL
So what kind of people is Sodi Podi for? :)
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,113
3/11/05 7:34:47 PM
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OT: Chris is alive!
Welcome back for a dip.
Alex
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell
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Post #198,117
3/11/05 8:28:21 PM
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Thanks!
All the calm places were boring.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #198,119
3/11/05 8:42:55 PM
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ICLRPD (new thread)
Created as new thread #198118 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=198118|ICLRPD]
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Post #198,123
3/11/05 10:05:37 PM
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Question about your latest storyline
IIRC you mentioned readingn the GripeLine thread about the data that was sold. The comment in that thread with the subject, "You're all missing the point," was me. Have you seen anyone else discussing that issue? That was a plot point in the comic, but I still haven't seen or heard anyone else discussing it.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #198,127
3/11/05 10:49:34 PM
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Re: Question about your latest storyline
I saw something similar on MSNBC, I think.
But I can't swear to it.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #199,410
3/18/05 1:44:36 PM
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Heya, (belatedly) welcome back! Good to see you again!
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