OFF: Fixing Happy

[Paul Mather]

Carl,

=>     Well, for me text processing is most vital.  I'd be interested
=>to know where to find out more about word processors (and more
=>advanced kinds of text-layout apps) for Linux.  I work with
=>words and often _strange_ words, so font manipulation apps
=>would also be key.  My image processing needs are light, so
=>something along the lines of PhotoShop would do.

For word processing, you could try either Corel WordPerfect 8, or
StarOffice 5 Personal Edition, both for Linux.  (StarOffice 5 is a
kind of M$-Office clone, and can even import M$-Office files, with
reasonable success.)  For advanced document processing, I stick to
LaTeX, personally, because all word processors I've used are junk for
handling academic/technical documents.  (You can even get a WYSIWYMG
front-end for LaTeX called Lyx.)  There is a KDE app called
killustrator, which is supposed to be a sort of Adobe Illustrator for
KDE (K Desktop Environment).  A handy drawing program is Xfig, which I
use for my LaTeX figure needs.  For image processing there's The GIMP
(GNU Image Manipulation Program), which is a "free PhotoShop" kind of
program with similar features.

Remember, all these are free for personal use (and most are just plain
free), so, in a sense, you get what you pay for.  So, it's a tad
unfair to compare them to similar programs costing hundreds of
dollars.  But, I have to say, I've found the utility and reliability
to be high.  At least they don't seem to crash every half hour or so,
unlike their Micro$oft brethren (or so a friend of mine complains).

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"I don't live today; maybe tomorrow..."
        --- James Marshall Hendrix