[CLUE-Tech] Linux for publishing and the masses

[Michael Riversong]

OK, since i have some publishing experience, here's a few thoughts.  
Like anything else, it depends on what you're trying to do.  There are 
many degrees of technology in the publishing world.  That said, Linux 
does have some excellent tools right out of the box in many distros.

By far one of the best tools is GIMP, which comes free with every distro 
i've loaded so far.  It's awesome, although often overlooked.  You 
literally can do anything graphically with it, with a few exceptions 
regarding file conversion.  Here's the kicker -- i've even managed to 
get first and second graders working with it in a few instances!  So 
that alone demonstrates its versatility.  (Normally i would not have 
done that, but in our first year with the program at our school, we were 
woefully short of good PC graphics programs and computers with the 
capability to run them.  I decided to put a couple of artistic kids on 
GIMP and see what happened -- was pleasantly surprised by the results.)

Now, as for word processing and DTP, the tools are a little less 
friendly.  I like AbiWord, which comes with some of the newer distros, 
but it's not really good at placing graphics with text.  Its text 
conversions work smoothly.  I haven't found other freebie tools yet that 
will do a good job of placing graphics, and certainly nothing of the 
caliber of Pagemaker.  In this area, i want to do some more research.  
There could very well be something available that works well, and that i 
don't know about yet.  Maybe it's further down in this thread...

On Tuesday, June 10, 2003, at 03:02 PM, Dale K. Hawkins wrote:

>
> A friend sent me this.  I would be interested to hear people's
> opinions.  Especially if anyone has any real publishing experience.
> (I replied with what I know about Linux, but being a programmer, I
> could not imagine using any other OS).
>
>> My 82-year old father sent the following fax to his children
>> today:
>>
>> "I want to get some answers about Linux. The attached WSJ piece
>> ... references its supporting graphics. And note its selection to
>> run the 14,000 PCs in Munich. Could Linux help us get rid of Bill
>> Gates once and for all?"
>>
>> My father's publishing (i.e., graphics-intensive) business is
>> small (maybe 12 PCs?) and has no on-site IT support. He's not
>> particularly technical, although he's an early adapter (he bought
>> a Beta Max and a KayPro CPM machine).
>
> Thanks.
>
> -Dale
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Michael Riversong
http://home.earthlink.net/~mriversong
The Pure River Project: featuring free Celtic harp and other gentle MP3s 
and radical ideas about music and culture