Sometimes, I think Zawinski just might be right.

Jason Stephenson jason at sigio.com
Mon Jun 20 18:16:00 EDT 2005


Paul Lussier wrote:
[...]
> I'm more inclined to blame AbiWord...  It sounds like it's generating
> bad postscript.  Especially since it sounds like you can't even export
> to PS and open it with a ps application (incidently, did you try using
> gv or ghostview rather than xpdf?).

I'm inclined to blame AbiWord, too, now. I'm not the only one to have a 
problem with AbiWord's PostScript output.

http://www.abiword.org/twiki/bin/view/Abiword/FaqPostscriptOutputProblems

> 
> 
>>Now, the question is, do I go to the bother of installing Open Office
>>just because I occasionally need to print some word processed
>>document? Or, do I just redo everything in TeX?
> 
> 
> Depends upon what you want?  If you know TeX pretty well, it may well
> be a lot faster.  I find OO to be a pain when you need to do any
> heavy-duty formatting.  I keep my resume in text and in PDF.  I use
> LyX to create the PDF from the LaTeX which LyX exports.  I tried
> migrating to OO, and it didn't pass my 30-min. test (after 30 min. of
> fighting with OO, I still didn't have a decent layout of my resume!).

I know TeX well enough. I reformatted the letters that I was working on 
yesterday to get more than desireable output. Printed with no trouble, 
too. Think I'll stick to TeX from now on.

> 
> Of course, LyX isn't without it's frustrations either.  It's often
> difficult to change a default template without knowing how to hack the
> LaTeX code...

Y'know, I actually tried LyX about 6 or 7 years ago, before I tried 
AbiWord. I should probably give it another go. It was a niftly little 
program back then, and I imagine it hass improved. It had some rough 
edges as I recall.

I was actually pondering writing my own TeX editor or giving LyX another 
try even before reading your message. (The world really doesn't need 
another text editor or word processor, does it?)

> 
> 
>>Right now, I'm inclined to ask, along with Jamie Zawinski, "What year
>>is this?" Why is this stuff such a pain, and do I really want to put
>>up with this?
> 
> 
> One solution is to not print. I find I waste significantly less paper
> and ink that way :)

I really don't print that much personally. At home, I mostly print stuff 
for my wife by plugging her iBook into my LaserJet via USB. I have it 
connected via Parallel Port to my workstation and mostly just send it 
postscript or plain text on the rare occasion that I print something for 
myself.--I actually had a working Samba config for it, too, and could 
print from my Windows gaming PC before that PC bit the dust.....That, 
however, is another story.

Well, I guess I'm off to reformat my resume in TeX!

Cheers!



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