From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 29 10:07:11 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D923316A400 for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:07:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cpghost@cordula.ws) Received: from fw.farid-hajji.net (fw.farid-hajji.net [213.146.115.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 73CC113C44C for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:07:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cpghost@cordula.ws) Received: from epia-2.farid-hajji.net (epia-2 [192.168.254.11]) by fw.farid-hajji.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2F4A6DF770; Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:50:16 +0200 (CEST) Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:51:42 +0200 From: cpghost To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20070429095141.GA10226@epia-2.farid-hajji.net> References: <04E232FDCD9FBE43857F7066CAD3C0F12DF2D1@svmailmel.bytecraft.internal> <4634466A.4060709@u.washington.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4634466A.4060709@u.washington.edu> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.14 (2007-02-12) Subject: Re: Is FreeBSD simple enough for Novices, Will FreeBSD accept Office 98 + Publisher? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:07:11 -0000 On Sun, Apr 29, 2007 at 12:16:58AM -0700, Garrett Cooper wrote: > LaTeX works wonderfully for regularly written documents and Texinfo for > technical documents or procedure manuals. Then for writing web > documents, you can always invest some time in just learning VIM + > colorizing the output, or maybe invest in a WYSIWYG HTML editor, and > touch up little things here and there. Bluefish works wonderfully for > this purpose I've discovered. There's still another alternative: use a Wiki like MoinMoin to write your book. You can then export the final version into a format that can be ultimately converted into PDF. For example, MoinMoin Wiki supports DocBook, which can be converted into HTML, LaTeX etc... As a bonus, with a Wiki, you can retrieve previous versions of pages for free and look at diffs you made between them, without having to learn how to use a source code control system like CVS or Subversion. With FreeBSD (or Linux, OSX ...), it's trivial to install MoinMoin with an internal web server (Apache or Lighttd). You could then use your favorite browser on the same machine or, if you prefer, on any other machine (e.g. @home, @work, ...) and could always access your (password protected) book draft. You may even have it peer-reviewed and copy-edited by your publisher's team once it's ready. It all boils down to this: what works best for you is just a matter of personal taste and work habits. Regards, -cpghost. -- Cordula's Web. http://www.cordula.ws/