Re: 3VDQ : I want a .abw file *and* a .pdf file

On Wed, 8 Feb 2006, David Raleigh Arnold wrote:

> Do you have a website?

         Not so far; I use the web a lot, but dunno what I'd use a
site of my own for.

> I uploaded "webber" and "web.sed" as soon as they were done to
> mine. I back up with two hard disks and the occasional cd. Very
> unsystematic. But new free stuff goes straight to my website, so
> someone genuinely expert can keep it. Woulda coulda shoulda I
> suppose.

         Google Linux found two webbers, one on freshmeat and one on
sourceforge; one of the is 0.1, and the other claims production
stable. Which do you mean??

> Again, linux stuff. Sed and gawk can do windos. I don't know
> about translating webber from bash shell into a batch file, but
> it's not very long.

         You may snort, but the only editor I know is pico/nano :-(

> Sounds like it's about time you got into html. You don't have to
> worry about upgrades there. Html is a finished product. It's not
> going to change, ever.

         Ver-r-ry inter-r-ressstingg; will it last, and not be
superseded?
>
> Abiword is still changing. I love it, I really do, but if you're
> looking for permanence, stick with plain text sources. It's not
> the developer's fault. Latex and especially font handling keeps
> changing, and it will be a while before all is safely unicode.
> (if ever.) I am no programmer, and it's off the wall, but webber
> works wonderfully. The bash script doesn't do anything that can't
> be done by hand reasonably, but it is a convenience.

         One guru friend, not on this list afaik, did suggest that: a
plain text file in my shell, which Pine can fetch into an email, or
attach -- and which, I suppose, I could put onto some public ftp
server somewhere ...
>
> Abiword 2.4.1: file->print->Create a PDF Document

         OK; good thing I asked; I wouldn't've known (as a couple of
you have now told me) that you had to go *through* "print" to get to
it. (I do know about the Unix sense of "print", as in the pwd
command; but I wouldn't've thought of it in this context.) Thanks to
all who mentioned it!
>
>> PDF is the best for printing, and also the most useful "finished"
>> format for posting on the internet.
>
> Not if you're in a hurry.

         I hear you, loud & clear. :-}

>> A file in text can be converted to the corresponding file in pdf
>> by following these simple steps:
>>
>> 1. Put the following at the front of the file:
>> \pdfoutput=1
>> {\obeylines
>>
>> 2.Put the following at the end of the file:
>> }
>> \bye
>>
>> 3. Download and install TeX from e.g. www.miktex.org
>>
>> 4. Run pdftex mydocumentname.txt
>
> Thanks for posting this. Very clear.

         Ditto.

>> Now those who choke at step 3 can send it to me. I work in Linux
>> but the above recipe works for those stuck with Windows. TeX runs
>> on all three major platforms.

         Very generous of you! And you seem to be saying I can pass
that on to others. Really?

>> I don't understand why you don't have Abiword. It is free, and
>> also the subject of this list.
>
> And it really looks good.

         Misunderstanding; my bad. I do have it, and use nothing else
-- when I use any word processor, which is seldom. I meant to say so
by pointing out that "of course" it creates a .abw file; does
something else use that extension??

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, Neo-Redneck Linux Enthusiast
A wanderstaff like an Elvish rope should be long,
and strong, and light. And gentle to the hand.
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