On Tue, Sep 12, 2000 at 09:00:25PM +0100, Christopher Dawkins wrote:
There are any number of acceptable open formats - ascii, html, PS, PDF which can be produced by freely available applications.
Produced? PDF? I understood that, like Flash, the readers were free but the producers (apart from some freeware items) cost money.
Ghostscript produces PDF from PS and most things can produce postscript. I actually use a freeware program called pstill to produce PDF. LaTeX ---> DVI ----> DVIPS ----> PS ----> pstill/gs ----> PDF
PDF - fab, The correct way to do it, but at a cost. PS - huge and at a cost.
PDF and PS are proprietary but open formats for which there are freely available readers for /all/ platforms.
*All* platforms? Our BBCs can handle ASCII fine, but they can't read PDF. The PDF readers available for our pre-RISCOS-4 Arcs do not interpret much of what is in modern files.
Ok, antiques don't handle PDF ;-)
I still use some ex-SJ software for generating Postscript from our BBCs.
If you "view source" on http://www.felsted.org/curriculum/ict/weather/data/00/9/daily.htm you will see HTML pages generated daily and automatically on a BBC. And we can read HTML on our BBCs using lynx or links. But reading or writing PDF's on BBCs is not so easy.
How do they handle .docs?
There are few tools for dealing with .doc's on nix and none to produce them.
StarOffice on our FreeBSD systems generates .docs, if requested.
I forgot about StarOffice as I don't use it. Another problem with WP's is that they are no good for maths which is where the LaTeX/PDF combo really wins. FWIW, my university distributes some of my coursework (which can contain a lot of maths) to me as PDF. Perhaps schools should think about that too. BTW, I've made Malcolm's document available as PDF on my site for those who'd like it: http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/miscellany.html (link at bottom of that page) -- Frank *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* | Boroughbridge | Tel: 01423 323019 | PGP keyID: 0xC0B341A3 | *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/