Welcome to part two of my infinite series on programmes for Linux. Initially this was going to be the ‘Programmes I use’ post/meme that all sites with even a passing interest in computers, or their use, inevitably present. But as I played with the list, it just seemed—half-hearted. I just could not get into writing it. So I have decided to take a format that worked for me in the past, namely the one I used for my Linux browser roundup.
I debated about including the various text editors I have installed and uninstalled, but I found the list to be unwieldy, and essentially all of the entries would have looked something like this: I liked it, but never used it, so it was removed. I also considered including organisational programmes like CeltX, but I never used them when they were installed, so those entries would have been even shorter.
So, on with the show!
What’s Been Installed in the Past
StarOffice Writer: Way back in the late 90s, I was getting tired of only having MS Word as a writing platform, and so went in search of alternatives. Sadly, there were not a wide range of options, and almost none of them were available for free, except for StarOffice.
I can not say I fully switched to StarOffice at that point (MS Word was just so ingrained into me), but I used it enough that it came along when I finally switched to Linux.
OpenOffice Writer: Somewhere along the line, in the early 2000s, I became aware of an open source version of StarOffice being offered by Sun. It was the same basic programme, just with the proprietary bits excised. So I went in search of this programme and found OpenOffice.
It did not take long for Staoffice to disappear from my hard drive, and for OpenOffice to usurp its place. OO Writer did everything I wanted, and needed, and for at least a year, it was the only thing I used. And even after that year, it was still the go-to programme for MS Word files (how I hate you .doc…).
It was not until just a couple of months ago that I finally removed OpenOffice and replaced it with LibreOffice, a move made more due to politics than the quality of the software.
Kword: Kword never really caught on with me. I like it, and the way it handles document structuring is quite agreeable to my sensibilities, but it suffers the same problem as Konqueror: to much back-end.
Textroom: This is a very sparse, and relatively simple rich text editor, and it is designed to minimise the number of distractions present when it is in use. There are no drop-down menus, and there are not really any formatting options (aside for such simple things as bold, italic and underline, though I think it may support html, but I do not remember anymore).
I used it half-heartedly for about a week before switching to another programme. I tried it again a few months ago, and the same thing happened. The super-sparseness of its design just is not for me.
Pyroom: At the same time I found Textroom, I also found Pyroom, and gave it a shot as well. It is essentially the same thing as Textroom, only written in Python. It suffered the same fate as Textroom for exactly the same reason. The only difference between the two being that I have not installed Pyroom again—yet.
Kile: This is KDE’s latex document processor. For those not aware of what a document processor is, it is like a word processor, in that it allows you to organise and format you document in whatever way you see fit; but unlike a word processor, you do not see the results immediately, instead they have to be rendered (generally as a pdf). Essentially, it is a means of separating content creation and content formatting.
I do not recall having anything terrible to say about Kile. It did the job, and never crashed. But again—the back-end… Oh, the back-end.
Ted: Ted is a light-weight word processor that I never really got into. I first installed it on my sister’s ancient laptop so she would not be waiting for the better part of five minutes for a document to open in Abiword. It was not the prettiest programme, but it worked. Curious, I decided to give it a try too. And then I promptly forgot about it.
When I did go back to play around with it, I found the menus and interface to be a tad on the counter-intuitive side. It did not last much beyond that.
What’s Installed Now
There are far fewer programmes in this category than I had anticipated. I was sure there would be at least six, but investigation of my installed programmes has revealed only these lonely four.
Vim: This is my go-to programme. If I want to jot something down: Vim. If I want to compose dirty limericks: Vim. If I want to edit configuration files: Vim. If I want to write and write and write: Vim. If I—well, you get the idea. If it involves text, there is a good chance that Vim will be involved in the process.
It does have a steep learning curve, and I was no exception in picking up its commands and tricks (and I am positive there are many more I do not know of). But once I got past that introductory phase, I found it straightforward. The key-bindings have become so ingrained, that I find myself trying to use them in other programmes, with varying degrees of failure.
LyX: LyX is my choice for a document processor. Like Vim, there are many, many commands and options that I do not know about, or have forgotten. But unlike Vim, it has menus. I have used it to format many documents, and must say that the separation it forces between content creation and document formatting can be a great help. No longer am I fiddling with margins while I am trying to write. Now I can write, and THEN fiddle with margins. (Oh, how I look forward to the fiddling.)
Abiword: When I moved away from KDE in 2007, I also went on a ‘small-footprint’ kick, and sought out the lightest weight software I could, that did the job I wanted. For word processors, the pickings are pretty slim, and the only one that really suited my needs was Abiword.
Now, 2007 was not my first encounter with Abiword. I have had it installed, on and off, on Windows and Linux systems, since 2000 (or so). For a time, it was my primary writing tool, until I found Vim.
Currently I use it to write and format short documents, things generally not more than two or three pages long, and to view MS Word documents.
LibreOffice Writer: When LibreOffice was first released, I was intrigued, and quickly installed it. I opened it with great anticipation and—was disappointed. It just did not want to work for me. The menus would not drop down… Or they would, but the entries would not respond to my clicks. The buttons on the dialogue boxes would not work, no matter how much I pleaded and cajoled. And then it crashed.
I uninstalled it after that, and reinstalled OpenOffice.
A couple months later, I decided to try it again. I went in with my expectations suitably in check and—was pleasantly surprised. All of the bugs and kinks and frustrations I had run into, were gone. LibreOffice ran smooth and easy. And so it stayed, and OpenOffice got the boot.
Admitedly, I do not use LibreOffice a lot, but for handling finicky MS documents (Word, Excel, etc.) it does a fine job (at least that is my experience).