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Subject:RE: FrameMaker Vs Word From:"Mike O." <obie1121 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 15 Nov 2002 09:04:00 -0800 (PST)
> I started reading the O'Reilly DocBook book, and
> basically broke my Linux by trying to install
> the tools that I *think* they were trying to tell
> me that I need, so I didn't get very far.
Not sure what distro you are using, but DocBook and OpenJade
come preconfigured with the latest versions of Red Hat and many
others.
> I'm a lone writer at a company that's still using
> Windows, but that is investigating a move to
> Linux.
There is a Windows version of OpenJade that works fine with
DocBook.
> I need to just:
> a) write a book (product manual)
> b) print it and create a PDF of it
> c) maybe make an html/xml version
If you just need A and B, stick with Word or Frame. If you need
A, B, and C, use DocBook (or Frame if you swing that way).
> Experimenting must be done in my
> non-existent "spare" time, and at my expense.
I have the same problem, but unfortunately there aren't any
shortcuts. Actually, I taught myself DocBook authoring in my
"spare time." You can set it up on your Windows box and spend
your spare cycles on learning it. I haven't had the chance to
use it for a client project yet, but I'd like to. Sometimes I
will offer them a prototype done in DocBook just to see if
they'll bite.
In my experience, setup and config is a royal pain, but I mostly
attribute that to me being a dummy. I have set up
DocBook/OpenJade on several different Windows and Linux boxes.
Each time I forgot how I had done it last time, and new things
went wrong. But once I get it set up, it's always rock-solid.
> Is there a big Linux DocBook HowTo somewhere
> that I've missed in all my googling?
Mostly lots of little ones, but the truth is out there.
Start with docbook.org... Also check out the wiki, there are
some helpful links there: http://docbook.org/wiki
> For that matter, is "opposed
> to" the right way to think of it?
That's exactly the right way to think of it:
- OpenJade/DSSL is older, more established, and is the standard
for most open-source documentation.
- XSL-based tools theoretically have more potential but
currently they require a higher geek quotient.
> Is OpenJade a complete solution? Or do you need
> to surround it with 27 other tools in order to
DocBook SGML plus Jade/OpenJade is the standard for the Linux
Documentation Project, unless something has changed recently. http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/
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