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I'm using TCS 3/Office 2010 on Win 7 as a VMWare client under openSUSE 11.4. It works fine; I'm managing a UM of about 350 pages.
You do take a bit of a performance hit, but once FM is up with all the book files open, you wouldn't know the difference.
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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+daniel_f=radwin -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+daniel_f=radwin -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Chantel Brathwaite
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 20:26
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Multi-Platform Environments and DTP
Wanted to clarify this point:
"It is looking more and more like Frame might be the tool of choice,
which is fine. But we might need to go back a couple of versions or use
a virtual machine. "
I don't need the virtual box, but the others who are looking at and
reviewing the documents probably would if we all move to Frame exclusively.
Chantel
On 5/24/2011 1:23 PM, Chantel Brathwaite wrote:
> Ed and Gene,
>
> Thanks for the feedback concerning Scribus. I started working with it
> yesterday and was already feeling like it might not really meet our
> needs. But, I think the tool might work for other things - so I'm
> glad I am now aware of it. Sounds like you are both confirming my
> first impressions.
>
> I know someone who is using InDesign for long documents and is using
> another tool so that multiple people (graphic artist, writer, etc.)
> can work in a document at the same time. But, this isn't really
> needed in our current environment for tech docs. I don't need to
> migrate from the PC (thank goodness with the type of work I do), so I
> don't need to worry about installing a virtual box. On the rare
> occasions when I need to work on a unix box, it is usually Solaris -
> so snapshot is sufficient.
>
> It is looking more and more like Frame might be the tool of choice,
> which is fine. But we might need to go back a couple of versions or
> use a virtual machine.
>
> However, I've not explored the XML options yet. I know about XML,
> have used it in a limited fashion, have done my own personal projects
> (like incorporating a XML phone list and using XSLT to style them for
> a web based application), but haven't really used it for tech
> writing. DITA will be something new for me, so I think I'm going to
> start exploring that next. I'm also trying to think about what is
> best for the organization also in terms of tech writing skillsets that
> might be out there ... don't want to tie them up with something that
> might be cause problems for another tech writer to learn should I end
> up moving on at some point in the future.
>
> Anyway, any advice or suggestions concerning a move to XML would be
> appreciated. Our organization is on a budget as well, so we can't
> really afford very expensive solutions ... but reasonably priced ones
> should work well.
>
>
> Chantel
>
>
> On 5/24/2011 11:57 AM, Ed Marsh wrote:
>> From what little I know about Scribus, it's not on par with the
>> professional layout software like Xpress or InDesign. While
>> InDesign's long document features have steadily improved, Frame is
>> still the standard in this regard, at least in the TechComm community.
>>
>> Would it be possible to install something like VirtualBox on your
>> Windows PC, and use that to run Linux and capture the screens you
>> need? That way you can continue to use your Windows-based tools
>> without problems. I run Ubuntu in VirtualBox to develop and test web
>> sites in Drupal.
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> -=Ed.
>>
>> On Mon, 23 May 2011 16:50:05 -0400, Chantel Brathwaite
>> <brathwaitec -at- castupgrade -dot- com> wrote:
>>> We are looking for alternatives to MS Word for long (500+ pages),
>>> multi-chapter technical documents. Our customer is the government, so
>>> no matter what we do, we will probably have to deliver some content in
>>> word - but other content can be delivered as a pdf. Our environment is
>>> a mix of windows, linux, and one mac user ... most of the developers
>>> use Linux and run windows on a terminal emulation program called
>>> crossover. I am using windows xp. I'll probably be using xp for
>>> while unless I switch to linux.
>>>
>>> Currently, I'm using Word and Framemaker 7.2. We were hoping to use
>>> Framemaker exclusively for the different developers in the office...
>>> but Frame no longer supports Unix. So, we are looking at
>>> alternatives. Here's what I've considered. I would love feedback on
>>> this ...
>>>
>>> 1. I keep Framemaker 7.2 (or possibly upgrade), then use mif2go to
>>> convert the documents into a format that the engineers can read and
>>> edit. Then I copy and paste the information back to the original
>>> frame document. Or alternatively, I convert them to PDF. I can
>>> import PDF comments from Frame10, but there are some limitations from
>>> what I understand (the document has to be the same as the original
>>> which makes including edits from multiple reviewers a little more
>>> difficult).
>>>
>>> 2. We move to the cross-platform version of Framemaker - which is
>>> Frame 8. But, older licenses are pretty expensive and Adobe will only
>>> allow us one upgrade unfortunately.
>>>
>>> 3. We look into using a virtual machine ... but that might cause them
>>> to make some changes that I'm not sure that they'll want to make.
>>> (Crossover, which is a terminal emulation program doesn't support
>>> adobe products very well - and the newer versions of frame are
>>> untested.) If we do that, we can all just upgrade Frame 10 and all
>>> documentation can be converted over.
>>>
>>> 4. We look at an alternative - such as QuarkXpress. But, I've heard
>>> that the tech support for that product is really poor and while there
>>> is windows and mac support, there is no unix support for the latest
>>> version. I also looked at InDesign, but there is no unix support (and
>>> it fails Crossover support). I'm not sure about PageStream and
>>> Scribus; I'm just starting to look at those tools ...
>>>
>>> I'm continuing to think about angles to work on this ... but it seems
>>> that over the past five to ten years the DTP field has thinned
>>> considerably for unix boxes, unfortunately.
>>>
>>> Is there something that I'm overlooking? Or can you suggest other
>>> alternatives for me or your experiences? For those of you working in
>>> multi-platform environments, what do you typically use?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> Chantel Brathwaite
>>> Technical Writer
>>> Cole Engineering Services Inc.
>>> Web: http://www.coleengineering.com
>>> Email: Chantel -dot- Brathwaite -at- coleengineering -dot- com
>>> Phone: 407-207-1773 ext. 4138
>>>
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