Forced migration from LaTeX to a Word or word-like editor

[Madhusudan Singh]

Hi

Sorry about so much cross-posting, but I think I might receive some
valuable input from any of these groups.

I am a Linux / teTeX user. Very happy with the combination, and consider it
far superior to the Windoze / Word combination. However, due to work
reasons, I have to write some of my technical documents in Word from now
on. All my future co-authors are Word users and for various reasons, do not
wish to learn LaTeX and its superior features. Anyhow, I do not want to buy
a new machine and install windows XP and Office on it. For starters, I do
not have the money nor any other use for that machine. Not to mention the
headaches associated with owning a windows machine (virii, vulnerabilities,
etc.)

So, while staying in the Linux world, I wish to use Word or something like
Word (openoffice.org writer suggested itself) that would work seamlessly
with Word files. I tried the following :

1. OpenOffice.org. Looks promising. But I will have two requirements - that
it work with EndNote (the counterpart for bibtex) and MathType (I just hope
that I do not have to enter too many equations in Word or Writer !).

2. I downloaded the trial version of crossover office, installed it,
installed internet explorer (not for the dash of "health" it is reputed to
bring to any machine infected with it, but for some files it provides that
M$ Office depends upon). When I try to install a licensed copy of M$ Office
XP Professional, I get an error message about my CD drive not being able to
read hidden files, then I "fix" it (crossover office users will probably
understand what I am talking about), and then Office install complains that
some System files are missing, which process fails with a missing OSP3.CAB
(or some such darned thing) file.

Now, if someone can help me sort out either of these issues (preferably 2 (I
will obviously purchase a full version of crossover office if a way is
found to make it work with M$ Office XP Professional), since then I would
probably not have to worry about import / export stuff), I will be most
grateful and get down to the distasteful task of writing in Word pronto.

Thanks.

 

[TF]

Madhusudan

What you can do is to install Windows and Linux on the same computer, use
MSOffice on Windows XP and leTeX Linux (whatever you use) on the other. How
you do this depends on whether you'd like to run both simultaneous and
simply switch OSes, or if you are happy booting to one or the other.

If you want to simply boot one or the other, try the guide to installing
multiple OSes at www.blackviper.com (or search Google and find dozens of
guides). If you would like to run both OSes simultaneously (providing you
have reasonable resources on your computer), use Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.
I have a colleague who runs RedHat, Windows XP and Windows 2003 server using
Virtual PC 2004 on a single PC with a P4/2.8, 80GB drive and 1GB memory.
Considering the PC spec, it runs acceptably.

My preference would be for the Virtual PC option but with a bit better
spec'ed PC.




: Hi
:
: Sorry about so much cross-posting, but I think I might receive some
: valuable input from any of these groups.
:
: I am a Linux / teTeX user. Very happy with the combination, and consider
it
: far superior to the Windoze / Word combination. However, due to work
: reasons, I have to write some of my technical documents in Word from now
: on. All my future co-authors are Word users and for various reasons, do
not
: wish to learn LaTeX and its superior features. Anyhow, I do not want to
buy
: a new machine and install windows XP and Office on it. For starters, I do
: not have the money nor any other use for that machine. Not to mention the
: headaches associated with owning a windows machine (virii,
vulnerabilities,
: etc.)
:
: So, while staying in the Linux world, I wish to use Word or something like
: Word (openoffice.org writer suggested itself) that would work seamlessly
: with Word files. I tried the following :
:
: 1. OpenOffice.org. Looks promising. But I will have two requirements -
that
: it work with EndNote (the counterpart for bibtex) and MathType (I just
hope
: that I do not have to enter too many equations in Word or Writer !).
:
: 2. I downloaded the trial version of crossover office, installed it,
: installed internet explorer (not for the dash of "health" it is reputed to
: bring to any machine infected with it, but for some files it provides that
: M$ Office depends upon). When I try to install a licensed copy of M$
Office
: XP Professional, I get an error message about my CD drive not being able
to
: read hidden files, then I "fix" it (crossover office users will probably
: understand what I am talking about), and then Office install complains
that
: some System files are missing, which process fails with a missing OSP3.CAB
: (or some such darned thing) file.
:
: Now, if someone can help me sort out either of these issues (preferably 2
(I
: will obviously purchase a full version of crossover office if a way is
: found to make it work with M$ Office XP Professional), since then I would
: probably not have to worry about import / export stuff), I will be most
: grateful and get down to the distasteful task of writing in Word pronto.
:
: Thanks.

 

[Madhusudan Singh]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

To clarify, the documents will have to go back and forth between Word and
whatever solution I come up with. So, I do need a solution that involves no
irreversible transformations between any one format and doc.

Any ideas to get crossover office working with M$ office will be
appreciated.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

See http://vpc.visualwin.com/ for a list of Linux distros that work and
don't work in VPC. You can download a trial version of VPC from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx to see if you can
use it profitably.

You should have at least 384mb ram. More is nice.

 

[TF]

I presume CrossOver Office is some form of Linux utility that converts
between MS Office and something (?) on Linux. I suggest that a Linux
Newsgroup - or better still - the CrossOver Office developers would be
better a source of information on this.

Terry


: Thanks to everyone who responded.
:
: To clarify, the documents will have to go back and forth between Word and
: whatever solution I come up with. So, I do need a solution that involves
no
: irreversible transformations between any one format and doc.
:
: Any ideas to get crossover office working with M$ office will be
: appreciated.