Text-Console Based Word Processing?

chipperdog asks: "I am looking for an activly maintained console based word processor, similar to what one could find with Appleworks, from the Apple // era (Prodos 8 version, pre-//gs), or even one comparable to DOS versions of WP and Microsoft Word. An open-source one that compiles and runs in Linux would be best, although it would be nice to find one that could run on a 486DX2 50MHz with 8MB. A Google and Freshmeat search only turned up editors that seem to lack some of the necessary word processing features I am seeking. Although I mostly use VI (and *TEX when necessary), some no-so-geeky end users need the quasi-WSIWYG interface."

Comments

Re:groff

[Matthew Weigel]

Some people think that "legacy stretching back further than TeX" is not a "win".

These same people might question why you are suggesting that something "used for man page formatting on tty devices" should be used for printed documentation.

Of course, such people clearly don't know the power of groff (for those people: try printing man pages out, and you'll see that it handles paper copy very well), but you're not exactly selling it.

And really I would recommend (La)TeX because I think it's more usable (closer to "what you see is what you mean" than roff); but if someone doesn't want to use TeX, I would recommend looking to modern-day roff users for information on using it: Plan 9.