Slashdot Mirror
Scribus 1.0 Released
McShazbot writes "Graphics.com has this article about the release of Scribus 1.0 (homepage, mirror) desktop publishing software. Check out some screenshots. If it can even marginally compete with the industry leader, this is a big deal -- I know a lot of people for whom Quark is the killer app that prevents them from moving to Linux, and most of them are tired of paying a grand for the privilege of using it."
For Mac OS X users, there is a version of Scribus (RC1 of 1.0, I believe.) in fink-unstable. Not the latest version (and not stable of course), but might be worth a look-see.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
I remember a couple of really *great* DTP programs on the Amiga, they were killer apps, but they didn't survive.
Being a killer app doesn't mean you won't be crushed and killed...
Anyway, nice to see some free good app in the DTP arena under linux.
But might make Microsoft Publisher unnecessary :)
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
I think we can all agree that anything that lowers barriers to use of Linux, such as desktop publishing here, is a "good thing."
No offense to the wonderful people creating the Scribus software. It's great to see options other than pay-your-left-nut-for-software.
l ), I bet many, many more OS X boxen will be sold, averting any "Great Migration" to Linux anytime soon by the DTP folk.
However, this is mostly pie-in-the-sky. With the new release of Quark for OS X (http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/mac_osx.htm
This is great! Right now, we have plenty of good software to compete on the desktop.
Programs like OpenOffice, Mr. Project, Evolution, Mozilla, GIMP and Scribe really give us the strength to do so. Now we only need a good visio-like tool to be complete.
And, of course, if you are a web developer, we still lack a good dreamweaver-like tool. I hope we'll have one soon...
This kind of stuff will make a difference in Linux winning desktop market.
When you are talking that expensive of software, the price for the OS really doesn't make any difference.
Here.
You must be joking. From the moment Quark can't read or save as Quark or InDesign formats, it is in NO PLACE to compete with them, no matter what kind of features it might have (which doesn't really, it is years behind Quark/InDesign).
Sorry, but it has to be said. Surely, it is a good free DTP for Unix to play around, but that's about it.
Just a couple of weeks ago, we read about the release of ardour. A very competent audio-editing program. And now this. OSS is really emerging as the future for desktop content creation also, and not only server appliancies. And also the prop. software vendors are finding linux. (Maya 5 from Alias|Wavefront is availible for Linux). This is truely exiting times!
- To understand recursion, we must first understand recursion -
I just use MS Paint. It's great.
That'd take like 10 minutes, tops.
Otherwise, you still need a Win/Mac for source photos/graphics.
- A modern user friendly interface developed with Qt. Scribus can run on Linux, HP-UX, Solaris, BSD and soon Mac OSX. An experimental version running on KDE-Cygwin and Windows 2000 is in testing.
- Unicode support including support for right to left scripts.
- Can export CMYK separations and "press-ready" PDF including PDF 1.4 features such as transparency.
- The only DTP application to create fully ISO compliant PDF/X-3 files.
- A powerful PDF export engine capable of creating fully interactive PDF forms, presentation effects and encrypted PDF.
- ICC color management via the littlecms color management engine.
- Extended Matrix e-business infomediaries capability
- Exports high-quality PDF, SVG and EPS.
- Powerful cross-platform Python Scripting language extending Scribus functions and automating tasks, as well as calling external applications within Scribus.
- Maximize enterprise functionalities for web-serviced publishing
- Uses XML as a native file format. The Scribus XML format has been fully documented
Ummm...that's great and all, but I've been using Quark since version 3.8 (they're up to 6 now...just released it for the Mac), and it's been doing just about all of that since version 5.6.2. Scribus is a particularly poor choice if you're trying to scale best-of-breed users to engage proactive content, where Quark has all those capabilities out of the box. I really, really, hope it can succeed, as I'd like to see more graphical programs on Linux besides just the Gump. They really need to just sell Quark for Linux, but they probably too wrapped up in the BSD port right now.Consensual sex is boring.
What is the availability of type faces on Linux? Part of the Mac's dominance in the DTP arena is that the type collection is so massive, and most converters don't do the fonts justice (in previous experiences, this held true, not sure if it's like that now). A strong offerring of type face compatibility as well as image capability (scanning/editing), would help users move to Linux for their DTP needs.
I hope the slashdot effects cripples the graphics.com servers and sets them on fire in a glorious blaze of divine revenge! Take that for full screen popups!
Hate me!
Will it be able to open quark and/or MS Publisher files for compatibility?
Actually, is there an existing (native) open-source linux program that can open MS Pub files?
if you're trying to scale best-of-breed users to engage proactive content,
What does that clause mean?
Are you trying to make eugenically superior people even larger to do some task, or what?
In-application trapping would be better. A lot of printers don't yet have in-RIP trapping, and it'll be needed for running out separations as PDFs.
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
Like many other Linux applications, this product is probably good enough. Is quark better? Almost certainly, and you'll pay $1000 premium for that improvment. Is Office better than OpenOffice. Yes. But most people don't need everything that makes Office better. Is Photoshop better than Gimp? Yes.
If your livelihood is dependent on it, then it may very well be worth $1000. But if you are just doing some amateur work or you have a small home business needing some DTP, then this is good enough. Programs like this change the game because it allows people to dabble in whole new areas without having to shell out a premium price.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
I noticed that they seem to be in inches. That may be OK for people stuck in the early 20th century, but what about the rest of us?
TROLLING:
It IS a troll. The best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them or make a (good) joke about something they hope that you will bite in instead. The latter is even better because it makes the troll look like a turd, makes everyone realize it's a troll and that YOU are not falling for it and a good joke is always better then a bad troll. (of which we have more then enough on slashdot)
Very OT, I know. Consider it a good thing, by helping out a poor sap who almost had someone take the piss out of him.
Hate me!
When are people going to admit that until we see some really nice, really as good as Microsoft ttf fonts for all these desktop applications nobody is going to take them seriously. They look horrible and it totally detracts from the hard work put into the applications themselves.
Hanging out too much with the marketdroids at work will do that....the spew seems to rub off no matter how brief the encounter.
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand". -Milton F.
...I wasn't stuck using the bespoke godforsaken DOS application we have to use at work. Mice? Pah. This thing doesn't even run on Windows. It can't even do a filled rounded box - we have to make the rounded border really, really thick and cover the bit in the middle with a square filled box. It's that bad.
...you know the really horrible thing? Some of you will think I'm trolling, or taking the piss. A few of you wouldn't even believe that someone would use 8-bit ISA network cards instead of onboard 10/100 because "Thinnet is cheaper than Ethernet".
It doesn't really matter how bad or beta this thing is, it could never be as bad as what we already have, plus it's £0 and we don't have to pay heaps of money to the one guy in the universe who knows how to support it (because he coded it back in 1988). £0 may be the only way I can sell the CEO on this - and then only if I pilot it for nothing. Sheesh.
My friends, you have a lot to learn about just how hard it is for someone to admit that the system they paid money to create sucks monkey nuts.
C'mon, dude, #14022 and you don't know any better? ;-) Wasn't "I'd like to see more graphical programs on Linux besides just the Gump. They really need to just sell Quark for Linux, but they probably too wrapped up in the BSD port right now." enough of a tip-off?
Good Lord, he's up to +5 now.
$1000 is not much money if you're a serious (professional) user. Even if you're using it for non-profit work it's not a huge amount of money. The computer running it is probably more expensive.
Perhaps slashdot should seriously consider mirroring screenies before posting stories such as these.. two days ago pretty much brought down that server hosting the new evolution screenies, now this one isnt responding either. Some solution should be found for this or slashdot just punishes those it wants to bring news about..
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
I know a lot of people for whom Quark is the killer app that prevents them from moving to Linux, and most of them are tired of paying a grand for the privilege of using it.
You have to be joking. Anyone who whines about the prices of these products probably uses it as a convenience, and not for critical work. If they did they wouldn't complain about the $1000, or the $3/day a year -- you know, that StarBucks latte they have every day -- to use it. I'm always amazed by software organizations that try to skimp on paying for tools because things "cost too much", and then make that tool an integral part of their process. Alot of programs fall into this arena of specialized software with high price tags and great at what they do (or at least some people find them great at what they do, I have no interest in debating what you or I think are great software): math software like Mathematica and MathCad, IDE's and other development tools for programmers, RoboHelp, PhotoShop, and on and on. These programs are NOT meant to be cheap programs for Joe Blow, they are meant to be specialized and essential tools for professionals, researchers, whatever, and due to how successfully they perform their task have very wide acceptance.
Sure it's great when a free tool shows up that is just as good as another product. I love free tools. But if your work with such a tool doesn't justify the $3/day, you probably aren't the market they are shooting for.
So why should Scribus be held to a higher standard? If Adobe and Quark decided not to waste their time reverse-engineering the other's file formats, why should the OSS community? DTP requires such precision that a less-than-perfect conversion is useless.
So if the developers are reading this, don't waste your time on import or export filters for other DTP file fomats!!!!!!
And looks great, at least on my Mandrake system.
Quack, quack.
Scribus is definitely one of my favorite programs to work with. Though, I'm not sure if it's perfect yet (I did a project with 0.6 or 0.8 or something like that and PDF exports had quirks and text zoom was Freaking Blocky[tm])... hope 1.0 has fixed these small annoyances. It's always nice to see a program improving before my eyes!
A program to melt the raving lunatic's heart!
What would be really great would be if it would support graphical layout of Formatting Objects. I've checked out the available tools and they're unbelievably expensive, and not even very capable: little better than writing the formatting yourself. Something geared towards professional layout rather than simple web layout, or one page layout, would really help to advance this standard as well as the use of XML in general.
credo quia absurdum
Crystal Clear? Great. The people who modded that offtopic obviously don't do DTP. Go pick your nose.
I've used Scribus before and absolutely love it - it might not be ready for DTP prime-time, but for anyone who likes both DTP and Linux it's a breeze to use and really quite powerful. The results are far better than any other publishing/composing app I've used on Linux, the interface is clean and straightforward, and the support from the development team and activity on the mailing lists is wonderful.
Highly recommended - 5 stars, especially for a 1.0 release.
Any spoon would be too big.
Looks like great software, I'm looking forward to trying it out.
But I have to ask - what's kernel-specific about this software? Looks like it builds on any Unix box.
have been in Cooker (RC?) for a while.
"Scribus is a particularly poor choice if you're trying to scale best-of-breed users to engage proactive content"
So, Don't use Scribus if you intend to climb over sombody who is using the services of an upper-class call girl who is happy in her job, in order to propose marriage.
Warning: being self employed I haven't worked in a corporate environment for some time so I may not have a completely correct interpretation of this jargon.
That makes it sound like moving to linux is a goal in itself. It is not. The goal is to use your computer for whatever work or play you need. I mean, if all you do with your computer is "run linux" or "run OSX" or "run windows", then you're not really doing anything useful with your computer, are you?
Pagestream is still active, and has a version for Linux, and also shipping Mac/PC/Amiga versions.
This newest version looks like it has some features Quark doesn't have.
" You must be joking. From the moment Quark can't read or save as Quark or InDesign formats, it is in NO PLACE to compete with them, no matter what kind of features it might have (which doesn't really, it is years behind Quark/InDesign).
Sorry, but it has to be said. Surely, it is a good free DTP for Unix to play around, but that's about it."
File this under: If it doesn't handle proprietary file formats as good as the original[1] then we will ignore it, and so should you. You odd person you.
Expect this to be putting in an apperance (free, gratis) a lot more in the future, even when the the question is "Does it meet my needs?" instead of "Is it just like the original?".
Last seen when discussing OpenOffice and Microsoft Word. Occasionally seen as well around Gimp, Photoshop discussions, or any other involving majority-minority. BTW Don't move to IIS, it can't read Apache files, and it's light-years away. I'm sorry this had to be said, but IIS is a good, expensive server for Windows users to play around with, but that's about it. No! Really? I mean it. Honest. Cross my pocket-protector and hope to die.
[1] Please ignore any file version issues when pimping your product of choice.
>them are tired of paying a grand for the >privilege of using it
Gotta stop with comments like this. Don't like Quark, then don't use it. Don't like paying $1000, then your time is not worth much.
There is give and take with software, if quark doesn't save you time and quality then use something cheaper.
You make it sound like there a gun to the head of people using quark.
With MS you have an argument, but I fail to see
what your problem is with quark. Or maybe it is just any software you have to pay for?
btw, I have never used quark.
1. New document -> OK
2. Click on the Add Text button and draw a box.
3. Type "asdfasdfasdf"
4. Look for a way to change the font into header size.
5. Give up.
6. Decide to draw a polygon, select polygon tool from toobar
7. Click on Canvas.
8. Segfault
But it costs $1,000. Similarly a Mercedes Benz is better than
a Hyundai, but if you don't have $40,000 and need something that will get you to work the Hyundai is better than nothing. Quark had better pay attention, this is the same strategy that Microsoft used with Windows against the Mac. Sure, the first versions of Windows sucked compared to the Mac, but they were better than the alternative (DOS) and cheaper than the Mac, so a lot of people were willing to put up with the limitations. While Scribus may have limitations compared to Quark it's free and it runs on Linux. If Quark is paying attention they'll port to some flavor of Linux and work on driving down their prices . While scribus may not be able to 'scale best of breed useres to engage in proactive content' (whatever the Hell that means) it's a start and if it's like GIMP or OpenOffice it will just get better.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
Well, $4 per day, unless you work seven days a week. I usually work about 50 weeks per year and five days a week.
Not A Sig
"I can't think of anything meaningful to say."
We live, as we dream -- alone....
We use Quark at our newspaper, naturally. There's a few hundred licenses in the company. It is a damn expensive app. But consumables are even more expensive. We print directly to negatives, and film costs a good chunk of change. If there's a problem, we have to re-print the negs. If we have to re-plate, that's a bunch more money. If we don't know there's a problem till the press starts, there'll be hell to pay. Some papers are using new technology that lets them print directly to the printing plate. The materials for that are even more expensive. With Quark, we know what we're getting when we click "Print." $1000 may be expensive for a program, but we use more than that in film and plates every day. Quark Inc. isn't a very well liked company - but when you know what you're getting for sure in your finished product, that makes all the difference.
Maybe Scribus is currently ready for high-end DTP, maybe it isn't yet. Doesn't matter -- I am genuinely no-kidding pumped to see this. Whenever it is ready, I'll be one step closer to ditching my Windows box, where to date I have been shackled by PageMaker. Linux has LaTeX, but I don't need a document design program, I need pica-precision page layout. And I hear Wine is getting better at handlingPhotoshop too. Any year now....
What's Scribus like for long-document support? I laid out a 192-page roleplaying game, and PageMaker 6.5-7.0 handled it pretty well -- not as well as FrameMaker, but better than Quark. So far as I can tell, it looks like Scribus is currently targeting a lower document range. But any year now (ohboyohboy)....
if you're trying to scale best-of-breed users to engage proactive content
I think he's creating an army of mutated Uber publishers, with the goal of building mind altering billboards which turns all consumers into mindless consuming blobs that will eat griddle sandwiches stuffed with cheese and pig parts...... oh my god! The prophecy has come true..nooo...d.sa.d.d.s... . .
Well, first of all I think it's rather ridiculous to think people would switch applications (Quark to Scribus) rather then using 'emulated' OS9 code on OSX.
Besides, that's not the point anyway. The point is that once people start using Scribus, they can switch between MacOS, Linux, and Windows, rather then simply MacOS and Windows. Linux becomes a viable option.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I don't use that much of office, just word and occasionally Excel (and I used to run autopr0n with an Access database. Hehe), but I've never once seen it crash. The fact that you need to use works to start it up probably means that some files are corrupted or something. Your machine isn't really a valid comparison. I've never once seen an office app crash since office 2k.
I'm not saying open office sucks, and I'll probably use it sometime if I can't get my hands on a pirated copy of office, but office dosn't really suck as bad as you make it out too.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Seems you got slashdotted already :o)
Quota exceeded.
When Linux 1.0.0 debuted it certainly wasn't ready for that much of anything, except for hobbyists, etc. Years later with 2.6 on the horizon, we are seeing an environment where Linux is *far* easier to administrate than most of the commercial UNIX's. (Never mind all my Solaris frustration.) Same with Scribus. Remember GIMP 1.0?
Scribus is a free tool that allows hobbyists and hackers to play with DTP and learn the field to some extent. Therefore the stable release which is good enough for some environments will help to spur development and help build momentum behind this project. There are two consequences to this release:
1: Lowered barrier to entry for Linux
2: Enhanced competition for Quark, Pagemaker, etc.
These may be a ways away but they are coming.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Cant we run Photoshop (a legit copy, of course) in Linux, using emulators like Basilisk? I know it would be slow, yada, yada... but with a 2.5GHz 1GBRAM maybe it would somewhat usable... or wouldnt it?
But the GIMP plus Scribus would give me the last missing bit of PhotoShop/Quark, the CMYK and pre-press stuff.
Edit photos in the GIMP, which in a head-to-head test several years ago (a very early GIMP for Windows) produced finished photos that were not distinguishable from the same photos edited in PhotoShop. Then bring them into Scribus and export the color separations.
Save about $2000 :)
is it just me, or is there something odd with the font rendering on all the scribus screenshots i've seen ? maybe its because of scaling and aliasing, i don't really know, but it looks strange ...
News Item for Immediate Release
b usdocs/ and mirrored at:
Programmer Franz Schmid is pleased to announce the release of Scribus 1.0 - Linux Desktop Publishing. Two years in development and available
in 17 languages, Scribus represents the first open source DTP application capable of generating professional "press-ready" results.
Among the major features of Scribus:
A modern user friendly interface developed with Qt. Scribus can run on Linux, HP-UX, Solaris, BSD and soon Mac OSX. An experimental version running on Cygwin and Windows 2000 is in testing.
Unicode support including support for right to left scripts.
Can export CMYK separations and "press-ready" PDF including PDF 1.4 features such as transparency.
The only DTP application to create fully ISO compliant PDF/X-3 files.
A powerful PDF export engine capable of creating fully interactive PDF forms, presentation effects and encrypted PDF.
ICC color management via the littlecms color management engine.
Powerful cross-platform Python Scripting language extending Scribus functions and automating tasks, as well as calling external applications within Scribus.
Uses XML as a native file format. The Scribus XML format has been fully documented.
The Scribus Team:
Programming / Original Author Franz Schmid Franz.Schmid at altmuehlnet.de
Code Review and API Documentation Paul F. Johnson paulf.johnson at ukonline.co.uk
English Documentation and Testing Peter Linnell scribusdocs at atlantictechsolutions.com
Many contributions and translations from users.
Scribus Home Page: http://web2.altmuehlnet.de/fschmid/ and mirrored at:
http://scribus.planetmirror.com
On line documentation and specs:
http://www.atlantictechsolutions.com/scri
http://home.comcast.net/~scribusdocs/
Is Office a piece of shit?
Yes.
Is OpenOffice?
Yes.
for i in `cat emails.txt`; do mail -s "watch nubile young things" $i junkmail.txt; done
Sorry to remind the Slashdot crowd of this issue yet again, but weren't some of the features mentioned in your list patented and heavily protected by companies such as Apple and Adobe? I'm talking about the CMYK and ICC color management stuff. Perhaps they have finally found a way to work around any of such existing patents. If so: good job!
:)
Something else about the feature list: SVG support, that's pretty cool! That standard is expected to become more interesting in the not too distant future. Glad to see support for this official W3C-approved vector graphics standard increasing.
"Oooh, does that mean we get to kick some puffy white mad zionist butt?"
This is exactly the kind of app I was looking for just last week. But I found KWord which seems to fit nicely. KWord is mostly like MS Publisher, but it seems to be pretty buggy and crashes every now and then. But in terms of functionality, it has most of the stuff I need.
Though I'll give Scribus a whirl, but aren't there any publishing programs that use GTK? I have Gnome2.2 and right now KWord is the only reason I have KDElibs on my computer.
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
You've used the (infamous) Christian Children's Fund, or (less infamous) PBS reasoning to justify the software purchase.
"But it's only the cost of a coffee a day!". Fine. Let's pretend everything necessary to be part of a successful business costs just the cost of a coffee a day, per person, and we'll add it all up. Heck, I'll be nice and leave off some things that might not be used by the average office worker.
- Desk
- Books (x10)
- Monitor
- Computer
- Keyboard and Mouse
- Lights (x4)
- Phone
- Filing Cabinet
- Printer
- Office Space
- HVAC
- Seating
- VMB
- Pens, Pencils, Paper
- Networking Equipment
- Server
- Water Cooler
- Windows (TM)
- Office (TM)
- Specialized Software (x2)
I've really only covered a small amount of the essentials, and we're already up to $102 in absolute basic expenditures a day. In other words, by running an office, you need to spend the equivalent of the US GDP on the absolute most basic items (I haven't included anything specialty, and I've even missed some basics -- where are the workers supposed to go to the bathroom?). I'm sure if everything cost a coffee a day, a company would need to spend about $250,000 per worker per year. That's INSANE. That means that my small business would cost over $1 million to start up. If that's what it takes to run a business, you'd better be ready to spend $20 per chocolate bar (or, in my case, $10,000 per modchip).OMG! My comments have to few characters per line! Help! Call the Paramedics! A little bit of Quarn to the rescue, then!
3: 5. Surely, those who deny the Signs of Allah, shall have a severe punishment. And Allah is Mighty, Lord of Retribution. 3: 6. Surely, nothing in the earth or in the heaven is hidden from Allah. 3: 7. HE it is who fashions you in the wombs as HE wills; there is none worthy of worship but HE, the Mighty, the Wise. 3: 8. HE it is who has sent down to thee the Book; in it there are verses that are firm and decisive in meaning - they are the basis of the Book - and there are others that are susceptible of different interpretations. But those in whose hearts is perversity pursue such thereof as are susceptible of different interpretations, seeking to cause discord and seeking wrong interpretations of it. And none knows it except Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge; they say, `We believe in it; the whole is from our Lord.' - And none take heed except those gifted with understanding -
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
...is not whether designers can use the app, it all depends on the pritners. The biggest road block for the acceptance of InDesign is not Quark, it it stubborn printers (I don't mean the device we stick on our desktops near the compputer, I mean the people who handle large print jobs on sheetfed presses and the like) who will not upgrade their systems to accept InDesign files. They are far too comfortable with Quark regardless of how Quark is holding up the design industry from making the switch to InDesign, a superior page layout app compared to Quark, much less SCribus. If Adobe is having trouble getting printers to support InDesign, these guys will have an even tougher time getting them to support Scribus especially if no designers really use the app and nag their service bureaus and printers.
The posters who say that Scribus has a ways to go to catch up to Quark and InDesign are right, but I'm dismayed that they don't seem to think it will ever do so. If OpenOffice.org can catch up to Word, if the GIMP can catch up to Photoshop, and so on, then Scribus can catch up to Quark. That is to say, it hasn't happened yet, but it's close enough to make the BigCorps nervous. This is a big step forward for open source.
I've watched Scribus over the last six months, and it's improving at what I can only call a breakneck pace. While it's not Quark or InDesign, it's good enough for me to use for my day job.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
The truly brilliant thing about Scribus, of course, is that its file format is totally free and open. If Quark / Adobe/ whoever really cared about their customers, they would take the 5 minutes it took to make a filter to go to/ from the Scribus format, instead of forcing people to waste time trying to reverse engineer their little data vaults.
Is Scribus as good as Quark? No, it is better. Simply because your data is not sealed up in an unknown format.
People who really care about doing desktop publishing should start using Scribus, submitting problem reports and wishlist items, and if they have the interest and skill, start doing a little hacking.
Anyone who whines about the prices of these products probably uses it as a convenience, and not for critical work.
I wouldn't say I whine exactly, but I would love to be able to typeset a book I'm printing 2 copies of without needing thousand-dollar software. It's nice to know that it might just be possible to set the book for less than the cost of printing it.
Read the full text my book Perl for the Web
Is massage motherfucking Windows to get it to work so that you can do your real work, then yes, moving to Linux becomes a goal.
I've been following this project for a few months now. I've used it a bit. Its a little rough around the edges, but it seems to have a lot of potential.
/. posting.
What about including vector graphics? There doesn't seem to be any way to include vector graphics produced from other programs (eps, svg, metafile, etc.). It gives the option to include encapsulated postscript, but it converts it to a raster. By contrast, printing to a postscript file in OpenOffice.org will preserve the contents of the eps figure.
Despite this, people seem to love Scribus. Are they simply importing images instead of vector graphics?
I'm not bashing the program, it has an excellent pdf export option. It would be great to see some of the pdf export options in other Qt/KDE programs (this would be an excellent feature for the Koffice suite).
Thanks.
PS: My first
Quark has been holding us back for years. My department would like to move to Mac OS X, and we're certainly being pushed by the IT and Systems departments. I'm sure we could even move to Linux instead, and use a solution like Yellow Dog Linux on the machines here. Our machines would be much more stable either way.
But no matter how easy to use or feature-filled or completely great this Scribus is, it'll be useless to us if it can't "flow" with the other software we use. The systems to control the ads and artwork are specifically designed to work with Quark XPress, and now Adobe InDesign too. They're also custom-tailored to our workspace by the company that programmed them.
So, until Scribus or other open-source solutions can draw the kind of attention needed to have extensions and software written around or including them, they can't be considered viable options for time- and flow-dependent workspaces. Of course, they need to be considered by those kind of workspaces to draw attention, but oh well. I just hope we can move to InDesign, OS X, and to direct-to-plate processing without going crazy.
Twelve fingers or one, its how you play. ~Gattaca (Vincent)
I, among many hats, do IT purchasing for a small company. While more expensive in the long run (duh), leasing is a boon to prevent cash crunches. The reseller we usually work with (PC Connection, although I've had the same experience with PCZone and CDW) is only too happy to add software, CD-R's, cables, or even just seat license agreements, whatever we want, to leases, in any quantity. We own 16 licenses for QuarkXPress 4.11 for Macintosh, all of which were purchased as part of various leased deals, as few as two at a time (e.g. buy two workstations, and the software licenses to make them useful).
So, I'd say the original poster is correct: $1000 is a meaningless amount when it's the backbone of your industry, your job, and your accounts receivable.
-A.
What did the walrus say to the penguin? "No soap, radio."
Network Executive: We at the network want a dog with attitude. He's edgy. You've heard the expression "let's get busy"? Well, this is a dog who gets biz-zay; consistently and thoroughly.
Krusty: So he's proactive, huh?
Executive: Oh, God yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.
Writer: Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm"? Aren't those just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important? Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that... I'm fired aren't I?
The neutrality of this sig is disputed.
What keybindings does it have? CUA- or Emacs-style?
I used Framemaker on a Sun, for a time, and it had Emacs keybindings.
There's nothing more annoying than typing Ctrl+a Ctrl+d on Windows and staring at a blank document.
We used this program to create our brochures with limited success. I think I was using 0.9 (some beta or development version or something--can't remember). It crashed quite often...dragging text boxes and the like wasn't very good...
:(
Having said all this, this is the best program AFAIK that supports CMYK output (on Linux). I hope they fixed the bugs. It is pretty good for your typical stuff. It can output PDF and EPS (unfortunately no PS, which some printers required--converting screws up).
Thanks to the deverlopers. Hoepfully it'll be improved to the point where it can be used by a typical user.
BTW, when is GIMP going to support CMYK colour?
KoalaBear33
......The worst thing in my life happened when the stock market started mattering more than the economy
It's newly supported in Codeweaver's Wine 2.0. There must be 1000's of posts on why OSX is better than Linux coz of MS Office and Photoshop.
It's imply not true any more. Plus more apps work under Linux every day under Wine.
That said, we're I am at a University and for my Wife's Microbusiness, Scribus is just great. (For posters, flyers, etc)
Thanks very much guys!
Martin Sevior
My comments are made in light of the state of the bilingual printing industry in Japan, plus my experience in a DTP shop in the U.S.
Two really great points were made here, about fonts and trapping. The lack of good Mac-based fonts due to liscensing trouble nearly killed Mac DTP, and even now the choice of available fonts is critical. So if you already have fonts, or know what fonts are available at the output agency, the ability to use these predictably will be extremely useful. So perhaps a kerning table that matches commercial printers' fontsets will allow you to simulate printing with a certain font that you don't have.
The point about the need for trapping is also great. Trapping is basically an algorithm to control how differently colored areas overlap or don't. If you do it right you don't get wierd intersection effects, but it is hard to get a computer to do it right every time. Get some professional DTP people to try the software and send feedback about it - tough love maybe but it will make for better software for all users.
There was a question about resolution - usually people talk about lines per inch not dots per inch, and even then you choose a printer by seeing how well the cheapest version will output the file you have. For example you can get away with a cheap printer if it is just black and white laser of a document, but you other printers will give you much finer halftone screens or will be more economical at higher print volumes. I have not used PDF at say 1200 dpi but would be interested to see how well you can print color photos with the current system they are using.
Also I mentioned in the past that I had ported specialized DTP software (like a cross between Quark and Illustrator) for traditional printing presses in Japan from Mac to Windows, now used by
1500 companies. It is used for example to print national exams. Font handling precision was important so I used Quicktime. Import and export of file formats was important, and there were a large number of functions for finicky manipulations, some of which seemed unique to the way ads were printed on these machines, mimicking the way it used to be done by hand.
So it just seems that if the authors take a single very specific problem domain (say a small to medium size company printing camera-ready advertisements for a magazine, or perhaps printing a sales brochure) and actually trying this with real users they will get excellent feedback and the word will get around. But even a small DTP (design) shop wants to use tools that are going to allow quick import and creation of line art and photos, and provide the basic tools (thinking of fonts and illustrator-like drawing functions) to get as much high quality work done in as short a time as possible. $1000 bucks is nothing. The question is can a better, cheaper system be provided for any users.
Anyway this sounds like a great attempt and I'll certainly look forward to using it. If I could I'd like to make a PDF for a Japanese product brochure with it, but this may be pushing it too much. Good luck to the authors.
Finally, this is not the only DTP software for Linux, if you count LyX (the word-processor frontend to LaTeX). Though it is not exactly easy to use, and not exactly WYSIWIG perhaps.. but you can do mathematical typesetting and manuals (or man pages) pretty well with it. I wonder if Scribus can import LyX or other postscript files. Would Scribus be a good alternative for scientific researchers to write up and publish research papers? Perhaps some templates that made it easy to print a two-column article with a bibliography would be useful there. There is some interesting information about why arxiv.org does not want you to send PDFs (they prefer TeX source since it maintains context). Can Scribus import TeX? What about EPS? How much interoperation with GIMP or other software on linux or other platfo
Somebody needs to introduce you to LaTeX.
Like I said in my original post: I need page layout, not document design. I need to move the graphic on page 148 1/16" to the left to accommodate a footnote. I want to put a box around this art, but break the border to let the wizard's hand overlap the boundary and intrude amusingly into the text. I have to design the game's character sheet. For all this I need to see the stuff on the page and drag it around with the mouse.
Edit photos in the GIMP, which in a head-to-head test several years ago (a very early GIMP for Windows) produced finished photos that were not distinguishable from the same photos edited in PhotoShop. Then bring them into Scribus and export the color separations.
So you mean things like adjust colors, hue contrast etc are the same? Big surprise, the Image Magick library can probably do that. Photoshop belies its name, its image creation tools are exceedingly powerful. The combination of its multiplicity of tools combined with its dead simple interface make photoshop the market leader for a reason. I'm not one for monopolies, but there are simply no competitors who place anywhere near photoshop at the moment.
Photos.
Quark 6 has native PDF export.
Photos.
By the way you can see some impressive DTP from TeX here.
Adobe has no problems releasing windows / mac versions of PS on time. Additionally, they ported to OSX quite quickly too. It'd be a safe wager that the UI is cross platform, or at least easy enough to port.
Photos.
Two really great points were made here, about fonts and trapping. The lack of good Mac-based fonts due to liscensing trouble nearly killed Mac DTP, and even now the choice of available fonts is critical. So if you already have fonts, or know what fonts are available at the output agency, the ability to use these predictably will be extremely useful. So perhaps a kerning table that matches commercial printers' fontsets will allow you to simulate printing with a certain font that you don't have.
Scribus can use and take advantage of high quality Type 1 fonts. If the correct .afm files are installed, Scribus will use them to adjust kernig properly.
The point about the need for trapping is also great. Trapping is basically an algorithm to control how differently colored areas overlap or don't. If you do it right you don't get wierd intersection effects, but it is hard to get a computer to do it right every time. Get some professional DTP people to try the software and send feedback about it - tough love maybe but it will make for better software for all users.
With Scribus created PDF, you can and should do the trapping at the RIP or imagesetting level, not in the app.
So it just seems that if the authors take a single very specific problem domain (say a small to medium size company printing camera-ready advertisements for a magazine, or perhaps printing a sales brochure) and actually trying this with real users they will get excellent feedback and the word will get around. But even a small DTP (design) shop wants to use tools that are going to allow quick import and creation of line art and photos, and provide the basic tools (thinking of fonts and illustrator-like drawing functions) to get as much high quality work done in as short a time as possible. $1000 bucks is nothing. The question is can a better, cheaper system be provided for any users.
Scribus can create line drawings and other vector shapes, as well as layer them and support transparency. Scribus also can import high resolution tiffs from Photoshop. Scribus can also import EPS files, which most illustration software can export.
Actually after writing this I found that Pantone is already on linux. Check out Corel PhotoPaint 9 which says it does Pantone color management. I guess this is another competitor to Scribus? Though commercial. Anyway, I am looking forward to Scribus!
Scribus can import TIFF's from Corel Photopaint without a problem. Moreover, you can use the same icc profiles in both applications.
VIM makes microsoft publisher unnecessary
Photoshop is a monopoly, but it hasn't ever suffered the failures of the common monopoly. It has continually innovated and improved, and has stayed on top by being better in every aspect than everything else.
I was working at a college IT department and we were trying to purchase a copy of Quark, and for I believe almost a month of trying to send them the purchase forms we finally gave up, as they kept "losing" them.. And we just went with Adobe's InDesign..
The screen shots of Scribus are impressive, but why is that every time I see a Linux app's screenshots, that the screen fonts just look amateurish? They just strike me as looking like Apple IIgs screen shots.
Mac screenshots always seem to look the most polished (no, I'm not a Mac user), partly because of the timeless elegance of fonts like Chicago, Charcoal and whatever their font du jour is today. I even have to admit that even post-2K Windows screenshots look half decent.
I know that Linux is skinnable, but why does it seem like all the linux developers choose screen fonts that will make their applications less polished? Of course, if you click through the link to see the Red Hat 8 + Keramic shots of Scribus, you'll see MUCH better looking screens. The bottom line -- you only get one chance to make a good first impression -- so why not have the better looking shots on the main page?
You seem to be forgetting that both the GIMP and Scribus are scriptable, and their respective toolkits are component-based, as well as having IPC mechanisms behind the scenes. The only sale is to card-carry "I'll die before I use anything else" photoshop users.
I'll tell you the same thing I told the other guy
Lot's of people forget all the infrastructure that was developed (that's why these toolkits took so long). But it will payoff in the end.
There's no way it's going to be able to compete on an industry standard level, but on an amateur basis, it looks like a great program.
On a side note, I'm not sure how long Quark will be an industry leader for - many former Quark users are have switched to InDesign due to the ridiculously long wait for Quark for MacOSX and many are considering switching (amongst the designers I know, anyway)
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
I have been using Adobe InDesign for some time now, as it was required to make reports at our study. But what a irritating application, finding what you need are hidden in additional submenus, which you will find after using it for a month (when the report is about to be finished). When I had to make my portfolio at home, and only running Linux (+windoze for gaming) I would Scribus a try, since I wanted to create PDFs. Scribus 0.8 was great, nice usability, where you find things quite easy (eventhough I had to unlearn some of the bad interface from InDesign). The only problem was when I saved my nice document, I couldn't open it again ... I think it was because I put a page in front of the first page. I looked through the file (it is XML), but couldn't indicate the error. Then I installed Scribus 1.0 beta, and created a new file, inserted the other file, bit by bit and found the error (and learned how they thought the structure would be). I really like that you can correct the error yourself in the XML, but it would have been nicer to not have had it at all (in a dream-world). Another story (don't worry, the last one :) is that I was devastating trying to find a solution to use my TIFF files I made on the Macs at school in GIMP, until I found out that you could just insert them directly in Scribus (GIMP didn't like TIFF because of CMYK, I think the next version will?). Graphics/DTP-designers from the Quark/InDesign/ would think that this is an easy application to get the task done, but the glamour of using the Adobe package is off course not there (like I cared, but many others do).
(yes this can be compared with sex)
I agree with you that with an open sourced alternative, it will force them to improve their product. Photoshop is one heck of a target for the Gimp to follow but Quark is a much easier target for Scribus.
See my journal, I write things there
First: using Quark is not a privelege, it's a royal pain in the ass. Nice UI, too bad about the rest of the app. It has NO document verification or error checking so it just dies if there's anything wrong with the document. (Admittedly this is v4, maybe v5/6 have helped this - but I doubt it). I called Quark support and mentioned some document corruption problems we were having when working on files stored on network volumes - their answer: "Don't use Quark on a network." It's so scary it's funny.
... but we pay $3500/copy because of an exclusive distributor arrangement. Quark won't support US copies in Australia, neither will Modulo Systems, the local distributor. Result: ripoff, consider InDesign. *sigh*.
Second: Try buying it in Australia. One grand US is ~AU$1500
I'm sorry, but until the GIMP gets good CMYK suppport with at least ICC profiles and CMYK conversion tables, it won't be a contender for prepress. CMYK preview in RGB working space is also mandatory.
RGB->CMYK is not a simple file format conversion. The colour space changes, so your colour gamut does too. Colours that can be represented in RGB might not be possible in CMYK. You absolutely need to see this on screen as you're doing your colour correction.
GIMP also needs more real-time previews before it's a practical photoshop-replacement. In many ways it's amazing how close it is, but until it gets solid CMYK and colour management support it's nowhere there in one CRITICAL area at least.
Remember, when a single print ad costs more than an entire computer and all the expensive software on it, a grand or two can fall in between the cracks. It does actually matter, but everything is on a larger scale.
... is what's most important.
:-) since this is the best way to test adoption of a new DTP package.
:-)
I for one appreciate what you guys are doing, too. I'm syadmin at a Quark house, and we've got extensive experience with the "pitfalls" in PDF workflow with quark. Especially Quark 4, where it's PDF import is apallingly unreliable and quirky.
Scribus looks interesting, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it. Helping out if I can (mostly a non-programmer) and testing. What many people don't realise is that you don't have to pick ONE DTP platform. We're considering buing some win2k boxes with InDesign for ad design and layout. They'll just save PDFs or EPSs that'll be imported into pages being prepared on MacOS 9 machines with Quark. Maybe Scribus will be suitable for the same role someday
I'll second your sentiments on GIMP and CMYK support, and add a "please please please please" into the bargain. GIMP is not really comparable to Photoshop for prepress uses, but good CMYK support is the last major hurdle in that direction IMHO. Of course, we'd need some CMS support in XFree86 too for it to be really useful under Linux.
I might do up a small house ad in Scribus, slip it into our workflow, and see what happens
OH, just one question. You mention that the Scribus format is XML - would that happen to be loaded with verification + good error checking? A DTP app that didn't just crash on damaged documents would be a godsend. "EPS Element 'bobsyouruncle.eps' is damaged and cannot be loaded" not "*blurk*The application QuarkXPress unexpectedly quit with an Error Type 2".
Craig Ringer
Sorry man - find a better printer. The printer we deal with used to (reluctantly) accept Quark docs, but now won't talk to you unless you subit a PDF. Formats accepted: PDF, PDF, or PDF.
More and more people are going that way. It doesn't matter what app produced the PDF so long as it's valid and compliant with your printer's specs. Services like QuickCut help clients submitting ads confirm this, and apps like PitStop are good for prepress houses sending jobs to their printers.
An alternative to Quark exists, it's InDesign. It has it all to be the Quark killer:
- output supported by all printers, with excellent PDF and PostScript support
- imports Quark documents well enough
- gorgeous design and type features
- does everything XPress does, only with a better thought out user interface
- it costs half the price of Quark
- Quark is know to dish it's customers with ages-log development cycles and no user support.
And Quark still is the market leader!
So TAFL with your great news of just released free DTP software. The DTP pros *are* tiered with Quark and XPress, but you have no news for them.
http://twitter.com/gr
Quark is not that cheap, alas. How many publishing houses need ONE copy of Quark? We have six, and we'd have more like eight but for the cost. Upgrading from Quark 4 to Quark 6 is currently on special at AU$1500/copy (~US$1000). This is not cheap.
Quark does appear to be much cheaper in the US. In Australia, unfortunately, there's an exclusive distributor arrangement kept in force by both parties refusing to provide upgrades or support for the US version when used in Australia. So we pay more than twice the US price for Quark. *sigh*.
They're aso total assholes about upgrades and such, they require so much information I'm amazed they don't just demand your credit history for the entire year and your business's accounting records, just for good measure.
Seriously, who cares. It's DTP - good quality, precision, and reliability matter. File compatabilty doesn't. Sure, it used to - but now we have PDF.
File format compatability would be nice, but isn't really important now.
Most places can just re-create their templates and go on as if little has happened. If they need to access old content, they'll usually be loading (say) ads saved as PDFs or EPSs for easy management - so that's a non issue.
We're currently happily mixing InDesign and Quark (Indesign for ad creation, Quark for page layout) with no issues, and we never open Quark docs in InDesign - we just don't need to.
Craig Ringer
if you're really concerned about compatability with old documents from another app, you may have workflow issues.
We're finding that an EPS/PDF based workflow allows us to do ads in one app and happily place them on a page in a different app. What app was used to create the ad? Don't know, don't care. This is how it should be.
Document compatability was once very important, but can be considered much less so now that so many places are on a PDF or EPS based workflow.
All this talk about GIMP needing CMYK support, and I haven't heard anyone say, "GIMP needs vector graphic support." That's what I'm waiting for. I want to be able to change color/size/font/fill/etc. of a line/textbox/shape/etc. _after_ I've placed it. If GIMP can do this, please, someone, tell me how! This is the only reason I keep Windows around - is so I have access to Paint Shop Pro and Macromedia Fireworks (sorry, I got that one before Photoshop and just never switched).
Alternatively, is there any graphics program for linux that does support a vector format? I currently use xfig all the time, but it's really only good for flow charts and schematics. And if there isn't an alternative, why isn't there?
Y'all clearly just need to learn LaTeX. Screw this WYSIWYG shit! ;)
I don't know of many service bureau's of printers that will take a non-quark file. I have been through the ringer just getting PC Qaurk files accepted (many still will not take PC files)
YOu have to send the Quark file, fonts all graphics files, phots etc properly sized and in CMYK format. Photos have to be converted from RGB to CMYK and balanced for color based on the paper to be printed on and the type of press used. Top of the line professionals will not be using any other app than Quark anytime soon. The process is way to complex.
There's no way it's going to be able to compete on an industry standard level, but on an amateur basis, it looks like a great program.
What, ever? Why? What features do you think are impossible to implement?
First of all, I have to tell you that I have no experience with DTP.
So my question is: Can anybody tell me, what sort of things I can do with a program like Scribus, which I cannot do with a word processor like OpenOffice Write?
I played around with Scribus some weeks ago, but for me it seemed to have just fewer functionality... But of course, without any knowledge about DTP, I do not know what features I have to look for!
Thanks in advance,
Pat
Nerdy by Nature!
DPI IS NOT AN PROPERTY OF A PICTURE. OK? CLEAR? Yes?
The confusion is yours because you are thinking only about the image on a computer where the "idiot" is thinking about both the image on the computer AND the final product which is a printed picture. He is probably patiently explaining to her that DPI *is* a property of a picture and that the computer nerd that told here otherwise is an "idiot" that can't think outside of that box sitting on his desk. To the person asking for the image the entire function of the image he is asking for is to be printed and the computer is just a tool to effect that result! To him (and to many image formats on the computer!) the picture has dimensions not only in pixels but in inches and he is asking for a picture that has enough pixels in each inch to print correctly. I suppose he could say "give me a picture that has enough pixels to end up at 300dpi when measured in inches at the size you want it to be printed". That is a bit of a mouthful and can get needlessly confusing, fortunately the entire industry, all DPT and imaging software and most image formats all understand the term "300 dpi".
We've been using Quark at our college newspaper for a few years now, since we decided that we had outgrown Pagemaker. I have a special "hate place" in my heart for Quark, especially its explicit lack of support for working with files while they're still on a fileserver. But let's talk about image quality (baby).
We've had numerous issues (no pun intended), from colors not being quite right in images to images being squished to 25% of their size. We've also had font troubles. What I mean by this is that what we (thought we) had when we finished the paper in Quark was not what we got back in newsprint format the next day. These appear to have been Quark -> Quark issues. With PDF, there wouldn't have been a problem, because WYS is really WYG.
The new Macs will of course have OS X, and rather than shell out the cash for Quark again (academic prices are a bit better at $900 for an 8-user license, but of course we also have far less money), I would like to go to Indesign or something else. Our printer will happily take PDFs. I've been keeping an eye on Scribus for a while, but I haven't been able to play with it since I wrote a review for Newsforge (about a year ago, might still be there, not going to bother finding it). I can guarantee that we'll at least look at it, because Quark isn't good at doing PDFs (which we want to use for various things), and because our production staff is tired of literally losing sleep to Quark every week.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
VIM makes microsoft publisher unnecessary
Well, in that vein, so does Edlin.
Horse and buggy makes automobiles unnecessary. Assembly language makes C and all other languages unnecessary.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Can it also certify the PDF files, something that is a must if it is to be used by corporations or publishers. They need to have this to get something printed by a printing office.
Funny, I don't need a service bureau now that I furnish finished pdf's to my prnter (using Win2k, pagemaker and indesign - and maybe soon scribus). My old school printer lost our magazine printing account and hundreds of thousands of $$$$ from us this year because they didn't invest in a new rip. My new printer saved me $38,000 this year. To me that is a lot of money. This printer can do this because the abandoned the old, tweaked-to-death-to-accomodate-bad-Quark-output-RI P in favor of one that accepts up to date, standard PDF output. $38k makes a lot of boat payments. You need to find a new, modern printer methinks.
I'm sorry, but until the GIMP gets good CMYK suppport with at least ICC profiles and CMYK conversion tables, it won't be a contender for prepress.
It won't be a contender for prepress in, for example, a magazine. It will be a contender for prepress in a newsletter. IMHO
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
Now finally we are starting to see some real progress an area that will get noticed very quickly if Scribus works as well as advertised.
I have tried most of the page-layout programs out there with the exception of Framemaker and InDesign and I can certainly agree with the level of frustration that must users of "most" page-layout programs feel:
Continous and expensive upgrade cycles that yield like or no return
Endless issues with portability and compatibility
Stability and user friendliness issues
just to name a few...
The fact that Scribus uses PDF and XML is something I think is the next killer app part of this program.
Think about it. Send the PRESS-READY PDF to the printers... little or no pre-press fiddling required.
XML should allow for huge portability and extensibility.
Can't wait to try it!
Bravo!
There's a ridiculous argument that comes up whenever someone (here, you & others working on Scribus) comes up with a program functionally similar to an existing favorite:
"FrobnitzPro is already here, and anything that's not Frobnitz compatible is doomed to failure!"
The world changes, happily.
Even if for certain things users find that Quark (or whichever application) really is better, that doesn't take away the value of Scribus. (Duh!)
Kids who learn DTP with Scribus won't all of a sudden freeze up when shown Quark, and professionals who use Quark in the office but don't want to shell out for a personal copy won't suddenly be afflicted with hives to use a free DTP program.
Thanks for scribus!
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Which is better? I heard Octave but I'm not very good with either.
The CrossOver Office folks say that they support Photoshop 7 on Linux.
Anything that helps you here?
Less is more !
Check the motivation for LaTeX3 project. It seems they are addressing page-layout issues even more agressively than in current LaTeX.
Less is more !
Scribus may be the best of show as far as GNU/Linux availability is concered. But it's far from achieving a 100% (free) market dominance.
If we think that DTP is the ability to do WYSIWIG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) or near WYSIWIG pre-press layouts of books and business cards there's certainly competition. From the least well-known to the best-known:
OpenOffice.org: Yes the beast can do DTP. It might be even more efficient when producing structured documents like textbooks. Runs on nearly all platforms (OS/2 being a notable exception).
KWord: A word-processor like OO.o. A part of the KDE project's KOffice. As far as DTP paradigms are concerned, KWord is to FrameMaker, what Scribus is to Quark.
Passepartout : For those who hate Trolltech, here's a DTP program that runs under GTK and friends. I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce it.
kbarcode : DTP isn't just about producing newsletters and porno magazines. This program caters to those who want to produce more utilitarian stuff like labels and business cards. Its main advantage over the other programs is that it can "clone" its layout. Layout one business card and print out 10 on one letter- or A4-sized card sheet.
LyX: Probably the first even remotely visual, free (or at least semi-free) publishing tool with a version that runs in Linux.
And like the Gimp it's a GTK2 app. Is it usable? You judge: http://sodipodi.sourceforge.net/index.php3?section =gallery