I am currently publishing several several-hundred-page technical manuals using the following workflow:
All documentation is edited using an ordinary plaintext editor.
The documents are marked-up using ReStructured Text conventions. This has satisfied 99% of my needs. I've decided the convenience of ReST outweighs the need for the remaining 1% of the frills I want.
I use CVS for revision control. There may be an RCS involved in the backend; I don't operate the server that hosts my repository.
The ReST documents are converted to XML using DocUtils. The project coordinator, by the way, has proven himself a superlative programmer. DocUtils rocks, and will also transform ReST to HTML or Latex.
The XML is converted using XSL templates that I've created. Saxon then transforms the DocUtils XML to XML:FO, and FOP transforms that into PDF.
Pretty fucking spiffy, if I do say so myself.
I also currently use HT2HTML to transform ReST to HTML. I use it in preference to DocUtil's native HTML transformation because it allows me to do a few nice tricks. In the future I plan to migrate entirely to another set of custom XSL tranformations.
This system has proven extremely productive. At any time I could pop a few bucks for a commercial XSL:FO->PDF engine and stomp the few gripes I've had with FOP (my number one issue is lack of keep-with-next functionality; however, FOP is under a complete refactoring, and will emerge with full functionality). Saxon has been superb, DocUtils has been wonderful (and I've been able to contribute to the overall design), and ReST is quite pleasant to read and write.
Overall, I highly recommend this workflow.
Your source material becomes extremely reusable, eminently accessible, and free from commercial encumberances.
(footnote: if you do go this route, please don't flood the DocUtils developers with suggestions and ideas. Work out your idea in detail, consult the developers' mailing list archives, and make full consideration of side-effects. Only then suggest it. They've been at this so long, and had so many discussions, that they've become a little short of patience with loud-mouthed newbies. I suspect most popular open-source projects get that way...)
Hey, I know! Ritz can get the government to put a hidden levy on Palm m100/m105 hotsync cables! Because, you know, everyone who purchases hotsync cables must be intent on using them, at least some of the time, for ripping Ritz pictures.
Kinda like what they do with CDR for RIAA. It's such a good idea.
After they're done with that one, I think they'd better put in a levy on Craftsman tools, because home mechanics are cheating Midas Muffler out of revenue, and a levy on Tupperware containers, because we're all cheating Safeway out of grocery sales when we keep our leftovers.
You ever notice that the only people who get defensive about their TV viewing habits are those people who watch TV. Those who don't watch TV never get defensive about their choice.
Actually, you for the player's salaries. The retailer who spends fifty million dollars advertising his particular line of shite just passes that cost on down to the consumer.
Why do you pay $1.50 or so for a bottle of sugar-contanimated brown bubbly water? Not because it cost a lot to manufacture or distribute, but because (a) Coke has to charge you for its two billion dollar advertising budget and (b) you're dumb enough to buy it.
Athletes are about selling eyeballs to advertisers. The only reason you get to watch televised sports is because it makes bucketloads of money for the networks.
The athletes rightly demand a slice of that pie.
When the public comes to their senses and starts giving up television for something a lot more useful (hah! as if!), the revenues from advertising will decrease and, too, the salaries of the megastars, be they pro atheletes or the cast of the latest sitcom.
The spreadsheet in 1979 and today, non-specialized, multipurpose artifact. Irreducibly complex, for all practical purposes.
And yet it was in the early years that Visicalc users needed to buy thousand-page macro programming tools to accomplish any reasonably complex calculation task.
These days, much of that power is built-in to the spreadsheet commands. You don't write an amortization macro of your own: you just plug the numbers into an amortization function.
The software is far more complex, but requires far less skill to use more powerfully.
So it will be with computers. You won't need to more ability to program your own solutions. The solutions will become more powerful in and of themselves, and consequently even easier to use, and for more things.
IOW, computer functionality is going to evolve in an ever-easier, less-skill-required, do-more-with-it direction.
But, then, you admit that right in the next sentence.:-) LOL. Good on ya for being "bad at literacy" yet still able to communicate and being able to solve problems......rather like using computers to communicate and solve problems, come to think of it!
Why, Mr. Howard Strauss, the [koff] "esteemed" manager of technology strategy and outreach at Princeton University, says that open-source software is gunk!
Most (all?) of the towers around my area are now solar-cell powered, with the exception of some really big telco microwave towers, which have a diesel generator (mostly because the equipment needs to be air-conditioned).
...but I gotta say, that's one damn cool setup you've described. Kinda curious why you don't do line-of-sight radio to the top of the mountain, though. Running the wire must have cost a bundle.
The NetMD Minidisc recorders/players I've been eyeballing claim to accept MP3 files.
Question: are these files being converted to ATRAC format, or are they written raw and played back using an MP3 codec?
My concern is that if they're converting the file, it's going from lossy MP3 to lossy ATRAC format, which just isn't going to have a good-sounding result.
Sure, he made a lot of money on spam. And now he's surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous women.
I also understand that he's incredibly handsome, hung like a horse, rescues puppies, and can cure leprosy with a mere laying-on of hands. He's on the Pope's short-list, can beat Kasparov in any chess match, and walks on water. Further, he is the inventor of a working perpetual motion machine, has single-handedly saved a small third-world nation from disaster, and loves his mother.
Okay, so you have two excellent banking choices: PC and CB. The advantage to CB is their corporate philosophy of charitable giving; the advantage of PC is a kick-ass food-points program and some other personal bennies. (It is worth noting that PC is just a front for CIBC.)
Either way, you certainly do not have to suffer the bullshit that's put upon you at the major banks. You do have choices.
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I am currently publishing several several-hundred-page technical manuals using the following workflow:
All documentation is edited using an ordinary plaintext editor.
The documents are marked-up using ReStructured Text conventions. This has satisfied 99% of my needs. I've decided the convenience of ReST outweighs the need for the remaining 1% of the frills I want.
I use CVS for revision control. There may be an RCS involved in the backend; I don't operate the server that hosts my repository.
The ReST documents are converted to XML using DocUtils. The project coordinator, by the way, has proven himself a superlative programmer. DocUtils rocks, and will also transform ReST to HTML or Latex.
The XML is converted using XSL templates that I've created. Saxon then transforms the DocUtils XML to XML:FO, and FOP transforms that into PDF.
Pretty fucking spiffy, if I do say so myself.
I also currently use HT2HTML to transform ReST to HTML. I use it in preference to DocUtil's native HTML transformation because it allows me to do a few nice tricks. In the future I plan to migrate entirely to another set of custom XSL tranformations.
This system has proven extremely productive. At any time I could pop a few bucks for a commercial XSL:FO->PDF engine and stomp the few gripes I've had with FOP (my number one issue is lack of keep-with-next functionality; however, FOP is under a complete refactoring, and will emerge with full functionality). Saxon has been superb, DocUtils has been wonderful (and I've been able to contribute to the overall design), and ReST is quite pleasant to read and write.
Overall, I highly recommend this workflow.
Your source material becomes extremely reusable, eminently accessible, and free from commercial encumberances.
(footnote: if you do go this route, please don't flood the DocUtils developers with suggestions and ideas. Work out your idea in detail, consult the developers' mailing list archives, and make full consideration of side-effects. Only then suggest it. They've been at this so long, and had so many discussions, that they've become a little short of patience with loud-mouthed newbies. I suspect most popular open-source projects get that way...)
Changing the radio station is, for most of us, an act that lasts but a moment.
Yacking on the cellphone for forty-five fucking minutes makes you a hazard several orders of magnitude longer than the radio-changing dude.
Cell-phone use is not unfairly singled out.
Ain't that the way it always is. Always the best man and never the groom. I despair.
Pray tell how that's an improvement on separate speakers six feet apart.
Hey, I know! Ritz can get the government to put a hidden levy on Palm m100/m105 hotsync cables! Because, you know, everyone who purchases hotsync cables must be intent on using them, at least some of the time, for ripping Ritz pictures.
Kinda like what they do with CDR for RIAA. It's such a good idea.
After they're done with that one, I think they'd better put in a levy on Craftsman tools, because home mechanics are cheating Midas Muffler out of revenue, and a levy on Tupperware containers, because we're all cheating Safeway out of grocery sales when we keep our leftovers.
I sure as fuck got a boner reading it.
C'mere, Darl, I got something for ya.
"Tee. Hee."
You ever notice that the only people who get defensive about their TV viewing habits are those people who watch TV. Those who don't watch TV never get defensive about their choice.
Actually, you for the player's salaries. The retailer who spends fifty million dollars advertising his particular line of shite just passes that cost on down to the consumer.
Why do you pay $1.50 or so for a bottle of sugar-contanimated brown bubbly water? Not because it cost a lot to manufacture or distribute, but because (a) Coke has to charge you for its two billion dollar advertising budget and (b) you're dumb enough to buy it.
Athletes are about selling eyeballs to advertisers. The only reason you get to watch televised sports is because it makes bucketloads of money for the networks.
The athletes rightly demand a slice of that pie.
When the public comes to their senses and starts giving up television for something a lot more useful (hah! as if!), the revenues from advertising will decrease and, too, the salaries of the megastars, be they pro atheletes or the cast of the latest sitcom.
The spreadsheet in 1979 and today, non-specialized, multipurpose artifact. Irreducibly complex, for all practical purposes.
And yet it was in the early years that Visicalc users needed to buy thousand-page macro programming tools to accomplish any reasonably complex calculation task.
These days, much of that power is built-in to the spreadsheet commands. You don't write an amortization macro of your own: you just plug the numbers into an amortization function.
The software is far more complex, but requires far less skill to use more powerfully.
So it will be with computers. You won't need to more ability to program your own solutions. The solutions will become more powerful in and of themselves, and consequently even easier to use, and for more things.
IOW, computer functionality is going to evolve in an ever-easier, less-skill-required, do-more-with-it direction.
...most people are pretty bad at literacy.
:-) LOL. Good on ya for being "bad at literacy" yet still able to communicate and being able to solve problems... ...rather like using computers to communicate and solve problems, come to think of it!
Case in point.
But, then, you admit that right in the next sentence.
The solution to the stupidity the Quebec government keeps showing regarding language laws is quite simple:
Don't sell product in Quebec. Don't bow to their idiocy.
When the population can't get their XBoxes, they'll squawck loud and long. The government will have to loosen their regulations.
Why, Mr. Howard Strauss, the [koff] "esteemed" manager of technology strategy and outreach at Princeton University, says that open-source software is gunk!
...ex-manager of technology strategy and outreach at Princeton University, one should hope. That kind of stupidity can't go unrewarded, can it?
...you throw it away on producing a movie based on a video game.
Yes, but paying for it doesn't count.
Wait, I lie. There are a few towers with power lines running to them. My bad.
Most (all?) of the towers around my area are now solar-cell powered, with the exception of some really big telco microwave towers, which have a diesel generator (mostly because the equipment needs to be air-conditioned).
...but I gotta say, that's one damn cool setup you've described. Kinda curious why you don't do line-of-sight radio to the top of the mountain, though. Running the wire must have cost a bundle.
The NetMD Minidisc recorders/players I've been eyeballing claim to accept MP3 files.
Question: are these files being converted to ATRAC format, or are they written raw and played back using an MP3 codec?
My concern is that if they're converting the file, it's going from lossy MP3 to lossy ATRAC format, which just isn't going to have a good-sounding result.
It looks like people do want to pay for their music... if only you'd damn well make it reasonably attractive for them to do so.
If Fair Use is redefined in this manner, it seems like the FTAA could be interpreted to outlaw public libraries.
The publishers are on record on the matter of outlawing -- or at least subjecting to annual licensing fees -- our public libraries.
Sure, he made a lot of money on spam. And now he's surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous women.
I also understand that he's incredibly handsome, hung like a horse, rescues puppies, and can cure leprosy with a mere laying-on of hands. He's on the Pope's short-list, can beat Kasparov in any chess match, and walks on water. Further, he is the inventor of a working perpetual motion machine, has single-handedly saved a small third-world nation from disaster, and loves his mother.
He is not, of course, a habitual liar.
I forgot about PC.
Okay, so you have two excellent banking choices: PC and CB. The advantage to CB is their corporate philosophy of charitable giving; the advantage of PC is a kick-ass food-points program and some other personal bennies. (It is worth noting that PC is just a front for CIBC.)
Either way, you certainly do not have to suffer the bullshit that's put upon you at the major banks. You do have choices.