One year with the Netbook (Almost)

As I’m coming up on the one-year mark with the MSI Wind, it’s a good chance to reflect on whether it’s been a good investment. In a general sense, I would answer emphatically yes! It’s such a convenient machine, I end up carrying it most everywhere I go. The portability of it alone has made it worth the investment.

But in terms of writing specifically, I’ve found the ability to use the couple spare minutes I might have between errands or sitting down for a caffeinated beverage the greatest benefit. While I certainly used to go to cafes and the like with my past notebooks, it was always a chore to do so; I had to ensure that the (low-capacity) battery was charged, worry about getting a seat next to an outlet, and carry the machine in a bag I didn’t necessarily want. However, the netbook fits in whatever bag I’m using that day, has great battery life even on standby, and goes from standby to writing in under 30 seconds.

So, in summary, the Wind has been a huge boon not only to my writing (not that you could tell from the frequency of my posts since then), but to my productivity in general.

Software KVM Switch

In the previous post, I describe one of my favorite tools, x2x, used for sharing the keyboard and mouse across two network-connected machines (i.e. a “software KVM”). This solution worked well for me while I was using Linux on the desktop machine.

However, since then, I’ve switched Windows XP on a desktop for some Very Important Reasons (*cough* Warcraft). As x2x isn’t an option on Windows without some measure of elbow grease, I looked again to Synergy.

I had tried Synergy once before, quite unsuccessfully. Although I had tried all manner of ways to install and configure it between the two Linux boxes, I could never get the two to find each other. I put this down (incorrectly, as it turns out) to the application, and washed my hands of it. In the end, it was a typo on the firewall rule that would have allowed Synergy traffic into the machines that was the problem.

Synergy is an excellent tool. While it performs basically the same function as x2x, there are a couple of key advantages it has:

• Most importantly, it’s cross-platform. So you can have a Linux machine, running alongside a Mac, alongside a Windows box, all sharing a single keyboard and mouse.
• In addition, there is a great GUI tool called QuickSynergy that makes short work of configuration.
• Lastly, it has some nice features such as the ability to be lanuched as a server automatically at start-up (on Windows) and a good tolerance for automatic connection/disconnection (I often leave the Synergy client on the Wind running, and when I get back to the desk and plug into the LAN, the Synergy server on the desktop will grab the cursor automatically).

I’ll continue next time with some of the “must-have” apps and tricks for netbooks, in the vein of Dustin’s post here. Only focused on Linux, natch!

Comparison

Before we start, let’s figure out what each of these things does well, or at least better than the other.

Desktop:

• On a desktop, the wide screen is clearly the biggest advantage.
• Also, the keyboard is likely to be better than the one on the netbook (unless you’re using an HP Mini).
• Graphics– and animation-intensive applications and/or web pages are likely to run better on the improved horsepower of the desktop.

Netbook:

• Although the desktop is bound to have more storage, there is something to be said for keeping certain types of information in one place. For example, I keep my tree-based note-taking application (BasKet, more on this later) exclusively on the Wind.
• I also find it easy to really focus on a particular task when working on the Wind. Perhaps it’s because of the small screen size, and therefore the fact that I can’t have multiple windows open with lots of lights and whistles going off.

Linux Toolset

So, based on this assessment, I came to the conclusion that I wanted some type of set-up that would allow me to access both the desktop and the Wind at the same time. Here’s the tools I use to do just that:

• SSH/SFTP: The Secure SHell, or SSH, is one of my most used applications. I use it to remote into the desktop (which functions for me largely as a server as well) to perform maintenance, install new software, and (via the Secure FTP compatibility), move files back and forth between the two machines. Lastly, SSH will allow me to open an application that’s only installed on the Wind on the display for the desktop. For example, I have the Quanta web IDE installed on the Wind, but I can open it on the desktop through an SSH tunnel.
• SVN: Where I’ll use SFTP for a one-off movement of files, when keeping all of my “working files” organized, I use the version control system called Subversion. Originally designed for managing code, it works very well as a simple-to-set-up document management system. Additionally, it also works through an SSH tunnel, so I can securely access files on my home desktop anywhere there’s Internet access.
• x2x: Finally, possibly the most useful tool in my arsenal is x2x. This “software KVM” allows you to share a keyboard and mouse between two machines with two separate displays (so, I guess it’s really a software “KM”). The effect of this is that I can use the desktop keyboard, and when I move the cursor past the bottom of the screen, control “jumps” to the Wind, and I can use the larger keyboard and mouse to work there.

Based on the above, here’s how I generally use the two machines together.

• I leave my e-mail client and IM window open and tiled on the Wind. Using the smaller screen is useful for things that you need to monitor, such as e-mail, IM, or RSS/news feeds.
• I’ll open non-processor-intensive applications such as text editors/word processors remotely from the desktop (i.e. open the copy of the application that’s installed on the Wind so that it displays on the larger screen of the desktop).
• Twice per day (usually, the start and end of the day) I’ll sync (in SVN parlance, “update” and/or “commit”) changes to files on the Wind into the SVN repository.
• I open windows such as web pages that I’m reading in-depth and development apps on the desktop.

With these two machines connected via the tools above, I have a very functional set-up when sitting at the desk that allows me to unhook the Wind with a minimum of fuss. Drafting on the go and doing layout/coding when “docked” has become my preferred method for working. With the Linux toolset, it’s easy!

OpenOffice has been the de facto leader in Linux-based word processing (at least, according to the most recent Linux Journal Readers’ Choice Awards). It’s installed by default on most mainstream, modern Linux distributions. So, if you are a writer working on a Linux platform, you are likely to come across it. Let’s look at some improvements in the newly-released version 3.0, as well as some of the useful extensions that you can select to enhance it for your writing. Note that the newest version 3.0 is not installed on some distributions yet, notably the recent release of Ubuntu 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex. You can always install the latest OpenOffice using the binary installer on the web site, or, if available, packages for your distribution.

Notes

The concept behind the notes feature in OpenOffice is identical to the one in Microsoft Office. The main difference is: in OpenOffice (version 2.4.2 and below), the feature is all but unusable. Adding a note from the menu item (Insert -> Note) calls up a dialog box (as shown in the image below).

This dialog box is a nuisance to begin with, not least of the reasons being: 1) the text won’t wrap, so when you enter it it continues on one long line and scrolls to the right, and 2) there is no way to close it without using the mouse (the Enter key inserts a carriage return). Additionally, the note itself appears as a small yellow highlight that you must either mouse-over or double-click to view.

In general, I’m a fan of putting notes into what I’m writing (such as questions to answer or research to perform later), but I couldn’t stand using the feature, much less looking at it when it was finished.

But this feature now mirrors the notes feature in Office 2007, in that the notes are colored and displayed to the right of the right-hand margin. In other words, the notes feature now works great (see illustration below).

Enhanced PDF

A feature that many will find useful is the enhanced PDF options available from the “File -> Export as PDF.” Some of the more useful ones for writers are:

• Hybrid PDF: OpenOffice supports the “PDF/A-1″ standard, which generates for a “modifiable” PDF. When opened by someone who has a compatible program, the document can be edited. When received by anyone else, however, they can always view it as a “normal” PDF.
• Security: The dialog contains a “Security” tab, which allows the user to restrict printing, copying text/images, and/or making changes. Useful for making e-books and other documents like reports that should be read but not disseminated.

Other enhancements

Some other miscellaneous enhancements include the following:

• Mac OS X Support: ‘Nuff said. This time with a native (Aqua) interface–no need for X11. Although I’ve been pushing Linux, we like Mac as well.
• OpenXML (a.k.a. Microsoft Office 2007 format: ‘Nuff said. Now you can work with all of those “.docx” files (not to mention “.xlsx” and “.pptx”). I’ve tested this, and can attest that it works much better (but not perfect) in OpenOffice 3.0.
• New view controls: Also like Office 2007, the new OpenOffice.org features a slide control for zoom, which I’ve become very accustomed to using. You are able to view more than one page at a time while editing.

Extensions

In addition to built-in functionality, one of the great things about OpenOffice is that you can add “extensions” for additional features. There are a number of these specifically targeted at or useful for writers, as follows:

• OpenOffice.org2GoggleDocs: This great extension does exactly what the name implies. It’s worked great for me, as I’ve drafted some of my fiction in Google Docs, and later opened (and saved) directly from OpenOffice Writer.
• txt2tags Extension: There is also an extension for using txt2tags mark-up within OOo Writer.
• Writers Tools” Extension: Dmitri Popov’s Writer’s Tools have been reviewed and profiled a number of times.

All in all, the new version 3.0 of OpenOffice closes a lot of the holes from the previous versions. It’s powerful, available on all platforms, and best of all, free. So download it and try it out–you literally have nothing to lose.

Don’t worry, Linux has you covered.

Searching

Unix users have become very adept at managing files in plain text format that might be stored all over a computer (including extremely large server systems). Historically, unlike systems such as Windows that often store system configuration data in proprietary (read: bizarre, and all-but-incomprehensible to even veteran users) format, most Unix configuration files are kept as plain text. So, in order for Unix admins to find these configurations over an entire system, many utilities to search text were created.

Linux includes these, and you can use them not only to find and manage system configs, but anything stored in plain text (such as HTML files). The Linux utility for this is called grep. Please don’t ask me what the word means, just look here. Searching with it is as easy as entering a command like the one below:

grep -R yoursearchword *

This command will search all files in the directory you are currently in, and all those below (and the one below those, etc…) for the term “yoursearchword.” The “-R” flag stands for “recursive,” which tells grep to go into all downward directories. The “*” acts as you might expect, and searches all files; the command could have just as easily been “*.txt* to search text files or “*.html” to search web page files. The command will give you a result like the one below, listing all the files that contained the search term:

Now that we’ve found what we’re looking for, let’s say it was an old version of a draft. You might find it useful to compare it to what you have currently, say, to save that one genius piece of prose that you’d forgotten to copy over.

Comparing

There is also a Unix utility for comparing two text files for changes between them. diff looks at two files, line by line, and identifies anywhere that the two don’t match up. It will output a list of files and line numbers where the files don’t match up. So, if you know there’s a paragraph that’s missing from your current file, and it was in a different file, then you’ll be able to find it. This may not seem like a benefit if you’re comparing two files: after all, it might be easier to just look at them. Maybe… but it will probably take you more than .7 seconds, which is the length of time a two-file compare would take. You could do so with the following command:

diff yourtextfile1.txt yourtextfile2.t2t

Note the difference extensions–diff doesn’t care what the files are called, as long as they’re text. So you could compare a “.txt” file to an “.html” file. Just be prepared for a lot of results.

But what if you’re genius paragraph is buried somewhere in your several-levels-deep directory tree with dozens of files. diff will allow you to set a “base” file to compare all other files against. Consider the following:

diff -r -y --to-file="yourbasefile.txt" .

Here, the “-r” flag works the same as above, telling the program to recurse lower-level directories, and “-y” tells it to give you a side-by-side listing (you’ll want this format at first). The “–to-file=” flag instructs diff to compare all files it finds, one file at a time, against the file “yourbasefile.txt.” Finally, the trailing “.” is Unix’s (and DOS’, if you remember) abbreviation for your current directory. So, the above command will go through the current directory, and all those below it, and compare each file it finds to “yourbasefile.txt.” Sounds slightly more useful? I agree.

With the above two programs, in addition to the drafting tools we discussed last time, gives most writers everything they would need to draft their ideas. But once your ideas are on-screen, what then? Most writers will need to add formatting (or confirm, since we’ve done that already with txt2tags), add things like tables of contents, indeces, and possibly collaborate with others on authoring. There are certainly ways to accomplish these using plain-text tools, but for many, using other programs will be more convenient. In the next installment, we’ll look at the latest version of the king of Linux word processors, OpenOffice.org, and see what’s new for writers.

But as a method for drafting your ideas, using text format is good for a few reasons, including:

• Portable: It’s not only easy to work with plain text on almost any platform, it’s also small and easy to move back and forth.
• Focused: When you work with text, your focus is on developing the ideas, not what font they will appear in or whether they will be ragged-aligned or justified. Also, most text editors have few bells and whistles to distract you.

However, most people used to working in a word processor are used to having a number of facilities at their disposal, including the following:

• Formatting (bold, italics, etc…)
• Spell checker
• Search
• Compare (with another document)

Let’s introduce a couple of tools that will allow you to perform some of the above functions on text files that you have.

Formatting

I’ve recently discovered an excellent application that allows you to apply formatting to plain text. “txt2tags” consists of two tools: text-based tags that you apply to your writing, and a tool that you run to transform your tagged text into other formats. You can be fairly productive with txt2tags knowing only a couple of tags, as follows:

• Bolded text is enclosed in double asterisks: “**”
• Italicized text is enclosed in double slashes: “//”
• Underlined text is enclosed in double underscores: “__”
• Bulleted lists begin with a minus-sign and a space: “”- “”
• Numbered lists begin with a plus-sign and a space: “”+ “”
• Headers are enclosed in a number of equals signs equivalent to its level (e.g., and level-2 header would be enclosed by double-equal-signs, and be the same as an “<h2>” tag in HTML): “==”

As an example, I’ve drafted the two posts, “Moving to Linux: Tools for Writers” and this post, in the kate editor, using txt2tags. This way I don’t have to worry about HTML tagging or style sheets while I’m drafting, yet I can easily convert this to HTML for posting into WordPress. To convert to HTML, you need only run a simple tool from the command line:

txt2tags -t html yourfile.txt

In this case, the addition of “-t html” tells the program to convert the file to “type HTML.” Once this is done, you should end up with a nicely formatted HTML document. For a fuller explanation of this tool, visit the excellent “cheat sheet” page at http://littlergirl.googlepages.com/txt2tagsCheatSheet.html.

Spell Checker

In addition to this rudimentary formatting, you are also able to spell check the drafts you’ve done in text format using tools in Linux. The text editor you are using may have this function built-in; if it does, it is likely that it is using the aspell library and programs, which are commonly installed by default on most Linux distributions. You need not look for one of these that has it built-in, however, as you are always able to run this program from the command line.

For those who are (still) unfamiliar with this concept, the command line in Linux is akin to DOS. Many consider the command line to be archaic and unnecessary. But there are many actions that are easier, more powerful, or both, when executed from the command line. This is true for Windows, but (at least) doubly so for Linux.

Using the aspell program is simple as creating a text file and entering the following command (on a side note, we’ll get around to introducing you to the command prompt, and enter shell commands, in a later post):

aspell check yourfile.txt

The program then enters the aspell interface, which will walk through any misspelled words in the file, and give you options to revise them. You select your action through key presses. For example, I fixed the misspelled word in the file below by pressing “1.” aspell replaced the word, and saved a copy of the old file (with the misspelled word) with a “.bak” extension.

checking in aspell

By adding the above two tools to a descent text editor, you will have a good start on a plain text writers toolkit for the Linux platform. In the next post, we’ll explore going beyond the current document and look at searching and comparing across two or more documents (or directories filled with documents) with a few more command-line tools.

Image via Wikipedia

We writers are pretty easy to please when it comes to computing requirements. Writing can be achieved with the simplest of media: white screen, black text.

As an avid free and open source software (FOSS) advocate, I’ve spent some time over the last few years writing on the Linux platform. I’ve come to discover that it’s still an immature platform for certain folks, such as hardcore gamers or multimedia professionals. But for those who have their fun (or make their living) by putting words on (e-)paper, Linux offers a perfectly usable platform for doing everything a writer needs to do.

I’d like to introduce some of the most basic writing tools available on the Linux platform. Firstly, note that the availability of these tools may depend on your distribution, or the “kind” of Linux you run. Examples of this include Ubuntu (along with its siblings Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and others), Red Hat’s Fedora, or Novell’s OpenSuSE. The differences between these is far beyond the scope of this (or indeed, most any other single) article. For now, just know that you can pick one, and it will likely have everything you need, but maybe not everything below.

Text Editors

Most writers are accustomed to working in a word processor such as Microsoft Word. But for many types of writing, a program this large is overkill. Text editors are an excellent tool for brainstorming and getting rough drafts out of your head, for two reasons:

1. Firstly, many text editors tend to be pretty spartan interface-wise. There are few buttons, toolbars, or other flashing widgets to interrupt your writing. Plus, tell a Linux guru that you love your text editor, and they will respect you.
2. Secondly, plain text files are about as portable a format as you are likely to find. This includes both across operating systems (e.g. Windows, Mac, Linux, and others) as well as devices (such as smartphones or Internet devices). If you begin your writing process in plain text, there are very few places you won’t be able to work on it.

There are literally too many text editors to count for the Linux platform. You could spend the next few years sifting through all of the arguments for or against two perennial favorites: emacs, and vi/vim. I’m not going to say that there aren’t many powerful features for writers in either of these programs. But I will assert that these are not the Linux text editors on which you want to cut your teeth. The following are much friendlier to the new Linux user:

• Kate: An editor for the KDE desktop, installed by default on most systems. There are many useful plug-ins you can add as well.
• Gedit: Ditto the above, only for the GNOME desktop.
• nano: An editor for the command line or terminal window, with keyboard shortcuts conveniently listed at the bottom of the screen.
• cooledit: I list this not because it is an especially capable editor, but because it is included with the Midnight Commander, an excellent clone of the old DOS Norton Commander two-pane file manager. It’s very convenient to navigate through directories and quickly modify text files from within a single screen.

Again, there are probably hundreds of these types of editors, but the above are a great start if you’re new to Linux.

Word Processors

If you are a writer, you know what a word processor is, and what it can do. I won’t insult you by re-stating it. Just know that most Linux-compatible word processors will do most anything you need them to do, including working with Microsoft Office formats. Popular word processors on Linux include the following:

• OpenOffice: The Writer component of OpenOffice is every bit as capable a word processor as most people will ever need. On a side note, there is no reason that everyone who owns a PC, Mac, or Linux computer should not have this installed. Go to the web site. Download. Install. Right now. Seriously… I’ll wait.

Did you install OpenOffice yet? I wasn’t kidding about that.

• AbiWord: An excellent, lightweight word processor installed on many GNOME-based desktops. This is a great choice for older systems, as OpenOffice has a reputation as something of a memory hog.
• KWord: Likewise, KWord (part of the KOffice suite from the KDE project, and commonly installed on those desktops) runs extremely light compared to OpenOffice. It has traditionally been a bit raw compared to AbiWord or OpenOffice, but I am a big fan of the KOffice Shell, which allows you to have multiple documents of different types (e.g. spreadsheet, text document, etc…) open within one window. Think of this as an Outlook for office documents.
• Ted: If your system is very old, you still have options. The word processor Ted makes AbiWord look like a sumo wrestler. Yet it still saves files to Rich Text Format (RTF), which any self-respecting, modern word processor can also use.

Desktop Publishing

Lastly, the final step for most writing projects is layout/typesetting. This process is largely ruled by proprietary programs such as Adobe’s InDesign (for highly graphical-intensive documents, e.g. marketing materials) or FrameMaker (which excels at technical publications such as software documentation). But the FOSS world has several alternatives, as follows:

• Scribus: This program strives to be a turnkey solution to both of the aforementioned segments. I’ll be introducing Scribus in later installments.
• LyX: This application excels scientific writing with is support for highly-complex equations. LaTeX, the typesetting language around which LyX is built, was once the go-to format for nice printed materials. But other applications have since caught up with support for PDF format and the like.

Finally, to the new or potential Linux user, I should point out one thing. Any of the above applications can likely be downloaded, installed, and used free of charge. In my distribution of choice (Kubuntu), it’s as simple as opening the package manager, selecting a program, and marking it “Request for Install.” It’s called “free software” for a reason.

In the next installment, we’ll examine some tools and tricks for working with plain text in Linux.

Image by mark van de wouw via Flickr

Joining Stephanie Siavetti as my guest while I straighten out my move and get the site prepared for NaNoWriMo (I’ve got about 10 or so interviews with former NaNoWriMo participants to post already, and more coming!) is Aaron Peters. Aaron is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction and a free-software enthusiast. He has worked with Linux as a hobbyist since 1998, beginning with Slackware, Caldera, and Mandrake. He’s finally settled on Debian and Ubuntu for the last five years, all the while tinkering with programming in Python and Java. Aaron spent three years teaching English in Japan, and has held positions in international trade, consulting, localization, and web development, and currently works for an e-commerce development company in Allentown, PA.

I asked Aaron to take over the sit for a week or two because of his extensive knowledge of open source software, including incredible apps for writers like Scribus, the open source print layout app (a free software version of InDesign) and OpenOffice.org, the free office suite that has just released it’s 3.0 version. Aaron is also planning to post about using Linux, the free operating system, for writing. I’m hoping to pick up a few tips from him on setting up my own writing workstation using Linux, if I ever get all these boxes unpacked…

There is still at least one more post from Stephanie, and starting next week you’ll see some of my NaNoWriMo posts, but for the next little while, I’m giving Aaron full run of the site. Please join me in welcoming him!