On Thu, 2002-11-07 at 19:48, Chris Carlen wrote:
> Hi folks:
>
> I abandoned effort recently on a document that I was preparing in
> OpenOffice mostly because the equations looked really awful.
> Furthermore, I failed at convincing anybody in the OpenOffice/StarOffice
> world that they are not up to the standards that I think are needed for
> professional publication.
I went through the same thing... the problem is that when you focus on
compat with Word, you also inherit Word's failings...
>
> Then I tried Lyx. The equations I was able to produce within 15 minutes
> of working through that part of the tutorial were so stunningly
> beautiful, that I was immediately convinced that I must learn to use
> Lyx/Latex.
Yup... I came to the same conclusion
>
> Trouble is, I have to do drawings too, and I have discovered that I
> can't import the .eps files exported by OpenOffice Draw into Lyx.
> Furthermore, the .eps files crash the ghostscript interpreter when
> running most of the commands I've tried to use to fix the problem, like
> eps2eps, epstool, etc.
>
> I am convinced there is something very wrong with .eps exported from
> OpenOffice. Which brings us to my first question:
>
> 1. Does anyone here use OpenOffice to produce figures to import into
> Lyx, and if so how do you generate the .eps files?
>
> Since I have had so much trouble trying to get my drawings done in OOo
> to be useable in Lyx, I think I might just give up and draw them over
> again in a new program. I have tried drawing some scribbles in Xfig,
> and exported them to Lyx successfully on the first try, in contrast to
> the hours I've wasted feeding the .eps from OOo through sequences of
> commands to no avail.
>
> My interest at this point focusses on Tgif and Xfig. Honestly I would
> much prefer to use OOo Draw, because I am used to it and I will still
> use OOo for other things in which the integration of the Draw program
> with the other modules is useful. Xfig and Tgif seem a little bit
> crude, coming from the dark ages of UNIX GUI interfaces, so it seems.
> But I understand as well that they are nonetheless very good drawing
> programs.
>
> The question then is:
>
> 2. What program is used most often, and what might you recommend?
I use programs for figures: (1) xmgrace for scientific plotting and gimp
for drawing. They both produce wonderful eps output that lyx has no
trouble with
>
> I have noticed that my SuSE 8.1 distribution of Linux has an abundance
> of documentation for xfig, but there doesn't seem to be anything for
> tgif. This might move me in the direction of xfig.
>
> Finally, there is one trick I'd like to do that was quite easy in OOo,
> and that is to include equations in a figure. I suppose with something
> like xfig I will have to hand format text objects into the arrangement I
> want to do this. The equations I need in a figure are usually simple
> fractions with a couple variables in the num. and denoms.
>
> Any tips on how the masters do this trick?
>
> Thanks for comments.
>
> Good day!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> ____________________________________
> Christopher R. Carlen
> Principal Laser/Optical Technologist
> Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
--
Kirk R. Wythers email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
University of Minnesota tel: 612.625.2261
Department of Forest Resources fax: 612.625.5212
Saint Paul, MN 55108
