word processing

OU812 · 2010-12-30 22:17:52

Hello.

I teach math so most of the documents I create contain formulas, graphs, symbols, diagrams, basic geometric shapes, etc. I also use tables, bullets, text boxes, etc. quite often as well. I've been looking around for an app or group of apps that will fit my needs. I don't wont ooo - I'd prefer something lightweight. I've checked the forums, AUR, softpedia, magazines, etc. So far lyx looks like what I'm after, which is something that can be used to create a basic document or a typical Algebra or Pre-Calculus quiz.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

john

karol · 2010-12-30 22:22:04

As far as I know there's no lightweight document preparation system powerful enough to suit your needs. Lyx is fine but its not exactly lightweight: texlive-core alone is over 200 MB installed.

Last edited by karol (2010-12-30 22:24:11)

frabjous · 2010-12-30 22:30:46

karol wrote:

As far as I know there's no lightweight document preparation system powerful enough to suit your needs. Lyx is fine but its not exactly lightweight: texlive-core alone is over 200 MB installed.

Depends what you mean by lightweight. A TeXlive installation (...and you probably want more than just core to do anything interesting...) takes up a lot of hard drive space, but it's not as if it's constantly taking up RAM or processor resources. LyX only calls on LaTeX when it exports to PDF, and even then it's not going to use that much of what it needs to have on the harddrive just "in case".

I'd consider skipping LyX, however, and just learn to compose LaTeX documents in a text editor. You can't get much more light-weight than a text editor. Sure, you need a wording LaTeX system for when you want to turn that text file into a nice-looking PDF, and that takes up hard-drive, but most of the time you're just editing text. (Plus, there are on-line TeX compilers if you really don't have the hard-drive space.)

It's a steep learning curve at first, but well worth it, and nothing is better at typesetting mathematics. Join us over at LaTeX Community forums if you need help, and be sure to check out its resources for beginners page.

Last edited by frabjous (2010-12-30 22:32:22)

OU812 · 2010-12-30 22:34:50

I've looked into abiword with gtkmathview, but couldn't seem to get it going in Mint. I've looked at vim with latex, but not sure how hard it would be to create documents using a cli app. I also looked into texmacs, which is described as having a steep learning curve.

If it comes down to it functionality, responsiveness, ease of use, and feel are more important than size.

Thanks.

john

karol · 2010-12-30 22:41:05

OpenOffice / LibreOffice is big but is pretty easy to use. TeXLive and friends is pretty big too and can be quite intimidating at first sight.

OU812 · 2011-01-03 01:31:27

Been playing a little bit with abiword and abimath. No full-blown document yet. My best guess is that I use abiword to create the document and abimath to insert the math stuff. Then I use gtkmathview to import the doc and print? I'm not quite sure how all this fits together.

I've looked around at text editors: ted, leafpad, some I forgot, and abiword comes out on top because it has the features I need. I also have taught computer programming and love to use text boxes with shading, borders, bullets, etc.

My goal is to write an Algebra I text for high school students. But I also want a WP that's useful beyond math stuff.

john

dyscoria · 2011-01-03 01:41:53

Been very disappointed with Abiword in the past...it seemed riddled with bugs and just I just couldn't get the job done with it.

BaconPie · 2011-01-03 01:47:27

I use LaTeX, or more specifically PDFLaTeX. It's the one I was taught and have been using it ever since (haven't really looked into the whole TeX family story...). It produces very professional looking documents and the maths just looks gorgeous. The learning curve presents a bit of a hurdle but you can learn the basics in less than an hour, after that it's just googling for what you want. Once that's over with though, you find yourself producing documents much, MUCH faster. Not having to fight with the word processor or worry about layout is such a breeze.

I use it for all of my reports and highly recommend it.

Mr.Elendig · 2011-01-03 01:48:32

OU812 wrote:

Hello.
I teach math so most of the documents I create contain formulas, graphs, symbols, diagrams, basic geometric shapes, etc. I also use tables, bullets, text boxes, etc. quite often as well. I've been looking around for an app or group of apps that will fit my needs. I don't wont ooo - I'd prefer something lightweight. I've checked the forums, AUR, softpedia, magazines, etc. So far lyx looks like what I'm after, which is something that can be used to create a basic document or a typical Algebra or Pre-Calculus quiz.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
john

Lyx (or just any editor + LaTeX) does indeed sound like the best tool for the job.
You can relativly easily create your own document class/template to quickly make consitently looking quizes/tests, answer sheets etc with them.

And to be fair, (La)TeX was created by math gurues to do things like this in the first place

Last edited by Mr.Elendig (2011-01-03 01:51:18)

Berticus · 2011-01-03 03:10:41

I use vim+LaTeX for writing my assignments (engineering, so lots of math and basic geometry for circuit symbols). I've got some vim plugins to make it a little easier.

Cyrusm · 2011-01-03 04:39:15

I would also recommend vim+latex for your needs. downside, there is a high learning curve, and it may take a bit to get started (if used to using a word processor over a markup language that is) but once you get into it, the syntax is very intuitive, especially for equations. personally, I have yet to find an equation editor or word processor that can match the end results of a LaTeX document.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-12-30 22:17:52

word processing

#2 2010-12-30 22:22:04

Re: word processing

#3 2010-12-30 22:30:46

Re: word processing

#4 2010-12-30 22:34:50

Re: word processing

#5 2010-12-30 22:41:05

Re: word processing

#6 2011-01-03 01:31:27

Re: word processing

#7 2011-01-03 01:41:53

Re: word processing

#8 2011-01-03 01:47:27

Re: word processing

#9 2011-01-03 01:48:32

Re: word processing

#10 2011-01-03 03:10:41

Re: word processing

#11 2011-01-03 04:39:15

Re: word processing

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