What other students do?

fiod · 2008-04-05 14:33:45

Hey,

I have been using Linux for the past 5 years, on my home computer (and thus my entire family had to get used to it and
on my laptop.

I managed to work out most of the quirks linux had put me through during those years.

But last year I started studying in the university, and now I just can't get anything done without
using a WinXP on VirtualBox.

Most of the universities documents (including exercises and work sheets) are .DOC files,
and almost none are PDF or other linux-supported formats.

So this leaves me no choice but to use windows for creating DOC files (like lab reports),
and even reading the exercises (when I tried reading the docs using wordview on CrossOver, the experience
was terrible. Kept getting stuck).

I was just wondering what other students do to work this thing out, without using windows...

Thanks
Fiod

Last edited by fiod (2008-04-06 10:44:01)

loserMcloser · 2008-04-05 14:50:58

I find Google Docs to be an easy way to handle annoying DOC files. It's not perfect, but works in a pinch.

Allan · 2008-04-05 14:56:33

I have a vmware xp image to read doc files that get screwed up in OOo.

brain0 · 2008-04-05 14:59:21

I never had any such problems at university. You should start suing people for discriminating against you, as there are publicly documented formats out there (no idea how such a thing will turn out).

From my first day here, I only got exercises as PDFs, people told us to never send them .DOC files (some of them claimed they would delete and ignore them). All the software I ever had to use was at least available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, some even for other operating systems.
In one case, we were advised to use a library (didn't have to use it, but it made the task considerably easier), which I couldn't get installed for Windows, so all of our Windows users had to access *nix machines to work with it (we had access to Linux machines from day 1 anyway).

I know that even at my university, the situation is different for many people.

Last edited by brain0 (2008-04-05 15:00:09)

fiod · 2008-04-05 15:01:54

Problem is that Google Docs doesn't work well Hebrew characters.

I find the total dependency in MS office products be the main barrier for other people to start using Linux.

Not to mention the fact that it is simply embarrassing to have to use windows for simple word processing..

And OO is not a perfect replacement - simply due to the fact that other people (outside the Linux world) hardly use it,
thus it is very difficult to share files.

Regards
Fiod

fiod · 2008-04-05 15:03:31

brain0 wrote:

I never had any such problems at university. You should start suing people for discriminating against you, as there are publicly documented formats out there (no idea how such a thing will turn out).
From my first day here, I only got exercises as PDFs, people told us to never send them .DOC files (some of them claimed they would delete and ignore them). All the software I ever had to use was at least available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, some even for other operating systems.
In one case, we were advised to use a library (didn't have to use it, but it made the task considerably easier), which I couldn't get installed for Windows, so all of our Windows users had to access *nix machines to work with it (we had access to Linux machines from day 1 anyway).
I know that even at my university, the situation is different for many people.

things are different here at Tel Aviv University..

Shaika-Dzari · 2008-04-05 15:04:09

In Quebec, there are a really big microsoft lobby and the gouvenement and the public school use a lot (only?) microsoft product.
So you got no choice : dual boot.

fiod · 2008-04-05 15:08:12

Dual boot is an awful time consuming task.

I rather use VirtualBox or VmWare..

BabyDoc · 2008-04-05 15:20:59

At my university (Leuven - Belgium) we get our tasks ect mostly as pdf (sometimes even as ps). We submit them on paper or as pdf. Most computers on campus dual boot windows xp and (k)ubunutu. Don't know whether that goes for every department of the university.
The only problem is that we sometimes need to use software that is windows only.

hennes · 2008-04-05 15:32:59

Here in Greifswald (Germany) we always got exercises as pdf, but I remember for some experiments we had to use Windows apps for data-post-processing. Luckily my partner did that job. I'm rid of dual-boot since quite some time now, and I really appreciate it.

Ramses de Norre · 2008-04-05 16:33:39

Openoffice handles .doc, .xls etc. files very good, only the new .docx, .xlsx etc. aren't implemented yet. But if you're writing the papers yourself, why don't you make pdf's? Use a real typesetting application like LaTeX instead of those crappy office suites.

fiod · 2008-04-05 16:47:49

Not with Hebrew characters.

OpenOffice doesn't work that well with them.

Actually, I have two different problems:
One - reading the exercises (no editing required)
Second - write assignments (say, lab reports) with a friend.

I'd settle for a solution to be able to read (not edit) the .doc files on arch,
and for the editing I'll continue using VirtualBox with XP.

Regards
Fiod

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-04-05 17:23:44

I use OpenOffice and it has worked fine for all of the word processing I do. Also the OpenOffice spreadsheet app works great with Excel files.

Misbah · 2008-04-05 17:47:29

deleted

Last edited by Misbah (2012-02-14 05:31:37)

ekerazha · 2008-04-05 18:50:56

BabyDoc wrote:

At my university (Leuven - Belgium) we get our tasks ect mostly as pdf (sometimes even as ps).

Same here (Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy).

lman · 2008-04-05 20:37:50

At our school (Brno - CZ) we have almost everything in pdf, or sometimes ppt, but there is always a choice.

About windows: most of the computers in the collage are dual boot (winxp, CentOS). And there's a separate Novell and Unix server(s). And in most of the cases we are "advised" to use unix, and the testing environments for the projects we have to do are linux/freebsd servers. Of course there are exceptions, for example computer graphics... and I don't know why for database systems we have a winxp image with oracle installed on it.

I personally have both arch and windows installed on my comp, but I use xp only for occassional playing, and to test whether my web pages work in iexplore (nightmare )( and when i configured/administered my comp at home threw windows remote desktop, but since I installed vnc server on it, there's no need for that)...
But that's all

ornitorrincos · 2008-04-05 20:53:48

in my university(deusto, spain) it depends on the teacher, some of them use .PDF , others .doc, but when submitting anything is usually a source file or a CAd file(the CAD program is only for windows and in wine is sooo slow)

skottish · 2008-04-05 20:59:24

fiod,

Do you have any sample .doc files that don't work right for you that you can post? There are solutions under Linux other than OO. Maybe with a test file someone can help.

finferflu · 2008-04-05 21:00:07

Hmm... My university (University of Manchester, UK) seems different in this respect, even though, being part of the Humanities, we tend to have less techinical needs. They are happy with anything that resembles a word-processed paper, so I can use LaTeX freely. We get our assignments on physical paper

If that can be of help, I need Hebrew characters (even though only for small sections), and they work quite well in LaTeX, I say better than in MS Word.

gajo · 2008-04-05 23:47:19

Heh, things are a bit different here at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, Serbia, quite the opposite actually. Since I'm studying computer engineering/science (or however you call it), we use Ubuntu for our programming tasks like simple C and assembly programming - currently, so most people are forced to install Ubuntu-or any other Linux for that matter, so they can practice and study at home, which I on the other hand quite gladly accept, that's how I got into Linux anyway.
At first I was booting Ubuntu from a virtual machine, then I quickly switched to normal booting Ubuntu-Fedora and now Archlinux on my laptop, but if I was ever to run Windows it would be the virtual machine.
However, can't you use Open Office for .DOC files? I might be completely wrong, but I thought you could, dunno since emacs can do all the writing I need

Roberth · 2008-04-05 23:52:34

Abiword should be much better with doc files, maybe give it a try?

skottish · 2008-04-05 23:56:12

Roberth wrote:

Abiword should be much better with doc files, maybe give it a try?

Or simply wv and wv2. Abiword uses wv.

dmartins · 2008-04-06 04:55:30

I have a tough time with this every semester. This semester I have used a combination of Arch, Windows in running in a virtual machine, dual boot, and a old PC with a dedicated Windows install for uC programming. Both my laptop and desktop have dual boot set up. Neither one boots Windows very often. Pretty much only when I have to work with someone on an assignment and they are using Windows.

One of my classes is partially coding in ASP(ugh!), so my desktop has a XP install in a virtual machine to run IIS w/ ASP.

The documents I recieve are a mix of PDF and DOC. I will always be confused as to why one prof sends us C code saved as a .DOC. Even under windows it is ugly and poorly formatted, sometimes to the point where it no longer works.. wtf is the idea behind that!?

Basically, it's a PITA. I have a hard time figuring out why colleges and universities distribute & expect documents to be submitted in proprietary formats when there are free (beer and speech) alternatives available to everyone - even without installing linux.

fiod · 2008-04-06 06:03:54

skottish:

Here's one for you to check out..

http://www.2shared.com/file/3100061/f00 … -2008.html

jordi · 2008-04-06 13:04:36

home threw windows remote desktop, but since I installed vnc server on it, there's no need for that)...

You could also use rdesktop under linux for rdp, which is faster than vnc.

One of my classes is partially coding in ASP(ugh!), so my desktop has a XP install in a virtual machine to run IIS w/ ASP.

afaik you can get asp running under apache with mod_mono. But I never had to do anything with asp, so I never tried it.

For .doc files i got openoffice and abiword installed. Most of the time the import filter from openoffice works better. If there are a lot of graphics / tables in a document both filters screw up, that is why I ask my friends who use windows to export the files to pdf so that I can read it too.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-04-05 14:33:45

What other students do?

#2 2008-04-05 14:50:58

Re: What other students do?

#3 2008-04-05 14:56:33

Re: What other students do?

#4 2008-04-05 14:59:21

Re: What other students do?

#5 2008-04-05 15:01:54

Re: What other students do?

#6 2008-04-05 15:03:31

Re: What other students do?

#7 2008-04-05 15:04:09

Re: What other students do?

#8 2008-04-05 15:08:12

Re: What other students do?

#9 2008-04-05 15:20:59

Re: What other students do?

#10 2008-04-05 15:32:59

Re: What other students do?

#11 2008-04-05 16:33:39

Re: What other students do?

#12 2008-04-05 16:47:49

Re: What other students do?

#13 2008-04-05 17:23:44

Re: What other students do?

#14 2008-04-05 17:47:29

Re: What other students do?

#15 2008-04-05 18:50:56

Re: What other students do?

#16 2008-04-05 20:37:50

Re: What other students do?

#17 2008-04-05 20:53:48

Re: What other students do?

#18 2008-04-05 20:59:24

Re: What other students do?

#19 2008-04-05 21:00:07

Re: What other students do?

#20 2008-04-05 23:47:19

Re: What other students do?

#21 2008-04-05 23:52:34

Re: What other students do?

#22 2008-04-05 23:56:12

Re: What other students do?

#23 2008-04-06 04:55:30

Re: What other students do?

#24 2008-04-06 06:03:54

Re: What other students do?

#25 2008-04-06 13:04:36

Re: What other students do?

Board footer