[scribus] Scribus in place of Pagemaker?

[Frank Swygert]

So what version of Scribus are you running? Of course I'd be best off to start with the latest. I read about the format change... sort of stupid that the new version doesn't come with a format converter or some way of reading the last version files (I can understand a couple versions old though), but I guess it's sometimes necessary. I believe the team went to a totally different, more standard format? 

I think I'll try Scribus... as soon as I get a version of Linux that I like to run. My back-up computer won't boot anything I d/l. It tries, but lots of I/O errors. I'm going to change the CD-Rom drive out in just a few minutes and try again. The d/l files all check good, but may not be. I ordered a couple CDs just to be safe -- one of MEPIS (and I ordered the MEPIS DVD, but don't have a DVD drive in the backup computer) and one of Mint. I want something pretty much ready to go right off the disc without a lot of work, and those two seem to get the best reviews for the noob. 

----------------
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:21:45 -0600
From: danbob <danbob at hughes.net>

Hi all. I grew up with Pagemaker on the Mac throughout college, and then
moved to Quark for my professional career. After that gig was finished,
I didn't do any desktop publishing for a few years. My Macs went
obsolete, I got a new job as a technical writer, and now all my
computers are Linux but one. All of my machines are fairly old --
nothing fast at all....I"m running an AMD 3200+ with 2 gig of RAM.

I recently started a new publishing company, to produce a 320 page
paperback technical book I've been writing with a co-author for 2 years.
I 'eased' myself into Scribus by doing some full-color brochures, then
an illustrated 50-page owners manual.

My observations on Scribus are almost all positive. Almost everything is
similar to what I'm used to in Pagemaker and Quark. There are a few
tasks that take longer than in Quark, but there are many workarounds in
Scribus. For example, photo box styles (this book has over 400 photos
and CAD drawings): It was a simple matter to take the script from the
Scribus Wiki and modify it---so I can draw a photo box, insert a photo,
scale frame to image size, and hit the script button, generating both
the bounding box and the caption box, correctly spaced and gapped. For
all I know, this may be a feature now...but I DO NOT change versions in
the midst of a large project, no matter what the platform or software
package.

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)