[scribus] Scribus in place of Pagemaker?

[Frank Swygert]

Greg, MEPIS switched to a Debian base with the last release or two. They were Ubuntu based before. Mint is also Debian based as you stated, so looks like I'm in good standing with one of those! Right now I'm leaning toward Mint, but then I just got the MEPIS DVD (which I stupidly ordered before looking at Mint!). Might just use it for a while. 

John, I've run the MEPIS and Mint live CDs. I might try another, but I doubt it. Those two are pretty robust and highly recommended for noobs, though I have looked at FreeSpire and considered it at one time. I'm not going to get caught up in trying a lot of different distros right now -- takes too much time even with live CDs! I want something that's pretty well a total package and will run for years with minor updates along... a Linux version of Windows pretty much, but without the baggage and being hemmed in by the creator. I may never take advantage of it, but Linux does leave you with a lot of options, not just what the distro creator or program writer decides is best for you. 

The only thing I DON'T like about Linux is all the distros! I know, most of you think that's a strength, but it seems to fracture the community so much. Of course now Linux has matured to the point that there are really only two graphical desktops environments to speak of, which helps. I know there are more, but Gnome and KDE are the two top contenders, it seems the few others are a very small percentage. When it gets to the point that you can install a program and it will automatically look for then install what's missing, or at least tell you what's missing, Linux might have a real chance of competing with Windows. It's almost there! Now if stores would just carry some of the better distros (but then THAT'S confusing to Windows users also... why more than one version of the same OS, and which one do I choose?) so the less technical people could try it, and the open-source people would realize that boxed software on store shelves is mandatory for Linux to really compete, everything would be fine! Not being able to put software in stores is a problem with GNU licensed software. But I'm getting way off topic for this list!  


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Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:31:21 -0400
From: Gregory Pittman <gpittman at iglou.com>
Subject: Re: [scribus] Scribus in place of Pagemaker?
To: Scribus User Mailing List <scribus at lists.scribus.net>
Message-ID: <489A5E79.3070800 at iglou.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

Unfortunately, I don't know so much about either. We have a number of people using Debian and the *buntus, and Mint seems another Debian-based 
distro (their site says that they use Ubuntu's repositories).

The advantage of using ones that others use is in getting help here on 
the list and on the sites. Personally, I think I would suggest OpenSUSE, 
Fedora, or Debian. Others may have other ideas.

Since both KDE and Scribus make use of Qt, they are a natural fit, but 
even with Gnome you can get everything you need. I'm used to using KDE 
and like the way the environment works in various ways. All distros come 
with the GIMP as far as I know, thus you get all the gtk stuff.


Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 21:50:00 -0700
From: John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> 

I suggest you try the distros that have live CDs. With the live CD you
can run the distro without first installing it. It will run rather
slow, as it has to read everything from the CD drive, but it gives you
the opportunity to try out the distro and play with it.

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