[scribus] from a new user

[John Culleton]

On Wednesday 14 April 2010 22:17:47 Peter Thorkelson wrote:
> hello,
>
> I downloaded scribus 1.3.6 for my Mac OSX 10.5.8.
>
> I may already be in way over my head.  I had hopes that I would get
> something like quark express, but the first thing that happened was I
> got an advisory:
>
> "The following programs are missing:
> Ghostscript : You cannot use EPS images or Print Preview"
>
> why would I be offered a download with missing programs?  AND/OR what
> is ghostscript? AND/OR how do I get ghostscript?  AND/OR how important
> is it?
>
> every effort I make to understand seems to lead me deeper into
> incomprehensibility.


Unlike commercial products Open Source products often use the facilities of 
other Open Source products.  Scribus works with Ghostscript, Gimp, and 
LaTeX among others.  This cooperation among products makes each product 
simpler to write and maintain. If you don't have Ghostscript then you can't 
do the things the warning message tells you about. But you can still run 
the program and create documents. If you don't have it then you can't 
import EPS formatted images and you can't preview the output when you print 
directly from Scribus. 

Printing directly from Scribus is not a feature that I use, since the 
typical Scribus document I create (book cover) won't fit nicely on a printed 
8.5 x 11 page. Instead I create a pdf from Scribus and use Acrobat Reader 
to print it out. Acrobat Reader allows one to shrink the image to fit the 
paper.

Ghostscript is an Open Source package of software that runs on all common 
platforms and manipulates Postscript and PDF files.  If you search on the 
internet you will find the site that allows you to download Ghostscript.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/GPL/gpl864.htm

The specifics of linking Ghostscript for OS X to Scribus are described on 
page 8 of the Scribus Manual.  I suggest that the manual is a near-
necessity for newcomers to Scribus.  The ISBN is 978-0-9560780-0-1 and the 
list price is $49.95 (44.95 on Amazon) Your other alternative is to explore 
the Scribus Wiki, tutorials etc. or post your questions here.  

The Scribus community will walk you through your problems and answer your 
questions. Just ask. That is the way Open Source works. We help each other. 


-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
Printable E-book 38 pages $5.95
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24676863/
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html