MySQL, Java, JSP, Servlet, Tomcat and Jboss Web Hosting Blog

Chapter 21 . Working with Words and Images 551 Getting Away from Windows For casual home users, small-office workers, and large corporation personnel alike, moving away from Microsoft Office to another Office suite is an experience that can range from simple to harrowing. In general, it is useful to examine this migration in terms of home use versus work use. Home users typically have to concern themselves with maintaining access to their own documents. In a personal context, it might be rare for friends and relatives to send Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations. But over the years you may have accumulated term papers, recipes, letters to the editor, and other such documents that you d like to be able to read and print. In most cases, OpenOffice.org applications will handle files in Microsoft formats just fine. At work, in addition to the accumulation of documents over time, there is a more pressing issue: Other people will be sending you Microsoft Office documents. So while home users need to concern themselves most with access to historical documents, in the workplace you probably need to accommodate new documents as well as your historical information. Because you can also convert your documents, there are no real challenges to migrating simple documents. However, if your Microsoft Office documents include extensive macro, scripting, or embedded object usage, you may find the conversion is not a very clean one. Make sure you attempt conversions using the following options before moving on to the last resort of using multiple applications or re-creating documents. Using Microsoft Office to convert documents enables you to save your files in an alternative format. For example, Word 2002 allows you to save your .doc files (the Word versions anyway) to a variety of formats, including: . HTML (.htm/.html) HTML is a great format for your information if it is basically text and you need only a few formatting options and some embedded images and links. The resulting HTML document will be smaller than the corresponding .doc file. . Rich Text Format (.rtf) Another wonderful minimalist format (owned by Microsoft but an open standard nonetheless) that preserves some formatting and graphics, but any scripting or macro usage is lost. . Plain Text (.txt) Works if all you need to save is the text of the file. Everything else is lost. . Word 6.0/95 (.doc) An alternative format that may save some of the elements you want yet make it more accessible to OpenOffice.org. Using this format may not resolve all of the issues you have with converting those hard-to-change documents, but it just might do the trick.
Note: If you are looking for cheap and reliable webhost to host and run your web application check Vision coldfusion web hosting services

550 Part IV . Running Applications AbiWord is a great first try as a usable word processor. Recently added features such as styles and bullets continue to make it a more useful word-processing tool. It s not yet competitive with comparable commercial products, but its developers continue to improve it. Using KOffice There is a KDE office suite of applications that is often included with KDE desktop systems. The KOffice package has the basic applications you would expect in an integrated office suite: a word processor (KWord), spreadsheet (KSpread) program, a presentation creator (KPresenter), and a diagram-drawing program (KChart). Start by opening the KOffice Workspace (usually from a KDE panel menu). In the workspace window that opens, you can select from the different office applications presented in the left column. Open multiple documents in any of the applications, and then click Documents in the left column to choose which one to display at the moment. Figure 21-2 shows the KOffice workspace, displaying a KWord document. Figure 21-2: The KOffice Workspace enables you to work with multiple KDE office applications at once. You can work with a variety of document, spreadsheet, and image types. Not many commercial document types are supported yet, so you may need to import documents using other tools before you can read them into KWord. KSpread, however, can open several different spreadsheet styles, including Microsoft Excel and GNUmeric spreadsheets.
Note: If you are looking for best quality webspace to host and run your tomcat application check Vision tomcat hosting services

Chapter 21 . Working with Words and Images 549 Other tools in StarOffice enable you to create business graphics, edit raster images, and edit mathematical formulas. You can download StarOffice 8 for Linux or purchase a boxed set from the StarOffice Web site at www.sun.com/staroffice. Although StarOffice was once available free for download, the current price to download the software for home users is $69.95. There is a trial version available that you can enable (using a license key) if you decide that you like it enough to purchase the product. One reason to pay for StarOffice when you can get OpenOffice.org software for free is that you get a bunch of extras with StarOffice. The extras include a spell-checker, clip art, many more file converters (although the best ones are for converting Microsoft formats), a database module, and technical support. OpenOffice.org is an open source project sponsored by Sun Microsystems. Sun takes the shared source code used to create OpenOffice.org and combines it with other modules to produce the StarOffice suite. This is very similar to Mozilla, an open source Web browser, and Netscape, a commercial product built from the Mozilla sources. Using AbiWord The AbiWord word processor is a very nice, free word processor from the AbiSource project (www.abisource.com). If you are starting documents from scratch, AbiWord includes many of the basic functions you need to create good-quality documents. With AbiWord, you can select the type of document the file contains, and select to read the file in the following formats: AbiWord (.abw) GZipped AbiWord (.zabw) Rich Text Format (.rtf) Microsoft Word (.doc) UTF8 (.utf8) Text (.txt) AbiWord doesn t yet import all these file types cleanly. Although the recent version supports Word styles, sometimes tables, graphics, and other features don t translate perfectly. If you want to work with a Word document in AbiWord, open it as AbiWord, correct any font problems, and save the document in AbiWord format. AbiWord has vastly improved in the past few releases, but you may still experience problems if you need to exchange files with others who are using Word. (If you want to keep files in the Word format, you ll find that OpenOffice.org and StarOffice work much better, but not perfectly.) Note
Note: If you are looking for cheap and reliable webhost to host and run your web application check Vision coldfusion web hosting services

548 Part IV . Running Applications Other Word Processors If your distribution does not include the OpenOffice.org suite, or you just want to try something else, you have some other choices: . StarOffice The StarOffice productivity suite contains applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation graphics, e-mail, news, charting, and graphics. It was created to run on Linux systems, but it runs in other environments as well. It can import and export a variety of Microsoft file formats. StarOffice is owned by Sun Microsystems, which sells it as a commercial product. . AbiWord The AbiWord word processor (abiword command), is noncommercial software and is the first application produced by the AbiSource project (www.abisource.com). In addition to working with files in its own format (.abw and .zabw), AbiWord can import files in Microsoft Word and several other formats. . KOffice The KOffice package contains a set of office productivity applications designed for the KDE desktop (you must have the KDE desktop environment). The noncommercial software includes a word processor (KWord), spreadsheet (KSpread), presentation creator (KPresenter), and diagram-drawing program (KChart). These applications can be run separately or within a KOffice Workspace. Using StarOffice The StarOffice suite from Sun Microsystems, Inc. (www.sun.com/staroffice) is a product that runs on Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems. Like OpenOffice.org, StarOffice contains many features that make it compatible with Microsoft Office applications. In particular, it includes the capability to import Microsoft Word and Excel files. StarOffice is probably the most complete integrated office suite for Linux. It includes: . Writer StarOffice s word-processing application. It can import documents from a variety of formats, with special emphasis on Word documents. . Calc The StarOffice spreadsheet program. You can import spreadsheets from Microsoft Excel and other popular programs. . Impress Create presentations with this application. . Draw A vector-oriented drawing program that includes the capability to create 3D objects and to use texturing. . Base Manage your data sources. You can access a variety of database interfaces.
Note: If you are looking for cheap and reliable webhost to host and run your mysql application check Vision mysql hosting services

Chapter 21 . Working with Words and Images 547 Unlike other applications that were created to work with Microsoft document and data formats, OpenOffice.org (although not perfect) does a very good job of opening and saving those files with fewer problems. Very basic styles and formatting that open in OpenOffice.org often don t look noticeably different from the way they appear in Microsoft Office. In other cases, such things as bullets, alignment, and indentation can appear quite different in Writer than they do in Word. Also, some Word features, such as macros and scripting features, may not work at all in Writer. To open OpenOffice.org applications, select the relevant menu item (such as the OpenOffice Writer icon) from the system menu (K-Menu, for example). In most distributions, there s a folder called Office (or something very similar) located on the system menu as well. Figure 21-1 shows a Microsoft Word document open for editing in OpenOffice.org Writer. Figure 21-1: Work with Microsoft Word documents in OpenOffice.org Writer. The controls in Writer are similar to the ones you find in Word. Toolbars include boxes for changing styles, font types, and font sizes. Buttons let you save and print the file; change the text alignment; and cut, copy, and paste text. In other words, Writer includes almost everything you expect in an advanced word processor. In addition, Writer includes a handy PDF button to output a file directly to the PDF format, which is very useful for exchanging documents or placing data on the Internet. Although this book cannot cover all the OpenOffice.org applications, you can try them out directly from KNOPPIX or most other Linux distributions that offer KDE or GNOME desktops. Note
Note: In case you are looking for affordable webhost to host and run your servlet application check Vision mysql5 web hosting services

546 Part IV . Running Applications This chapter examines both text-based and GUI-based document preparation software for Linux, and discusses tools for printing and displaying documents, as well as software for working with images. Using OpenOffice.org Some have called OpenOffice.org a significant threat to Microsoft s dominance of the desktop market. If a need to work with documents in Microsoft Word format has kept you from using Linux as your desktop computer, OpenOffice.org is a big step toward removing that obstacle. You can use a program such as WINE that (among other things) allows you to run older versions of Microsoft Office directly on your Linux PC, but for the vast majority of users there is no reason to bother doing so. In this section we take a high-level overview of the suite and spend a little time examining one of the more commonly used elements, Writer, in some detail. Many distributions of Linux include the entire OpenOffice.org suite of desktop applications. Some include the StarOffice suite in addition to or in lieu of OpenOffice.org. If neither is present, you can always download and install OpenOffice.org from its Web site, www.openoffice.org. StarOffice is commercial software and can be purchased from www.sun.com. OpenOffice.org, which shares its source code with StarOffice, consists of the following office-productivity applications: . Writer A word-processing application that can work with documents in file formats from Microsoft Word, StarOffice, and several others. Writer also has a full set of features for using templates, working with fonts, navigating your documents, including images and effects, and generating tables of contents. . Calc A spreadsheet application that lets you incorporate data from Microsoft Excel, StarOffice, Dbase, and several other spreadsheet formats. Some nice features in Calc enable you to create charts, set up database ranges (to easily sort data in an area of a spreadsheet), and use the data pilot tool to arrange data in different points of view. . Draw A drawing application that enables you to create, edit, and align objects; include textures and colors; and work with layers of objects. It lets you incorporate images, vector graphics, AutoCAD, and a variety of other file formats into your drawings. Then, you can save your drawing in the OpenOffice.org Drawing or StarDraw formats. . Math A calculation program that lets you create mathematical formulas. . Impress A presentation application that includes a variety of slide effects. You can use Impress to create and save presentations in the Microsoft PowerPoint, StarDraw, and StarImpress formats.
Note: In case you are looking for affordable webhost to host and run your servlet application check Vision servlet hosting services

Working with Words and Images Computers are great for collecting and recording music, playing games, and communicating with far-off lands. While these functions are popular and exciting, one tool has been considered essential since the earliest days of personal computers: document-creating applications. From ultrasimple text-only editors to feature-rich groupware systems, you ll be hard-pressed to find a PC without this basic functionality. Such software is so important that Microsoft makes billions of dollars each year selling productivity tools for the Windows OS. Linux users are, on most levels, no different from any other PC user. They need to write letters, make presentations, write books, and sort information in spreadsheets. For the Linux user, a copy of Microsoft Office is simply not in the cards yet, but there are many powerful tools from which to choose. OpenOffice.org is a powerful open source office suite available as a download and as part of many Linux distributions. Based on Sun Microsystem s StarOffice productivity suite, OpenOffice.org includes a word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation manager, and other personal productivity tools. In most cases, OpenOffice.org can be used as a drop-in replacement for Microsoft Office. The first document and graphics tools for Linux were mostly built on older, text-based tools. Recently, more sophisticated tools for writing, formatting pages, and integrating graphics have been added. Despite their age, many of the older publishing tools (such as Groff and LaTeX) are still used by people in the technical community. 2C H A1P1T E R . . . . In This Chapter Using OpenOffice.org Using KOffice Using AbiWord Taking documents from Windows to Linux Creating documents with Groff and LaTeX Creating DocBook documents Printing documents with Linux Displaying documents with ghostscript and Acrobat Working with graphics Using scanners driven by SANE . . . .
Note: In case you are looking for affordable webhost to host and run your servlet application check Vision servlet hosting services

544 Part IV . Running Applications Every desktop Linux distribution comes with one or more ways of playing music from files or CDs. Popular music players include XMMS and Rhythmbox. Tools for ripping and recording CDs include grip and command-line utilities such as cdda2wav and cdrecord. The chapter also covered playing live video from TV cards and Webcams in the sections on tvtime and GnomeMeeting, respectively. Finally, you saw how the xine player can be used to play a variety of video formats and explored the gtkam window for downloading images from a digital camera. If your computer has a CD burner, use the descriptions in this chapter to create your own music CDs and CD labels. . . .
Note: If you are looking for best quality webspace to host and run your tomcat application check Vision virtual web hosting services

Chapter 20 . Playing Music and Video 543 To Linux, the USB mass storage camera appears as a SCSI drive containing a VFAT file system with image files on it. Here s a procedure for using your digital camera as a USB storage device: 1. Use the cable provided with your digital camera to connect your camera to a USB port on your computer, and turn the camera on so it is ready to send and receive data. 2. Boot your computer. 3. Open the /etc/fstab file as root user and see if an entry was created for your digital camera. If you have no other SCSI devices on your computer, the camera is probably detected as a /dev/sda1 device. Here s what the entry might look like: /dev/sda1 /mnt/camera auto defaults, user,noauto 0 0 If no such entry appears, create the entry. Create the mount point directory (as root user, type mkdir /mnt/camera). 4. As root user, type the command to mount the camera: mount /mnt/camera. 5. Open the /mnt/camera directory as you would any other directory from the shell or from a file manager. Copy, delete, move, and rename files as you would any files on your hard disk. 6. When you are done, unmount the camera (as root user from a Terminal window): # umount /mnt/camera If you unplug your camera without unmounting the file system, it can damage the files on your camera. You can follow this procedure to use other USB mass storage devices (CD drives, keychains, and so on) in Linux. Use different mount directories (such as /mnt/keychain) and check which SCSI device is being assigned to the USB storage device. To see if your USB storage device can be seen by Linux, check the /var/log/dmesg file or run the usbview command. Either will tell you if the device is being detected properly by Linux. Summary Getting up and running with digital media can take some doing, but once it s set up, you can play most audio and video content available today. This chapter takes you through the steps of setting up and troubleshooting your sound card and explains how to find software to play music through that card. Caution
Note: In case you are looking for affordable webhost to host and run your web application check Vision http web server services

542 Part IV . Running Applications choose a directory to save them to. You can rename the images or just use the names assigned by the camera. 9. Choose images you want to delete, and click the Delete button. Using Your Camera as a Storage Device Some digital cameras let you treat them like a storage device to manage pictures. By mounting a digital camera as a USB mass storage device, you can view, copy, delete, and move the pictures on your camera as you would files on a hard disk or CD (just at a lower speed). Table 20-4 is a partial summary of digital cameras that can be used as a USB storage device. Table 20-4 Cameras That Can Be Used as Usb Storage Devices Brand Supported Models Casio Supported modelsQV-2400UX, QV-2×00, QV-3×00, QV-4000, and QV-8000 Fuji FinePix 1300, 1400Zoom, 2300Zoom, 2400Zoom, 2800Zoom, 4200Z, 4500, 4700 Zoom, 4900 Zoom, 6800 Zoom, A101, A201, and S1 Pro HP PhotoSmart 315, 318xi, 618, and C912 Konica KD200Z, KD400Z, and Revio KD300Z Kyocera Finecam s3 Leica Digilux 4.3 Minolta Dimage 5, Dimage 7, and Dimage X Nikon CoolPix 2500, 885, 5000, 775, and 995 Olympus Brio Zoom D-15, C-100, C-200Z, C-2040, C-220Z, C-2Z, C-3020Z, C-3040Z, C-4040Zoom, C-700, C-700UZ, C-860L, D-510, D-520Z, E-10, and E-20 Pentax EI2000, Optio 330, and Optio 430 Sony DSC-F505, DSC-F505V, DSC-F707, DSC-P1, DSC-P20, DSC-P5, DSC-P71, DSC-S30, DSC-S70, DSC-S75, DSC-S85, MVC-CD300, and MVC-FD92 Vivitar Vivicam 3550 Yashica Finecam s3
Note: If you are looking for cheap webhost to host and run your apache application check Vision jboss web hosting services