AbiWord FAQ?

twyg

Back to Mac Baby!
Ok, got XFree86 up and running, nicely as well may I add! The X installer has come leaps and bounds ahead of where it was just 6 months ago.

Now I tried to open AbiWord and it started immediately moaning about missing fonts and won't let me start using the program. It told me to refer to the FAQ which I'd just love to do, but I can't seem to find it. Could someone point me in the right direction, or inform me of how to fix this font problem?

Also, any recommendations on good X progs for the following tasks would also be greatly appreciated.
E-mail client (don't say pine please) I need one with a GUI that's fairly simple to use as Outlook Express has me tearing my heart out. Remember when supplying a suggestion that most of my users will not be too savvy with the computer, so ease of use is a must.

Browser. I'm using OmniWeb right now, and it's the best, but can I do better in Xfree?

Microsoft Intellimouse drivers. Can I actually use all these buttons I've bought? (obviously this isn't crucial ;) )

irc client. I think bitchX is my best bet, but lemme know.

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks in advance all!
 
The FAQ does seem to be up now. In case it's not when you check, I did make a PDF of the page. If you want it let me know. If you just want to read the FAQ, here it is:

Title: AbiWord: FAQ
URL: http://www.abisource.com/support/faq/
Date: Feb 03, 2002

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AbiWord FAQ
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Contents

1. Languages and Internationalization
How do I change Languages in AbiWord?
I changed languages, but I still see some English. Why?
How do I get the spell checker to work in my language?


2. General Questions
How do I work with Microsoft Word documents?
How do I enable VI or Emacs Key bindings in AbiWord?


3. AbiWord for Linux
How do I use true-type fonts in AbiWord?
"AbiWord could not load [-*-Times New Roman-regular-r-*-*...]"
Unix Font Warning


4. AbiWord for Windows
I get an error about COMCTL32.dll when I install.

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1. Languages and Internationalization

1.1 How do I change Languages in AbiWord?
AbiWord can work with menus and strings translated into many different languages by configuring the system properly:
In windows, go to Control Panel->Regional Settings, and select a locale.
In a Unix based system, use something like this (using bash):

export LANG=sv_SE
unset LC_ALL
in your .profile



1.2 I changed languages, but I still see some English. Why?
Translations for AbiWord are provided by conscientious individuals all over the world who enjoy using AbiWord in their native language, just as you. As AbiWord continues to develop new features, occasionally there is a small time lag between when a new dialog or menu appears, and when all the new translated words can be submitted. You can help the translation effort by contacting the person responsible for your particular translation. To do so, look in your AbiWord directory for a folder named "strings". Find the file associated with your language in that directory, and open it with an editor such as vi or notepad. At the top of that page, you will find the name and email of the person who is maintaining the translation.


1.3 How do I get the spell checker to work in my language?
Your AbiWord distribution contains a file called american.hash. This is a dictionary of English words. By replacing this dictionary with one from your language of choice, spell check will then mark only those words misspelled for the language you choose. There is an abispell package that contains 22 ready to use hash files. It is available on SourceForge.
Otherwise, a comprehensive list of available dictionaries is at http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/ispell-dictionaries.html. Once the dictionaries are downloaded, you can follow the directions at http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/ispell-winnt.html to build the hash file.

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2. General Questions

2.1 How do I work with Microsoft Word documents?
Presently, AbiWord can open basic Microsoft Word documents well. However, if the document has complicated tables, embedded spreadsheets, and so forth, then it might not as intended. Developing good MS Word filters is a very difficult process, so please bear with us as we work on getting Word documents to open correctly.
AbiWord cannot currently save in the MS Word ".doc" format. However, you can save your file as a ".rtf" file, which is readable by all versions of Microsoft Word.


2.2 How do I switch to VI or Emacs key bindings?
Note: This is not recommended for most users.
Simply edit your ~/.AbiSuite/AbiWord.profile, and find the section beginning with that <Scheme "_custom_". Simply add the line keybindings="emacs" or keybindings="viEdit" as desired.

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3. AbiWord for Linux

3.1 How do I use True Type fonts for AbiWord on Linux?
It is possible to use true-type fonts on Linux. The true-type fonts page contains detailed instructions on how to set this up.


3.2 "AbiWord could not load [-*-Times New Roman-...]"
If you recieve the message "AbiWord could not load the following font or fontset from the X Window System display server, [-*-Times New Roman-regular-r-*-*-*-0-*-*-*-*-*-*]" or something similar try the following, add the line load "type1" to your /etc/X11/XF86Config or XF86Config-4 file. (You will need to do this as root.)
You may also want to try the following command if you still have problems
/usr/sbin/chkfontpath -a /usr/share/AbiSuite/fonts. Again, you will need to do this as root. Check the AbiSuite directory path as it may have been changed by the packager depending of the distribution.


3.3 Unix Font Warning
If your X setup uses a font server instead of handling the fonts itself, you will see a warning each time you start AbiWord. To disable this, enter the Tools->Preferences dialog and deselect the "Show font warning at start up" option under the "Preference Schemes" tab.

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4. AbiWord for Windows

4.1 I get an error about COMCTL32.DLL when I install.
COMCTL32.DLL is a Windows library AbiWord needs to run. Some older versions of Windows did not have this library. You can get it free from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/ie/comctrlx86.asp.

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Copyright (C) 1998-2001 SourceGear Corporation and other contributors. All rights reserved.
AbiSource, AbiSuite, and AbiWord are trademarks of SourceGear Corporation. All other product names, company names, or logos cited herein are property of their respective owners.
Site feedback to webmaster@abisource.com
 
I think its been mentioned before, but xchat is great for irc. gaim will also work.

I recommend checking out:
http://linux.davecentral.com/

Just search for any thing you wish, and click 'visit homepage' From there you can usually find a guide to compiling it along with the source code.

I couldn't get mozilla to compile for X11, but you can always run it remotely off a linux server :p

kmail is a nice mail app, you can do many mail accounts in it. don't know if it can handel html though :p besides, you might have to compile kde to get it to work.


Isn't it cool that we can have this discussion? Try any of this with os9.. or winblows.. heh
 
It's a program, or more of a framework really, that enables running a UNIX XWindows OS right along with OS X.
Here is a good place to learn more about it.
Kilowatt, thanks for the tip on xchat! Just installed it with Fink.
:D
 
XFree86 essentially is a free implementation of the X Windows system. Installing this on a Mac OS X machine allows the user access to much of the software that has been written for this environment. This includes some really great software that was developed for and by the Open Source community (i.e. it's free). Some of the software written for this environment strongly resembles commercial products that cost hundreds of dollars. For example, GIMP is very similar to early versions of Photoshop and AbiWord is similar in many ways to Microsoft Word.

&lt;opinion&gt;
Although these programs will probably never match their retail counterparts in speed and feature set, they are quite useable, it's exciting to see this software running on a Macintosh, and they are free!
&lt;/opinion&gt;
 
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