Ubuntu
abiword package

Data formats between Ubuntu and Windows

Asked by Dave Allen

I have Ubuntu (10'04) and Windows Vista (of an age) running on the same desktop. I have obtained an external disk drive which I want to use to transfer stuff - mostly text files - between the two systems. What formats are a) compatible for the transfer and b) convertible to the local preferences once transferred? In Linux I use Abiword. In Wndows I use whatever Wordpad will use. (The main reason is that I have a Canon MF44410 printer/ scanner/ copier which has only a print driver available for Linux, and that doesn't seem to be too reliable for me.) Any experience with this machine, I would be grateful to hear about.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

NTFS will be a good option for storage as Ubuntu can read and write to it as can Windows. Windows can only read ext2 and ext3 but cannot access ext4 despite the definitions being 100% available to Microsoft.

If you save files in RTF then it will be accessible in both. Alternatively you can install Abiword in Windows:

http://www.abisource.com/downloads/abiword/2.8.6/Windows/abiword-setup-2.8.6.exe

Dictionaries if you need them:
http://www.abisource.com/downloads/dictionaries/Windows/

Fonts for equation editting:
http://web.mit.edu/atticus/www/mathml/mit-mathml-fonts-1.0-fc1.msi

Source:
http://www.abisource.com/download/

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wojox (wojox) said : 		#2

Download Abiword for Windows http://www.abisource.com/download/

They strive at being a cross platform application. So you shouldn't see any compatibility issues.

I don't know about your printer or driver.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

I couldn't see a Linux scanner driver on the canon site, you may want to double check in case I am blind
http://software.canon-europe.com/

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Dave Allen (davidallen131) said : 		#4

Thanks to all! For actionparsnip: I've formatted the disk with ext3/4 into four partitions, three of which are for backups. The fourth I use as a communications area between Windows and Ubuntu. I might try RTF, but see what follows. For you and wojox, I like the idea of loading Abiword - it's my standard editor in Ubuntu, and I would prefer that to whatever Windows uses. For a.p. again, Canon state they don't have a Linux driver for the scanner, but they do for the printer: that I haven't made work yet. So I keep my Brother printer for Ubuntu, and am trying, unsuccessfully so far, to get the Canon to do all its things on Windows. Hence the need for data transfer between the systems. If I get any remarkable results, I'll report them here.

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