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Academic work: Transliteration and Word Processing in Ubuntu

Asked by Ron

Dear all,

I am a graduate student writing a dissertation at the moment. More than half of my computer work is done on a word processor. I take notes and then write drafts of papers, chapters, presentations, etc. I have just switched from OS X (after 5 years and half of using Mac) and wonder if there are Ubuntu equivalents of what Mac offers for academics. Namely:

1. One or more user-friendly word processing softwares with proper egronomic design: I have been using Open Office for the past several days. I must say switching from Nisus Writer Pro or Mellel, Open Office seems somewhat slow and not very user-friendly. It seems to follow the design of MS Word (or what MS Word use to be) and feels above all *cluttered.* I am however trying to like it as I understand there's probably no other word processor better than Open Office -- as long as one works from an Ubuntu platform. I also downloaded Kword which in terms of interface and egronomic design seems quite nice -- although I don't know how powerful Kword is at the moment and whether it can accomplish all that academic work requires from a word processor.

I am writing to learn about other academics' or graduate students' experience. Are there any out there using Ubuntu? If so, how did you resolve similar dilemmas? Any tips as to what works best for you? Do you use Open Office mostly? Is there any other word processing software you prefer?

2. Using Open Office and Ubuntu I have also had trouble finding the right buttons for diacritics. I am specifically referring to marks that are placed above or under (sometimes in the middle of) letters in order to indicate proper transliteration of foreign letters. For instance, I am right now in desperate need of dots (.) and small horizontal lines (-) below or above letters. Is there anyway to produce them in Ubuntu in general and Open Office specifically? In OS X you hold the function button and the diacritics appear on your keyboard. You can then produce them on any applications including inside your emails. Is there such a thing in Ubuntu?

Here's a few examples of what I mean:

ā,ū,ī

3. Finally, what are some bibliographical softwares that could replace EndNote or Bookend?

Appreciatively,

Ron

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Tony Pursell
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Revision history for this message
marcus aurelius (adbiz) said : 		#1

there's an extension add-on that let's you produce the characters that you're looking for. entering diactricals is a matter of pressing a combination of keys or looking for the characters in a keymap. don't remember what it's called exactly, but you can easily search in the extensions library.

if you don't like openoffice, you can try abiword. it is open source, so it's free as well. i haven't used it so i don't know if it is capable of some of the features you're looking for. but go to their website and have a look.

Revision history for this message
Ron (ronald17b95) said : 		#2

Thanks so much for your note. Is there anyway you or someone else could specify which add-on extension this is and how I can activate it or use it on Open Office?

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mycae (mycae) said : 		#3

Not sure how many graduate students you will find on a generic ubuntu tech support forum:

Here's my two cents:
* Openoffice's cross-reference management (for biblographies) is terrible.
* Jabref is a potential solution to keeping track of PDFs and citations
* SCIM may help write unusual characters for ubuntu in general. (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SCIM)

There is also the LaTeX family of document processors. Kile is one of the more popular editors.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/LaTeX
http://kile.sourceforge.net/

The learning curve for latex can be a bit steep though, particularly for people who are used to the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get document model, as opposed to structuring your documents.

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Tony Pursell (ajpursell) said : 		#4

Hi Ron

Most of the characters you want are in the Character Map (Applications > Accessories > Character Map) under Latin script. Every character has a Unicode code which you will find in the character map. If you key Ctrl-Shift-u, then release the keys and key the code, then hit Return or Enter, you will get the character. This works most everywhere in Ubuntu (OpenOffice.org, gEdit, Terminal, etc).

For instance, Ctrl-Shift-u, then 0101 gives you ā.

One thing you can do in OpenOffice.org is set up key sequences in Tools > Autocorrect Options to make this easier. Eg replace a- with ā, i- with ī and u- with ū.

Hope that helps.

Tony

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Ron (ronald17b95) said : 		#5

Thanks very much for an informed comment.

I will definitely try Jabref and Kile/LaTeX -- thanks for brining them to my attention. I had no idea they existed. I will write back once I tried them both.

As for SCIM, reading a little about it, it strikes me as a solution to write in different Asian scripts rather than transliterating foreign languages with Latin alphabet. Or am I mistaken here?

Revision history for this message
Ron (ronald17b95) said : 		#6

Tony,

This is exactly what I wanted to know about! Thanks so much! It answers the part of my query about transliteration. It is admittedly more complicated than I expected but it answers my need for the time being.

Do you know if there is anyway to set up key sequences for transliteration (like the one you explain for Open Office) for the entire Ubuntu (and not just in Open Office)? That would make life easier indeed.

I am quite grateful for your response!

Ron

Revision history for this message
mycae (mycae) said : 		#7

SCIM is generally used to map multiple keystrokes into a single character. For example, when writing in languages such as French on an english keyboard, it can be configured such that the sequence 'a produces an accented French a (my keyboard is not confiuged to do this atm :) )
http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?id=29800

Latex uses escape sequences for accents, such as \.o will produce ȯ but can also use SCIM characters if configued for UTF8 input.

For example
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Accents

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Best Tony Pursell (ajpursell) said : 		#8

 Ron,

Sorry, but I don't know of any general equivalent of OpenOffice.org's Autocorrect.

You can, of course, copy from the Character Map. Double click the character, click Copy, then paste into your document. You can paste in Ubuntu by pressing the middle button (or scroll wheel). But this is a bit long-winded, especially when you have to clear the Text to Copy box in Character Map to copy another character.

Tony

PS If this answers your question now, please mark it as Solved

Revision history for this message
Ron (ronald17b95) said : 		#9

Thanks Tony Pursell, that solved my question.

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Ron (ronald17b95) said : 		#10

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate your input. I think I have gathered sufficient information to close this case.

Revision history for this message
Ron (ronald17b95) said : 		#11

I have figured another way (I think much easier way) to produce diacritics in Ubuntu:

Use the Compose key on Gnome. Set it at: System>Preferences>Keyboard>Layouts>Options "Compose key position". I set mine to the left Windows key so that typing Left Windows Key, followed by -, followed by a produces ā -- or windows key, followed by -, followed by i produces ī.

I hope this helps. This method is much easier than the previously stated.