Re: Recommended third-party tools
I'd like to thank everyone who offered suggestions for this guide. I've implemented almost all of them, and anyone who wants to take this thing and make something more official out of it is welcome to. I remain of the opinion that a simple, one-page guide which takes the user step-by-step not only through installing LyX, but also through installing at least one good example of each of the main types of supporting tools, would be a boon for beginners. Although one of the strengths of open source software is the amount of choice you get, I also believe it's helpful to be able to say to a beginner, You are welcome and encouraged to try everything and see what best suits you, but for purpose X, right now package Y (or perhaps package Z) would be an excellent place to start. Not only does this make LyX more attractive through showing the power of the entire software ecosystem, but it raises the odds that the user actually *will* end up using some sort of software for purpose X instead of nothing (a great example of this is reference management software like jabref or pybliographer which seems to me to be woefully underutilized). Anyway, thank you again for all the suggestions. I've always loved LyX and hope in some small way this contribution was worthwhile. Russell http://russellb.livejournal.com/1335718.html I believe a simplified guide such as this could be very helpful for students about to enter college to study one of the sciences
Re: Recommended third-party tools
I'd like to thank everyone who offered suggestions for this guide. I've implemented almost all of them, and anyone who wants to take this thing and make something more official out of it is welcome to. I remain of the opinion that a simple, one-page guide which takes the user step-by-step not only through installing LyX, but also through installing at least one good example of each of the main types of supporting tools, would be a boon for beginners. Although one of the strengths of open source software is the amount of choice you get, I also believe it's helpful to be able to say to a beginner, You are welcome and encouraged to try everything and see what best suits you, but for purpose X, right now package Y (or perhaps package Z) would be an excellent place to start. Not only does this make LyX more attractive through showing the power of the entire software ecosystem, but it raises the odds that the user actually *will* end up using some sort of software for purpose X instead of nothing (a great example of this is reference management software like jabref or pybliographer which seems to me to be woefully underutilized). Anyway, thank you again for all the suggestions. I've always loved LyX and hope in some small way this contribution was worthwhile. Russell http://russellb.livejournal.com/1335718.html I believe a simplified guide such as this could be very helpful for students about to enter college to study one of the sciences
Re: Recommended third-party tools
I'd like to thank everyone who offered suggestions for this guide. I've implemented almost all of them, and anyone who wants to take this thing and make something more official out of it is welcome to. I remain of the opinion that a simple, one-page guide which takes the user step-by-step not only through installing LyX, but also through installing at least one good example of each of the main types of supporting tools, would be a boon for beginners. Although one of the strengths of open source software is the amount of choice you get, I also believe it's helpful to be able to say to a beginner, "You are welcome and encouraged to try everything and see what best suits you, but for purpose X, right now package Y (or perhaps package Z) would be an excellent place to start." Not only does this make LyX more attractive through showing the power of the entire software ecosystem, but it raises the odds that the user actually *will* end up using some sort of software for purpose X instead of nothing (a great example of this is reference management software like jabref or pybliographer which seems to me to be woefully underutilized). Anyway, thank you again for all the suggestions. I've always loved LyX and hope in some small way this contribution was worthwhile. Russell > http://russellb.livejournal.com/1335718.html > > I believe a simplified guide such as this could be very helpful for students > about to enter college to study one of the sciences
Why do YOU love LyX?
If you have a good idea, then there's something special (I'm almost tempted to say sacred) about committing it to paper. The emergence of abstract thinking was an early inflection point in the development of our species. The invention of written language was another. The invention of the printing press was yet another. More recently, LaTeX made professional typesetting standards available for free, and even more recently LyX made using those standards as easy as using anything else. I'm not saying that LyX is as significant as the printing press, only that there's an unbroken stream of progress which it's a proud part of, and for that reason I feel proud about using it. So, why do YOU love LyX? Russell
Recommended third-party tools
I'm working on creating the perfect step-by-step procedure for setting up a Linux workstation for scientific writing, based on LyX and with an emphasis on selecting the best available FOSS tools for creating graphics and performing computations. Whenever possible I wanted to select tools which are in common use, so that the skills being gained might have lasting value. Here's the draft I have so far, which builds on something I mentioned on this list a while ago: http://russellb.livejournal.com/1335718.html I believe a simplified guide such as this could be very helpful for students about to enter college to study one of the sciences, and I'm hoping members of this list might be able to offer suggestions for additional third-party tools, or enhancements to LyX, which may have been left out. I don't consider myself a LyX expert, but I do believe there is a need for something like this, and I gave this my best shot in the hopes of getting the ball rolling. Russell
Re: Free software writing appliance -- email clients
On Sun, 19 Feb 2012, Steve Litt wrote: In it he recommended Evolution as an email client. FWIW I deleted that portion: it was left over from something else, and really shouldn't have been there. At the same time I made other edits based on some of the suggestions I've received so far, including explictly mentioning sweave (http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/LyxWithRThroughSweave), and flagging anything that might be different under Ubuntu. The combination of R and LyX is a powerful one. I'm wondering if it would be worth the time to make a YouTube video demonstrating what you can do with R (via its Rstudio IDE) and LyX (via sweave): this alone might be a compelling reason for a lot of science students to give this entire arrangement a shot. Russell
Why do YOU love LyX?
If you have a good idea, then there's something special (I'm almost tempted to say sacred) about committing it to paper. The emergence of abstract thinking was an early inflection point in the development of our species. The invention of written language was another. The invention of the printing press was yet another. More recently, LaTeX made professional typesetting standards available for free, and even more recently LyX made using those standards as easy as using anything else. I'm not saying that LyX is as significant as the printing press, only that there's an unbroken stream of progress which it's a proud part of, and for that reason I feel proud about using it. So, why do YOU love LyX? Russell
Recommended third-party tools
I'm working on creating the perfect step-by-step procedure for setting up a Linux workstation for scientific writing, based on LyX and with an emphasis on selecting the best available FOSS tools for creating graphics and performing computations. Whenever possible I wanted to select tools which are in common use, so that the skills being gained might have lasting value. Here's the draft I have so far, which builds on something I mentioned on this list a while ago: http://russellb.livejournal.com/1335718.html I believe a simplified guide such as this could be very helpful for students about to enter college to study one of the sciences, and I'm hoping members of this list might be able to offer suggestions for additional third-party tools, or enhancements to LyX, which may have been left out. I don't consider myself a LyX expert, but I do believe there is a need for something like this, and I gave this my best shot in the hopes of getting the ball rolling. Russell
Re: Free software writing appliance -- email clients
On Sun, 19 Feb 2012, Steve Litt wrote: In it he recommended Evolution as an email client. FWIW I deleted that portion: it was left over from something else, and really shouldn't have been there. At the same time I made other edits based on some of the suggestions I've received so far, including explictly mentioning sweave (http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/LyxWithRThroughSweave), and flagging anything that might be different under Ubuntu. The combination of R and LyX is a powerful one. I'm wondering if it would be worth the time to make a YouTube video demonstrating what you can do with R (via its Rstudio IDE) and LyX (via sweave): this alone might be a compelling reason for a lot of science students to give this entire arrangement a shot. Russell
Why do YOU love LyX?
If you have a good idea, then there's something special (I'm almost tempted to say "sacred") about committing it to paper. The emergence of abstract thinking was an early inflection point in the development of our species. The invention of written language was another. The invention of the printing press was yet another. More recently, LaTeX made professional typesetting standards available for free, and even more recently LyX made using those standards as easy as using anything else. I'm not saying that LyX is as significant as the printing press, only that there's an unbroken stream of progress which it's a proud part of, and for that reason I feel proud about using it. So, why do YOU love LyX? Russell
Recommended third-party tools
I'm working on creating the "perfect" step-by-step procedure for setting up a Linux workstation for scientific writing, based on LyX and with an emphasis on selecting the best available FOSS tools for creating graphics and performing computations. Whenever possible I wanted to select tools which are in common use, so that the skills being gained might have lasting value. Here's the draft I have so far, which builds on something I mentioned on this list a while ago: http://russellb.livejournal.com/1335718.html I believe a simplified guide such as this could be very helpful for students about to enter college to study one of the sciences, and I'm hoping members of this list might be able to offer suggestions for additional third-party tools, or enhancements to LyX, which may have been left out. I don't consider myself a LyX expert, but I do believe there is a need for something like this, and I gave this my best shot in the hopes of getting the ball rolling. Russell
Re: Free software writing appliance -- email clients
On Sun, 19 Feb 2012, Steve Litt wrote: In it he recommended Evolution as an email client. FWIW I deleted that portion: it was left over from something else, and really shouldn't have been there. At the same time I made other edits based on some of the suggestions I've received so far, including explictly mentioning sweave (http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/LyxWithRThroughSweave), and flagging anything that might be different under Ubuntu. The combination of R and LyX is a powerful one. I'm wondering if it would be worth the time to make a YouTube video demonstrating what you can do with R (via its Rstudio IDE) and LyX (via sweave): this alone might be a compelling reason for a lot of science students to give this entire arrangement a shot. Russell
