Some virtues in OpenOffice

One of the many/various things which OpenOffice Writer allows me to do is to open an HTML file, swiftly hack through it (converting tables to text, wiping odd styles, etc) adjusting it to be actually readable, etc.

Then I can save it as an ordinary document (ODT), and/or as a PDF for someone to just read, or an MS-Word DOC file for them to play with on their ’Doze box, or RTF for someone on a Mac without MS-Office installed, or just plain ’ol HTML again, for re-publishing on the web in more readable form, lighter-weight, easier-to-Copy-Paste etc.

Or just plain easier-to-deal-with HTML sans a lot of the crud that “commercial” HTML editors enjoy adding (or just plain crud that MS-Word buries the HTML in).

Philosophy Alert! (-:

Those of you who know Jethro Tull’s song Thick as a Brick will begin to recognise that this kind of virtue becomes fairly much inevitable as a spin-off of software written by the end-users for the end-users instead of by employees under management/marketing direction for single-minded accountants or shareholders.

In short, it’s not the technology which matters at the core of the difference, it’s the motivation, the attitude of the creaters — which is not something which can be reliably bought or churned out of an institution.

Comments

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

Plantagenet Penguinista

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