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287 lines
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<title>Micro Publishing, part II (Mark's Update) LG #56</title>
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<H4 ALIGN="center">
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">Micro Publishing, part II (Mark's Update)</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:mark@tcu-inc.com">Mark Nielsen</a></H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="#REF">References</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#INTRODUCTION">Introduction</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Printer">Choose your Printer</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#paper">Choose how you want to fold the paper.</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Press">Buy or make your own Book Press.</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Glue.">Choose the type of Glue.</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Use">Use the software to make your print outs.</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Make">Make your book!</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Copy">Now, copy your book if you need multiple copies.</a></li>
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<li>
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<a href="#Conclusion">Conclusion</a></li>
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</ol>
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<hr WIDTH="100%">
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<h3>
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<a NAME="REf"></a>References</h3>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="../issue47/nielsen.html">Micro Publishing</a>
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-- article located at Linux Gazette and <a href="http://www.genericbooks.com">ZING</a>.</li>
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</ol>
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Introduction"></a>Introduction</h3>
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The first document by Rick Holbert is Micro Publishing. This article is
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an update about Mark's experience making books. Mark has added some of
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his tips for when he is making books. Mark using a duplex printer, paper
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folder, and a cheap book press. Mark is using all free software (though
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Acrobat Reader is not open sourced).
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<p>This article will provide several methods for the process that the original
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Micro Publishing article covered.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Printer"></a>Choose your Printer</h3>
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Please buy a laser printer. It is much nicer to use a duplex printer when
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making books. I have noticed that the laser printer goes much much faster,
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and when it comes to really intensive documents, even the laser printer
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can take a while to print, which on a DeskJet printer would be horrible.
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If you want the quality, the ease, and duplex capability, get a laser printer.
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I got a HP Laserjet 4050. Later on, I bought the stupid expensive duplex
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add-on, which was just a 50 cent piece of plastic that they charge an outrageous
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amount for. The duplex add-on was a rip-off, but I had to buy it. It cost
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somewhere around $1,500 for the printer, and a few hundred for the duplex
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add-on.
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<p>Or, use any other printer. A Deskjet will work fine, but it will be
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a lot slower and you will have to print on the paper twice (once on the
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back, and once on the front), and the quality of the print won't be as
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good.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="paper"></a> Choose how you want to fold the paper.</h3>
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Please buy a paper folder. They cost around $600 or so. I got one from
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OfficeZone.com which was a Model 1501 (CV-7) AutoFolder. Please buy one.
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It gets tedious to fold books.
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<p>The only other option is to fold it by hand, which I refused to do,
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but which Rick did happily. Children are great slaves for folding paper.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Press"></a>Buy or make your own Book Press.</h3>
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You can make your book press using the steps in the article Micro Publishing
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or you can buy it on the internet. It is my hope that different designs
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will come out which will make it easier to build and use book presses.
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I have some ideas on how to change the current design.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Glue."></a>Choose the type of Glue.</h3>
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Good rubber cement glue is the ultimate preferred method, but it is clumsy
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to use in my opinion. I have contemplated pouring the stuff into a squeezeable
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bottle to see if it will be easier to use.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Use"></a>Use the software to make your print outs.</h3>
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Follow these steps in order to make your book for printing. The first set
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of steps convert your postscript or pdf documents to a postscript level
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II document (or level I) -- which only has to be done if you are
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using postscript level III fonts or if the process doesn't work out quite
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right. I have noticed that on some postscript documents I download from
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the internet, that converting it to pdf and then letting Acrobat convert
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the pdf document back to a postscript cleans out a lot of mistakes when
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using "psbook" and "mpage". The second set of steps will create the pdf
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documents for printing (or postscript). You can use "psnup -2" instead
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of "mpage -2" in the steps below.
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<ol>
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<li>
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If your document is in postscript format, execute this command,</li>
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<br>ps2pdf DOCUMENT.ps
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<br>Your document will now be named "DOCUMENT.pdf".
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<li>
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Take DOCUMENT.pdf, and view it in Acrobat Reader for Linux.</li>
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<li>
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Print the document, select postscript level II fonts, and instead of printing
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to a printer, print to a file and overwrite "DOCUMENT.ps". I assume you
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have a copy of the original elsewhere.</li>
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</ol>
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Now, follow these steps. First, the set of steps to using a duplex printer.
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The second set of steps for a non-duplex printer.
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<ol>
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<li>
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psbook -s4 DOCUMENT.ps > Temp.ps</li>
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<li>
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mpage -2 Temp.ps > NEW.ps</li>
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<li>
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ps2pdf NEW.ps</li>
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</ol>
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Or to get rid of step 2,
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<br>psbook -s4 DOCUMENT.ps | mpage -2 > NEW.ps
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<br>ps2pdf NEW.ps
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<p>Now you have both NEW.ps or NEW.pdf. View NEW.pdf in either gv or Acrobat
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Reader! It will look a little weird since you are printing books. Please
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remember to set your duplex printer to print on the short edge, and not
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the long edge.
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<p>Now, for the non-duplex printers (most printers), follow the steps in
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the article Micro Publishing.
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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mpage -O -b Letter -o DOCUMENT.ps > front.ps</li>
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<li>
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mpage -E -b Letter -o DOCUMENT.ps > back.ps</li>
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<li>
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ps2pdf front.ps</li>
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<li>
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ps2pdf back.ps</li>
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</ol>
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Now, what you have to do, which is a pain, is too print one side, then
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flip it over and print the other file on the other side.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Make"></a>Make your book!</h3>
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Make your book as described in the original Micro Publishing article.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Copy"></a>Now copy your book for multiple copies.</h3>
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If you need to make multiple copies of a book, print out another copy.
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If you know you are going to need more, then use a photocopier to make
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more copies. Printing out postscript files can take a long time, and photocopying
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can save a lot of time. You might even want to go down to your local office
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store to make the photocopies or buy a risograph or other tools for making
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copies in large amounts.
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<p>Remember to specify you want double-sided printing at your local office
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store.
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<h3>
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<a NAME="Conclusion"></a>Conclusion</h3>
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There are several ways to make books. The suggested way is to use a postscript
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duplex laser printer. If you don't, and you make more than a few of these
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books, it will be a pain in the butt. It is also suggested that you get
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a paper folding machine. If you make more than a few of these books, it
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is a pain to fold the paper, it is tedious, and it is not fun. I personally
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think churches, libraries, and non-profit companies could benefit from
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a process like this. Just make the final product professional looking,
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and everything is okay.
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<p>Several people have also told us of cheap places, which will make books
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for you, that can be cheaper than making the books yourself. This is true.
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But ....
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<ol>
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<li>
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<font face="Courier New">If you want to make it now, it is much easier
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to do it immediately when you have your own setup.</font></li>
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<li>
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<font face="Courier New">If you just want a few copies because they change
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all the time, making the books yourself can be nice.</font></li>
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<li>
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<font face="Courier New">Not everyone in the US is located near a place
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that can make books for you.</font></li>
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<li>
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<font face="Courier New">It is just cool to be able to make your own books.</font></li>
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</ol>
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Personally, I, Mark, hate to be dependent on other companies. I try to
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be independent as much as possible, and so, I will be making my own books
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anyways.
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<p>I truly hope people will band together to make their own books so that
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the technology behind it gets cheaper, faster, and easier to manage. People
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with better ideas will come along, and make the process better. In short,
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get involved in the free software movement and the free documentation movement.
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<p>I will most likely post another update in the next 6 months. I want
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to
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<ol>
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<li>
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Get better Glue.</li>
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<li>
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Find a cheap way to have a good-looking book cover (laminated).</li>
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<li>
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Develop a better book press.</li>
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<li>
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Find a way to cut down the fonts on the books and to reduce the overall
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size of the pdf documents without using commercial software, but free software.
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I recently saw a Perl Module which might help out with this. If you can
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get the source code for documentation in Tex or LaTex, it makes the process
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easier and the fonts are usually pretty good.</li>
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<li>
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Be able to make at least one book every 10 minutes.</li>
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</ol>
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<P><i>Mark works as a computer guy at <a href="http://www.tcu-inc.com">The
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Computer Underground</a> and also at <a href="http://www.genericbooks.com">ZING</a>
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and also at GNUJobs.com (soon).</i>
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2000, Mark Nielsen<BR>
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Published in Issue 56 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, August 2000</H5>
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