Tools of the Trade

Jutoh looks to be affordable, and it offers a free demo mode. In researching Jutoh, I discovered that the same company offers a freeware program called eCub. I don't know if that's a different program entirely, or if it's a bare-bones rendition of Jutoh. Have you used or tried eCub? Any feedback?

 

I have downloaded both Jutoh and cCub. I have a project nearing completion, so I think I'll give eCob a try, and I'll report back when I do. I like that eCub has a portable version, which means no leftover detritus in the Windows reistry if I don't like it and want to remove it from my computer.

Jutoh is also available as a portable version.

 

I used Jutoh back in my Windows days. My recollections are very positive, and I believe I remember the developer was friendly and approachable.

I see Jutoh is available for MacOS, too. And, better yet - oh, happy, the way of the data hoarder - I still have my license key, which I believe is both perpetual and cross platform.

 

Oops. Several months ago I posted that I would try eCub and report back. I did try it, but I never reported back.

Just tried it again. Not good.

The source document has to be uploaded as a text file or HTML, so you can't just import a Word document and get it converted. That's as far as I got -- I'm still looking for something that will convert straight from Word.

 

I use an iMac desktop. I've been through at least a half dozen cheap keyboards—eventually the letters on the keys wear off, beginning with the most-used ones. At that point unless I paint letters back on or something, the keyboard is useless and I have to buy another one. I haven't been able to find one that doesn't have this issue, until I started using the Alphasmart Neo 2 as a keyboard. It's really a word processor from bygone days. Small and portable, and in fact you don't need a computer with it, you can just write directly on it and then transfer to the computer afterwards, in case you want to write elsewhere, like on the sofa in the living room, or outside.

Or you can attach it with a printer cable and it becomes your keyboard. It has the nicest keyboard I've ever used—nothing catches and nothing is clunky or awkward, and the letters on the keys don't seem to wear off at all. it seems like there's a clear coat or a layer of clear plastic embedded on top of them or something. This reminds me of how typewriters were back in the day—I don't remember any keys wearing off no matter how much I used my old typewriter.

For a word processor I just use Google Docs and each day I get a significant amount of writing done I download a version of it onto an external hard drive and a copy onto the computer itself. I like that even if my computer dies, as soon as I get a new one I can re-connect to Google Docs and there it all still is. Same for working out story ideas—I use Evernote and Plottr, both of which have auto-backup. I have Plottr set up to use the Snowflake template, plus I modify it a bit to my own specifications.

 

If you enable early access in Kindle Create - this is hearsay, I haven't done this - you can get advance access to Kindle Create's upcoming export to epub function.

Kindle Create is free. Might be worth a look.

(cue absurd French accent, several minutes lay-tier...)

Ok, I couldn't resist. I turned on the early access feature. Kindle Create imports doc, docx, and rtf files. That's nice. The formatting options look pretty weak. That's not so nice.

Oh, well, I'm a long way from needing to produce an ebook.

 

Since this thread was revived and I got to read it, I am surprised that so many people here use Linux given its 2% of market share.

It's a good OS and it has matured a lot over the last decade, I do use it primarily along with LibreOffice to do my stories. For backups, I wrote my own configurable Python script that saves several date-stamped local copies daily as well as encrypted cloud copies. Like others have said, the LibreOffice formatting issues can easily be overcome by exporting to PDF or ePub, if you're into that.

If you do use Linux though, watch out for Debian-based distributions, because Debian is notorious for having outdated packages including LibreOffice. In fact, as far as I can tell, Ubuntu and Mint both distribute LibreOffice version 6 while version 7 is already out.

Debian also packages older (but supported) versions of the Linux kernel, and those don't always play well with modern hardware. My computer doesn't always wake up from hibernation, for one thing. And it didn't do so at all until I installed a newer kernel.

Fedora Linux will offer latest packages, including LibreOffice, but latest packages also have their own issues. I use Mint on my desktop and Fedora on my laptop, both show issues, but I have latest features on Fedora so I like it better.

 

@SapereAude - I saw yesterday that Reedsy's book writing tool looks like it will import docx and write epub.

I believe it's an online tool. I view that as a deal-breaker, an opinion definitely not shared by all. It may be a great tool for conversion if not for creation as well.

For any interested, https://reedsy.com/write-a-book .

 

I've tried it. I was massively underwhelmed.

And I agree with you about not preferring on-line tools. I prefer to be able to work where and when I want, whether or not I have an Internet connection.

 

My computer doesn't so much go into hibernation, it goes into a coma. The only way I can revive it is to tap the start button twice in a row and wait a dozen seconds or so for it. For a pretty new computer it has some alarming problems already. Every time I start up, Evernote tells me there's a new version available. Really? Every day? Doubtful. Not sure how I'll know when there really is a new one.

 

I just found the "Check for Updates" and clicked it. It told me there's a new version, so I dowloaded and installed it. Immediately it tells me there's a new version available. Sheesh!

 

I've enjoyed PopOS lately. It's from System76, based on Ubuntu LTS.

 

I've heard many good things about Pop OS! Including how they try to have more up-to-date packages on their repo's. Honestly, Ubuntu-based distros have been such a pain for me with their outdated packages. I had to do some pretty drastic stuff to get sleep working properly (yes I finally did it!). But some folks might also blame me for using AMD hardware.

The sleep thing is weird if you're using Windows, but the Evernote problem sounds more like software issues. I suspect it might be trying to update itself but failing to do so, which throws it in an endless update-fail-update-fail loop.

Go to the about tab, note down the version number, and compare it against what they have in the website. That's how I would attempt to solve this problem.

 

I just realized, the Evernote problem started when I downloaded some new extensions for Safari. And every day when I start up it tells me I need to switch on those extensions again. I think they might be the problem.