New writing platform

I'm to the point where I need to better manage my scholarly outputs. I have long been an XLingPaper fan, but I am increasingly needing to be a LaTeX user.

I have a few choices:

  1. use overleaf for $89/ year.
  2. set up overleaf community edition, and also this tutorial, and this fuller tutorial.
  3. Get a dedicated machine for writing and set up that machine with latex locally.
  4. Should that machine be Mac or Linux?

Here are a few links as I explore. Overleaf-ce + Changes
https://github.com/overleaf/overleaf/issues/1193

An easy guide to self-host Overleaf community edition!
byu/Hakan_Alhind inLaTeX

Updating Linux

The time has come to update from wasta 16.04 to something newer.

The reasons I'm dissuaded are that things have been stable for almost 7 years.

  • I'm not sure what will break.
  • I'm not sure which applications I don't want anymore.
  • I have several programs that require custom install. These include:

  • xlingpaper - which is fine

  • zotero – which is working on the new version.
  • kla which is a custom headache
  • unicode tools written in perl which is a custom headache.
  • GrassGIS which I rarely use.
  • My installed version of Hugo
  • My installed version of GoLang

Why I need to move.

  • I need to use obsidian and the snap package won't work.
  • Chromium is out of date.
  • slack is out of date and not updating.
  • Browser based warnings that I am using an old browser on some websites/services.
  • JuypterStudio / tools wont run

I want to get rid of:

  • Rstudio
  • Anaconda
  • brew

I'm thinking about following these instructions:
https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/upgrade-introduction
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-upgrade-ubuntu-16-04-to-18-04-lts-using-terminal/

Before I do that I need to bet a list of the various software I have installed:
https://www.22nds.com/export-list-of-installed-programs-and-install-them-on-another-computer-ubuntu/
https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-get-list-installed-software-reinstallation-restore.html

and follow: https://askubuntu.com/a/353004/1661518

https://phoenixnap.com/kb/upgrade-ubuntu-16-04-to-ubuntu-18-04

OK I did update on may 29th... it took 10 hours. Now I'm sorting out all the visual theme stuff I lost in the process something about unity vs gnome. Chromium updated fine, brave installs. I had to uninstall vivaldi, and signal Tom get the upgrade to work. Obsidian and slack now work. There is the question on if i should just move up the ladder to 22.04.

Extracting images from PDFs

Every now and again I need to extract some images from a PDF. The best solution I have found is to use pdfimages on the command line in linux.

https://www.howtogeek.com/228796/how-to-extract-and-save-images-from-a-pdf-file-in-linux/

Get the tool in poppler set of tools as XPDF is out of date.
https://poppler.freedesktop.org/

Other helpful tools:

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/easily-extract-images-from-pdf-file/
https://askubuntu.com/questions/150100/extracting-embedded-images-from-a-pdf
https://superuser.com/questions/134869/how-to-extract-image-from-pdf-file
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Extracting_images_from_PDF