| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Are you a Linux Translator? Thread poster: Rafa Lombardino
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Milos Prudek 
Czech Republic
Local time: 05:46
English to Czech
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| OCR and voice dictation | May 26, 2010 |
I run Linux on the server. I use Windows on my desktop machine for Trados and Wordfast. But I read my emails on Linux. I run the KMail email program and other Linux software on my Desktop by accessing the Linux server via Cygwin/X.
I would have erased Windows long ago were it not for my worries about running OCR and voice dictation software.
I use neither of these yet but I wanted to. OCR will run in Virtualbox or other emulation software (VMware etc.), but I am not su... See more I run Linux on the server. I use Windows on my desktop machine for Trados and Wordfast. But I read my emails on Linux. I run the KMail email program and other Linux software on my Desktop by accessing the Linux server via Cygwin/X.
I would have erased Windows long ago were it not for my worries about running OCR and voice dictation software.
I use neither of these yet but I wanted to. OCR will run in Virtualbox or other emulation software (VMware etc.), but I am not sure about voice dictation (Dragon Naturally Speaking). I estimate that Dragon Naturally Speaking will not run in Wine or CrossOver. It would need to run in emulation software (see above) and it needs all the computing power it can get and unobstructed access to noice cancelling mike connected via USB.
Moreover, to use voice dictation software to compose emails, my email program would need to be Windows-based and run in the same emulation. I would hate that.
Anyone tried Dragon in Linux? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Arnaud HERVE
France
Local time: 05:46
English to French
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I try Linux about once a year every year.
Every time I end up spending a night on a forum trying to get a solution for a bug, uninstalling or reinstalling something for hours, etc.
And everytime I end up telling myself that my job is handling documents, not tweaking systems.
I used Ubuntu 9 though. The next upadtes were too buggy and I had no time to figure out what to do with a black screen, or a simple ntfs archives disk that I could open on Windows but L... See more I try Linux about once a year every year.
Every time I end up spending a night on a forum trying to get a solution for a bug, uninstalling or reinstalling something for hours, etc.
And everytime I end up telling myself that my job is handling documents, not tweaking systems.
I used Ubuntu 9 though. The next upadtes were too buggy and I had no time to figure out what to do with a black screen, or a simple ntfs archives disk that I could open on Windows but Linux decided that I didn't "have the permissions".
[Edited at 2010-05-27 12:52 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I would like to second this | May 28, 2010 |
Rafa Lombardino wrote: Hi, Marc Six months ago, I was actually standing at the same crossroads you are. I had been working with Trados for four years and my TM and glossary were huge, so I wasn't ready to let go of them and start it all over again with a Linux-compatible CAT tool. That was when we heard about a CAT tool called Swordfish... We downloaded the 30-day free trial, installed it, played with it and successfully imported our TMs and glossaries. I could go on working as if nothing had happened. The one thing I love about Swordfish is that it only uses open standards; in other words, your work is not "locked" inside a program and your TM and glossaries are stored on a hassle-free multilingual database. It's compatible with several formats, from .doc, .xls, and .ppt to Open Office, .html, .xml, .po, and .rtf, besides Trados .TTX. For you to have an idea, none of my colleagues work with Swordfish, so all I have to do is convert the original files into TTX so that they can translate them using Trados and, when I have to proofread/review the translation, I can do it right there on Swordfish, thus updating our general TM and glossary. Additionally, if clients ask for a memory file to be delivered with the translated document, all I have to do is actually export that file's contents into TMX (instead of exporting the whole TM itself), so they can update their own TM. Well, to tell you the truth, I'm 99% Windows free for about six months now and I love it! The only things I still have to do on Windows are converting the document into TTX when I'm working with a colleague and updating Quickbooks, 'cause that's the software our CPA uses. I would highly recommend a Linux distribution called Ubuntu, 'cause it's far from being a "nightmarish monster of coding" and it's really easy on the eye. It's pretty much a "out-of-the-box" solution and, if you don't believe me, just ask my Mom and mother-in-law, who said goodbye to their old Windows and are now using Ubuntu to surf the web and update their photo albums.  If you need anything, feel free to send me a message!
I switched to Ubuntu 9.4 and got to 10.4 via 9.10 only last year after I had got extremely po with Microsoft, because original Microsoftware (Office 2003/2007) corrupted my legal XP-Prof. installation and, to top it, trying to install Windows 7 on a separate hard disk killed my XP installation altogether.
Ubuntu had been on another hard disk for experimenting and so I decided to fade out Microsoft completely.
I am not there yet, since Trados and MetaTexis do not work in linux.
So, these are, together with other tools, in a VMware virtual XP-Prof installation.
All my CD-ROM specialist dictionaries are installen in the virtual machine and in Linux, using Wine.
Leo is available in the virtual machine and in Linux using Star Dict.
Babylon for Dutch is also in the virtual machine.
Since MetaTexis is Trados compatiple I hardly use Trados anymore.
Mr Bruns of MetaTexis told me that he is working on a version for OpenOffice and I do hope that this then will work with Linux Open Office as well.
I experimented with OmegaT, but have not yet come to grips with it.
Reading all this here Heartsome and Sworfish might be alternatives for me to fade out Microsoft altogether.
There is one issue, though, in my situation:
My D: drive, which is my production drive is used through Linux, the virtual XP-Prof and a standby plain XP-Prof.
Files written to D: by the virtual XP-Prof might get wiped off the disk when starting either the vitual XP-Prog or the plain XP-Prof ny the Consistency Check routine which will erase the index of such a file - the answer here is not to allow this routine to do its job as it seems to be one of Microsoft's tricky tricks to keep people away from using Linux. To prevent this routine to do its destructive work one just has to hit any key to by-pass this routine. Ignore Microsoft's warning here. I heard that Windows 7 prevents you bypassing this routine, so beware Windows 7.
Shabby was Trados' behaviour as to providing me with an activation for their program after it had crashed together with my XP-Prof killed by Windows 7 - they would not issue me one for the virtual machine. Their argument being that I should return my licence used for my laptop, although I told them that the laptop is the emergency system in case my desktop blows up.
All in all I am very grateful to Microsoft for making me so angry that I switched to Linux, because Linux is the better OS, I believe - it is stable and faster with everything and the virtual machine XP-Prof is faster than the origial plain XP-Prof.
Last, but not least my recommendation: Linux should be on a hard disk of its own and the plain XP should be on another hard disk as well and when using, as I do, a separate production Disk D: disconnect it from Linux when you use it throught the virtual XP-Prof.
Attention: When installing XP-Prof in a virtual machine a proper fire wall and virus scanner is required so not to get the virtual machine infected
| | | | | I am surprised | May 28, 2010 |
Arnaud HERVE wrote:
I try Linux about once a year every year.
Every time I end up spending a night on a forum trying to get a solution for a bug, uninstalling or reinstalling something for hours, etc.
And everytime I end up telling myself that my job is handling documents, not tweaking systems.
I used Ubuntu 9 though. The next upadtes were too buggy and I had no time to figure out what to do with a black screen, or a simple ntfs archives disk that I could open on Windows but Linux decided that I didn't "have the permissions".
[Edited at 2010-05-27 12:52 GMT]
Since I recently have installed Ubuntu 9.4/9.10 and Zorim (a Ubuntu derivative that looks a bit more like Windows) on my desktop on separate hard disks, on my laptop on the same hard disk as XP-Prof and on a friend's computer (actually his daughter's) I cannot quite follow this.
All installations were done in a whiffy and are problem free, they took less time than an XP installation and it was only the internet speed that slowed down the update after the actual installation from a live disk.
I only had an issue with the VMware virtual machine after ubgrading to ubuntu 10.4 which was solved by upgrading the VMware software.
My recommendation: Try installing it on a separate software - I prefer Ubuntu because it is more intuitive than Suse. One important issue perhaps: power on all your peripherals when you install Ubuntu and if your printer is an hp/Epson there should be no problems at all. Lexmark is a no-no (according to my experience). Scanners I do not know, but take it that, if it is an hp, there should be no problem, since hp are one of the very few who fully support Linux.
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opolt
Germany
Local time: 05:46
English to German
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| Linux old-timer | Jun 7, 2010 |
This is a topic very dear to my heart! After having read through the entire thread, I must say I'm actually surprised about the number of people who have taken the plunge and do their translation work on Linux. It was not very long ago that this seemed almost impossible.
FWIW, I started dabbling with Linux in 1996. At the time, I was considering updating to Win95 or IBM's OS/2, but for some reason shied away from these, and soon got attracted to the Linux buzz. My first distro actua... See more This is a topic very dear to my heart! After having read through the entire thread, I must say I'm actually surprised about the number of people who have taken the plunge and do their translation work on Linux. It was not very long ago that this seemed almost impossible.
FWIW, I started dabbling with Linux in 1996. At the time, I was considering updating to Win95 or IBM's OS/2, but for some reason shied away from these, and soon got attracted to the Linux buzz. My first distro actually came on floppies. In those dark ages, Linux was still quite primitive for many uses, the graphical subsystem didn't come up reliably, and sound and printer drivers were hard to come by. There was no "desktop" to speak of. But I got kinda addicted to it, and it all turned into some sort of technical pasttime, by way of which I learnt a host of things about computers, networks, shell programming, and the rest of it.
I don't actually remember the year when I started using Linux for translations, but I learnt LaTeX early on and began to prospect for clients using letters and business cards designed with LaTeX. They looked gorgeous
When it became available, I started using the ApplixWare office suite, maybe in 1998 or 1999, and Linux machines have been my main desktops ever since. I used Slackware, then went to Suse, then to Debian, and back to Suse plus Debian for the server, and I'm now an Ubuntu user on all machines who is considering switching to Fedora because I'm not completely satisfied with Ubuntu anymore :-]
At some point I felt confident enough in my knowledge about the system to start translating in the field, i.e. I became a translator for Suse, and I worked with them on a freelance basis over several iterations of their distro, until they were bought up by Novell.
Overall, since 2000 or so, I haven't missed Windows at all, with a few exceptions which were almost all related to larger, heavily formatted Word documents. I only keep Windows to be able to launch Word now and then, and that's it. For the Linux deprived , it's just not imaginable how much peace of mind you can gain from a complete absence of viruses, rock solid file systems (where fragmentation is a non-issue), overall stability, and not having to reboot or reinstall when you absolutely don't want to.
Apart from that, I simply got used to Linux so much that I won't go back, ever. Even though it gives me a few hiccups every once in a while. OTOH, experience has told me that it is not wise to advocate the use of Linux to those who are unsure about its usability for their own purposes. And personally, I don't think Linux will become a real mass phenomenon any time soon, if ever. If you ask me, incompatible and obscure Microsoft Office file formats are only one of the main reasons for that -- apart from the law of inertia. Also, from what I have seen, free/open source software has its own peculiar deficiencies and weak points, and it's difficult to tell which approach will win over time. For instance, the Linux sound layer is a huge mess -- though working in most situations. Anyway, on the server side, Linux has already won hands down, and Apple has proven that a UNIX system provides a good basis for a polished desktop. But nowadays I'm rather impartial to the whole Win vs. Linux debate.
That said, Linux is a perfectly feasible solution for translators, provided you put in some dedication and willingness to learn, and as long as you don't rush your hardware choices (check for drivers beforehand).
Apart from my main desktop machine, I'm using Linux on a customized router/firewall which also acts as a file/print/backup server. It's a headless host which just sits in the corner and hums away quietly, never complaining, doing absolutely everything by itself, all on rather outdated hardware. I also own a Dell Laptop which came with Linux preinstalled, and I am the admin of my wife's Linux netboook (I categorically told her I won't be her Windows admin -- but she is actually very happy with the solution I gave her).
On the desktop, it's the usual suspects like OpenOffice, Abiword, OmegaT, but I'm also using specialized/programmer's editors for po, XML, and other formats.
Well then, happy Linuxing to y'all!
[Edited at 2010-06-07 22:46 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Gyula Erdesz
Hungary
Local time: 05:46
Member (2009)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Dear Colleagues,
I have been using Linux since 2009. Since I usually translate heavily tagged technical documents in .ttx format, I cannot use open source tools like OmegaT. I gave a try for Wordfast Pro but it was not handy enough for me (after 1 week I still felt that it seriously decreases my productivity).
Due to the above reason I was not able to get rid of Windows entirely: I still run XP in Virtualbox for my two main CAT sw. Pretty clumsy solution, but I really ... See more Dear Colleagues,
I have been using Linux since 2009. Since I usually translate heavily tagged technical documents in .ttx format, I cannot use open source tools like OmegaT. I gave a try for Wordfast Pro but it was not handy enough for me (after 1 week I still felt that it seriously decreases my productivity).
Due to the above reason I was not able to get rid of Windows entirely: I still run XP in Virtualbox for my two main CAT sw. Pretty clumsy solution, but I really wanted to switch from Windows to Linux.
My actual system:
OS: Ubuntu 10.04
CAT tool: Wordfast Pro in Linux + memoQ 4.2 and Trados 2009 under Win XP (using Virtualbox)
Word processing: mostly Openoffice Writer, sometimes Office 2007 (using Crossover) to check the ultimate layout of the docs.
If you, dear reader, need any advice or assistance to migrate from Windows to Linux, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would be happy to help you.
Cheers,
Gyula ▲ Collapse
| | | | opolt
Germany
Local time: 05:46
English to German
+ ...
Good to hear Linux works for your!
But if the TTX format is one of the reasons you're still using Windows -- have you tried the Heartsome CAT tool? It claims to support TTX.
http://www.heartsome.net/EN/products.html
I'm testing Heartsome myself right now, it seems to be quite ok.
[Edited at 2010-08-27 11:17 GMT]
| | | | Gyula Erdesz
Hungary
Local time: 05:46
Member (2009)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Dear opolt,
Thank you for your greeting and your tip.
I bought Heartsome in 2008 but then I realized that software was not the right tool for me and my jobs. It was quite slow using with huge TMs (over 100 000 entries) and I really missed an integrated and powerful terminology management tool (the separate Dictionary Editor was not my favorite).
But you know, there is no accounting for taste. I hope you will be satisfied with Heartsome.
By t... See more Dear opolt,
Thank you for your greeting and your tip.
I bought Heartsome in 2008 but then I realized that software was not the right tool for me and my jobs. It was quite slow using with huge TMs (over 100 000 entries) and I really missed an integrated and powerful terminology management tool (the separate Dictionary Editor was not my favorite).
But you know, there is no accounting for taste. I hope you will be satisfied with Heartsome.
By the way, have you tried Swordfish? This SW is more or less based on Heartsome Studio, but offers much more than that.
Regards,
Gyula
[Módosítva: 2010-08-27 15:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Milos Prudek
Czech Republic
Local time: 05:46
English to Czech
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| About to dive into Linux | May 6, 2011 |
Hi,
I am about to ditch Trados and dive into translating with CAT in Linux. I have a very strong Linux experience but I was afraid to use Linux for translating, mainly due to Trados compatility issues. What Linux CAT will give me:
- ability to read and write TTX seamlessly
- ability to read and write TMX
- integrated glossary
- Longest Substring Concordance (displaying longer or frequently appearing expressions as a translation result)
| | | | | Swordfish is compatible with Trados | May 6, 2011 |
Milos Prudek wrote:
What Linux CAT will give me:
- ability to read and write TTX seamlessly
- ability to read and write TMX
- integrated glossary
- Longest Substring Concordance (displaying longer or frequently appearing expressions as a translation result)
Swordfish supports all you are asking for.
Regards,
Rodolfo
| | | | opolt
Germany
Local time: 05:46
English to German
+ ...
| The problem is MS Word compatibility | May 6, 2011 |
Hi Milos, if you're serious about jumping on the bandwagon, sadly you'll have to live with some MS Word and Trados incompatibility, which is the main problem when becoming a "Linux translator", I believe (though there's always the possibility to get the best of both worlds by running a Windows installation inside a virtual machine on top of Linux).
WRT your specific points, at least officially the first three are not ... See more Hi Milos, if you're serious about jumping on the bandwagon, sadly you'll have to live with some MS Word and Trados incompatibility, which is the main problem when becoming a "Linux translator", I believe (though there's always the possibility to get the best of both worlds by running a Windows installation inside a virtual machine on top of Linux).
WRT your specific points, at least officially the first three are not a problem -- at least according to the claims of the makers of Swordfish and Heartsome, which are AFAIK the only two serious, native commercial CAT offerings on Linux. But personally I can't claim that I have tested these features, I only had a rather brief look at them during the test period of each (one month).
My recommendation would always be to stick to Windows first, via double booting or some kind of emulation/virtualization, and install/test things on the go; if you jump right in, it's likely there will be some disruption to your workflow.
Just my 2 €cents, good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | esperantisto
Local time: 06:46
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Word is no big problem actually | May 6, 2011 |
sadly you'll have to live with some MS Word and Trados incompatibility
Obviously, if Trados is critical, Linux is no-go. However, MS Word can be used with wine and Crossover Linux. Word 2000 runs perfectly, Word XP, 2003, and 2007 run mostly (meaning that most of their functionality is available).
Using a virtual machine is overkill for a translator, leave it to software developers.
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Rafa Lombardino
United States
Local time: 20:46
Member (2005)
English to Portuguese
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TOPIC STARTER | Swordfish is it. | May 6, 2011 |
Rodolfo Raya wrote:
Swordfish supports all you are asking for.
Regards,
Rodolfo
Totally agree. That's what we've been using in our offices for a couple of years now. The best part of it is that our colleagues who didn't switch to Linux and are still using Windows or Macs can use Swordfish as well
| | | | Milos Prudek
Czech Republic
Local time: 05:46
English to Czech
+ ...
| Swordfish and alternatives | May 6, 2011 |
Rodolfo Raya wrote:
Swordfish supports all you are asking for.
Regards,
Rodolfo
Thanks for the input. I am evaluating it. How does Wordfast Pro compare to Swordfish?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 05:46
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Milos Prudek wrote: Rodolfo Raya wrote:
Swordfish supports all you are asking for. How does Wordfast Pro compare to Swordfish?
WFP does not do TTX (as a bilingual file).
WFP can read TTX and translate it, after converting it to its own format, in a similar way to how Trados 2009 would do it... but if your TTX file is not fully pre-translated, WFP can't handle it. If the TTX file is non-pre-translated, WFP will show no segments. If it is partially translated and not fully pre-segmented, WFP will only show the segments that are currently translated.
Can Swordfish read TMW memories?
Swordfish's support for TTX isn't optimal either. If the TTX file is partially translated, Swordfish will retain the translations but will pre-segment the other segments and copy their source texts into them, so when you save the TTX file after having translated just a few segments, all segments will be "translated" in the TTX file (most of them with their source texts). At least with Swordfish the TTX doesn't have to be pre-segmented before you can use it -- Swordfish segments it itself.
OmegaT can also handle TTX files... in a way. You can read about it here:
http://www.omegat.org/en/howtos/compatibility.html
None of these three tools mentioned can handle TTX like Trados can, though.
[Edited at 2011-05-07 17:07 GMT]
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