    KLyX - The KDE Document Processor


    What is KLyX?
	    
      KLyX is a modern approach of writing documents with a
      computer which breaks with the tradition of the obsolete
      typewriter concept.  It is designed for people who want
      a professional output with a minimum of time effort,
      without becoming specialists in typesetting.  Compared
      to common word processors KLyX will increase the
      productivity a lot, since most of the type- setting will
      be done by the computer, not the author.  With KLyX the
      author can concentrate on the contents of his writing,
      since the computer will take care of the look.

      KLyX uses the professional typesetting system LaTeX as
      backend. This means that it is very suitable for
      scientific work and guarantees first class output in a
      quality only known from books. In fact KLyX includes the
      best available formula editor used by thousands of
      mathematicians all over the world. The formula editor is
      seamlessly integrated and allows editing of equations
      inside the document. KLyX is also highly optimized and
      much faster than usual wordprocessors. It is also able
      to handle documents with several hundred pages, lots of
      pictures, tables and formulas included without becoming
      slow or instable. But of course you can also use this
      incredible and powerful tool for something trivial like
      writing a simple letter ;-)

      You can read more about this concept in the documentation,
      which you'll find under the Help menu.  If you plan to use KLyX, 
      you actually should read about it to be able to make the best of 
      it.
	    
    What is KLyX not?

      KLyX is not just another word processor that claims to be a
      Desktop Publishing program.  It's a more modern way of
      creating documents that look much nicer, but without wasting 
      time with layout-fiddling.  For these reasons you might need 
      little time to get used to the differences.
      If you are looking for a free Desktop Publishing program for
      Unix, you will be disappointed.


    What do I need to run KLyX?

      A Unix-like system with the
      <a href="http://www.kde.org">KDE Desktop Environment</a>
      installed. A decent LaTeX2e installation (e.g. teTeX or
      NTeX). A postscript interpreter, usually ghostscript,
      which is usually installed on every Unix-like system.
      KLyX also uses the KDE applications kdvi and kghostview
      for wysiwyg-preview. Both come with the KDE
      distribution.


    Does KLyX has something to do with LyX?

      Yes, indeed. KLyX is a port of the popular
      <a href="http://www.lyx.org">LyX Document Processor</a>
      to the KDE Desktop Environment.  The port was mainly done by Matthias
      Ettrich -- the original author of LyX -- and Kalle Dalheimer. Basis of
      the port was the public LyX release LyX-0.12.0. Even more, we have to
      thank the LyX team a lot for LyX-0.12.0, since their cleanups and first
      steps towards GUI independence made it much easier to port LyX to the
      K Desktop Environment. Anyway, KLyX is not just a simple port, since it
      has a couple of advantages over the former LyX version:

        - modern look and feel
        - dynamic, dockable toolbars (equations, tables, characters, ...)
        - context menus
        - Interactive document structure editor 
        - full keyboard control for dialogs
        - drag and drop
        - seamless integration into the KDE desktop
        - splitted view
        - multiple views
        - a couple of internal improvements, for example true
           appendix support or flexible baseline spacing
        - free available sourcecode of the GUI library
        - better BibTeX support


    Most of the advantages stem from the use of the KDE
    libraries and the excellent modern application development
    framework <a href="http://www.troll.no">Qt</a>.

    Wow! And what does this thing cost?

      Nothing. KLyX is free software distributed under the the
      terms of the GNU General Public License GPL (open source
      software). It is developed on a voluntary basis by an
      international team of software engineers for their own
      fun and usage.


    Current version, plattforms and availability

      The current version of klyx is 0.10.0, but it is still evolving.
      It works fine on Linux and Solaris. You can download the source
      distribution from
      <a href="ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/apps/office">
      ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/apps/office</a>
      The current release 0.10.0 is still considered to be a BETA release,
      so expect a couple of glitches. We also plan to add a few more features
      and support more plattforms until we will release klyx-1.0. The 
      bleeding edge development sources are also available via KDE cvsup.
      Release 1.0 should come out really soon now :-)

    Do I need to run KDE to use KLyX?

      No. If you have a basic KDE system installed, you can
      run KLyX in any desktop environment you like, for
      example CDE or Classic (which means twm, 5 xterms and a
      xclock :-).

    Bugreports

      Please send bugreports to
      <a href="mailto:klyx-bugs@kde.org">klyx-bugs@kde.org</a>

    I have a problem with KLyX. Where can I find help?

      Please contact the klyx mailing list
      <a href="mailto:klyx@kde.org">klyx@kde.org</a>.  To subscribe, send a
      mail to <a href="mailto:klyx-request@kde.org">klyx-request@kde.org</a>
      with "subscribe <em>your@mail.address</em>" as <em>subject</em>.

    How can I help?

      There are many ways! We need volunteers who like to update the
      documentation, for example. LyX has an excellent UserGuide, but it needs
      some updates for the new features. We would also love some more
      developers who like to incorporate recent improvements --- especially
      regarding the formula editor --- from the lyx-1.1 developement branch
      into KLyX. If you simply want to fix bugs or add new features, then you
      are welcome as well, of course :-)


      Please contact the klyx mailing list
      <a href="mailto:klyx@kde.org">klyx@kde.org</a> as well
      (possible subject: help for klyx) 



 Matthias Ettrich
 <ettrich@kde.org>

Last updated: 21. Apr. 1999
    Jochen Kpper
    <jochen@uni-duesseldorf.de>
