Hi Darrell

You might check out Scrivener (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/)  it
is a writers tool for correlating and organizing your documents and
then exporting them into different file formats.  It also allows
importing research documents (html, pdf, web links, etc) that you can
reference from inside Scrivener  (i.e. your older KDE3 documentation)
while you are editing or writing your documentation.

They have Mac, Windows and Linux versions, but...

The Mac version (vs 2.0) "may" do what you want, it is the most
advanced and well tested but I don't have a Mac and haven't used it.

The Windows version (vs 1.0)  which was just released, does OK with
the exported formats but the HTML code it exports is messy and hard to
edit...

The Linux version  (Beta vs 0.4) "may" be far enough along to work for
what you need--and it is free for now.

I use the Windows version in a VirtualBox XP setup for my documenting
and general writing work.

The basic Idea is that you write or import the text and store it as a
project in Scrivener.  Then you use the export features to output PDF,
ePub, Word, HTML and other formats.  You can do basic word processing
style formating inside Scrivener and it is carried through to the
exported documents.

It is payware and it is the first software I have bought in years AND
the first Windows program that I have used in 12 years--that should
show how much I like it.

Keith

On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 11:12 AM, Darrell Anderson
<humanreadable@yahoo.com> wrote:
> We have none. :)
>
> In the past I mentioned my background in technical writing and an interest in coordinating a user's guide. No promises but I want to get something moving.
>
> I have PDF copies of three KDE3 user guides. All are licensed to allow using the text in other documents.
>
> KDEUserGuideFinal.pdf: Published by the United Nations Development Programme’s Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP)Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (heavily focused on PCLinuxOS)
>
> opensuse110_kdequick.pdf
>
> opensuse110_kdeuser.pdf
>
> Although I could convert those documents to text files with various conversion tools, I would like to find the original source files. For you OpenSuse folks, you might be able to find those two document source files.
>
> The Kubuntu people at one time had a KDE 3 user's guide. I can find HTML remnants of such a guide on the web.
>
> Tim, as the one-time Kubuntu coordinator for KDE3 I'm hoping you might be able to find sources for that document.
>
> Long term I want to establish a process to single source the text to various mediums: a PDF, HTML, wiki, etc. Single sourcing text files long been has the Holy Grail of technical writing and frankly, no optimal solution yet exists despite what anybody might claim. DocBook, DITA, XML all were supposed to provide that single source miracle but none have fulfilled any tech writer's dream. Nonetheless, if we get our hands on the original source files for these documents we then find a big step in the right direction toward providing a much-needed Trinity user's guide. If not we still can convert the information using raw conversion tools.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Darrell
>