i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

Why is it the more technology we get, the more difficult everything is?

...

As a point of reference, a case filing that used to cost $50 and take 3 minutes now takes 20 minutes and requires a $300 fee. Do we actually call this progress?

I've been working on my first relatively large-sized electronic court filing. Sheesh, what a task. And, unlike the "old days," this is not the sort of thing you can ask a secretary to do. You either have to be an IT professional (in addition to your day job) or you have to hire one.

Additionally, since our government-types do everything with proprietary solutions, the only efficient approach (until one develops something better) is to purchase the latest copy of said proprietary solution(s). Which means the per-computer cost of software is stratospheric, all of which cost has to be passed on to you-know-who. (The end consumer.)

All adding up to the fact that people of modest means cannot actually afford legal services any longer.

So, here's the "task". Electronically file a 48 page document in pdf starting with pdf court forms that do not allow saving of the data entered unless you happen to own a copy of an expensive proprietary program.

First thing is, pdf files are huge, especially when compared to a "better solution" -- djvu. Then, the court does not want you to upload any files larger than 2mb. So, once you've got your 20mb document, you've got to break it into 2 mb chunks. But before you even get to that, you have to substitute some of the form pages with scanned signature pages -- and then add scanned hard copy pages. This is close to impossible to do with linux programs -- and absolutely impossible to do efficiently with linux programs. But, with old copies of a couple of proprietary programs left over from my earlier days of indentured servitude, and running them on a virtualbox windows xp install (that cost me a 2d time, so I've got both crappy Vista AND bought'n'paid for XP running on here) -- well, anyway, I was able to construct my document without leaving my kde 4.2 desktop.

Adding to the various complications, once we are ready to print, if we've got an odd number of pages and try to print multiple copies in, say, kpdf or evince -- for some reason the various printing algorithms simply start the second copy on the last page of the first copy. So, you can't actually print multiple copies, you have to print them one at a time. Well, you can if you print only even multiples of 4 pages; which requires the foresight to add a blank or two at the end of the project. (Come to think of it, 48 would probably work just fine.)

For paper savings it would be a great idea to duplex, with two-up on a side. Except -- you've got 10 separate pdf files to print. And by now, the 20 mb project has grown into a 100 mb project with multiple copies of everything.

Could anything be more insane? How about the .gov hires some open source programmers who design a solution suited to the problem?

Course not.

So, for print and archive purposes, I took pdf2djvu (a command line program) and converted all of my pdf files to smaller djvu files. Then I pasted them together in gscan2pdf. Unfortunately, the checkmark "x"s in the boxes turned in to "$" for some reason. But, now I had a single 48 page djvu document that was reasonably correct. How to print it?

Well, my okular and djvu reader failed me, as they had no idea how to process the "duplex-two on a side" commands -- even though you can enter these commands via the dialog boxes just fine, so I had to get another forest worth of paper and start over.

Finally, Evince produced a single, properly-printed copy of my document. Yay! Now for 9 more.

In the meantime, my MFC8840DN issued a "DX Lever Error", which won't reset. I know the lever is not in the wrong place, because I was printing duplex pages only minutes before from kpdf. And, as a space-saving issue (which is also a testimony to the MFC8840DN reliability) the printer is behind my docked laptop, which means to clear the error, I have to shutdown my computer, disassemble my entire work station and crawl behind the printer. Dang.

But, fortunately, I am a belt & suspenders kinda guy. I've also got an MFC9840CDW which I don't use much. It's my "new" printer, but since it is a color printer, it's comparatively pricey to run large numbers of b/w on it. But ... just for now, here comes 9 more copies ...

Is this time billable?

_______________________
*But, I guess I should be a belt&suspenders&more suspenders type of guy, as I am now out of toner on the spare backup machine.
**I had forgotten what the DX Lever Error really means. Localization makes (almost) all of my printer dialogs print on US Letter sized paper. But, you dastardly Europeans have sneaked an A4 in there somewhere, as the duplex lever switches from letter-sized duplex to A4 sized duplex. So, the printer was asking for A4 because I must have inadvertently printed to A4 instead of Letter. Which also explains why the printout didn't fit the paper when I finally moved the lever and the document got spit out of the printer.
***I'm now at the kitchen counter with my laptop, so I can access the back of the MFC8840DN. That goodness the wireless is working.

All better now. AND WE HAVE 3 entire copies. Almost "Yay!"

3/22/09 -- BTW, Okular for some reason is sending an A4, even though set for letter when I use options to set multiple pages and duplex. However, IF I call up properties (which will simply say that the paper is set for letter) and save, then I don't get A4 and so I don't get DX Lever Error.