Well, if you still want to avoid word, you can play with Apple's newest, which is Pages and is part of iWork. I think iWork was only $79 or $99 when I purchased it. You might need a more recent version of OS X though.

Do you need them to be fill-out-able on the computer, or simply print-outable and fill-inable by pen?

If it's teh latter, then, well, I'm not sure what version of OS X they introduced it on, but certainly on 10.2 - 10.4 any program that prints can save as a PDF. Just go into the print dialogue and choose the button that does it. If 10.1 can't do it, well, Upgrading OSes if necessary, while possibly more of a hassle than buying Word, would probably actually be about the same price or cheaper, and would confer many other advantages in the long run (if nothing else, 10.2 is noticably faster on most hardware than 10.1, and many say the same about 10.3 and 10.4, though I personally didn't notice the shift as much.)

Both these solutions sound good to me. (And, yes, I just need printoutable)

But this still leaves me with the rtf, for those that can't pdf problemma. Damn this Apple addiction! (I fantasize that live would be so much simpler if I would just quite resisting the Borgpc hardware.)

Once I'm done teaching my class tonight, I'm going to work on finding 10.2 to download somewhere...can't find it at Apple. (natch)

Thanks for the tips fellas!

I'm afeared my puny 128MB won't sustain the upgrade, so I'm back to my need-more-memory problem that I've been handwaving away since the beginning of the year.

Blargh.

I've run 10.3 on 128 MB.

What happens when you print and hit "Print to PDF"? an error?

Also, if you can print to a postscript file, one of us could make a pdf for you until you decide.

If you do upgrade, you also have the choice of NeolithicOffice ( [link] ) better known as NeoOffice. MS Office formats without the Borg.

ETA: Ah, I see, you can do PDF, I misunderstood. Still? What she says next. People who can't read PDFs aren't worth it.

But this still leaves me with the rtf, for those that can't pdf problemma

People who you send it to who can't read PDFs?? Silly people. Tell them to download Acrobat, stat!

Beej, what model do you have? Any specs would help us find out if one of us might have ram, or even the cheapest place to get it pumped up.

I'm thinking about getting a DVD burner. Anyone got a good recommendation for one that's not too expensive and that I can drop into my machine with a minimum of hassle?

Thanks.

Rob's recs to me:

Rob "Buffistechnology 2: You Made Her So She Growls?" May 26, 2005 9:28:13 am PDT

Wow, isn't it amazing what technology can do nowadays. [link]

If anyone is looking fro a good point and shoot. Canon has introduced the Powershot S2, and now the Powershot S1, which is supposed to be a very good camera is selling for much cheaper than it was a year ago. [link]