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Hi All,
view weeks ago, I started to get expieriences with SliTaz, and I'm really impressed.
So I installed it on an old AMD K6-2 Machine by booting the SliTaz-3.0.iso, without internet access - and I wonder it works fast and stable.
But I want to use this machine for my daily office work and still want to use my old exitsting data (doc, xls, pps, eg ...) from ms office. So I'd like to install a office package like OpenOffice or LibreOffice to stay compatible with ms. But how to do so without internet connection?
... my desktop ;-)
[attachment=6042,307]
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Just to let you guys know; Of course I've got internet access - with my Lifebook.
But on this notebook I run SliTaz not yet. First I want to test the daily performace.
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Couple of things you could try:
option 1. (probably the easiest), create a Slitaz LiveCD/LiveUSB, use that to boot another computer that has Internet access, then as root, run the following command:
$tazpkg get-install get-LibreOffice
followed by,
$get-LibreOffice
This will download and install LibreOffice (it will also download and install jre). Once the installation is complete, then as root, run the following commands:
$tazpkg repack LibreOffice
$tazpkg repack java6-jre
This will create two packages (.tazpkg) one for LibreOffice and the other for jre. You can then copy these packages onto a USB drive, and use that to install on your machine with no Internet access (when installing manually, be sure to install java first, then LibreOffice). Note that in order for the repack to work properly, your best bet is to do it right after the installation of LibreOffice finishes, without making any further modifications to the system (installing/removing other stuff).
option 2. Download the .deb package for LibreOffice from www.libreoffice.org, move it to the machine you wish to install it on, then convert it into a tazpkg using the following command:
$tazpkg convert LibO_3.4.5_whatever.deb
This will attempt to convert the .deb package to the .tazpkg format. It may or may not work, the convert sometimes fails, especially with large packages. From what I remember, LibreOffice can work without JRE (at least it does on Windows).
option 3. Most painful method, download the source code and compile it.
Probably someone else knows an easier way.
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Yes, hopefully:
You first install jre (or iced-tea) to have a Java runtime. For this you need internet.
The idea
$tazpkg repack java6-jre
is great, didn't know that!
Then download this one:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/portable/files/LibreOffice 3.3/download
(180,6 MB)
Make it executable as root.
Attention: this is something that is not installed, it runs on its own. Therefore it is easy to be copied and pasted to some other installation. It works on other distributions as well, for example on Mandriva. And on many more. - You just double-click on it and a second later it should start.
I got this idea thanks to @kultex. The get-libreoffice script did not work for me as the RAM on that machine was not big enough (1 GB).
Performance: slitaz is a joy - in case you have enough RAM. If not consider a harddrive installation. This LibreOffice is an ,,App", a (Linux-) platform independant ready piece of software which is not installed into your system.
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Nice. I didn't realize there was a portable version of LibreOffice, definitely handy.
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Cool. I never knew there was one either 
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This means, gentlemen, that you are a bit lazy in reading this forum! ;-)
You, Trixar_za, gave to me advice how to handle the trouble of limited RAM when trying to execute the LibreOffice-installation (which failed here because of that) and 3 posts after that @kultex gave the advice.
Such a package is necessary as a single-package-in-its-own thing without killing the merits of slitaz. So you place this somewhere on a harddrive and use it when you need it. In my opinion LaTeX should be treated in that way either.
Any student or pupil would need that established office software, but to install it each time is a headache. I remember the basic discussions here that probono had about this concept (which is in fact a bit contradictory to the opinions in the Linux world).
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Thank's a lot guys,
I'll try later, we'll see, if I can manage it as a newbie 8-) .
By the way, I have another question: shall I prefer the SliTaz-2.0 or the 3.0 version?
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You should use SliTaz 3. You should also prefer it over the cooking version, which still has many bugs that need ironing out.
@michaelbischof Half the time I have trouble remembering who hates me here, much less discussions
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You guys are so kind. Thank's a lot for quick assistance. I will let You know later, if I could reach the goals. 8-)
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For what it's worth, LibreOffice's performance might actually improve without Java. LibreOffice utilizes Java to support specific functionality that is often not required by average users (Base must have Java).
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Java
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@ms3811
I tried to use it without Java. Then it took some minutes, I was close to give it up, to open.
As I have not installed LibreOffice, I used this PortableApp, I do not know whether LibreOffice runs on Slitaz without Java.
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Start LibreOffice, then go to Options, Java, and disable 'Use a Java Runtime Environment', then close and restart LibreOffice, it works without a hitch.
I also tried the following (on a fresh Slitaz install with no Java):
- disconnect Internet (else the repacked LibreOffice package automatically tries to download and install Java)
- $tazpkg install LibreOffice
- fire up LibreOffice
It will throw up prompts something like "LibreOffice requires JRE to perform this task. Please install JRE and restart LibreOffice" a few times. Just keep clicking ok until LibreOffice starts. Then follow the above procedure and uncheck the "Use Java..." option. Close and restart LibreOffice and it will work fine.
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On a separate note, the default install (or maybe just the repacked package, not sure) of LibreOffice screws up the symbolic link to the LibreOffice executable. This results in a "not found" error when trying to run LibreOffice post install. This happens because the install sets up the symlink as follows:
/usr/bin/libreoffice3.4 -> /usr/lib/libreoffice/libreoffice3.4/program/soffice
This won't work because /usr/lib/libreoffice is symlinked to /usr/lib/libreffoce3.4 where program/soffice is located. To fix this, just delete /usr/bin/libreoffice3.4 and recreate the symlink as follows:
$ln -s /usr/lib/libreoffice/program/soffice /usr/bin/libreoffice3.4
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Wow, thanks a lot!
I dislike Java as it often creates trouble for me when downloading complete websites. I need to archive them for offline-reading, if possible with the aesthetic of the complete website, for school purposes. Many websites make too heavy use of Java scripts. When I thenafter try to open those archives on another platform this won't work. The culprit: those scripts.
But I do not know for which functionality LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) would need Java.
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I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't mind a copy of aniguenni's wallpaper.
Also, I don't think it's wise to use libreoffice without java since that's what it's written in.
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Yes, I would like that wallpaper as well. It has the right spirit.
Java in LibreOffice: I am not technician enough to evaluate the arguments. - To have a suitable established office software
- which runs platform-independant
- to which newbies are accustomed
is a must. That LibreOffice takes so much space is a headache, that it needs a Java runtime increases the demand for space and teh headache. But it is apparently unavoidable.
My temporary gues is that I should incorporate a Java runtime (necessary for the flash-plugin as well) to a slitaz version that I will give to some nerds in our school. But LibreOffice I prefer to add in form of this App on the particular CD. And my dream is to get something similar for LaTeX, just for a safe start, not the huge official texlive 2011 version.
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It's not that bad. Compare LibreOffice+Java, which is around 220MB, against Office 2007, which takes up about around 600MB.
Mind you, I use Abiword (latest one from http://people.slitaz.org/~jozee/packages/ ), Gnumeric and pptview (from my site - http://www.trixarian.net/SliTaz ) to give me the majority of functionality I need and they take up less than 100MB total. I also use the msttcorefonts package by mojo to get the right fonts for browsing and Abiword.
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,,...against Office 2007, which takes up about around 600MB."
Uff, this I did not know. That is much more bad than I thought! ;-)
Against that even a 200-300 MB-latex-App would be tiny.
The proposal for Abiword is ok, I do the same. But please notice that even this is too much for ,,normal users" in a school environment of today.The majority of people there is convinced that any text file is automatically formatted as *.docx in the way like each tree has leaves in the summer. They ,,evaluate" any OS first by the look of the Desktop. In case they would be accustomed to use LibreOffice (installed version) and now you just change the icons they would be frightened thinking that is a complete different piece of software: have a look, isn't it different?
For such cases some programs must be ,,ready". This Portable Apps approach is suitable for that.
pptview is nice, thanks for the offer, and jozee's abiword as well.
=> The most important headache for motivating kids to Slitaz are those (proprietary) graphic card drivers problems - as they blame it on linux. This forum is really full with such kind of troubles, myself being no exception. It took 14 days for me to get Slitaz-cooking perform on one of my machines.
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Hi guys,
now I tried the second opportunity (with the portable LibreOffice) on several systems. On my Lifebook it works either with/without java runtime. On my brothers PC it works as well.
But my old PC struggles by opening the portable app. After double click on the symbol it shows the bouncing cusor, and after a short while it disapears and shows the normal arrow again, without doing anything. I tried it several times, but always the same. Maybe because of too low RAM (PC, AMD K6-2, 256 MB RAM)?
Do I have another possibility to view and editing .doc, xls (and any chance for .pps) -files? Does Abiword and Gnumeric allowes to editing the above? I think the programs need to be lightweight for the hardware.
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Yes, if you can manage to work without (why shouldn't you?) abiword is ok for that.
I found out in the meantime that LibreOffice App needs, as all Apps do, FUSE to be installed on that machine. I question that with 256 MB RAM it would run. For such machine you need even OpenOffice Version 1 - I remember quite a number of discussions in the Internet about that question.
Some lines from ProBono, the architekt of those Apps:
AppImages require a working FUSE installation - libfuse, fusermount, /dev/fuse
with proper permissions, etc.
This should be the default in most desktop distributions, ...
[...]
If you do not have root rights on your server, you could unpack the AppImage (it
is an ISO file really), and use the resulting AppDir, which does not need FUSE.
Just run the "AppRun" file inside the unpacked AppImage.
[...]
PS. There are many other Apps in this form available. Smaller ones should be ok even on an old machine. I just tried http://portablelinuxapps.org/development/kompozer and it was fine.
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Yes, Abiword can even open the dreaded xml formats used by the newer Word (docx), but don't expect the same level of support that LibreOffice has for the formats. For example, Abiword's support for doc tables is terrible. Gnumeric works well for Excel files, but most of the formula scripts won't work exactly as you expect. pptview allows the viewing of Powerpoint files, but you can't edit them. It also needs wine installed to work.
All of them have a few dependencies, so it's a little more work to have them work than LibreOffice.
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@anniguenni
In case you are technically interested (I am not!) you might consider to read how those Apps are made:
http://portablelinuxapps.org/docs/1.0/AppImageKit.pdf
This is above my size and interest. My motivation for Linux is a political one, not a technical.
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I personally turn off Java for LibreOffice for a couple of reasons, 1. it's nice to be able to lose stuff that isn't absolutely necessary, 2. can't be too sure about this, but LibreOffice does appear a tad faster without JRE. As to why it's doesn't seem 'required', see the following link:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Java
Most of the features listed there as requiring Java to function, I have never utilized. Other than those, LibreOffice seems to function fine without JRE. See,
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LibreOffice#Speed_up_LibreOffice
In any case, on my regular laptop I have JRE since most of my other projects require JRE. But on my netbook, it is nice to be able to get rid of that extra bloat since it appears unnecessary. Would have been nice if Abiword worked, but the lack of compatibility with MS Word documents is a deal breaker, especially if you exchange a lot of docs with other people.
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The doc compatibility is alright in Abiword if you avoid using tables and non-standard font sizes
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