At last!
At last!
I love my puppy! Unlike the canine variety it generally does as it's told and costs me nothing. Sorted.
As a professional writer and musician I use my computer for the basics: word processing, web and email. The Puppy experience is fast and stable. It does what I need and runs like shit off a shovel in the RAM of my modestly-specified netbook, doubling its battery-life against the clunky, hard-drive-hogging Windows 7 installation I have. Indeed, the only reason I haven't sacked the latter is on the principle that I paid good money for it (including an upgrade to 2Gb of RAM in order to run the Home Premium version, more fool me).
Sure, Puppy isn't perfect. Firstly, and most important to me, I find AbiWord rather buggy. It does the job but occasional glitches piss me off. Not as much a M$ Word pisses me off, but I still see room for improvement.
Yes, I could install Open/Libre Office, but since I have no need for the rest of the suite beyond Writer it would kinda defeat the Puppy principle. Is there a more stable but still fully-featured stand-alone word-cruncher that anyone could recommend? (I grew up with Locoscript and still yearn for it!)
Then there's that email client that sounds like a sexually transmitted disease. It does that job and I love not having to rely on webmail. I also love the way it sets up your Googlemail account automatically, But it keeps telling me that an upgrade is available; when click on a link, I get a page in Japanese (I think: it could be Manderin for all I know) so I daren't click on anything.
Finally, epdview. I tried opening a pdf file in full screen mode today and the only way I could get out of it was by holding down the reset button on my computer, with l the consequent problems of losing my current session and damaging my file system. I'm not stupid but I really couldn't find a way out.
But hese are minor niggles. Congratulations on the best OS since RISCOS
As a professional writer and musician I use my computer for the basics: word processing, web and email. The Puppy experience is fast and stable. It does what I need and runs like shit off a shovel in the RAM of my modestly-specified netbook, doubling its battery-life against the clunky, hard-drive-hogging Windows 7 installation I have. Indeed, the only reason I haven't sacked the latter is on the principle that I paid good money for it (including an upgrade to 2Gb of RAM in order to run the Home Premium version, more fool me).
Sure, Puppy isn't perfect. Firstly, and most important to me, I find AbiWord rather buggy. It does the job but occasional glitches piss me off. Not as much a M$ Word pisses me off, but I still see room for improvement.
Yes, I could install Open/Libre Office, but since I have no need for the rest of the suite beyond Writer it would kinda defeat the Puppy principle. Is there a more stable but still fully-featured stand-alone word-cruncher that anyone could recommend? (I grew up with Locoscript and still yearn for it!)
Then there's that email client that sounds like a sexually transmitted disease. It does that job and I love not having to rely on webmail. I also love the way it sets up your Googlemail account automatically, But it keeps telling me that an upgrade is available; when click on a link, I get a page in Japanese (I think: it could be Manderin for all I know) so I daren't click on anything.
Finally, epdview. I tried opening a pdf file in full screen mode today and the only way I could get out of it was by holding down the reset button on my computer, with l the consequent problems of losing my current session and damaging my file system. I'm not stupid but I really couldn't find a way out.
But hese are minor niggles. Congratulations on the best OS since RISCOS
I use Softmaker Office, which can be run from a USB stick as a portable app. as well as having Windows and Linux versions. It is not free, but is cheap and has interesting licence terms (very open) About £20.
I also have a copy of Kingstone Office free which is Windows only. There is a pro version which costs around 60 dollars/Euros
Both the above will read and write? MS Office formats as well as the usual formats. Both are fairly similar to Office to use but are far smaller installs.
I also have a copy of Kingstone Office free which is Windows only. There is a pro version which costs around 60 dollars/Euros
Both the above will read and write? MS Office formats as well as the usual formats. Both are fairly similar to Office to use but are far smaller installs.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett
Thanks, Burn_IT. I'll give them a try.
BTW, searching this board I note that there's actually an SFS avaiable for Kingston Office at http://www.adrive.com/public/85NbyD/kingston-9-0.sfs
BTW, searching this board I note that there's actually an SFS avaiable for Kingston Office at http://www.adrive.com/public/85NbyD/kingston-9-0.sfs
hi WillE
what puppy are you using? as the problem with epdfview is a bug with JWM (joes window manager) that affected some puppies. it affected the fullscreen option on all apps. This shouldn't be a problem in later puppies.
also instead of resetting the computer, you can press 'ctrl, left alt and backspace' to drop to a prompt, then type xwin to get back to the desktop
what puppy are you using? as the problem with epdfview is a bug with JWM (joes window manager) that affected some puppies. it affected the fullscreen option on all apps. This shouldn't be a problem in later puppies.
also instead of resetting the computer, you can press 'ctrl, left alt and backspace' to drop to a prompt, then type xwin to get back to the desktop
Bionicpup64 built with bionic beaver packages http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=114311
Xenialpup64, built with xenial xerus packages http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107331
Xenialpup64, built with xenial xerus packages http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107331
There are other writers using Linux as well .Some of them are using writer's apps which allow them to keep their drafts, research and final versions all in one place. These apps often have the ability to save in HTML as well as formats like doc, kindle and epub. Cory Docterow uses Ubuntu, but I think he writes his books with VI or some other text editor
WillE wrote:
It works with many Pups, and has never given me that problem.
Burn_IT wrote:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1478753533
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 12&t=72301
I prefer this older version of Sylpheed.Then there's that email client that sounds like a sexually transmitted disease. It does that job and I love not having to rely on webmail. I also love the way it sets up your Googlemail account automatically, But it keeps telling me that an upgrade is available; when click on a link, I get a page in Japanese (I think: it could be Manderin for all I know) so I daren't click on anything.
It works with many Pups, and has never given me that problem.
Burn_IT wrote:
These versions are:I use Softmaker Office, which can be run from a USB stick as a portable app. as well as having Windows and Linux versions. It is not free
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1478753533
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 12&t=72301
FreeOffice
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].
Shoot if just wanting a writer with some features instead of a office suite.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=78199
Unless docx is a requirement that was not mentioned.
Edit: for mail if not using seamonkey mail I use
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=73939
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=78199
Unless docx is a requirement that was not mentioned.
Edit: for mail if not using seamonkey mail I use
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=73939
SoftMaker Office / FreeOffice
According to my experience SoftMaker Office is unrivaled: slim, fast, highly compatible to all kinds of Microsoft Office formats, comfortable UI, free support. Costs you $69 for three licenses, or ~$40 as upgrade. You can try it out free for 30 days, have a look at the SoftMaker website.
They also offer a lite version for free, which has less features and can only read, but not save docx, xlsx, pptx, but if you need an office suite for basic use, FreeOffice is great, and compared to LibreOffice it has only 57MB instead of ~200MB size.
freeoffice.com
They also offer a lite version for free, which has less features and can only read, but not save docx, xlsx, pptx, but if you need an office suite for basic use, FreeOffice is great, and compared to LibreOffice it has only 57MB instead of ~200MB size.
freeoffice.com
Bananarama wrote:
But beware of M$' scare tactics.
Indeed.According to my experience SoftMaker Office is unrivaled: slim, fast, highly compatible to all kinds of Microsoft Office formats
But beware of M$' scare tactics.
I'm using Slacko 5.4, which is fairly recent. But there are plenty of other PDF readers out there, so it's not a problem.666philb wrote:hi WillE
what puppy are you using? as the problem with epdfview is a bug with JWM (joes window manager) that affected some puppies. it affected the fullscreen option on all apps. This shouldn't be a problem in later puppies.
also instead of resetting the computer, you can press 'ctrl, left alt and backspace' to drop to a prompt, then type xwin to get back to the desktop
I've installed Freeoffice Text Maker, thanks for the pointers. I'm so delighted with it that I've also installed Planmaker and sacked both AbiWord and Gnumeric (though I'm aware that some open source diehards may regard this with scorn). FreeOffice is, indeed, lean, mean and as fully-functioned as I need.
As regards LibreOffice, I have that on a Mint 15 installation on my desktop. Having been using OpenOffice (and before that, Sun StarOffice) as a M$ Office alternative for many years, I don't think Libre measures up at all. I'd go for OpenOffice all the way, but FreeOffice does me fine for my Puppy netbook.
Thanks to all for your help and advice.
I agree with all of the positive comments about Textmaker - it is what I use all the time now, but I want to mention one significant caution - If you are running your puppy from a usb stick you will find that the document you are modifying lives in RAM - it doesn't get written out to the usb stick until the pupsave is updated which might be 30mins away (depending on how you have your pupsave parameters configured)
The problem with this is that if the power goes off the document is lost. However - it is not only the current document that is lost - it is also the previous Textmaker "internal backups" that were still resident in RAM at the time of PC failure (ie: not written out to hardcopy yet)
The problem with this can become evident at the next power on - Textmaker knows that something went wrong with the previous document and attempts a recovery but it can fail because the "Textmaker internal backups" are already lost too.
In a sense this is a partial incompatibility between Textmaker and Puppy in the sense that it does not expect it's previously saved backups to be missing from hard disk or worse - corrupted.
Its possible that this affects other Word processors too, but I have yet to notice it elsewhere. Mind you - I get so much more documentation done with Textmaker that its very noticeable when the data gets lost...
I am now in the habit of saving direct to hard drive (not usb) frequently (and also exporting as pdf when I'm doing a really long complex document, just for extra, extra safety)
One major plus with Textmaker is that it does not require Java (which I consider to be a major security risk) whereas LibreOffice constantly asks for Java to be installed.
The problem with this is that if the power goes off the document is lost. However - it is not only the current document that is lost - it is also the previous Textmaker "internal backups" that were still resident in RAM at the time of PC failure (ie: not written out to hardcopy yet)
The problem with this can become evident at the next power on - Textmaker knows that something went wrong with the previous document and attempts a recovery but it can fail because the "Textmaker internal backups" are already lost too.
In a sense this is a partial incompatibility between Textmaker and Puppy in the sense that it does not expect it's previously saved backups to be missing from hard disk or worse - corrupted.
Its possible that this affects other Word processors too, but I have yet to notice it elsewhere. Mind you - I get so much more documentation done with Textmaker that its very noticeable when the data gets lost...
I am now in the habit of saving direct to hard drive (not usb) frequently (and also exporting as pdf when I'm doing a really long complex document, just for extra, extra safety)
One major plus with Textmaker is that it does not require Java (which I consider to be a major security risk) whereas LibreOffice constantly asks for Java to be installed.
Using java plugins on your browser is a security risk, not java apps.greengeek wrote:
One major plus with Textmaker is that it does not require Java (which I consider to be a major security risk) whereas LibreOffice constantly asks for Java to be installed.
re: saving from ram; why not just use a link to a file on your hd for docs, or open directly?
Mostly for reasons of portability - I want to have the usb stick with me when I leave the PC at home or switch to a different puppy. But knowing theres another copy on the HDD makes me feel happier.jpeps wrote:re: saving from ram; why not just use a link to a file on your hd for docs, or open directly?
Do the important work on the HD (so it doesn't get lost), and make the copy to the usb.greengeek wrote:Mostly for reasons of portability - I want to have the usb stick with me when I leave the PC at home or switch to a different puppy. But knowing theres another copy on the HDD makes me feel happier.jpeps wrote:re: saving from ram; why not just use a link to a file on your hd for docs, or open directly?