At last!

Promote Puppy !
Post Reply
Message
Author
WillE
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 19 Jun 2013, 21:32
Location: Harrogate, England

At last!

#1 Post by WillE »

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 ;)

User avatar
Burn_IT
Posts: 3650
Joined: Sat 12 Aug 2006, 19:25
Location: Tamworth UK

#2 Post by Burn_IT »

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.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett

WillE
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 19 Jun 2013, 21:32
Location: Harrogate, England

#3 Post by WillE »

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

slenkar
Posts: 228
Joined: Sat 11 Jul 2009, 01:26

#4 Post by slenkar »

ive been using puppy only, for several months, havent had any problems, very pleased

User avatar
666philb
Posts: 3615
Joined: Sun 07 Feb 2010, 12:27
Location: wales ... by the sea

#5 Post by 666philb »

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
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

linuxbear
Posts: 620
Joined: Sat 18 Apr 2009, 20:39
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

#6 Post by linuxbear »

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

User avatar
DaveS
Posts: 3685
Joined: Thu 09 Oct 2008, 16:01
Location: UK

#7 Post by DaveS »

I think that might be KINGSOFT Office. Use it all the time on my Android devices. On Puppy it renders fonts light years better than Libre Office. Which is nice . . . . . . .
Spup Frugal HD and USB
Root forever!

User avatar
Burn_IT
Posts: 3650
Joined: Sat 12 Aug 2006, 19:25
Location: Tamworth UK

#8 Post by Burn_IT »

I think that might be KINGSOFT Office
Indeed.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett

Dewbie

#9 Post by Dewbie »

WillE wrote:
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.
I prefer this older version of Sylpheed.
It works with many Pups, and has never given me that problem.


Burn_IT wrote:
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
These versions are:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1478753533
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 12&t=72301

raffy
Posts: 4798
Joined: Wed 25 May 2005, 12:20
Location: Manila

FreeOffice

#10 Post by raffy »

Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

rokytnji
Posts: 2262
Joined: Tue 20 Jan 2009, 15:54

#11 Post by rokytnji »

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

Bananarama

SoftMaker Office / FreeOffice

#12 Post by Bananarama »

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

Dewbie

#13 Post by Dewbie »

Bananarama wrote:
According to my experience SoftMaker Office is unrivaled: slim, fast, highly compatible to all kinds of Microsoft Office formats
Indeed. :)
But beware of M$' scare tactics. :evil:

WillE
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 19 Jun 2013, 21:32
Location: Harrogate, England

#14 Post by WillE »

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'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.

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.

WillE
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 19 Jun 2013, 21:32
Location: Harrogate, England

#15 Post by WillE »

PS I did consider the sfs version of FreeOffice, which is fine if you want the whole thing. But you have to install it to select the components if, say, you just want to install Text Maker with en_gb dictionary.

User avatar
greengeek
Posts: 5789
Joined: Tue 20 Jul 2010, 09:34
Location: Republic of Novo Zelande

#16 Post by greengeek »

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.

WillE
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 19 Jun 2013, 21:32
Location: Harrogate, England

#17 Post by WillE »

Indeed, that's also a problem with AbiWord. I habitually autosave my work-in-progress (as .rtf -- is there any other format for manuscripts?) to a separate FAT32 partition on my USB stick. Best of all worlds :P

jpeps
Posts: 3179
Joined: Sat 31 May 2008, 19:00

#18 Post by jpeps »

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.
Using java plugins on your browser is a security risk, not java apps.

re: saving from ram; why not just use a link to a file on your hd for docs, or open directly?

User avatar
greengeek
Posts: 5789
Joined: Tue 20 Jul 2010, 09:34
Location: Republic of Novo Zelande

#19 Post by greengeek »

jpeps wrote: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
Posts: 3179
Joined: Sat 31 May 2008, 19:00

#20 Post by jpeps »

greengeek wrote:
jpeps wrote: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.
Do the important work on the HD (so it doesn't get lost), and make the copy to the usb.

Post Reply