Softmake Freeoffice 2012 Update

[mikeb]

For those who may no longer get emails from Softmaker I just got notice of an update details as follows...

Dear SoftMaker customer:

A few days ago, we updated FreeOffice for Windows. Now we have also
released revision 690 of FreeOffice for Linux.

You receive this notification for a free update since you are
registered as a user of FreeOffice for Linux.

What's new in this revision:

- Improved import and export filters
- Easy setting of the default font from within the Format/Character box
- All AutoShape effects from SoftMaker Office now also in FreeOffice
- Bug fixes

We recommend updating to the new revision. Do this easily by running
one of the FreeOffice applications and selecting "Check for Updates"
from the Help menu.

If FreeOffice is no longer installed or you have lost your serial
number, you can also download it again from the
http://www.freeoffice.com site.

there is a matching windows update at
http://www.softmaker.net/down/freeofficewindows.exe

This may be of interest to package builders here and i will update what I have soon.

mike

[ThoriumBlvd]

Can you check if the odt and ods extensions from LO convert to FO filetype... the reverse is not needed here. Thanks.

[mikeb]

odt can be opened.... ods cannot...though I usually use xls for the latter.

mike

[slavvo67]

Mikeb:

I finally downloaded. I'll let you know what I think of it.

Best,

Slavvo67

[mikeb]

Another free update...details below....I assume the linux version will follow shorthy...it usually does.

Dear SoftMaker customer:

You are a user of SoftMaker FreeOffice for Windows. We have just
released revision 696 as a free download.

In addition to bug fixes, it comes with the following new features:

- Change the zoom level with the zoom slider in the status line (*)
- All chart effects from SoftMaker Office now also in FreeOffice
- TextMaker: Stylesheet manager (Format/Manage Styles)
- PlanMaker: Split cell text into columns (Table/Text to Columns)

(*) You might have to reset the status line by going to View/Toolbars,
selecting "Status" and clicking on "Reset".

mike

[mikeb]

Ok got this this morning

From now until December 24, you can download FreeOffice for Windows and Linux and the full version of SoftMaker Office Mobile 2012 for Android – and help needy people at the same time: For every download, SoftMaker donates 10 Euro cents to aid and charity projects around the world.

Spread the word! Tell friends and co-workers about our Load and Help campaign. We want to set a new record for donations this year!


Visit the Load and Help campaign page

http://www.loadandhelp.de/

Note they now have a version for Android too!

So grab the updates and make a free donation.... think they raised several thousand last year....

mike

[mikeb]

Hmm seems like they made a boo boo

Dear SoftMaker customer:

You are a user of SoftMaker FreeOffice for Linux. We have just
released revision 697 as a free download.

This revision fixes a bug that could lead to program crashes during
regular typing. We therefore recommend to install the new revision.

applies to windows too ...appears self updating is possible.

mike

[mikeb]

Ok results of their fundraising activities this (last) year.

Our charity campaign Load and Help ended on December 24 with a record 57,233 downloads. We kept our promise and donated € 5,723.30 to charity and aid projects around the globe.

On top of that, donations over 365 Euro came from customers who ordered over the holidays and donated their discount.

Final tally: € 6,088.30 that do good. A heartfelt thank-you to all participants!

mike

[6502coder]

Rev 698 was released 29 jan 2015.

[mikeb]

Thanks ...yes got that message.... surprising how many revisions they have made of 2012 version....

They say you can update via the help menu but never tried it.

mike

[6502coder]

They say you can update via the help menu but never tried it.
mike

I always do it via the help menu, works just fine both in the Windows version and in the Linux version.

[mikeb]

Ah good thats easy then.

I made/make packages so need to use the latest but i have waited until they stop updating

mike

[8Geee]

mikeb:

It appears you might have more experience than I wiith things FreeOffice, so I'll direct this towards you, but anyone else wiith knowledge feel free to respond.

I tried FO for a while during the v. 690 package. And it is quite a bit "smaller footprint" than OO/LO. One of the things I do is make pdf's when finished with the office type file. I noticed one thing here thats not a deal-killer, but got me thinking ( could be dangerous ). When I save LO files to pdf their Kb size is about 25Kb/page. in FO I was seeing much larger file-sizes, enough for me to consider compressing/archiving. IIRC, 80 to 100Kb was not uncommon.

I think this is due to not being a Java conversion or Java language-based approach. Is that about right?

[mikeb]

Java is not used on either...or at least I can make a pdf in Libreoffice without java installed.

Check the preferences tab when exporting pdf.... most likely Freeoffice could be set to a higher dpi and image quality (I would use jpg normally) which produces the larger file as otherwise the same info should give roughly the same results. Compare with what libre uses...mine uses jpg at 90% but no mention of dpi (which may only affect display/print size)

If this is the case then tweaking should solve the difference though I don't see a way of making such settings persistent

hope that helps

Mike

[8Geee]

Thanks mikeb, I'll give it a go with 697 version. Getting the eee version of Slacko-5.7 finished up, I think the next step is to add FO for a "more original" experience, with reduced footprint. Plan is for ods -->csv -->FO for personal stuff, and will enlighten.

**Edit** Took latest slacko5.7-2015 cd trimmed and remastered the FO version, then to iso then frugal install. typing on it now. Very nice so far. Further reporting in slacko5.7-2015 thread.

[8Geee]

I can get the pdf's to 16Kb in e-pdf (emma-soft) see tarball
DejaVu Sans
JPEG 50%
96DPI
DO NOT embed fonts

I tried a monospace font, and HAD to embed the font (Nimbus-Mono IIRC) the result of that is 250Kb. So it appears the free-version limits font selection.

[mikeb]

hmm yes if fonts are embedded that would bulk it.... something generic and sans I tend to go for.

jpg at 50% looks a bit yucky... around 80% is much nicer and only a small size increase. Any compression is better than non to reduce size.

As you say is fast and small...if you have the dictionaries reduced to wanted thats helps.
You can also only have say textmaker and make it smaller than abiword and its dependancies

mike

[8Geee]

I concur mikeb, I just put the hammer down because it was text only. Other tests at 150dpi and 80% are still quite small. It DOES appear the font-embed is the 800 Lb gorilla.

The trimmed install of /opt and ~/.softmaker is only 64.2Mb. I'd say tiny compared to LO's 495Mb + Java. I think the real "font concern" is ultimately e-pdf's lack of fonts.

[mikeb]

fontless and fancy free it seems...

well I suppose with larger docs the font becomes less dominant and I assume its a big unicode one we are talking about.
I get the same tradeoffs when making flash movies..... its does have a _sans option also so picks up whatever generic font there is to avoid embedding for synamic text boxes.

I don't bother with java for libre office or the python bits...makes for a 100MB sfs...not sure expanded.

Textmaker on its own plus en US and en GB hits a trim 11MB ..full suite around 20MB...again as sfs.
That of course would reflect the additional size if remastered into a puppy

mike

[8Geee]

One more quuestion here...
I see the 'inst' directory has multiple zip's. Is it OK to delete these now that FO has been properly opened and used a bit?
TIA