(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hmmm .....

jakfish

jakfish wrote:........ Re: softmaker for linux 2006--have you figured out any way to increase size of menubars, menu fonts, etc.? ........

No, it is not supported (read: hardcoded) on linux. You're advised to post a request on their forum. While this seems a bit unfortunate but read below to understand why ...

@all interested parties
If you ever wondered why softmaker apps have fantastic speed and small memory footprint, then look at the dependency list ... GTK2 and glibc is not on the list thus reducing a lot of layers ... yeah, software is like onions ... like onions, they have layers ...

Softmaker apps (on linux) uses their own "widget toolkit". Anyone wondered how they could implement those 95/2000/XP/Vista appearance? ..... Well, if you've used XP themes, then you'll know basically how it works ... The use of direct owner painting allows apps skinning but also requires specific support for many functions. The internal menus, fonts, lists and buttons combos have fixed sizes due to this. It has been requested a few times on their forum to allow resize-able menus etc (on linux) ... hopefully with enough people requesting, they'll do something about it ...

(BTW, in my simple tests, upon loading textmaker 2006 linux, top reports roughly 18MB of ram usage.)

Frankly, I prefer textmaker linux anytime compared to abiword/OOwriter. Sure textmaker is proprietary ... but the core functions works fine and it gets the job done right ... Nothing wrong using proprietary software if they do the actual job properly ... I find textmaker to be the perfect answer to fill that gap between abiword and OOwriter. Abiword is cranky with my docs and OOwriter is way too big with functions that I never use.

I own a copy of office2k but I've been using textmaker 2006 windows portable for the past two+ years and now finds that the same .doc documents opens correctly on textmaker 2006 linux. The same cannot be said for abiword ... I also couldn't care less about file formats. I just feed them through a viewer and copy-n-paste back to textmaker if I need to ...

The softmaker office2006 link-to-another-link that jakfish pointed out is for the full free version. The poster in the original link have indicated prior approval for publishing the download. So, grab a copy and give it a test run ... If you like it, register it for the price of free ...

Here's a tip:
Let's say you wanted a portable softmaker running in your flashdrive, just make a copy of /usr/share/office2006 into your flashdrive and create an empty portable.txt (ie. touch portable.txt). This instructs textmaker/planmaker to save all configs in the same folder.


Rgds

Patriot--

Thanks for the insights/post-ing on why TM visuals are so immutable.

I've used TM since its first alpha for my Jornada 720, and I admire their hard work immensely.

As somebody pointed out in this thread, it's hard, however, to trust 3rd-party software, regardless of price, to talk nice to Microsoft.

I'll try to embrace TM et al as a genuine substitute for my MS Word 97 on Puppy 4.31, but I keep going back to Word because I know that *.doc will play nice with other desktops (and my formatting is not that sophisticated).

Jake

I tried Softmaker Office 2008 for Linux (evaluation version) and it seems to have exporting problems with opentype fonts having postscript outlines (I used opentype set of Linux Libertine for my test)

Fonts are displayed, but not are showed when you export to pdf your file

regarding Softmaker 2006 for Linux, once started, when I click to export in pdf it says can't locate ps2pdf

EDIT: solved pdf export issue printing via cups with

lpr -P pdfprintername

This is perhaps slightly OT, but I think just a small tip here is important to those seeking jobs and submitting resumes when using non-MS word processors.

One workaround is to save to .pdf -- which several of these WPs can do, assuming it is acceptable to the employer. Then open it in a genuine Adobe Reader to check it, and then you can send it in with a fair amount of confidence that what you wrote is what they will see.

Apologies for this again, but I have personal experience of people whose job chances were shot by being unaware of the problems with the .doc format produced by alternative WPs.

I hope some day that the alternative WP's will pay as much attention to their .doc formats as they do to piling on rarely used features. A basic word97 .doc format compatibility would serve everyone fine. Yet this has not been achieved in reality. Simple comparisons of formatting are very easy to do onscreen and through printout. It would seem to be a basic requirement.

This is perhaps slightly OT, but I think just a small tip here is important to those seeking jobs and submitting resumes when using non-MS word processors.

One workaround is to save to .pdf -- which several of these WPs can do,

I see a big movement in general in that direction--i wonder why--maybe the fact that pdf is now included in so many document processors. One of the institutions for whom I teach has now gone exclusively to pdf for all documents in online courses. This is good news for alternative word processors I would say.

Well Pylaydayz, I think the answer is in the name. Portable Document Format. It was designed to be displayed on any platform and look the same. Basically because it is a graphic format, not a character format.

Word's .doc on the other hand was designed to be proprietary.

I had a big disappointment today. I went to use Softmaker Office 2006 Textmaker to open some docx files and guess what? With all that hype about their excellent better than OpenOffice MS Word compatibility, Textmaker would not open or even recognize a docx file. I couldn't believe it, but the fine print on their web site seems to reinforce that, no Office 2007 compatibility. I hope I am totally screwed up about this because otherwise their software is useless to me.

@vtpup, yeah, but PDF was designed by Adobe--which doesn't make me feel that much better--however I agree, it is the portable format of choice now (over rtf). Unless you want the recipient to be able to edit the document.

playdayz wrote:I had a big disappointment today. I went to use Softmaker Office 2006 Textmaker to open some docx files and guess what? With all that hype about their excellent better than OpenOffice MS Word compatibility, Textmaker would not open or even recognize a docx file. I couldn't believe it, but the fine print on their web site seems to reinforce that, no Office 2007 compatibility. I hope I am totally screwed up about this because otherwise their software is useless to me.

Well, the way we handle it here (and we do writing and editing for publications, which more and more are sending out docxs) is we first open it in Open Office, and then save it to a MSWord doc file. Then it can be opened in the software of choice. In our case, it's MSWord 2000, which is the most compatible and best behaved of the lot on Wine. Of course Open Office is a huge program for using it simply as a docx converter. But there you are... Actually I do use OODraw a lot for other work, and even OOWriter for non-critical composition. But not for professional use.

Yes, it's hard to get away from MSWord for word processing for publications. Unfortunately the specific.doc file incompatibilities of Open Office and the rest have discouraged most publications from making the switch. In fact most do not even want submissions on non-MS software because of the formatting problems when dealing with freelancers.

It is unfortunate that instead of adding a million options, alternate WPs don't really concentrate on getting a true file compatibility in a simpler WP. Something that could be trusted, and thus might have appeal for professional work. I don't need a million ways to do things, one way is fine if it's compatible.

I worked on the Open Office team for a month trying to write specs for some simple things, but got overuled by feature creep proponents who so complicated things that implementation slipped from months to over a year. I gave up after awhile.

Hmmm .....

playdayz wrote:I had a big disappointment today. I went to use Softmaker Office 2006 Textmaker to open some docx files and guess what? With all that hype about their excellent better than OpenOffice MS Word compatibility, Textmaker would not open or even recognize a docx file.

This is a clear example of using an inappropriate tool for the job. The textmaker 2006 handles .doc very well ... not .docx ... This is stated on their site (and manual) with regards to version 2006. Even the current latest textmaker 2008 does not support .docx .... please understand your tools capability (ie. don't use a screwdriver to drive in a nail).

The Textviewer 2009 beta however does support opening and viewing .docx files ... Good and proper working support for .docx is to be available in the next textmaker 2010 release (that's what I read)...


Rgds

...and regarding Textmaker, apparently if you purchase the SoftMaker Office 2008 package, you will get a free upgrade to the Office 2010 and its hyped-about docx translational capabilities (plus PlanMaker, Presentations etc). I'm not sure when the upgrade will be valid however, as it depends on your purchase option...

I jumped just now at an 8-euro special, personal use, for SoftMaker Office 2008 for Windows, thinking that I could use it for translating colleagues' docx's under Wine, or XP as the mood might take me. Had to dig for it in the "other downloads" section in the 'purchase download' path, and glad to have it to upgrade my ailing Office2002, but it appears that I should have gone for the full version (Windows, Linux, or Both bundled - and their educational pricings are *pretty* competitive) in order to get the free upgrade. The 2010 release is under beta, with a free trial available - 50Euro until Monday when it goes up to 70Euro.

EDIT: Typed the above in haste, re-checked the SoftMaker site... the free upgrade option applies only to full-priced Office 2008, but as it is more expensive, Office 2010beta would seem to be the better way to go - provided others with more expertise than I can get it or the free trial version working under WINE. (Or until the historically more expensive Linux version is out.)

Hmmm .....

Puppyt wrote:........ Office 2010beta would seem to be the better way to go ........

Ola, thanks for the heads up ... Grabbing the 2010beta now (wowzer! it's 125MB!) ... The new pricing does seem very attractive ... Licensed for up-to 3 PCs for one purchase ... Ok, let's see how this goes .....


Rgds

SoftMaker have a "Load and Help" promo going at present, with € 0.10 donated to a certified charity at betterplace.org, for every free download of their penultimate Office suite. Ah - it's their Windows version, and still lacks DOCX interoperability from what I understand, but all the other bells and whistles are there (TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations). So possibly it might provide a cause-worthy alternative to OO if you're happy running it under Wine:

http://loadandhelp.de/home-en.html

Cheers

Hi all.

Admire the work you've accomplished, really want to try the Wine for using some of my favorite vindo progs, Namewiz, Dir2fil, Homesite, validator, etc
Don't know version or how to do it yet.

The uploaded file has links to office resources that may solve some of the dilemas expressed in the thread.
- I myself as a new linux recruit are not up to trying to help or suggest how to use these, but certainly hope you all figure it out , for it offers another large population a method to break away from the proprietary world.

jay

The full 2008 Softmaker Suite is available for Linux for Free now until 31 december.
Go grab it !

GOOD ON SOFTMAKER

Thanks for that heads-up, scheck.r - I can confirm that the download page at http://loadandhelp.de/home-en.html now has links to free SoftMaker 2008 for Linux. I'm downloading the deb version to run in gposil's dpup (his and his team's 477 retro version). I wonder if, after the donation promotion is finished, Puppy Linux might have words with SoftMaker regarding the creation of a new pet, to upgrade the old TextMaker2006 on the puppy repositories? Sounds like a winning combination,

Cheers!

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This Puppy's not just for Christmas

scheck.r wrote:The full 2008 Softmaker Suite is available for Linux

Available in SFS and pet format
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 423#373423

Softmaker 2010 is blinding fast on Puppy and works fine with docx.

There is a free reader available for 2008-9 .

Why do you all use the windows version? The Linux version flies.

Another solution when someone sends you a docx is to open it online and save as htm or print to file which turns it into a pdf.

2010 beta IS LIGHTNING QUICK on puppy, the Linux version anyway,

When I scanned this with F-prot using fpscan at the command line it identified the windows installer as having a password stealer. this exe was downloaded from "http://www.softmakeroffice.com/"
false positive?

Is there a way to check with another program just to make sure,Avast perhaps?

Maybe you should forward this to Softmaker, see what they say, and then if they say it is false run it again and see?

I love their software, the only thing it won't do I asked it to so far is create fonts as outlines but I only use that occasionally to make signs and I can create those docs with Open Office. However if they stole my password I would be very upset, not that it would really help them.

Hi,

I checked the same file, ofw06freefull.exe, over with Avast for linux, and it didn't find anything. It may be that f-prot found a false positive.

I feel like a man with two watches, I don't know what time it is...

Y.