OpenOffice on PClinux 2011.09 - URGENT!!

[ianw]

Hi All
I'm a new user of PClinuxOS and LOVE what I see!!!

However I have one BIG problem. I have a Database developed in OpenOffice that LibreOffice WILL NOT RUN!! Therefore I HAVE to have OO on my system. Looking through the Forums and Googling about this it seems as if OO has been removed from the Reops. Is this correct??

There MUST be a way to get round this - anyone got some ideas please. This is a make-or-break for me - if I can't get OO I must go back to my previous OpSys.

Thanks guys

Ian Whitfield
Pretoria

[Old-Polack]

Hi All
I'm a new user of PClinuxOS and LOVE what I see!!!

However I have one BIG problem. I have a Database developed in OpenOffice that LibreOffice WILL NOT RUN!! Therefore I HAVE to have OO on my system. Looking through the Forums and Googling about this it seems as if OO has been removed from the Reops. Is this correct??

There MUST be a way to get round this - anyone got some ideas please. This is a make-or-break for me - if I can't get OO I must go back to my previous OpSys.

Thanks guys

Ian Whitfield
Pretoria

Looks like you've answered your own question. LibreOffice is supported here, OO is not. Your choice is to fix the database so that it does work with LibreOffice, or return to your previous OS.

[Tuxfriend]

OpenOffice is no longer supported by PCLinuxOS, but you might try an RPM from here.
However, use it at your own risk!

[Old-Polack]

OpenOffice is no longer supported by PCLinuxOS, but you might try an RPM from here.
However, use it at your own risk!

Naughty, naughty, Tuxfriend! Not supposed to post links to unsupported outside applications. 

[pinoc]

Hi Ian,
we do no longer use or support OO. You could install OO on a different PC (running MS-Windows or whatever), then do your work and ensure that the new database can be opened in a current version of LO. Then take that database back to your PCLinuxOS PC and continue working on it from within LO.
regards,
-p.

PS: please note that we will not provide support if you install stuff from outside our repo. So you can, but I would not suggest to download and install OO from the OO-website into your PCLinuxOS system.

[menotu]

Additionally, is there any specific error message(s) shown of why LibreOffice can't open the Database file(s)

Are there any extensions that need adding - I think LibreOffice will run a lot of the OpenOffice extensions.

Check the version of Java and/or sql stuff.

As pinoc advised, you could open it in OpenOffice and then see if you can do a SaveAs........

Mebbe run your other OS as a guest in Virtualbox with PCLinuxOS as your host

[kjpetrie]

I'm not sure why, as a new user, you've chosen to post this in the Advanced Users' section.

I doubt very much that the problem is quite as you think it, because LibreOffice is what was formerly called OpenOffice and OpenOffice is now a fork of itself. That is to say, when Oracle bought Sun and fell out with the OO developers, they left and formed the Document Foundation to carry on their work. Oracle wouldn't let them have the name so they changed it to LO. Subsequently Oracle, having the name but few or no developers, signed it over to the Apache Foundation to develop.

So I think it's unlikely something written for OpenOffice in the past would not open in LibreOffice now. I think it's much more likely you have a problem with the Java Run-Time engine, which base needs much more than the other LO/OO applications.

So rather than demanding pclos provides what is essentially the same program from a different source, it would be better to describe the problem to see whether we can help you fix it.

[ianw]

Thanks Guys
I know the full history of OO/LO and have been using the program since it was Star Office.

My DB was developed in OO and all current versions of LO will NOT run it due to a driver problem. I have worked at this problem at the very top of the Doc Foundation and it is a recorded "bug". Until this is fixed I have to stay on OO.

I have tried everything - I download rpm files from the OO site but these will not run (I get dependency errors).

So I thought - Let's try LO again but I can NOT even load this in PCLOS!!! I have no lomanager and Synaptic just closes when I try to instal it. So I downloaded from the Net but this gives me "Lock" errors.

So now I sit with no DB, (which I use every day!!!), No OO and No LO. I love the look and feel of PCLOS but if I can't crack this I will have to go back to Mint!!

I will have to make a call by tomorrow - so if anyone has ideas PLEASE let me know!!!

Thanks to all who replied.

[Archie]

Place all your downloaded LO files in one folder.

tar-xvf all the compressed archive (I think that's two files if you include the help)

On a Konsole (I am assuming you are using the KDE version) type su and enter your root password.

You will have a hash prompt if you haven't changed your PS1 - #

Type, rpm -Uvh *

And hopefully that would install everything on that folder - 57 files on en including the help files, the menus, and the various extensions.

Good luck.

[Just17]

So I thought - Let's try LO again but I can NOT even load this in PCLOS!!! I have no lomanager and Synaptic just closes when I try to instal it. So I downloaded from the Net but this gives me "Lock" errors.

Open Synaptic and check that you have a repository mirror chosen that is reasonably close to your location.

Click Reload .......   when complete click  Mark All Updates .........  Apply ALL those updates, then search and install lomanager if not already present.

Run lomanager to download and install LO.

[pinoc]

So I thought - Let's try LO again but I can NOT even load this in PCLOS!!! I have no lomanager and Synaptic just closes when I try to instal it. So I downloaded from the Net but this gives me "Lock" errors.

Open Synaptic and check that you have a repository mirror chosen that is reasonably close to your location.

Click Reload .......   when complete click  Mark All Updates .........  Apply ALL those updates, then search and install lomanager if not already present.

Run lomanager to download and install LO.

why would he not have lomanager installed? lomanager is installed by default on any official iso. That and the fact that "Synaptic just closes when I try to install it" makes me think that this is a borked system.
-p.

[melodie]

why would he not have lomanager installed? lomanager is installed by default on any official iso. That and the fact that "Synaptic just closes when I try to install it" makes me think that this is a borked system.
-p.

Hi,

In some cases I have noticed Synaptic can crash. A few examples of possible circumstances : the information was not reloaded (Reload button) therefore the program ends when trying to install a package for which it does not have the information (not sure of this one though) ; the repos is unavailable and errors appear in the reload window. (Solution is to restart Synaptic, change mirror, reload and retry). A distro not up to date maybe ?

Of course the possibility of a failed install also exists : bad md5sum on iso or on CD, a lens in the CD reader which needs cleaning... cosmic rays...

ianw, I might have a solution for you. Install to a machine with resources, good cpu and enough memory, at least 2 GB, don't try anything special but install an older pclinuxos in virtualbox, then the openoffice packages you need in the virtual machine. I found an old repos as of 2010 here. Don't install and use it directly because you will not have updates for this one. But with Virtualbox you can configure shared folders between the host and the client, so it's easy enough to deal with the file exchanges between both.

Any other solution using Virtualbox can also fit in your needs. (Have PCLinuxOS, a OOo in a system in vb and no reboot needed to use OOo).

I hope it helps.

[menotu]

why would he not have lomanager installed? lomanager is installed by default on any official iso. That and the fact that "Synaptic just closes when I try to install it" makes me think that this is a borked system.

+1

If various (non PCLinuxOS tried and tested methods) have been used to try and update the system it could well be causing issues.

I would simply reinstall the iso, reboot, fully update and reboot and then I'd add my apps including running lomanager

For the amount of time it takes - usually takes me about 45 minutes to install, fully update and add apps.

[Yankee]

 I have a Database developed in OpenOffice that LibreOffice WILL NOT RUN!! Therefore I HAVE to have OO on my system. Looking through the Forums and Googling about this it seems as if OO has been removed from the Reops. Is this correct??

There MUST be a way to get round this - anyone got some ideas please. This is a make-or-break for me - if I can't get OO I must go back to my previous OpSys.

You need to use OpenOffice again, once, to make a cvs (text) file of the database.
Commas or tabs for the cvs, I usually use commas.  That will be accepted by the
the spreadsheet  program in LibreOffice.  From the spreadsheet you can copy to the
database also, very reliable.

Beforehand, write down your database formats, formulas, and print settings.  Manually
enter them into LibreOffice so your report(s) will work, of course.  Should only
take an hour or two.   Print a report and stay with LibreOffice Database then.

That's what I would do.

Regards,

FF