DW comments & LibreOffice cons

kimlik66 · 2016-01-15 21:20:24

Hi all;
I just saw some positive comments about bunsenlabs linux and i thought i should share with you as i hope it may contribute to further improve the distro.
The comments in question are posted on DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 643, 11 January 2016
Look for the following comments: #72, #75, #77 and #78.
I'm a newbie. Accordingly please accept my apologies in case i have posted this topic in a wrong section of the forum.

Last edited by kimlik66 (2016-01-16 20:03:02)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-15 21:31:14

^ Thanks for the heads-up kimlik66!

See also comment #85

Mod Note: Merged with pre-existing BunsenLabs Reviews thread.

perchslayer · 2016-01-15 22:50:38

In regards to the comments on #72, as a newbie, I am trying to understand the "idea", the "gravitas", and the "cut-off" point (yea, especially that), when it comes to "bloatware". Is it a matter of degrees? Is it, rather, the inclusion of a "type" of package or application?

Reference:

#72 wrote:

... However, BunsenLabs developers have, by bundling their distro with LibreOffce - one of the most bloated Linux application - partially ruined such a, indeed, promising super light and speedy distro....Despite this terrible blunder......and BunsenLabs were to, either, drop bloatware or, at least, release an edition without it.

With the above, as I recall, it ONLY installed the Writer package and not the rest of LibreOffice, which is optional. So, what gives? Are the Linux purists insulted that someone would have the unmitigated audacity to include a text editor that is not emacs or vim ? Or what?! Can any of the annoited explain this? I am only a country doctor, Jim.

tknomanzr · 2016-01-15 23:35:38

The LibreOffice Suite is available for install via a pipe menu for those who are interested in it. As HoaS pointed out, it is not actually bundled with the iso. As for Writer, no idea really, as I don't use it and actually had forgotten it was installed. I use geany for roughly 90% of my text editing. But it doesn't matter really. If I had need of an office type suite I would install it and use it. People who complain about the bloat for LO though ought to have a good hard look at the amount of legacy code in Microsoft Office. I used to develop a lot of Office applications and the legacy code, none of which is marked deprecated anywhere, was a huge headache to navigate around.

johnraff · 2016-01-16 02:17:38

LO Writer is installed by default, without recommends, and it doesn't add all that much bloat, certainly compared with installing the full LO suite. Of course it's not a text editor for code ala geany, but for writing documents, a quite different job with formatting, fonts, margins, image inserts... Another reason for having LO Writer is that it can open Microsoft .doc files, which non-Linux users are going to be sending you at times.

pvsage · 2016-01-16 07:47:33

^ Besides, what alternatives are there to LO Writer? (Don't say "Abiword"; that's been broken for a while now, and there doesn't seem to be any rush to fix it.)

Martin · 2016-01-16 09:58:43

Lyx is a favourite of mine for 'word processing'.

A slightly odd-ball alternative maybe: Org-mode for emacs. Org-mode is amazing. It can be your get-things-done tool, your document editor with export to html, or LaTeX or pdf or..., it can be you programming environment, it supports Literate programming and the way it does this means you can have indata, live code (several languages are supported), results and documenting text in the document. Check it out and have fun.

I didn't notice LO Writer was installed by default. That may explain some odd antics of my LO install. Since having a bad experience with distro-supplied OO many years ago I have made it a habit to install OO/LO gotten directly from the 'horse's mouth'. I am purging my computer from LO and reinstalling as I write.

Done, problem solved!

/Martin

pvsage · 2016-01-16 10:18:15

^ Continuing the LO sidebar, I've found Lyx to be even more daunting than Ventura Publisher was back in the days of the GEM interface. If Lyx (or any LaTEX layout program) had a remotely intuitive UI, then it would definitely get my vote over LO Writer. Sadly, most LaTEX developers seem to assume -- incorectly -- that anyone who wants to make a newsletter or a brochure is fluent in vi keybindings.

Martin · 2016-01-16 10:59:40

LaTeX is not the tool for newsletters or brochures. It was never ment to be. To me it sounds like you are looking for a layout tool like Scribus.

I have never felt like I had to memorize key-bindings to use LyX. It uses the standard click-on-menu-item paradigm to do most things. Some specific typographical tricks calls for a bit of undiluted LaTeX code inserted into the document but you can use LyX without knowing anything about LaTeX.

Org-mode on the other hand is all about (odd) key-bindings...

/Martin

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-16 11:07:51

+1 for Scribus but DTP != WYSIWYG word processing != LaTeX

Different tools for different tasks.

Obviously, if document quality is paramount then LaTeX is the only way to go but IMO most users will something that feels like Word.

EDIT: Also, I checked my (old) live ISO and LibreOffice was an "install" menu option so I presumed it wasn't installed as standard.

Was I mistaken there?

pvsage · 2016-01-16 11:22:57

^ No, you were not. LO Writer is part of the standard install; the full LO suite (including calc and impress) is a post-install option.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-16 11:23:16

Ah! Thank you

Sector11 · 2016-01-16 12:25:43

There's: calligra

But if LO is bloat ... how does one classify that? I did a

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends --simulate calligra

OH MY!!

ututo · 2016-01-16 19:02:33

I'm one of those who appreciate the fact of having LO Writer installed by default. If it wasn't that way I would install it anyways. Same thing for Calc. But, perhaps for those who don't want it installed by default, each item of the LOffice suit could be a post-install option.

damo · 2016-01-16 19:12:01

ututo wrote:

... perhaps for those who don't want it installed by default, each item of the LOffice suit could be a post-install option.

They are See Menu -> Office -> LibreOffice -> Install

O:) O:)

ututo · 2016-01-16 20:13:39

damo wrote:

They are See Menu -> Office -> LibreOffice -> Install

yeah yeah, I know. You can install it via openbox-menu.But writer comes installed by default. I think it is a good idea to give the option to install all of the components in that way (including writer) for those who don't want libre-office (caligra, abiword, etc...) OOTB.

kimlik66 · 2016-01-16 20:22:40

Really pity that LibreOffice is a hopeless mammoth of piece of bloatware.
Try FreeOffice and see the difference!
It's like day and night

pvsage · 2016-01-16 21:39:10

^ FreeOffice is not in the Debian repos, so it really doesn't sit well with our overall goal of becoming a Debian Pure Blend.

Martin · 2016-01-17 00:03:54

I cannot install FreeOffice on BL. It worked fine on #! but now it misses a library I can't find: ia32-libs. "Unsatisfiable".

/Martin

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-17 00:38:43

Martin wrote:

can't find: ia32-libs. "Unsatisfiable"

Try this:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update

& compile it again.

https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO

#1 2016-01-15 21:20:24

DW comments & LibreOffice cons

#2 2016-01-15 21:31:14

Re: DW comments & LibreOffice cons

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Re: DW comments & LibreOffice cons

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