Libreoffice or OPenoffice?

PJinNH · 05-12-2011, 09:23 AM

Looks like I'll be getting a new laptop, and I don't have the $ to spend on MS Word at this time. In the past when I've converted fanfic to RTF files using OpenOffice, the conversion to RTF didn't pick up all the text in italics, etc., which was very disappointing. (MS Word does a nice clean conversion to RTF.) Does anyone know if Open Office no longer has that problem or how Libreoffice handles RTFs?

garrybuck · 05-12-2011, 12:18 PM

I use both programs. If you could post a link to a 'problem file', I'll convert them both and let you know what happens.

RainingLemur · 05-12-2011, 12:23 PM

I haven't had too many issues with Open Office. I find that doing spreadsheets in scalc can be an exercise in futility sometimes, though.

kacir · 05-12-2011, 12:46 PM

THE best tool to create rtf file on Windows computer is Windows Write. That little writing app in the Accessories menu in Start menu, next to Notepad.

Windows Write had much, MUCH cleaner and leaner rtf.
Just have a look at the example generated by various programs including OpenOffice.org, Libre office (that is at the moment little more than a forked copy of OpenOffice.org), abiword, and various other programs. You can open rtf file like a plain text file and see the code for yourself. You can use any of numerous plain text editors, such as Notepad++, Textpad, Ultraedit, or, my favourite - Vim. In the past I have been generating RTF files by Vim scripts. I was able to convert simple html to RTF using just a Vim script.

On Linux I use Ted text editor when I need to create nice and clean rtf file.

With Windows Write or Ted you have several options.
- open existing badly formatted RTF in Write or Ted, correct formating and save
- copy and paste text into Write or Ted from some office program and save clean RTF.

Do have a look at rtf generated by Windows Write and generated by various other programs. You will see that there are huge differences. I believe that when you have nice clean rtf your e-ink reader has less work to do when formatting text, so the file opens faster and you conserve some battery power. The last point is much less important now than it was when I had Sony PRS-500 and I had to convert books to rtf to read them. Nowadays I would use epub or, if I wanted to be super efficient I would use FB2 format.

ardeegee · 05-12-2011, 01:21 PM

I like using a word processor called Atlantis because it has a very good "export to epub" filter.

Anthem · 05-12-2011, 01:47 PM

Wordpad handles RTF files awfully well for most of the RTF specifications.

Otherwise, I have found Textmaker, a component of Softmaker Office (by Softmaker) to be superior to almost anything else I have tried. And it is incredibly affordable and lean.

Timoleon · 05-12-2011, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthem

Wordpad handles RTF files awfully well for most of the RTF specifications.

Otherwise, I have found Textmaker, a component of Softmaker Office (by Softmaker) to be superior to almost anything else I have tried. And it is incredibly affordable and lean.

Textmaker is super.

ClairePMR · 05-12-2011, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PJinNH

In the past when I've converted fanfic to RTF files using OpenOffice, the conversion to RTF didn't pick up all the text in italics, etc., which was very disappointing.

I currently use both of these open-source programs and have had the same problem, regardless of the file type that I convert to. If I have to upload a file to almost any of the fanfic sites, I've had to save it in MSWord (I have the 2007 version), then do the conversion to either RTF or HTML to get the file to be accepted properly. Haven't been able to get around this problem either.

I prefer both of the open-source programs to MSWord for functionality and ease of use, but I've had to go back to Word consistently to make the final conversions for upload.

James_Wilde · 05-13-2011, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PJinNH

Looks like I'll be getting a new laptop, and I don't have the $ to spend on MS Word at this time. In the past when I've converted fanfic to RTF files using OpenOffice, the conversion to RTF didn't pick up all the text in italics, etc., which was very disappointing. (MS Word does a nice clean conversion to RTF.) Does anyone know if Open Office no longer has that problem or how Libreoffice handles RTFs?

My experience doesn't match yours in that I rarely have the need to convert to rtf. Occasionally I convert from rtf to odt. However, I'd give LibO a test if I were you. A couple of months or so ago it was virtually identical to its parent, OOo, but there have been a few new versions, and the two branches are now moving apart, and the general feeling is that LibO is moving forward faster than OOo.

Personally I waited for the first non-beta version of LibO before changing, since I use OOo/LibO as my production environment.

The main reason for my change was the fact that LibO was more in the spirit of the original idea, an open source product. I am a little suspicious of Oracle's intentions with respect to OOo, and on present form, it's not even clear whether they have any. If they dump OOo, it could easily be re-merged with the new, improved LibO.

kacir · 05-13-2011, 09:48 AM

by the way ...
Why do you need rtf file?
If you need it as a base of further conversion, OpenOffice.org, or Libre Office native format *.odt is accepted by Calibre. Calibre can convert from odt to other formats. Odt format is internally, very similar to epub ;-)

V.W. Singer · 05-13-2011, 10:15 AM

You could try Jarte which is freeware and based on the Wordpad engine.

mrsquash · 05-13-2011, 10:41 AM

You may be getting MS Word bundled with your new laptop. I bought a Dell desktop last November and found that it came with Microsoft Office 2010 Starter, MS's replacement for the old Microsoft Works program. It contains almost fully-functional versions of Word and Excel 2010 (some high-end mainly business functionality is missing). It shows small ads in the lower right corner (unless you upgrade it). The ads don't change very often and I rarely notice them.

I had a copy of Office Home and Student 2007 that I had planned to install on the new computer but found I didn't need to.

As a long-time Word user I haven't had any problems with the missing functions. Anyway, google it and see if it looks OK to you. If so, it might be worth making sure that your new laptop includes it, assuming you haven't bought it yet.

Solitaire1 · 05-15-2011, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by V.W. Singer

You could try Jarte which is freeware and based on the Wordpad engine.

Another vote for Jarte. I used the free version for several months and liked it so much that I purchased the paid version (which adds a few handy features not available with the free version).

Tomsk · 05-15-2011, 01:42 PM

OpenOffice is effectively dead - http://arstechnica.com/open-source/n...he-project.ars

PJinNH · 05-20-2011, 06:13 AM

Thanks for all the info. Didn't know about odt...I'll give that a try if Word doesn't come with the laptop. Still working with the old one right now, as long as I run it in sleep mode and don't have to reboot it, it's running. (I'm have a problem starting up the hard drive in the laptop...sometimes it takes several tries to get it to boot up.)

05-12-2011, 09:23 AM	#1
PJinNH FanFic Fanatic Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Lakes Region of New Hamshire Device: Sony Reader 505	Libreoffice or OPenoffice? Looks like I'll be getting a new laptop, and I don't have the $ to spend on MS Word at this time. In the past when I've converted fanfic to RTF files using OpenOffice, the conversion to RTF didn't pick up all the text in italics, etc., which was very disappointing. (MS Word does a nice clean conversion to RTF.) Does anyone know if Open Office no longer has that problem or how Libreoffice handles RTFs?

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05-12-2011, 12:18 PM	#2
garrybuck Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 69964 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle	I use both programs. If you could post a link to a 'problem file', I'll convert them both and let you know what happens.

05-12-2011, 12:23 PM	#3
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	I haven't had too many issues with Open Office. I find that doing spreadsheets in scalc can be an exercise in futility sometimes, though.

05-12-2011, 12:46 PM	#4
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,462 Karma: 10484861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	THE best tool to create rtf file on Windows computer is Windows Write. That little writing app in the Accessories menu in Start menu, next to Notepad. Windows Write had much, MUCH cleaner and leaner rtf. Just have a look at the example generated by various programs including OpenOffice.org, Libre office (that is at the moment little more than a forked copy of OpenOffice.org), abiword, and various other programs. You can open rtf file like a plain text file and see the code for yourself. You can use any of numerous plain text editors, such as Notepad++, Textpad, Ultraedit, or, my favourite - Vim. In the past I have been generating RTF files by Vim scripts. I was able to convert simple html to RTF using just a Vim script. On Linux I use Ted text editor when I need to create nice and clean rtf file. With Windows Write or Ted you have several options. - open existing badly formatted RTF in Write or Ted, correct formating and save - copy and paste text into Write or Ted from some office program and save clean RTF. Do have a look at rtf generated by Windows Write and generated by various other programs. You will see that there are huge differences. I believe that when you have nice clean rtf your e-ink reader has less work to do when formatting text, so the file opens faster and you conserve some battery power. The last point is much less important now than it was when I had Sony PRS-500 and I had to convert books to rtf to read them. Nowadays I would use epub or, if I wanted to be super efficient I would use FB2 format.

05-12-2011, 01:21 PM	#5
ardeegee Maratus speciosus butt Posts: 3,292 Karma: 1162698 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-350	I like using a word processor called Atlantis because it has a very good "export to epub" filter.

05-12-2011, 01:47 PM	#6
Anthem Guru Posts: 704 Karma: 1622328 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: USA Device: Kindle Oasis, OnePlus Nord	Wordpad handles RTF files awfully well for most of the RTF specifications. Otherwise, I have found Textmaker, a component of Softmaker Office (by Softmaker) to be superior to almost anything else I have tried. And it is incredibly affordable and lean.

05-13-2011, 09:48 AM	#10
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,462 Karma: 10484861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	by the way ... Why do you need rtf file? If you need it as a base of further conversion, OpenOffice.org, or Libre Office native format *.odt is accepted by Calibre. Calibre can convert from odt to other formats. Odt format is internally, very similar to epub ;-)

05-13-2011, 10:15 AM	#11
V.W. Singer Enthusiast Posts: 32 Karma: 186576 Join Date: May 2011 Device: ppc	You could try Jarte which is freeware and based on the Wordpad engine.

05-13-2011, 10:41 AM	#12
mrsquash Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 648 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: USA Device: K4-NT, Sony T1	You may be getting MS Word bundled with your new laptop. I bought a Dell desktop last November and found that it came with Microsoft Office 2010 Starter, MS's replacement for the old Microsoft Works program. It contains almost fully-functional versions of Word and Excel 2010 (some high-end mainly business functionality is missing). It shows small ads in the lower right corner (unless you upgrade it). The ads don't change very often and I rarely notice them. I had a copy of Office Home and Student 2007 that I had planned to install on the new computer but found I didn't need to. As a long-time Word user I haven't had any problems with the missing functions. Anyway, google it and see if it looks OK to you. If so, it might be worth making sure that your new laptop includes it, assuming you haven't bought it yet.

05-15-2011, 01:42 PM	#14
Tomsk Womble Posts: 120 Karma: 4505298 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Manchester, UK Device: KFHDX8.9, Fujitsu S1300, Voyage, K7	OpenOffice is effectively dead - http://arstechnica.com/open-source/n...he-project.ars

05-20-2011, 06:13 AM	#15
PJinNH FanFic Fanatic Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Lakes Region of New Hamshire Device: Sony Reader 505	Thanks for all the info. Didn't know about odt...I'll give that a try if Word doesn't come with the laptop. Still working with the old one right now, as long as I run it in sleep mode and don't have to reboot it, it's running. (I'm have a problem starting up the hard drive in the laptop...sometimes it takes several tries to get it to boot up.)

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