How to run Softmaker Free Office in 64bit puppies?

[puppy_apprentice]

Hello on the new forum

To use Softmaker Free Office on 64bit puppies I suppose I have to load 32bit layer (.sfs) first? Or we have special package for those puppies?

[mikeslr]

Always tell us which Puppy.

I think softmaker18-973_64hup.sfs will work under any 64-bit. Available here, https://sourceforge.net/projects/puppys ... /packages/. It was created for use with Puli which IIRC is now based on Bionicpup64. I'm not sure what the designation 'hup' stands for. gjuhasz, who publishes Puli and made the softmaker.sfs available, is Hungarian and some of his builds are for those using the Hungarian language. Puli can be configured to use English. I downloaded the SFS, and SFS-loaded it. The GUI was in English. But I did not complete filling it out.
AFAIK, you have to register to use any softmaker application --including Mike Walsh's Textmaker.sfs-- and you can't use the same email address to register twice. I already have FreeOffice albeit the 2018 version. I obtained it here: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/download/applications. I unpacked it on /mnt/home where it is available to several puppies. To start any application, I file-browse to its executable and left-click it. If I used them regularly I'd create a pet or would bookmark the folder in which the executables are located. Unpacked, FreeOffice's folder is portable: copy it to a USB-Key or the hard-drive of a different computer.

Links to other, older versions can be found in the 'old' Forum's Document's Section, http://oldforum.puppylinux.com/puppy/in ... ec1d8b318b

Softmaker/FreeOffice does not misuse registration. I've never received an email from them other than an occasional one for a free offering of fonts or a discount price to upgrade to the 'Full' softmaker office.
A quality product by a reputable company. But most of my office datafiles are in opendocument-formats.

[WoodLark]

There is a 64 bit version for linux on the Softmaker download page. Just download the .tgz package, unpack it to any location you like, then run their install script.

[rockedge]

I use Softmaker FreeOffice but now mikewalsh published a SFS of the Textmaker module standalone. So I load this and I have only the word processor component of FreeOffice

Textmaker2019-amd64.sfs

[puppy_apprentice]

There is a 64 bit version for linux on the Softmaker download page. Just download the .tgz package, unpack it to any location you like, then run their install script.

Ok. I see now. When i had written my post i was seing only 32bit versions. Maybe i've used to old FF browser.

[amethyst]

I use Softmaker FreeOffice but now mikewalsh published a SFS of the Textmaker module standalone. So I load this and I have only the word processor component of FreeOffice

Textmaker2019-amd64.sfs

Do you have a new link for this older version somewhere? The newer version seems to have jumped quite a bit in size. Thanks.

[mikewalsh]

@amethyst :-

I've got copies of both the 32- and 64-bit SFS packages for the TextMaker 'standalone', Nic. You can find them at my Google Drive, here:-

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link

If you don't like using the Drive, I can always upload them to my MediaFire a/c. Just let me know.

Mike.

[amethyst]

@amethyst :-

I've got copies of both the 32- and 64-bit SFS packages for the TextMaker 'standalone', Nic. You can find them at my Google Drive, here:-

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link

If you don't like using the Drive, I can always upload them to my MediaFire a/c. Just let me know.

Mike.

I see I have the 2018 32-bit version which is only 24MB uncompressed. Do you have that too in 64-bit?

[mikewalsh]

I see I have the 2018 32-bit version which is only 24MB uncompressed. Do you have that too in 64-bit?

@amethyst :-

Mm....nope. 'fraid not, Nic. The 2019 release was what they called the 'Anniversary' Edition upgrade to the 2018 release. I assumed everybody would want the newer build, so I updated accordingly & scrapped the older builds. There's a limit to the amount of storage space I have....

One suggestion; Ally might have the older build over at archive.org. A lot depends, of course, on the frequency of his "snapshots", and just when they were taken. I know for a fact he's got a ton of my stuff over there, so.....it's a possibility.

EDIT:- No dice. Can't find it over there, either. Sorry 'bout that!

Mike.

[rockedge]

@amethyst I fixed the links in the previous posts. Here it is again -> Textmaker2019-amd64.sfs 33 mb

There are more packages of various types here -> https://rockedge.org/kernels

[amethyst]

@amethyst I fixed the links in the previous posts. Here it is again -> Textmaker2019-amd64.sfs 33 mb

There are more packages of various types here -> https://rockedge.org/kernels

Yes that's the 2019 version, same as mikewalsh's version. It's too big, looking for an older version now. This is the thing with 64-bit switch, all these extra bigger stuff that needs to be installed again (WINE, etc). My 32-bit Bionic can do everything except playing DRM streaming (which I use rarely). I think I'll just use Abiword when I'm using 64-bit Puppy.

[rockedge]

@amethyst I have a 2018 portable version from mikewalsh and I can upload it somewhere in a moment but it's 55 mb.

[amethyst]

@amethyst I have a 2018 portable version from mikewalsh and I can upload it somewhere in a moment but it's 55 mb.

No, thanks rockedge. I wonder why the 2018 32-bit textmaker is only 24MB uncompressed. Maybe I've edited some stuff out at one stage (normally locales, etc.), I tend to do these "prunings" sometimes.

[rockedge]

@amethyst taking out the collection of languages will decrease the packages size overall for sure.

I would take the 2019 and do the same. My 2019 that I have is 33 mb. There might be room to strip it further.

All I know is the TextMaker is a really good word processor, and compared to Abiword, a world above. For me the size here doesn't matter as much as the program itself.

[MochiMoppel]

My 2019 that I have is 33 mb. There might be room to strip it further.

@rockedge I downloaded the newest Softmaker Free Office 64bit from their website. It appears that - as was the case with the 32bit version - only 3 files are essential to run textmaker:
textmaker (24M , the main binary)
textmaker.iwr (4554K)
textmaker_us.dwr (147K, may be different for other locales)
In total 28M. Tested in your F96-CE

[ozsouth]

As mochi said, few components (of all 3 apps) are needed. As a test, I made a 40mb .pet with only essentials for all 3 components, so it can be done. I won't release it as that violates the licence, but folk can do it for themselves & registration is free (maybe get a free protonmail address for the purpose). As 2024 version will soon be out, I'd register a copy of 2021 asap (see manage licence in the help menu). It's .deb is 124mb. Full install is much smaller than Libreoffice.
Note: To look at the contents of any .deb, place it in an empty folder, cd into that folder & run: dpkg-deb -x (debname.deb) x
When complete, the subfolder x will contain the files in their folders.

[mikewalsh]

@MochiMoppel :-

Just out of curiosity, Mochi - I don't think I asked you this last time, when I was playing around creating the portables & stripping them back as far as possible - if you delete the 'fonts' directory, does it pick up on the installed system fonts? That alone reduces it by another 14 MB.

EDIT:- Answered my own question. Yup, of course it does. Nice one. And thanks for reminding me about the stripping technique; if you combine this, along with the 'portabilising' technique (the 'portable. txt' blank file alongside those 3 items in the SoftMaker directory), it also works just as well for the Planmaker & Presentations 'standalones', too.

In fact, you can use the same technique to create a 'stripped-back', yet fully-functional entire suite in portable format...

Cheers, mate!

Mike.

[greengeek]

Is there a portable version of 64bit Textmaker (only) that could be used in situations where the user has no savefile?

Let me explain my circumstances:

Normally I avoid portables because I don't have savefiles and just load pets into a "fresh" pup. These pets disappear at shutdown, leaving no trace of malware or other indications of their presence. (Which makes future sessions clean and safe...)

However - I found that Softmaker products did not like this.

They wanted to find traces of previous sessions - so as to confirm licensing. (I understand their angle but it causes me problems despite the fact I have spent huge sums of money on Softmaker products)

So maybe I need to run Softmaker portables so that the license info is carried inside the portable?

But would it be carried inside the portable?? Or is the license info somewhere outside the portable and necessitates inclusion inside a savefile?

(Really I just want to use Textmaker 64 as a docx reader in Ozsouths cutdown Fossa 9.5 offerings)

EDIT :I think this post (which I had forgotten) offers further info...
viewtopic.php?p=39161#p39161

[mikewalsh]

@greengeek :-

I thought you'd sorted all this out a couple of years ago, Ian? Or is it just that you need a 64-bit version; I believe you've moved to 64-bit Puppies now, haven't you?

If you want a 64-bit build of the 'minimalist' portable I built after MochiMoppel's revelations, you can find it here:-

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/vzw1ahqos2zpp/64-bit

This is still the "2021" release; they've released some service packs since then, but haven't actually produced a more up-to-date suite yet. (This has the most recent May 2023 service pack update, but it's still designated FreeOffice 2021). Not to worry; it still works fine. The lang-pack binary in use is the UK one, but I think that'll be okay for you.

Mike.

[greengeek]

I thought you'd sorted all this out a couple of years ago, Ian? Or is it just that you need a 64-bit version;

As far as knowing the minimal files to install - yes - I understood that part. But I ran into a situation that some documents that I had made suddenly became unreadable by the Free office version. They could only be read by the paid version.

But I have not heard others expressing similar concerns so I must have been doing it wrong. I know yourself & MochiMoppel discovered some techniques that changed the behaviors of FO so I am wanting to trial it again.

And yes, this time it is a 64bit pup I am using most of the time so it makes sense to use your portable.
Thanks!!