Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Having updated from Tahr32 to BP64 a few months ago, another teething problem.... went to print a proof of a new business card downloaded from Staples as a pdf file. the puppy qpdf opened and displayed it, but when I tried to print it, the image was jammed into the lower left hand corner of the page, and was partially cut off by the borders.

No problem, I thought, just go back and check "rotate and center image". Hmmm, where is it? Nope it no longer is an option in the print dialog. What about scaling? Nope, can't do that. What about all the printer options I used to have in Tahr32 using the same CUPS driver and printer. Nope, no "advanced options" tab.

Well what about if I change the margins in the print dialog from the default of .14" all around to 3" all around? The card is 2" x 3-1/2" so would fit into the resulting 5-1/2" x 5" centered space on a US letter sized page.

Okay, set all margins to 3", and press the print button. Hmmmm, it changed nothing and the image was still jammed down into the lower left corner of the page and cut off.

Okay, I give up. Reboot Tahr32. Take the very same pdf, go to print dialog. All the old options are there, select rotate and center. Bam, done.

Okay, I'd like to not have to reboot to print with some reasonable formatting options, as before (also, yes guys I acknowledge chrooting is cool, etc) but no, I want to just print straight out of BP64 with reasonable page positioning scaling and advanced printer options, as I used to in Tahr32. Have I done something wrong, or is this a new across the board reduction in print dialog capabilities? Is it a CUPS version problem? Or qpdf?

Any ideas?

BP64 is stock, updated via quickpet, CUPS is stock. Acer laptop is listed in sig., 8 gigs of ram aboard.

Problem solved. qpdf is the problem.

Didn't realize that Tahr 32 was using Evince as the default pdf viewer, and and BP64's qpdf is just anemic when it comes to printing, by comparison.
To solve, I first tried adding Evince via the Puppy BP64 package manager, but the UBuntu-Bionic version doesn't even support printing, and has the new slick "hidden everything" controls along the top window bar. No joy there. Delete!

So I thought, can I just run Tahr's 32 bit evince .pet? Why sure, just download the pet, and install into BP64. Works just like it used to!

Well since BP64's LibreOffice 7.xx has also been a pain in the patootie for me to work, with another "slick" modern interface with disappearing scrollbars, and re-graphic'd meaningless button icons, I thought why not kill that damn sfs, and load a 5.xx series sfs, as long as yer in a reactionary mood? By gum when I was a young-un we used to rite with a dang pencil an paper....... Well not quite that primitive, ver 5.xx is but wonderfully recognizable buttons, big clunky non disapearing scroll bars, and battleship gray aesthetics.....WooHooo, I can work easy again!

And so ends another tale of a puppy linux curmudgeon's search for answers in an ever changing world....

@vtpup :-

You may be interested, you may not.....but I've recently uploaded a 4-series portable LibreOffice that I made more for my own use than anything else. It's v4.2.0.4. (I used this for a few years on some of my old 32-bitzers, and got quite attached to it. So I knew which version I wanted.)

I loathe the slick modern "flat-look" interface they've adopted, along with all the new shit they've added that gets in the way, and all the stuff you expect to see that they've carefully hidden..!

Again AppImage-based, I just downloaded an older 64-bit AppImage and swapped it over with the 7-series one.....and, like you, I was instantly happy again. Everything was where I expected to find it, and I could actually get on and do stuff once more.....

Don'tcha just LURV "progress", huh?

Mike.

Sure, Mike, I'll try it -- I think my Tahr32 was actually using a 4.xx series LibreOfc. I just saw the 5.x sfs floating around in mnt/home, and being lazy, just loaded that one. Looked enough like 4.x to pass for it. But sure, let's go more retro, and probably the same version I've been using for the last 7 years without problems. Got a link to yer appimage?

Oh also forgot to mention above..... the 5.xx LibreO loaded about 4 times faster than the 7.xx when you click the icon. So much for "improvements, and 64 bit. I'm only grudgingly moved up in OS to the "wonders" of 64 bit., as I've mentioned before.

And what's with hiding tools in programs? Maybe the cellphone influence? Limited screen real estate forces modal controls, rather than up-front tools. Exactly the opposite to what GUIs were originally invented for. Smalltalk invented because earlier WP modal controls were found to be non-intuitive and production robbing.

But really are cellphones going to determine what heavy production programs look like in the future -- do we really want to design WP, video, photo editing, CAD, etc to fit a fashion influenced by tiny screens, devoid of tools, and then jump through various memorized modes in each program to accomplish anything?

Uh,oh, curmudgeon showing again.....

@vtpup :-

Yup. Here ya go:-

https://mega.nz/folder/fOhWRCSJ#I8aErvFAKa2DD-BG7RCB4w

I think you probably know the sequence of events at this point. I've posted them enough times by now!

But, in case not:-

• Download.

• Unzip.

• Move the portable directory anywhere you like, preferably outside the save; /mnt/home (or /initrd/mnt/dev_save in many newer Pups) is fine. Same location, just referenced differently.

• Click to enter.

• Run from 'LAUNCH' to keep totally portable. Or, you can add a Menu entry if you want via the included scripts....

Up to you, of course.

Mike.

Thanks Mike,
unloaded the 5.xx sfs, restarted X, followed instructions to extract to /mnt/home, but no go on LAUNCH:

root# /mnt/home/LibreOffice4-portable64/LAUNCH
javaldx: Could not find a Java Runtime Environment!
Warning: failed to read path from javaldx

@vtpup :-

Oh, that'll be my fault. Again.....

I can't get used to this business of LibreOffice wanting Java at all. I have JRE installed throughout the kennels because I run a number of Java apps, so I never think about it.

Consequently, it's never even occurred to me to consider including JRE with these LibreOffice portables. It wouldn't be hard to do; JRE, again, is self-contained, so it's a trivial matter to set it up to function.....but it all adds bulk, and some people really dislike the idea of having Java anywhere near their system (they confuse it with Javascript in the browser, which is a totally different kettle of fish).

I suppose I could include it in the portable, with its own, independent 'linker' script......so it can be linked in to the system if needed (just 'for the duration', like). I'd prefer to build it in as a part of the launch process, but some get really narky about JRE.

Hmm...

Mike.

Thanks to recobayu and Puppus Dogfellow, you'll find pets and SFSes of the 5 and 6 series LibreOffice on this thread, https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 73#1002673.

My experience is that although it takes more storage space, the 6 series is more responsive and uses less RAM than the 5. On the other hand, the 6 uses the newer GUI.

Further along on that thread you'll find a pet to unscramble 6's Menu, https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 3#p1003373. 6 also has some annoying default configurations such as turning on italics when the / key is pressed. [7 also does that]. So the first thing I do is open Menu>Tools>Autocorrect>Autocorrect options>Options and UNCHECK some:

This is also a good time to set Autoupdate to Never: Menu>Tools>Options>Online Update

I don't recall if those reconfigurations were necessary under 5.

Elsewhere on that thread you'll find earlier pets and SFSes, such as from the 4 series here, https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 01#p700801. That post has some other goodies such as extra fonts and java packages. I just rediscovered that. Perhaps a java SFS is all you currently need.

I don't recall if Mike Walsh's Textmaker was suggested as an alternative: viewtopic.php?p=39042#p39042

Thanks Mike and Mike. It wasn't a real problem -- just playing around with mike's appimage suggestion, since the 5.x sfs had already looked good.

I don't have an opinion one way or another re. java. I've needed it in the past for some engineering programs, but haven't lately, and I guess since moving up from Tahr32 I haven't installed it in BP64 yet. I have a few sfs versions floating around on /mnt/home, just not loaded. But they're probably 32 bit.

The 5.4.1 sfs I loaded a few posts back must have included whatever portion of JRE that was needed. Yet the sfs is only 203mb. So actually it seems pretty compact and pretty portable itself. I think I'll just use that one unless I find any glaring problems with it. Seemed very responsive in opening compared to 7.x. and also very familiar in operation and appearance.

Thank you both!

@vtpup :-

No worries. If it works for you, and does what you want - AND you can "live with it" - I'd use it if that was me.

Mike.