[NBLUG/talk] Linux for refurbished computers (was: Re: Distributing OpenOffice...)

[Lincoln Peters]

>From: E Frank Ball <frankb at efball.com>
>Reply-To: talk at nblug.org
>To: talk at nblug.org
>Subject: Re: [NBLUG/talk] Linux for refurbished computers (was: Re: 
>Distributing OpenOffice...)
>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 22:27:31 -0700
>
>Gnumeric is fast.  It can also save excel files to very *readable* html
>code.  I haven't tried Abiword since it was beta code, but it's probably
>worth another look.  I haven't seen any fast alternative for powerpoint
>files.

If I can convince the Computer Recycling Center to install Linux on one of 
their recycled computers, I'll try to set up all of these applications 
(Mozilla, Konqueror, Galeon, OpenOffice, Abiword, Gnumeric) and see which 
perform best.  Of course, I probably won't be able to fit all of them on the 
hard disk at the same time (these *are* recycled computers, after all), but 
it shouldn't be too difficult to erase one and install another as necessary.

An update regarding the download issues I had earlier:
The download links for AbiWord that SourceForge provides to their mirrors in 
Sydney, Australia; Phoenix, AZ; Brookfield, WI; Prague, Czech Republic; and 
Zurich, Switzerland are broken.  The links to mirrors in Dublin, Ireland; 
and Brussels, Belgium seem to be OK.

I still can't get the Gnumeric website to load on my computer.  Is anyone 
else having problems with the Gnumeric website?

>
>Galeon rules.  Try it again.  It deals with tabs far better than
>mozilla.  I have to use mozilla at work (I'm running HP-UX), but I'm
>using Galeon at home.

I'll take a look at it.  Does it require Mozilla to be installed in order to 
work?  That might not sit well on a computer with a small hard disk.

>
>Last time I tried Konqueror it was pathetic, it seemed to be missing
>capability necessary for displaying many web pages.

It works fine for me.  How long ago did you use it?  I'm using version 3.1.3

>
>fvwm does have a windows clone theme:
>http://fvwm-themes.sourceforge.net/screenshots/full/redmond98.png
>This is probably much more advanced than the fvwm95 configuration that
>was floating around years ago.

This looks good.  Using this, a casual observer might not even realize that 
the computer was not running Windows!

>
>fvwm takes a couple hundred kB, compared to 10s of MB for gnome.  For
>old hardware it's the way to go.  You can also check out xfce.org

I don't think I want to try to sell xfce to anyone until the final release 
comes out.  Fvwm looks promising, though.

>
>For really old slow hardware there is a browser called dillo.  200kB.
>Damned fast, but no frames, it doesn't do centering right, captions for
>tables are always below the table, etc.  It's beta code, but if you want
>a graphical browser on a 100Mhz box with not much RAM it's the way to go.
>I saw it running on a PDA at the Linux Expo.

I looked at Dillo a few weeks ago, as part of an unrelated project.  I don't 
think I want to go there unless I have to, but I'll keep it in mind.

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