problems with office suite programs
first, let me say that i'm green to linux. i have managed to create a dual boot Mandrake 9.0/win xp pro machine. i have the os's separated on two hard drives (i wanted to retain ntfs on win and partitioning one disk correctly was a pain). so, the install went smoothly (except that my soundblaster live 5.1 card wasn't recognized). however, after exploring all the software, which is overwhelming, i found that when opening any openoffice.org or staroffice programs that the programs load box (the little graphic rectangle) comes up but nothing else happens. and, when the box comes up it is on top of all the other GUI's and cannot be removed. i have to log out and log in to fix this problem. any ideas?
my comp config: p4 2.53GHz (533Mhz) 2 HD's - win xp pro 40gig, mandrake 9.0 60gig (both 7200rpm) 256mb ddr ram nVidia GeForce 4 vid card intel mobo so, i shouldn't have problems with loading programs slow. i think it is definitely something in linux. thanks in advance for your help. also, please be easy on the linuxspeak. i'll give you all the info you need if you can tell me how get it. thanks again Path |
check your memory using top
also you might find some error in /var/log/messages for the program that won't start the best way to figure it out is to run it from an xterm. the program will show errors in the xterm |
thanks david, but i don't really know how to launch top or even where it is. i also don't know how to start star office or openoffice from a command line. also, when i installed mandrake i installed everything that came with it(a lot of servers and stuff). probably not a good idea, huh? do you think i should reinstall with a greatly reduced barrage of softs? if so, what should i avoid installing? i plan on learning linux to do windows office-like tasks, graphic design (the Gimp looks pretty good i might add), web design, internet, email, etc. any comments/suggestions are appreciated. although, i would like to attempt to fix the current problem with openoffice and star office just to learn more. is there a linux equivalent to the windows task manager that shows the applications that are running in the background? i read in my material that if you install the server packages that the some server apps will automatically load on startup. sorry for all the questions, but i've spent a lot of time looking at manuals with no success. there's just so much to learn.
Path |
after trying a couple of things, i found the top command and used it (106 things running). feel like a moron for not typing top in the terminal. i can post the results if necessary. also, the commands for the office programs are soffice and ooffice. both have the same result that the Mandrake Menu gives. however, after waiting about 8 minutes, staroffice loads but is in a Spanish form. everythings in spanish, menu bar and all. weird.
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That is wierd
you should be able to change the language, not sure where check your /etc/hosts file maybe it has something to do with things opening slow |
/etc/hosts gives:
192.168.1.1 localhost.localdomain localhost 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost |
do you have another hostname for the machine, or is it localhost
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not really sure what a hostname is. :(
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my wife has a 500 mhz with 512 ram (suse 8.0) - she switched to openbox from kde because of the speed issue.
you might want to check out other desktop environments/window managers. gnome kde windowmaker blackbox fluxbox openbox afterstep |
the problem is the same in all desktops that i have, which are most of the ones you listed. the box is a 2.53 GHz p4 with 256mb or ram. office progs shouldn't take 10 minutes to load, should they?
path |
I know its probably totally useless to you but...
I am running RH7.3 on a 1.7Ghz 512DDR SDram laptop (don't know harddrive RPM, it is ATA100 but) and OpenOffice1.0, it works fine for me, when logged in as root, but when opening OpenOffice as another user it invariably crashes. my only thoughts on the slow loading are perhaps the harddrive isn't configured to take advantage of udma 5.. stuffed if I can remember where/how you configure that tho... my 3.4cents worth (US$ conversion to AU$) :) |
the thing is most other apps are working, like the Gimp, konqueror, and all the other ones i've tried except for soffice and oofice. i'm at work now, but i think i have tried logging in as root and the problem was the same, but when i get home i'll try it to make sure.
any other ideas? |
I had the same thing happen too. The splash screen would only stick every once and awhile. What I found is that open office only really wanted to run while I was root. I ran oosetup as root, closed ooffice when it was done with the setup stuff, then went and changed all the scripts like ooffice, oocalc, oowrite, etc. that were in /usr/bin to have a sticky bit.
I then logged out of root, and back in as a regular user, and open office set it self up nicely for that user. thanks, Tinesthai |
10 minutes to load? no. on my wife's computer 500/512 is takes about 11 seconds to load. seems sloooow. but not as slow as you're discription. on mine 900/512 it takes about 5 seconds.
she's suse 8 i'm debian 3 |
i reinstalled mandrake 9.0 without the server packages. now both the programs run fine, although i haven't used them extensively. the only problem i have now is my soundblaster live 5.1 card is not recognized. since this is the software forum, i'll end this thread. if you want to help with the sound card prob see my post in the hardware forum.
thanks to all who posted path |
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