OpenOffice 2.0 is very slow to launch

I just installed OpenOffice 2.0. For most of the time, it takes 40sec to launch which is too slow. It takes only 6 sec to launch 1.1.3.

The CPU of my pc is a Intel P4 2.6GHz. It is running RedHat 9 (kennel 2.4.20). I use GNOME.

I notice for some times it can launch much faster (less than 5sec). And I cannot figure out what the patterns are.

During the 40sec that OpenOffice 2.0 is launching, I don't see too much hard disk activity and CPU usage is very low. Seems that it is just sitting there and doing nothing. Or it is waiting for some events. I do see some network activity. I suspect it silently connects some web sites.

Does anybody know the reason ?

Check your /etc/hosts ... have you got an entry
like:
127.0.0.1 localhost
?


Cheers,
Tink

Yes, I can see this line in /etc/hosts

Do you have another line referencing localhost as well?
One that has the hostname your ISP assigned you?


Cheers,
Tink

No. I can see only one line like
127.0.0.1 george localhost.localdomain localhost

george is the name I gave to my machine

Ummm. You may want to change that line to look like
ONLY this:

127.0.0.1 localhost


Cheers,
Tink

tongliu8: Another thought, OpenOffice 2 opens very slowly if your system is having problems with DNS resolution. Apparently, OpenOffice phones home each time it starts.

Temporarily disable name resolution and see if OpenOffice then opens quickly.

This became a problem when I was running systems without a WAN connection, but with DNS server addresses configured. The systems acted just like what you described. Removing the name server addresses allowed OpenOffice to open quickly.

Originally posted by WhatsHisName tongliu8: Another thought, OpenOffice 2 opens very slowly if your system is having problems with DNS resolution. Apparently, OpenOffice phones home each time it starts.

Are you serious? If that's the case I definitely won't be
using it, being an RPM only distribution to start with :/


Cheers,
Tink

About the DNS resolution/slow start? Absolutely. Misconfigure your name server addresses and see if you can replicate the problem.

For a DNS resolution issue to slow down a process, the process would need to be trying to resolve a name.

Later edit: The problem occurs the first time you start OpenOffice after a reboot. Subsequent starts (on the same boot) go quickly.

WhatsHisName, you are right. The DNS config has some problems. DNS server ip address is always reset to 192.168.2.1 which I guess is my ISP's modem address. This does not prevent me from connecting to the Internet. If I change to the real DNS addresses, OpenOffice 2.0 can start very quickly without any problem.

OpenOffice 2.0 's behavior makes me very uncomfortable. Is there a way to disable it finding the DNS server ? I'd like it to run like on a standalone machine. Or is there a way to set the DNS ip in the OpenOffice 2.0 ?

Hi I like to add a line here, I have eight computers with Suse 10 installed two of the eight are P4 2.66 Mhz 64 Bit 1MB L2, that is to say that two computers are 64 bit both with 64 bit version of suse 10 installed, but one of the two 64 bit computers have SATA 120 GB and the other has PATA 60GB ( both computers has 1GB DDR400 RAM, now the computer with PATA 60GB disk loads openoffice 2.0 in two seconds, the computer with SATA 120GB disk loads openoffice 2.0 in 2.2 Min, like I said the two computers are identical apart from the hard disk, the computer which is mega slow loading open office 2.0 is on the other hand mega fast loading all the other programes.
I have checked /etc/hosts and it only contains 127.0.0.1 localhost and I have tried to disable the network, and which now runs DHCP, I'm ????????????????????

Any Ideas ??????

The problem I had was related to the DNS. Did you check the DNS ?

Another thing I noticed was if I changed the content of /etc/hosts
from:
127.0.0.1 george localhost.localdomain localhost
to:
127.0.0.1 localhost
It would launch even slower.

Apparently, OpenOffice phones home each time it starts.

Where did you get this information ?

I see no evidence of network traffic when launching OOo 2.0, deliberately misconfiguring DNS had no effect on startup times.

Originally posted by WhatsHisName Apparently, OpenOffice phones home each time it starts.

Does the Windows version do the same?
Why does it do so, anyway?

Both changes involve going into the Tools and then options management sections. In the memory dialogue box, increase graphics cache to 64MB and memory per object to 8MB. It will take Open Office a few openings before this helps.

The other is to go to Java options and disable them. Apparently in the time it takes Open Office to open Java, you can go and make a cup off coffee, go to the loo, read the online newspaper on your thin and light and return to your desktop.

maybe this will help, i found it @ http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27292