Hello again, Doug...
I will respond to the Libre thing later but I think some background for you (on your older laptop) is necessary first.
About 18 months ago I arrived at full-blown Linux usage after about a decade and a half of solid, "do-anything-with-it" Windows-2000 usage. However from about 3 years before that move I had been dabbling with Linux distros to find something for a replacement. On my olde system (as described before - a bit of a "clunker") Windows-2000 was brilliant. So, I tried hundreds of Linux distros and versions, but I could not find one that I could install (even the common ones), or - when installed - run it well. Nothing came near Windows-2K speed or stability (on MY setup).
Finally, and quite surprisingly, I found (modern) Mageia-5, which loaded first pop - with no issues at all. It also had the exact graphics driver - and - a great Control Panel for systems management. [Through the stunning turn-around with Mageia-5 performance I learned that my graphics card is
almost universally NOT supported across many distros - and that might have been my major problem for installing many of them.] The slight downside was that Mageia was slower than Windows-2K (on MY setup). Mageia-5 has been fantastic to use to get into Linux, and it is stable, reliable, and fast enough for real productivity.
PCLinuxOS was also good (on MY setup) and extremely fast, but they stopped supporting 32-bits, so I can't use it (on MY setup).
[I have to keep saying "on MY setup" so that drone-killers don't bombard me with scorn that their distro is better.]
Recently I discovered that Linux-MX14 installed and was usable, and then learned that its incestual cousin - er -
celestial cousin Antix, might also be useful. After some help with their forum - an approach I NEVER used to do, I learned how to use the
/etc/X11/xorg.conf file properly for the driver, which they also support. Anyway ANTIX (15/now 16) XFCE runs extremely fast, faster than Mageia-5 MATE, and as fast as PCLinuxOS 32-bit, or Windows-2000 - ON THIS, MY OLDE SETUP.
I would recommend Mageia-5 to anyone trying to make a NEWBIE kind of start in Linux from (olde?) Windows because of EASY USE, CONFIGURABILITY, STABILITY AND VERSATILITY.
Antix-16 I believe would be an excellent recommendation for Pnewbies (ie Post-Newbie; silent "n"; copyright waived). It might require a tweak here or there - but is ideal as a first distro to get your "penguin teeth" into. [Are penguins like chickens?] Antix also have a pretty helpful forum too, when you need
distro help. [You need to know or remember that Antix does NOT use the newer
"systemd" approach to Linux management - OR RATHER - systemd can be included as a configurable OPTION. I see that as a feature; others might see it as a downside.]
I am trying to impress upon you that getting things working right is fundamental - in Windows
and Linux. After that, performance of good software is almost neither here, nor there.
N.B.
Desktops (ie Desktop Managers and Windows Managers) can also be a performance drain. If you want "bells and whistles", or "fades and shades", or "sounds and pounds", then you have to have grunt and shunt (aka oomph). For me, on my one-core, low-RAM, no-SLAM system, both MATE and XFCE desktops have been great.
.
Now, I have to tell you that I have spent SO long finding a distro to use for work - a workhorse - that I have not done much extended usage of software. So I don't feel qualified enough to comment fully, but here's something...
I have LibreOffice 4.3.3.2 installed.
I also add that I am not a Excel/LibreCalc kind of person. So, again, I cannot describe the performance of that kind of software.
I can tell you that I have used LibreBase, which probably needs the same kind of performance as a spreadsheet program, and found it to be pretty darn good, or - if you like - BRILLIANT as a freebie. It is not quite as fast as Win2K-MsAccess BUT any noticable difference has NEVER bothered me.
I also use LibreWriter
regularly, without considering performance an issue, and have not had any problems.
I do NOT use the big web browsers. That's to avoid ANY performance issues. So I use Midori web-browser (with pics and scripts turned off). Like that, it flies. I turn pics on when I need them; no problems.
At times I have had 15 or so Midori (no-pic) tabs opened, along with LibreWriter, a couple of Txt docs, one or two PDFs, and one or two terminals, IPtables firewall - with no issues that I can recall.
.
On Win2K I used Pegasus email which I found to be the
ultimate email program, but on Linux I had to find something else. I probably tried Evolution but, sorry, I just don't remember it. In the end I chose
Sylpheed email - and (apart from understanding the install) I had a minimal
"usage" learning-curve. So I ended up writing about my install to help others. [It was easy (
when you know how!!!)] Here it is...
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ple-mailboxes-[maybe-claws-too]-4175577728/
.
Lastly, on my
Antix-16 32-bit (XFCE) setup, as I am including and using more and more programs I never expect "performance" to be a contributing concern. It just doesn't seem to be a worry at all.
.
So, Doug, in case you missed it, as far as the LibreCalc question goes, I do not expect it as a problem on my >> PC << system
if I needed to use it. (Of course, it might be a little different on
your laptop setup if the little black ducks don't line up.) For email I use Sylpheed (with 5 email boxes). So I am sorry if all that isn't much "practical experience" type of help, but I did want to impress upon you that I would not expect performance to be a factor with
MY Antix-XFCE (at the least) with using the kind of software you spoke of.
Regards,
aka boombaby
