SoftMaker Office 2008 PET

SoftMaker Office 2008 is free, but requires registration to use. I have made it into a PET package. This is fully integrated into Puppy, I worked on it all morning to make it so. Mime handling with ROX-Filer also.

The first time that you run it, my special 1st-start script runs, which takes you to the SoftMaker site to obtain the license-key.

SoftMaker Office has three components, TextMaker word processor, PlanMaker spreadsheet, and Presentations. They are all highly MS-Office compatible.

I split the original package into three. The main one, which is all you need for English users (12.1MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_packages-common/softmakeroffice-2008-bk.pet

Documentation for English and German (13.2MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_packages-common/softmakeroffice_DOC-2008-bk.pet

International language support (24.2MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_packages-common/softmakeroffice_NLS-2008-bk.pet

...that last one is massive. It doesn't even have any extra documentation.

One small thing that I wasn't able to sort out: the menu font is not anti-aliased. Maybe there is some trick to it. If anyone can figure that one out, please let me know.

So, a Puppy could be built with SoftMaker Office builtin, instead of Gnumeric and Abiword. I haven't worked it out, but I think the latter two plus their support packages would total about 5-6 MB. So, the total size would grow a little bit, but maybe worth it?

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Comments

gnumeric
Username: broomdodger
gnumeric is the best spreadsheet I have used. It sldo has the best import/export. It is easy and fast. I hope if you replace it with SoftMaker Office, gnumeric will be a pet and updated. -Bill

SoftMaker Office Licence
Username: ICPUG
"I prefer my software to be free as in freedom not free as in price. SoftMaker Office 2008 is proprietary and will never update. It is free as a taster to the product that does update (and cost money), SoftMaker 2010? SoftMaker seem to be following a policy of charging for their latest release and making previous releases free of charge. Consequently you never have the latest functionality with SoftMaker Office if you get the free version. There are a number of things deficient in SoftMaker Office 2008 - lack of support for open document formats in all but the wordprocessor is one. I think Puppy should encourage the use of open document formats and FOSS software.

Not compatible with OO/LO
Username: Terryphi
"It runs and installs without problems but .... Apart from MS refugees most users will be coming from Open Office or LibreOffice with files saved in the Open Document format. It does not open spreadsheets (.ods) and documents (.odt). That is a real problem. Not many people would bother saving all their work in OO/LO into a different format just to open files in Softmaker. Also, it comes with language English (US) and spellchecker English (US). I can't see any option to change this or download appropriate language file and dictionary for (in my case) English (UK). Abiword has severe limitations for serious use but Softmaker is no better - and probably worse.

Gnumeric
Username: zigbert
"I can understand why you aren't satisfied with Abiword, but Gnumeric is an amazing spreadsheet. I use spreadsheets a lot in my business and have gone from Excel via Open Office Calc to Gnumeric. I have never looked back!!! Sigmund

DOCX???
Username: playdayz
"As I recall it doesn't open docx files at all. It's MS Word compatibility covers only doc files. But it is nice to have as a choice--it has been requested I know, and some people will be very happy.

How about this?
Username: Dewbie
"Wouldn't it be simpler to just include Abiword and Gnumeric, along with instructions for uninstalling and removing them from the menu, to accommodate those who prefer SoftMaker? ttuuxxx did something similar here, for those who prefer a different browser with 2.14x: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=42553&start=885

Re How about this
Username: BarryK
"Dewbie, My SoftMaker PET package does what is needed -- install it and it becomes the default word processor and spreadsheet application. There is no need to remove Abiword and Gnumeric from the menu.

Thanks
Username: jrb
"I had previously bought the Softmaker 2010 package and managed to trim it down to 29 Mb. Following your lead with 2008 I have managed to get it down to 16 Mb. I also included a "defaultpresentation" so ppt files open by default in the Presentations program. As for spam, I recommend setting up a seperate email account just to be used for program registrations. I check mine once a month (or less). Thanks for this package Barry. I find Textmaker far more usable than anything else out there, including the latest MSO's.

Could this work with 4.x?
Username: Dewbie
"Barry, I tested your Softmaker .pet with Puppy Linux 4.1.2 and 4.3.1. In both cases, they install with no listed dependencies and appear in the menus, but they will not launch. Are there any packages that might help? (I tried [b]glib-2.22.2-p4.pet[/b], but in both cases, no luck.) Thanks!

Problem also affects Wary 5.1.1
Username: Dewbie
"OK, SoftMaker .pet also won’t work with Wary 5.1.1 k2.6.31.14 and k2.6.30.5 on this (my only) box. (Compaq Deskpro PII / 350mhz / 320MB RAM / 267MB swap) I didn’t even think to test with Wary till now; just assumed it would work. Again, everything is there in the menus after installation, but it just won’t launch. Only the browser will, to get the license key. Also (same as above) no listed missing dependencies or libraries.

Solution
Username: Dewbie
"OK, figured it out: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=72301

SM Rocks
Username: Frank Cox
"I am amazed at all the negative responses , I have had few problems with SM and it is fast. If docx files are something you deal with a lot you can install 2008 and a converter and wait until they offer you 2010 for 12.00 or the 2012 for around 40.00. OO was a nightmare when it came to compatibility with MSOffice but MS and SM are very compatible. The compatibility with powerpoint is perfect as well. I had no luck with the new pet either in 431, this is the error: /usr/bin/softmaker_1st_start: line 39: gtkdialog: command not found # Sounds like a library is missing, maybe someone could suggest which one I need? In the mean time shrinking the tarball to around 30 megs is easy and then it will install easily into any Puppy or any other Linux distro. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?search_id=1487113795&t=63112 http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?search_id=1487113795&t=63112

Re: printing problem
Username: Dewbie
"This thread is for BarryK's SoftMaker Office 2008. It's a .pet, not an .sfs. The only .sfs version I know of is here: http://www.puppyisos.org/files/sfs/SoftMakerOffice2008/ [i]User Name: Puppy[/i] [i]Password: Linux[/i] I believe it was compiled by someone else.

Re: UK English spelling
Username: tuxtoo
"From above. "Also, it comes with language English (US) and spellchecker English (US). I can't see any option to change this or download appropriate language file and dictionary for (in my case) English (UK)." I have made a dotpet to fix this problem and it can be found here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=640462#640462

Softmaker 2012 beta for Linux
Username: vicmz
"This is being offered for free at softmaker site: http://www.softmaker.com/english/ofl_en.htm

Tags: puppy