MX Linux Forum

Why is libre office part of mxlinux it takes a lot of space on hard drive and how many users are there?It can be installed if needed.thanks john

MX Linux was always meant to be a full-featured OOTB distro. The idea is that upon installation, everyday users should have all the usual sort of programs necessary to carry out regular tasks like viewing, editing and creating documents.

It is not meant to be a bare bones distro.

In any case, choice of default programmes on a distro is something which is very subjective and there is never going to be 100% agreement on the choices, and it's not just MX.

Stevo explained to me some months back that the MX-15 Core community respin was the last of its line because MX could no longer be squeezed into 700 MB for CDs. This was after I brought up the antiX-17 Base installation I did on a single-core 32-bit laptop, adding Palemoon and Apache OOo. Both perform well. I also have full MX-17.1 on a dual core desktop where 64-bit FF and LO live happily. I believe a Core or Base iso of MX-18 would be attractive to many users even if it approaches a gigabyte. With optional browser and office online installation shortcuts of course.
Merry Christmas!

Hello John. I fully appreciate your question, but consider that asqwerth's reply explains the situation. There are applications in MX that I do not use. Firefox is one of them. I therefore use the MXPI or Synaptic PM to delete those that are unwanted/not needed. This takes only a few minutes and creates the space needed for preferred programmes. Whatever the team decides to include in standard MX, can never please everybody. We all need a bit of tolerance to respect the overall view, and tidy the supplied standard to suit our needs.
Merry Christmas -- Gordon.

A minimal-release of MX 18 with the artwork and MX-Tools would be great. On a work station I need no games and with another machine I want to play.

My way to create systems is a minimal base.

The intention of MX-Devs is to provide one Image with all of them to makes it easier for beginners. In German we say "Eierlegende Wolmilchsau". A second minimal ISO would be fine, but there is no one. So I use the antiX-core and create my own spins with my personal collection of things that I like. It's a good choice to collect items for different purposes.

LibreOffice is one of them and the biggest, of course. On my main machine I use Softmaker Office. LibreOffice deinstall is hard, there are 100 packages with fonts, gtk-theme, language-packs, help-files, and tons of libs. Eliminate all of them is triggy. Better is, when the components are not pre-installed.

Fun part about MX: you can always uninstall what you don't need, then create a new USB stick with what is left.

+1 to Eadwine Rose's post.

There is nothing stopping any user from making their own minimalist/core version from MX-live by removing and installing whatever you want on the live boot, and then remastering it so that the live USB is now the core version. Using that, one can then install your core version in any other computer.

Note:
Trying to build an MX-core distro with MX Tools from antix base may or may not be a little tricky as well, since antix doesn't use the systemd-shim and has a separate nosystemd repo which may conflict with MX's repos. For instance, antiX doesn't use network manager (which MX uses and which I believe needs the systemd-shim). Antix uses wicd/ceni which works but is less GUI-pretty.

I'm sure experts won't have problems converting repos and building MX-core from Antix, but since I'm no expert I would start with MX and remove what I don't need.

I agree with asqwerth and Gordon Cooper's sentiment. The MX ootb experience is very useful, instructive, and also indicative of what can be done in a well thought out environment with excellent scripts/ tools. I think this is a large factor in why people like the distro so much and why it gets such excellent reviews. Once people use MX and understand what they can have, what they like/ need (and that comes faster for some than others) they can build their own environment(s).

To that end, for me and my little community, I have built two scripts that I run on a fresh install to build the app base to meet my/our needs. It did not take long to create and use snapshot to move things from place to place.

And as Frank SInatra once sang: "I did it my way". Linux is all about choice.

Thank you all for your answers .I have uninstalled libreoffice to gain space on my old 32 bit computer. Its a small drive.I LEFT IT ON MY 64 BIT SYSTEM.thanks john

asqwerth wrote: Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:49 am Note:
Trying to build an MX-core distro with MX Tools from antix base may or may not be a little tricky as well, since antix doesn't use the systemd-shim and has a separate nosystemd repo which may conflict with MX's repos. For instance, antiX doesn't use network manager (which MX uses and which I believe needs the systemd-shim). Antix uses wicd/ceni which works but is less GUI-pretty.

I'm sure experts won't have problems converting repos and building MX-core from Antix, but since I'm no expert I would start with MX and remove what I don't need.

I've done this. It's triggy, you're right. Before you install MX-Packages and systemd-shm you must purge a lot of nonsystemd packages and antix-apt antix-remaster cli-installer-antix and so on. Then you must import the right MX repos and then install system packages. Make this in virtualbox. I've got my own package list and install the wohle system with xargs and then I put my own configuration files to the system. It's a hard work, of course but only the starting point. When you know, what you must do it is always the same. Today when I create a new one, I've only install software selections for different purposes. Look my respin in the MX-Respin section. A mix of MX-Linux and LMDE3. Use different repos, but all is fine. All is based on Debian Stretch.

<post deleted by Mod, user banned>

please delete spammer above

anticapitalista wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:01 am please delete spammer above

In fact he is not a spammer: he is just pointing out that the software in question is non-free and expensive.
I reported his post before I realized that it was really OK, and I see no way to cancel my report.

GuiGuy wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:26 am

anticapitalista wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:01 am please delete spammer above

In fact he is not a spammer: he is just pointing out that the software in question is non-free and expensive.
I reported his post before I realized that it was really OK, and I see no way to cancel my report.

What's actually missing in that post is that Softmaker Office is an excellent Office Product
and comes in two variants:
As commercial product
and
as a freeware product https://www.freeoffice.com/en/
The freeware version is full functional, with only some slight restrictions,e.g not a full commercial
spell-and grammer-checker included, but the opensource spellchecker variant.
What I understand from users using it, and from published reports,
is that SoftmakerOffice/Freeoffice beats most other commercial and free Office products
including LibreOffice in regard to compatibility to MS Office.

GuiGuy wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:26 am

anticapitalista wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:01 am please delete spammer above

In fact he is not a spammer: he is just pointing out that the software in question is non-free and expensive.
I reported his post before I realized that it was really OK, and I see no way to cancel my report.

How do you know that the post is pointing out the app is non-free and expensive?
It seems to me that poster is advertising the product (and not the 'free' one)

anticapitalista wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 5:05 am

GuiGuy wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:26 am

anticapitalista wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:01 am please delete spammer above

In fact he is not a spammer: he is just pointing out that the software in question is non-free and expensive.
I reported his post before I realized that it was really OK, and I see no way to cancel my report.

How do you know that the post is pointing out the app is non-free and expensive?
It seems to me that poster is advertising the product (and not the 'free' one)

Agreed in this sense, it is a stupid spam post.

That's how I saw it, and acted.

Thanks for that interesting information, fehlix.
I will try the freeware version.

The free version of Softmaker is a fine product for MS-Office-Documents. Better support than LO. The freeware product has limitations. You can't save in the old MS-Formats *.doc, *.xls *.ppt and you have no commercial spell-checker, see posting by fehlix. Documents in the free standard *.odt are supported but no others. That's a shame. This restriction have all variants of Softmaker Office and for all versions you need to register.

I personally use the Standard Version of the product. Standard Version can save Documents in the old *.doc, *.xls, formats etc. but the commercial spell-checker only aviable in the professional edition.

fehlix wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 5:02 am What's actually missing in that post is that Softmaker Office is an excellent Office Product
and comes in two variants:
As commercial product
and
as a freeware product https://www.freeoffice.com/en/
The freeware version is full functional, with only some slight restrictions,e.g not a full commercial
spell-and grammer-checker included, but the opensource spellchecker variant.
What I understand from users using it, and from published reports,
is that SoftmakerOffice/Freeoffice beats most other commercial and free Office products
including LibreOffice in regard to compatibility to MS Office.

I know you defend your fellow citizen fehlix
Softmaker is good indeed even in his free version but sincerely I tried many software and no one is perfectly compatible with M$ office standards and SM is no exception. It's sad to say but even Office is not fully compatible with another version of Office.

I would also encourage you to examine options available as Flatpaks, Snaps, and/or appimages. I currently am using LibreOffice-Fresh as an appimage. There are also Free Online versions of office suites available to use 'in the cloud'; you may find some/one you like in that format/ form (much less disk used).

LibreOffice-Fresh as an appimage

I use it on one machine straight from the LO Download page.

@manyroads - I'm a open/libreoffice user ever since my windows xp time. I bought a new laptop and it didn't come with an office, so I looked and discovered openoffice (boy, that was almost 20 years ago!).
I'm so used to it that's my daily driver, but I also have WPS on my desktop (some say it has the best MSOffice compatibilty, some that's worse than LO). Just in case I need it created a desktop link to Word on-line that (funny enough also isn't 100% libreoffice compatible) that opens in chrome almost like the desktop version.
For most users LO is completly fine, the latest version did improve docx compatibility. but then again, fortunately I don't have to deal with many docx documents).
I also use a recent appimage on my antiX boxes (the last version that came with the quickstart launcher, because my boxes have very low specs and sometimes it takes forever - well less than 10 seconds- the fire up writer).

P.