[CLUE-Tech] Enthusiasm for Linux

[Chuck Downing]

Randy,

I snipped most of your long response.  Thanks for your help.

Now, to a discussion.

First, I was using Libranet 2.8.x (whichever version which I paid for) and 
OpenOffice 1.0.x.  I tried to "import" a document my spouse had written in OO 
1.1 for Windoze.  All of the apostrophes and quote marks showed up as 
question marks and the screen font was really hard to read.  That started a 
quest for OO 1.1, and then Java.  I followed the "approved" installation 
approach for Java, which never got beyond the download step because some 
libraries were missing from the debian.org ftp site.  Thus, a point of 
frustration.

Second, I can't imagine my 89-year-old uncle or my techno-phobic spouse being 
able to follow the convoluted steps necessary to resolve this unnecessary 
conflict between OO versions, Debian/Libranet/Java versions and 
Windoze/Linux.  All they would see is, "My computer doesn't work."   My 
original point, probably lost in the fog of frustration, was that my uncle 
and my spouse may be representative of the non-geeky public-at-large that 
Linux must satisfy if we hope to take over the world.

Thanks for your time.

On Tuesday 28 October 2003 09:02 am, Randy Arabie wrote:
> As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I have OO and Java
> working on two PC's.  Both are running Libranet 2.8.1, which
> is still the "current" version of Libranet.  I received my
> 2-disk set at the end of September.  This version shipped
> with OpenOffice 1.0.3, NOT 1.1.
>
> There were no J2re packages supplied with the distro, but the
> recommended method of aquiring and installing the J2re
> environment is via the Libranet adminmenu/Xadminmenu
> utility.
>
> I would suggest sticking to the package format and versions
> that shipped with your distro before trying the latest
> version you can download.  If you are running (or trying to
> run) OO 1.1x, then you are attempting something that isn't
> assured to work.  

-- 
Chuck Downing
Leadville, Colorado