lxpanel + libreoffice = freeze

[dslibre]

Hello,

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/800297
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/threads/29 ... -Knoppix-6

I'd just like to know if there's somebody else experiencing this problem... maybe with some working workaround?

This bug is annoying 2 of my customers and I wasn't able to find any solution yet...

Thanks a lot.

[yeti]

@dslibre

In Knoppix 6, the work-around is control-alt-backspace.
You might find that control-alt-backspace has been disabled
for some reason. If you can enable it, that might work.
I thought I'd spelled that all out in your second link
reference.

I haven't use mint long enough to observe this problem
at first hand. However I'm using 11.06 here now, and note
that control alt-backspace is enabled and available.

Anyway, good luck and let us know how it goes.

yeti here, utu on knoppix.

[dslibre]

Hey,

...the work-around is control-alt-backspace...

thanks for the hint, I've already used this emergency work-around several times, though I'm afraid my customers could lose some unsaved work in same cases

I've just found this:

http://pkgs.org/mandriva-2011/mandriva- ... #changelog

It looks like somebody from Mandriva is trying to fix this problem. I hope they will succeed and the patch will make its way into the LXDE upstream code as well

I think I will instruct my customers to use AbiWord instead of LibreOffice Writer meanwhile...

[yeti]

@ dslibre

Thanks for the Mandriva note.
I'm not sure there IS any current 'upstream' LXDE effort.
I'll pass this along to Knoppix.

I think Abiword is worth a try for word-processing, but my LO use
is mostly LO-calc, and I would need something compatible with its
formatting.

FYI, on the control-alt-backspace work-around, it is my experience,
in Knoppix 6, mind you,
that the just-closed LO file (a large spread-sheet in my case)
that provokes a freeze, is ALWAYS closed successfully. I can't speak
for other open files that subsequently might get shut down by the
control-alt-backspace, but that has never YET been a problem for me.

Also, please note, I've not used LO that much in Mint 11, to see the
problem here, but I wasn't surprised to see some complaints starting
to show up.

[dslibre]

Thanks for the Mandriva note.
I'm not sure there IS any current 'upstream' LXDE effort.
I'll pass this along to Knoppix.

There is also another guy trying to fix/fork lxpanel:
http://code.google.com/p/lxpanelx/

I think Abiword is worth a try for word-processing, but my LO use
is mostly LO-calc, and I would need something compatible with its
formatting.

Well, you are right... this is not the solution, I forgot I need LO-calc as well.

FYI, on the control-alt-backspace work-around, it is my experience,
in Knoppix 6, mind you,
that the just-closed LO file (a large spread-sheet in my case)
that provokes a freeze, is ALWAYS closed successfully. I can't speak
for other open files that subsequently might get shut down by the
control-alt-backspace, but that has never YET been a problem for me.

I see... it should be safe, if user keeps closing LO windows as the last ones. Maybe this is really the best work-around yet

[yeti]

@ dslibre

Now, maybe we will get some attention. I hope so.
http://www.mail-archive.com/lxde-list@l ... 02110.html

[dslibre]

Great

[nmbutt]

I am still having this problem. I close a large PPT or XLS file in LO, everything closes but the main LO screen stays there and LX Panel freezes. I am pretty sure I have tried CTRL-ALT-Backspace [because I have tried 100s of key combinations] and it did not work for me.

[dslibre]

Everytime it happens I'm just doing this crazy stuff:

1. Ctrl - Alt - F1
2. login to terminal
3. ps -fA | grep lxpanel (to check process ID xxxx)
4. kill xxxx
5. Ctrl - Alt - F7 (back to screen, frozen panel should be gone already)
6. double click on home dir icon (or any other directory icon on the desktop)
7. menu: Tools - Open Current Folder in Terminal
8. lxpanel
9. new functional panel should be running now... you can save your work or even continue working, just be sure to not close that terminal window

I know it's really crazy, but I'm afraid it's the only solution at this moment

[AlbertP]

Instead of 3. and 4. you can also just do pkill lxpanel.

[dslibre]

Instead of 3. and 4. you can also just do pkill lxpanel.

great, thanks

[yeti]

Greetings, all.

In my Dec 21 post I indicated to dslibre that his information
about the Mandriva fix for the lxpanel freeze problem has been
incorporated into Knoppix. And it works.

Klaus Knopper was able to study the Mandriva solution and adapt it
to Knoppix. I can confirm I've used it for a month now with no
freezes (in Knoppix) since the upgrade.

Somebody will probably have to do the same homework as Klaus, but on
behalf of Mint, since there may not be any 'upstream' maintenance
at work on this in the LXDE cloud.

I'm not familiar enough with this forum to know who needs to know,
so please refer your gurus to Klaus's message I posted Dec 21.

And good luck.

[nmbutt]

Since I am a newbie, it is faster for me to do CTRL-ALT-DEL and reboot .. no documents are lost.

[yeti]

In my experience, I didn't lose LibreOffice documents,
but I'm not sure that OTHER open documents might get spoiled with Control-Alt-Backspace.
In my case, that might have been a text editor, with no real harm done.
If I had some OTHER grand software open, that might not have been a pleasant occurrence.

[ctzn jh]

I'm having a similar problem. Running Mint 11, xfce, libreoffice freezes my laptop. Mouse still moves and background sound continues to play, but the keyboard shows no signs of life, gkrellm freezes, and there are no responses to clicking. This is the first time in ages I've been forced to reboot linux because of an application-related crash. Guess I'll just use something else for spreadsheets for now.

[seppalta]

Occassionally people have had the LXDE taskbar freeze when compiz is installed and multiple instances of libre office are open. One solution that allows keeping these applications is to put the LXDE taskbar at the top or sides and install Tint2 on the bottom. Be sure to put @tint2 into the /etc/xdg/lxsession/Mint/autostart file. I do not use Libre Office, so have not had a chance to really investigate this problem or this solution. http://douwil7.100webspace.net/linux/Tuning.html#4

[yeti]

Greetings, Doug, dslibre & others.

There is good news and bad news on the lxpanel/LibreOffice freeze front for Mint.

The good news is that there are other work-arounds than control-alt-backspace that
can be used to re-start a frozen lxpanel. See for instance Klaus Knopper's note at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/lxde-list@l ... 02163.html
There are several variations on this in the LXDE thread. I've not tried these myself,
since a Knoppix-specific mod of lxpanel solves this problem for me.

The bad news for Mint is that an upstream LXDE lxpanel 'upgrade' planned for January 2012,
WILL NOT include the fix that Mandriva and Knoppix are now using. See thread at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/lxde-list@l ... 02170.html