I switched the default window manager back to Compiz and LibreOffice behaves once again. Apart from changing the refresh rate to match my LCD display (60hz), everything is running tickety-boo. I will update this thread if I note any changes. It may well be that Compiz Fusion is the difference maker in this scenario. Yes, I have also set Compiz Fusion to launch at log in.
===
Okay, there's been rather a bit of chatter about Linux Mint Cinnamon and MATE freezing when launching LibreOffice, and I have read these topics. The symptom that caught my attention has been LibreOffice halting at the splash screen which seems more severe than most. This symptom was not evident until I enabled Compiz as the default window manager, with the understanding that it does not work out of the box, as stated by the Mint devs. Risks understood. ^^
The behaviour persisted even after numerous setting changes. Compiz clearly needs to be updated, but unfortunately I'm not the geek for that task. I tried installing LibreOffice Beta 3.5.5, but found my system halted at the depacking of liboffice-dict-en-us.deb in the terminal window. Had to resort to ctrl-alt-del to quit the session. Tried two more times, removing the previous install each time with package manager. Same result.
Here's the wrinkle: I found that launching the Compiz Fusion Icon and changing the default window manager to "MetaCity" completely resolved the issue. LibreOffice appears to be completely stable.
I must add to this that my system has halted in the very same manner with LibreOffice, Inkscape and GIMP in various circumstances. I presently have a bug listed on Launchpad related to the Inkscape issue, with no confirmation as yet. It's a rare bug, apparently. Mind you it only occurred in Cinnamon, and not MATE. I have isolated the system halts to Compiz, and apparently Compiz's own window manager. This system has run Linux Mint 12, Mint 13 Cinnamon and is right now running Mint 13 MATE.
I'd like to stress that this appears to be an issue with Compiz on Mint 13 Maya, and that the system halts are all symptoms. From the posts I've read there are some workarounds, but I have to pin this on Compiz. Unfortunately it's the fastest Window Manager out there that I am familiar with (I'm a newbie, to be sure), especially for slightly older hardware.
If you are experiencing system halts in Linux Mint with Cinnamon or MATE and Compiz, try the alternative window manager. It may work for you, though I admit it does not feel as fluid.
Here is an edited system report for reference.
- Code: Select all
Computer
Summary
Computer
Processor Genuine Intel(R) CPU T1350 @ 1.86GHz
Memory 1015MB (565MB used)
Operating System Linux Mint 13 Maya
Date/Time Mon 18 Jun 2012 11:29:00 AM PDT
Display
Resolution 1280x800 pixels
OpenGL Renderer Mesa DRI Intel(R) 945GM x86/MMX/SSE2
X11 Vendor The X.Org Foundation
Multimedia
Audio Adapter HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
Input Devices
Lid Switch
Power Button
Power Button
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
USB Optical Mouse
Video Bus
SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad
HDA Intel Mic
HDA Intel Line-Out
Printers
No printers found
SCSI Disks
ATA FUJITSU MHZ2120B
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-841S
Operating System
Version
Kernel Linux 3.2.0-25-generic (i686)
Compiled #40-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 23 20:33:05 UTC 2012
C Library Unknown
Default C Compiler GNU C Compiler version 4.6.3 (Ubuntu/Linaro
4.6.3-1ubuntu5)
Distribution Linux Mint 13 Maya
Current Session
Desktop Environment Unknown (Window Manager: Metacity)
Misc
Uptime 11 hours, 43 minutes
Load Average 4.28, 4.82, 5.15
Kernel Modules
Loaded Modules
snd_hda_codec_si3054 Si3054 HD-audio modem codec
snd_hda_codec_realtek Realtek HD-audio codec
joydev Joystick device interfaces
arc4 ARC4 Cipher Algorithm
snd_hda_intel Intel HDA driver
snd_hda_codec HDA codec core
snd_hwdep Hardware dependent layer
snd_pcm Midlevel PCM code for ALSA.
pcmcia PCMCIA Driver Services
snd_seq_midi Advanced Linux Sound Architecture sequencer MIDI synth.
snd_rawmidi Midlevel RawMidi code for ALSA.
tifm_7xx1 TI FlashMedia host driver
tifm_core TI FlashMedia core driver
snd_seq_midi_event MIDI byte <-> sequencer event coder
yenta_socket
pcmcia_rsrc
psmouse PS/2 mouse driver
pcmcia_core Linux Kernel Card Services
serio_raw Raw serio driver
rfcomm Bluetooth RFCOMM ver 1.11
parport_pc PC-style parallel port driver
snd_seq Advanced Linux Sound Architecture sequencer.
i915 Intel Graphics
ppdev
bnep Bluetooth BNEP ver 1.3
iwl3945 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux
bluetooth Bluetooth Core ver 2.16
iwl_legacy iwl-legacy: common functions for 3945 and 4965
binfmt_misc
snd_timer ALSA timer interface
drm_kms_helper DRM KMS helper
mac80211 IEEE 802.11 subsystem
snd_seq_device ALSA sequencer device management
drm DRM shared core routines
snd Advanced Linux Sound Architecture driver for soundcards.
cfg80211 wireless configuration support
mac_hid
i2c_algo_bit I2C-Bus bit-banging algorithm
soundcore Core sound module
video ACPI Video Driver
snd_page_alloc Memory allocator for ALSA system.
lp
parport
usbhid USB HID core driver
hid
firewire_ohci Driver for PCI OHCI IEEE1394 controllers
firewire_core Core IEEE1394 transaction logic
sdhci_pci Secure Digital Host Controller Interface PCI driver
sdhci Secure Digital Host Controller Interface core driver
e100 Intel(R) PRO/100 Network Driver
crc_itu_t CRC ITU-T V.41 calculations
Display
Display
Resolution 1280x800 pixels
Vendor The X.Org Foundation
Version 1.11.3
Monitors
Monitor 0 1280x800 pixels
Extensions
BIG-REQUESTS
Composite
DAMAGE
DOUBLE-BUFFER
DPMS
DRI2
GLX
Generic Event Extension
MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
MIT-SHM
RANDR
RECORD
RENDER
SECURITY
SGI-GLX
SHAPE
SYNC
X-Resource
XC-MISC
XFIXES
XFree86-DGA
XFree86-VidModeExtension
XINERAMA
XInputExtension
XKEYBOARD
XTEST
XVideo
OpenGL
Vendor Tungsten Graphics, Inc
Renderer Mesa DRI Intel(R) 945GM x86/MMX/SSE2
Version 1.4 Mesa 8.0.2
Direct Rendering Yes
This is is not the result of an exacting troubleshooting methodology, rather a process of trial-and-error-until-my-system-is-stable approach.
So far so good.
