Howto: Install OpenOffice 3 in Felicia

[msuggs]

Originally there were two methods for installing OpenOffice 3 in this thread. Due to positive feedback I've eliminated the more complex version and just left this one in it's place.

This howto is provided as is. Install at your own peril

*Before beginning, use mintUpdate to make sure your system is up to date before proceeding*

then

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sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

in the file that opens, add these lines to the repos already there, save and close.

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## +++ OpenOffice3 +++
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main

Now just run and refresh mintUpdate and the necessary updates for OpenOffice 3 should be available

Enjoy

[msuggs]

Edit: See post 1

[Old Marcus]

Installed OO.o3 using the second method, no problems so far.

[rivenought]

The second method worked for me, as well. However, do not run mintDesktop and restore the splash screen to a Mint one. Not sure what you will get, but my brown Ubuntu 3.0 went back to both a blue Mint 2.4 splash and an about OO.o screens. I just thought I would mention it. I changed my splash and about OO.o screens to a previous set (from Mint 4, I think) that just said Mint and OpenOffice on them instead of a particular number.

Also, not sure if anyone else has noticed how cruddy the screen fonts are in OO.o lately. (It may just be my LCD). I did not have a problem in Mint 5 with OO.o 2.4.0, but OO.o 2.4.1 in Mint 6, the screen fonts were horrid. This is the same unattractive issue I noted in Ubuntu 8.10 - I verified it in both 32- and 64-bit versions. In OO.o 3, I noticed that, for example, Liberation Sans and Liberation.Sans were both in the drop-down menu. Liberation Sans is fuzzy on the screen. Liberation.Sans is back to normal. Whatever the dot does, I like it.

[msuggs]

Sounds like the easier method is the go. Thanks for your feedback

[revdjenk]

Has anyone in this thread used this procedure with a 64bit Mint 5?

God Bless
Doug

[Old Marcus]

Also, not sure if anyone else has noticed how cruddy the screen fonts are in OO.o lately.

Strange, I've had no font problems, does it happen with text on other apps? Or just OO.o?

[rivenought]

Old Marcus,
Fonts everywhere else in Mint are flawless. It is just with OpenOffice 2.4.1 and OpenOffice 3.0 that the screen fonts on the document page look poor on my monitor. They print just dandy, so that is not an issue. I did not have this problem in Mint 5 with OO.o 2.4.0. As I theorize, perhaps it is just my hardware combo. I am glad no one else is suffering with this. Though, the mysterious "dot-in-the-middle" fonts are certainly beneficial to my eyesight. I have never had a use for the Microsoft fonts, by the way. I have always gotten good service from the open-source fonts.

[msuggs]

It appears the openoffice 3 packages in launchpad had a major bug with the openoffice-gnome package that was causing crashes and have been removed from the server until it is fixed. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. Until then this how-to is a no go.

Will post again when they are back on-line

[rivenought]

omns,
I can report absolutely no crashes with OO.o 3.0.0 in combination with Mint 6 RC1. I use Writer and Calc every day, with some Impress use a couple of times per week. Smooth surf on my beach. Hopefully, those packages will be available again quickly - especially since the final version of Mint 6 will be available soon. Your How-To is the easiest method I have seen to upgrade thus far.

[Guest]

The OOo3.0 packages are back up at Launchpad. Just installed them using the instructions above and all is 5x5--no unexpected errors.

[Alejandro]

I just did that, then an aptitude dist-upgrade and I still have OOo 2.4.

I tried to remove 'openoffice.org-base' but it tries to remove 'mint-meta-main' so no way I'm doing that

Am I doing something wrong?

Alejandro

[msuggs]

I just did that, then an aptitude dist-upgrade and I still have OOo 2.4.

Did you update the repos first? I'm not an aptitude user but I'd run this sort of a command with apt-get to update then upgrade.

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[rivenought]

omns,

An update - My previous fuzzy screen font problem was with Mint 6 RC1. After the final version of Mint was out, I did a clean install of Mint 6, and I do not have the fuzzy problem anymore. As I suspected, it was related to some kind of hardware combo on my end. The upgrade from OO.o 2.4 to OO.o 3.0 is extremely smooth. This method is still the easiest way to go.

[McLovin]

I just did this, and discovered that, as soon as you update you repo lists, OOo appears as an update automatically, all you have to do is update, and the new OOo is installed for you.

[tpatsiouras]

Thank you very much for the instructions... Worked like a charm...
Theodore

[Handyman]

The install went fine, per the first post of this thread.

My major issue is the terrible screen fonts. I'm relatively new to Mint, but OpenOffice is the only application with this problem. Any more news on this issue? Is there a fix?

[rivenought]

Handyman,
I have the issue with screen fonts, as well. Though, everything prints just fine. Have you tried the DejaVu fonts yet? That series looks good on my screen. Some of the others are somewhat fuzzy. Good luck with fiddling.

[evilmrb]

I tried the method at the top of this post and it mostly worked. However, I still have splash screens for OO 2.4 and the 'About' dialogue under 'Help' has the 2.4 banner but the details refer to the 3.0 version in the repository. Call me a pedant if you like but I would like to get it spot-on.
I also tried downloading OO 3.0 from the OpenOffice website and extracted the contents to a folder. From there I did :
'sudo dpkg -i *.deb' and that worked OK but when I changed to the 'desktop-integration' folder and tried to do the same it failed with a message saying there was a conflict. So, I still have a half and half system. Can anybody help me sort it out properly?

Thanks.

[exploder]

I changed to the 'desktop-integration' folder and tried to do the same it failed with a message saying there was a conflict.

There is a conflict because OpenOffice is installed in a different directory. This explains how to install the official Sun version.

http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/10/1 ... 4-and-810/

You want the English deb files found here.

http://openoffice.bouncer.osuosl.org/?p ... sion=3.0.0

This method will get things the way you want them.