Subject: Re: Is YDL/KDE ready for prime time?
From: Dylan Ward (dylan.@esatclear.ie)
Date: Mon Jan 21 2002 - 22:43:12 MST
Try using OpenOffice/StarOffice. I also was a heavy user of MS Office
97/2000 for school and work, but after bad experiences with Windows 98 &
NT I got fed up with Windows and starting using Linux on my home PC.
Starving for an office suite I used StarOffice that came with my RedHat
set. Excellent program. So far it has covered all my needs (except for
databases, but you can create your own with the wealth of tools for
Linux in that dept.). I was using an earlier version and found that the
MS Office compatibility left much to be desired, but I am now using YDL
on a Mac and I am looking forward to using OpenOffice. Since it is the
same code as StarOffice I don't think there will be any problems. In a
nutshell, definitely worth trying.
Dylan
On Monday, January 21, 2002, at 07:16 , Bob Beaton wrote:
> Hi, folks.
>
> I'm trying to decide if the latest YDL/KDE is ready for production-mode
> office work. Basically, I'm a heavy Mac user who has relied on the
> MS-Office
> suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage) for the vast majority of his
> office work. Since building about two dozen Mac-based Linux systems
> recently
> for server applications, I'm beginning to explore using YDL/KDE for my
> daily
> office work. So far, my experience has been less than trilling
> (although I
> absolutely love YDL for my nubus and pci server machines!).
>
> I'd appreciate hearing some comments on the following issues. Please
> understand I'm using YDL 2.1 (latest KDE) on a G4/500-upgraded G3 B&W,
> 1 GB
> RAM (no virtual), and 36 Mb (1 GB swap) disk, with a full T1 connection.
>
> (1) Word Processing -- KWord application seem slow and limited compared
> to
> the latest MS-Word for normal document layouts. Does not convert large
> Word
> files as well as hoped. Is there a better alternative?
>
> (2) Spreadsheet -- KSpread is very, very slow and does not read
> (import)
> most of my MS-Excel spreadsheets. The Gnome spreadsheet seems much
> better at
> importing and much faster at sorting large (500 row, 30 col) simple
> spreadsheet pages. I have not explored the macro capabilities yet.
> Should I
> expect any disappointments?
>
> (3) Presentations -- KPresenter just doesn't cut it! It can't import
> any of
> my MS-Powerpoint files, which contain simple text and pictures (no fancy
> transition effects). Is there an alternative?
>
> (4) EMail -- KMail seems okay, just slower and more limited than
> MS-Entourage. I like its features for multiple email accounts on
> different
> servers, but the filter setup is cumbersome. Is there a better email
> app?
>
> In short, YDL/KDE seems like it could be ready for production-mode
> office
> work, but it has a way to go to be equivalent to a standard Mac (errr...
> classic Mac) setup. Moreover, and very important, I've noticed that KDE
> is
> unstable. At times after closing an application, it just sits there
> with the
> console KB locked up (although the clock still runs). I don't know the
> equivalent CTL-ALT-ESC emergency kill command, so I usually just net
> login
> from my Powerbook and reboot the YDL box. This is not a user-freindly
> characteristic; although I suspect someone has got a far better
> solution to
> the lock-ups.
>
> I'd appreciate any comments.
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
>
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