Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 12:27 pm Post subject: Choosing OOo 1.1.2 vs NeoO/J 0.8.4 ?
Could some kind soul post a summary of differences between the latest releases of OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice/J ? The goal is to help people consciously choose which one to use. To get the topic properly started, here is what I gathered from some reading and limited personal experience:
- NeoO/J runs on Java and requires no X11, OOo needs X11 plus a bunch of other supporting software (Ghostscript, libfreetype, etc.)
- NeoO/J uses installed OS X fonts directly, OOo must convert them
- NeoO/J prints via the OS X architecture, OOo goes through Ghostscript
- NeoO/J is based on older OOo code (1.0.3 ?), the latest OOo has a lot more features (but NeoO/J runs fine with the older OOo feature set)
- NeoO/J is less RAM-hungry that OOo (is this still true with OOo 1.1.2 ?)
- Which one is faster ? Especially on relatively old machines ? (G4 Cube 512 MB here)
Now what else cold help people make up their mind ?
For my needs, I'll stick with NeoO/J for now until someone tells me OOo 1.1.2 is worth switching. Your take ?
And let's not forget: THANKS for this great piece of software !!! For the first time in years I can work with a totally Microsoft-free machine ! (The last time it happened was from 1990 to 1995 with NeXT stuff)
I think your list is very good. The only item in your list that may be incorrect is that NeoJ is less RAM-hungry than OOo 1.1.2. From what I have seen so far, OOo 1.1.2 has the following:
1. Significantly faster startup than NeoJ 0.8.4 or OOo 1.0.3.
2. Requires less memory to run than NeoJ 0.8.4 or OOo 1.0.3.
BTW, I am slowly working on moving NeoJ to use the OOo 1.1.2 codebase. I still need to implement all of the new text features, but so far, NeoJ using the OOo 1.1.2 codebase is nearly as fast on startup as OOo 1.1.2 (NeoJ is about 2 or 3 seconds slower on startup).
Joined: Jan 25, 2004 Posts: 22 Location: Madison, WI
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 11:53 pm Post subject:
At least for me, the killer feature of Neo/J is its compatibility with standard OS X text input methods, specifically the Asian language ones. I'm still struggling to get kinput2 working in X11, and it's proving very frustrating.
BTW, I am slowly working on moving NeoJ to use the OOo 1.1.2 codebase. I still need to implement all of the new text features, but so far, NeoJ using the OOo 1.1.2 codebase is nearly as fast on startup as OOo 1.1.2 (NeoJ is about 2 or 3 seconds slower on startup).
Patrick
Great, I'm happy to see it. I'm all for Neo/J because it is easier to teach my user base (wife and kids) to use it that the X11 version.
Joined: Jul 01, 2004 Posts: 45 Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 5:09 am Post subject: misssing?
Having learned more than I wanted to about Unix while getting ooo 1.1.x running I am very pleased with NeoOffice/J.
Will the move towards the ooo 1.1.x codebase bring RTL languages into NeoOffice/J? That's the only thing I miss at the moment. (And I feel very ungrateful even mentioning it).
Will the move towards the ooo 1.1.x codebase bring RTL languages into NeoOffice/J? That's the only thing I miss at the moment. (And I feel very ungrateful even mentioning it).
It should. This is becoming a not-uncommon post here; there are several of us who have politely mentioned to Patrick our desire for RTL in NeoJ
Given MS's refusal to add RTL support back to Office/Mac, OOo (and "forthcoming" 1.1.2-based NeoJ) fill a very large hole! Alf shukr to all the coders involved!
Joined: Jun 20, 2003 Posts: 104 Location: Birmingham, Alabama; and Amelia (Terni), Italy
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:30 am Post subject: Add gen-u-wine command keys & clipboard to your list
Another advantage of /J is that it uses real Macintosh command keys, instead of control keys. That may sound minor, but I assure you trying to use control keys only in OOo and command keys in everything else is a mind-number (the "b" is silent!). The function keys also work in /J (they wouldn't work for me in OOo 1.0.3). [The command and function keys are, in my opinion, counter-intuitive and not well thought through, but that's OOo, not /J.]
And yet another advantage is the clipboard. /J will let you copy and paste among NeoOffice, Mac OS X, and System 9...and Windows too, if you're running Virtual PC. Is that amazing, or what?! Beyond amazing, it also gives you an upgrade path for old documents.
If indeed "NeoOffice/J is intended for software engineers and is not yet complete enough for regular users," then I guess that makes me a software engineer!
Um, uh, what exactly is RTL?! Cheers, _________________ Gib Henry
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum