Finally successfully installed Lubuntu 18.04 LTS into my old 2008 Macbook white to extend its life. There was an inclusion of AbiWord and Gnumeric in the OS installer, but I need a presentation program that's compatible with my old Powerpoint files. I used the Synaptic Package Manager to download the LibreOffice suite but found the Impress program to be unstable in my machine. Causes crashes when I make new presentations, when I try to save files, or when I start a slideshow. What's out there that's for Ubuntu, and are free, stable, Powerpoint pptx compatible, and easy to install? TIA
Need stable linux compatible alternative to Powerpoint
- Thread starter berniedd
- Start date
I'd start here - https://alternativeto.net/software/microsoft-powerpoint/ or maybe OpenOffice - https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html
Ed
Ed
Maybe straight Ubuntu with Impress will be stable.
I am not sure anyone is still using OpenOffice - it was forked several years ago into LibreOffice and is much more actively supported and developed; and more importantly is the default in Ubuntu. I am sure Lubuntu has attempted to use something "lighter" in its stead but LibreOffice is probably what you'll be after. You could use whatever Lubuntu offers in the way of a software a management application or just:
Code:
sudo apt install libreoffice
Whats wrong with original OS on the macbook? I am still using my 2008 model with MS Office and no issues.
rock solid OS for 13 years!
just curious on why you jumped to linux. Dont get me wrong i use linux a lot at work for lots of things.
No security updates is my guess. If the machine stays off the internet, OS X would be fine though.
Main reason is Mac OS 10.7 (the maximum my machine can take) is not new enough to install Zoom program. Zoom is the only platform used by the school where I teach for lectures and meetings. Zoom insists the machine run the minimum of Maverics (Mac OS 10.9).
FWIW if you use Ubuntu or an Ubuntu variant and use the Snap installation for ZOOM you may save yourself some headaches having to constantly update that thing manually like Win/ Mac users would have to do. Applications installed via Snap will auto-update like packages in normal repositories.
Same goes for rpm-based distros like Fedora that use Flatpak: Install it that way and it'll auto-update.
Of course, you can install Flatpak and Snap on pretty much any distro.
I use the Office Online apps on my Linux Mint VM as opposed to using Libre Office, but, I have an Office365 subscription also. Not sure if you'd be willing to spring for that or not. The family plan includes 5 accounts and each account gets 1 TB of OneDrive storage, which is the main hook for me. For 1TB it's cheaper than Google on a per account basis and much cheaper than Apple iCloud. But anyway.
Good suggestion. Libreoffice itself is stable on Ubuntu. Crashes are usually due to video drivers or desktop variant (KDE, XFCE, LXQt, Unity, Gnome, etc.).
If you're running LUbuntu, you probably value a lightweight fast interface suitable for older hardware. In that case, try XUbuntu, which is Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop. I run this on several machines, laptops & desktops, with different video drivers, and it is stable with Libreoffice and all other apps.
Since you already have Ubuntu installed, you'd only have to install the XFCE desktop. Then log off and back on with XFCE, and try Libreoffice.
On Linux, you can install as many different desktops as you want, when more than 1 is installed, pick one on the login screen. Then remove whichever desktops you don't want.
Libreoffice is the best fat client alternative to Powerpoint. Google apps is the next best alternative, though it is not a fat client, it runs in the browser.
Last edited:
LibreOffice can be installed on Lubuntu alongside Abiword and Gnumeric and even made default for its associated file types.
I agree though that Xubuntu or even Ubuntu MATE are better alternatives for those seeking a lightweight alternative. MATE does not seem to be any "heavier" than XFCE as far as I recall.
I thought I was the only Linux user in the world who'd paid for a O365 account. I had heard ("heard", not "verified"!) that MS was rate- or feature-limiting that service(s) for Linux users and that fudging your browser user agent to MS Edge sped things up a bit.
For me it doesn't seem to load any slower on my Linux VM than it does in Windows. Any slowness I attribute to only giving the VM a single CPU and 4GB of RAM. I use this VM on my work machine to keep a leg on my local network, then on the host machine I VPN to my office.
I just opened Google Sheets vs PowerPoint Online in Linux and I guess the PP does seem to load a little slower, but it didn't seem inordinate. Maybe like an extra second or two to load all the objects on the page.
I just opened Google Sheets vs PowerPoint Online in Linux and I guess the PP does seem to load a little slower, but it didn't seem inordinate. Maybe like an extra second or two to load all the objects on the page.
Well, guys, after perusing the above possibilities, I have taken a different approach to the instability problem. And that was to overwrite the Lubuntu 18 totally with another Linux distro. Turns out I have a freebie Linux Mint 17.3 DVD installer that came with an older Linux magazine issue I bought some years back. This installs the 32-bit Linux Mint version. Thought this 32-bit distro might be a better idea, as it jibes with my recollection that my laptop can take a dual boot Windows7 32-bit install (but no mention of 64-bit version). The DVD also installs LibreOffice 5 automatically.
The Impress instability has been resolved. Yes, it is not LibreOffice 6 and the OS does not update, but it works to my satisfaction. The Firefox 42.0 browser is not always accepted by a few websites due to its age but I installed a more recent Chromium browser and that's that. Zoom meetings program flies also, and am very happy with the outcome.
The Impress instability has been resolved. Yes, it is not LibreOffice 6 and the OS does not update, but it works to my satisfaction. The Firefox 42.0 browser is not always accepted by a few websites due to its age but I installed a more recent Chromium browser and that's that. Zoom meetings program flies also, and am very happy with the outcome.
Why would the OS not update? It seems like it should offer you an upgrade to a later version of LM, I see there is up to a 19.3 32 bit version that is supported until 2023.
www.linuxmint.com
www.linuxmint.com
All Versions - Linux Mint
Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.
www.linuxmint.com
Editions for Linux Mint 19.3 "Tricia" - Linux Mint
Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution.
Mint changed their basing on Ubuntu a few years back to track only Ubuntu LTS versions and I believe that affected their upgrade paths in some way: It is now trivial to upgrade between point releases but I am not sure at this time, with 17.x likely past end-of-life, how easy it'd be to go 17.x - >18 -> 19, etc.Why would the OS not update? It seems like it should offer you an upgrade to a later version of LM, I see there is up to a 19.3 32 bit version that is supported until 2023.
All Versions - Linux Mint
Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.Editions for Linux Mint 19.3 "Tricia" - Linux Mint
Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution.
Running an unsupported version of any OS is **not** a good idea.
I'd rather see OP find a stable, suitable OS for the old MBP (Debian still supports 32 bit architecture, I think.) If the MBP supports 64 bit it would be a no-brainer to just use Ubuntu and stop fiddling with all of these derivatives.
If LibreOffice is giving you trouble from the normal repos you can always install it via a Snap or Flatpak image and there ought not to be any trouble.
What you said, and in addition there is a Debian based Linux Mint that is available in 32bit, haven't personally tried it, but maybe I will try building up a VM of it just for fun.
www.linuxmint.com
Download LMDE 6 - Linux Mint
Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.
www.linuxmint.com
On a side note, if you download a Linux distro and want a fast connection, try the TeraSwitch mirror if it's available, I was able to max out my Internet connection downloading Debian based Linux Mint just now! 220Mbps and downloaded the entire ISO in less than a minute. wow....
Yes, guys, I didn't mention it but I did try the Linux Mint 19.3. This was the last 32-bit release of LM. It had the same LibreOffice6 Impress instability, so I ditched it for the LM17.3
