Daemon News 199907 : In Search of a Word Processor

In Search of a Word Processor

Copyright © 1999 Chris Coleman

In my last couple of Newbies Corner how-to articles, I have written mostly about how to setup server functions; basically explaining what configurations were needed to setup standard BSD daemons.

I have spent some time lately thinking about desktop applications and noticing more and more of them becoming available for BSD. I searched through the ports collection looking for desktop-style applications that I might benefit from myself. Ever since I started using BSD, I have been looking for a decent word processor. Something relatively WYSIWYG and fairly comparable to what I was familiar with before I started using BSD. I have slowly been migrating towards using BSD as my only computer, and this has been holding me back. I first stumbled across StarOffice 3.1 in the ports collection and installed it quite some time back. But I found it slow and difficult to adjust to. It did have some neat features and was relatively easy to install, being in the ports collection and all.

A couple of weeks ago, I read a tutorial on how to setup StarOffice 5 on BSD. Although it was quite difficult reading and required much tweaking to get it to work, it did work. I was quite impressed with the numerous formats that StarOffice was capable of supporting. There didn't seem to be much that this suite couldn't do. However, it was huge. This was both a pro and a con. I liked the fact that it was an entire Office Suite, including programs that did presentations and so forth. Yet, all I needed was a word processor. It was also unfamiliar; I secretly harbored hopes of replacing Win95 on some average users desks with BSD and the word processor needed to be familiar. As a final problem, I was unable to get the Free Personal version to work for more than one user. I struggled with this a bit and eventually gave up, attributing this to licensing restrictions from StarOffice.

So, I went in search of a relatively small, responsive, word processor that would do the job. My desire to find something familiar was important, but I feared it was hopeless. Then, I looked into the ports collection this week on other business and noticed "word perfect" in the editors directory. I was almost shocked until I remembered a press release some time back about Corel releasing WordPerfect 8 for Linux.

With much anticipation, I switched to root and did a cd /usr/ports/editors/wordperfect. Then typed make install. I met with an annoying, but obviously unavoidable message saying that I had to download the install binary from Corel, because they couldn't distribute it automatically. The message was nice enough to include the URL to download the file from, which I cut & pasted into Netscape. A few moments later I was accepting a Corel WordPerfect license agreement and downloading the install files into /usr/ports/distfiles.

I changed directories back to /usr/ports/editors/wordperfect and typed make install. It found the source files and started checking for dependencies. It started downloading and installing Linux emulation libraries. It downloaded and installed them correctly, however it didn't turn the Linux emulation on, so I got a rather mysterious error message.

I pondered over it for a bit till I realized that it was trying to execute a Linux binary without Linux emulation activated. I pressed <CTRL> C and canceled the operation. Then I activated the freshly installed Linux Emulation by typing linux. I restarted the install process by typing make install.

This time I was met with a really nice graphical install screen.

The first time I tried to install WordPerfect after su'ing to root, the X Window System didn't allow root to connect to the X server. Instead, it complained that I was not authorized and WordPerfect launched a text based install that worked just fine, except that the xterm that I was using really mangled its appearance. I fixed this by using the xhost command and restarted the setup by typing make install.

The graphical install was a breeze, I clicked through it with very little effort. In no time, there was a status bar showing the progress of the file installation. The Linux emulation definitely worked. If I hadn't had to turn the emulation on, I might not have realized that it was a Linux binary instead of a native BSD binary.

As soon as the install process was finished, I created an icon on my X Window Desktop and clicked it. WordPerfect 8 was everything that I had remembered it to be. It had support for my HP Laserjet 5 Non-Postscript printer. It even had all the little annoyances that the regular version had. I had to turn off the auto correct feature so I could spell `Daemon' right as I wrote this article.

As I have used WordPerfect 8 for Linux on BSD, I have found very little to complain about. I did have some difficulty placing graphics; however, after some configuring, it did seem capable of placing the graphics where and how I wanted them. It never froze or core dumped, but working with the graphics caused a tremendous slow down. I attribute most of the slow down to the fact that my system has very little RAM.

Otherwise, I was quite pleased with the product; so much so, that I thought I would write up a "How to install WordPerfect 8". Yet, because it is in the ports collection, there was very little to talk about.

This version is a `Personal' version that expires after 90 days if you don't register it with Corel using their online registration forms. At the end of the `make install' it gave the URL for registering it. I took a few minutes and filled out the forms. The forms didn't leave any place for people using BSD to explain that they weren't using Linux to run this, so I wrote BSD in any of the fields that allowed for `other' types of responses.

I hope Corel notices the BSD community soon, at least enough to put us on their form.

	In Search of a Word Processor Copyright © 1999 Chris Coleman In my last couple of Newbies Corner how-to articles, I have written mostly about how to setup server functions; basically explaining what configurations were needed to setup standard BSD daemons. I have spent some time lately thinking about desktop applications and noticing more and more of them becoming available for BSD. I searched through the ports collection looking for desktop-style applications that I might benefit from myself. Ever since I started using BSD, I have been looking for a decent word processor. Something relatively WYSIWYG and fairly comparable to what I was familiar with before I started using BSD. I have slowly been migrating towards using BSD as my only computer, and this has been holding me back. I first stumbled across StarOffice 3.1 in the ports collection and installed it quite some time back. But I found it slow and difficult to adjust to. It did have some neat features and was relatively easy to install, being in the ports collection and all. A couple of weeks ago, I read a tutorial on how to setup StarOffice 5 on BSD. Although it was quite difficult reading and required much tweaking to get it to work, it did work. I was quite impressed with the numerous formats that StarOffice was capable of supporting. There didn't seem to be much that this suite couldn't do. However, it was huge. This was both a pro and a con. I liked the fact that it was an entire Office Suite, including programs that did presentations and so forth. Yet, all I needed was a word processor. It was also unfamiliar; I secretly harbored hopes of replacing Win95 on some average users desks with BSD and the word processor needed to be familiar. As a final problem, I was unable to get the Free Personal version to work for more than one user. I struggled with this a bit and eventually gave up, attributing this to licensing restrictions from StarOffice. So, I went in search of a relatively small, responsive, word processor that would do the job. My desire to find something familiar was important, but I feared it was hopeless. Then, I looked into the ports collection this week on other business and noticed "word perfect" in the editors directory. I was almost shocked until I remembered a press release some time back about Corel releasing WordPerfect 8 for Linux. With much anticipation, I switched to root and did a `cd /usr/ports/editors/wordperfect`. Then typed `make install`. I met with an annoying, but obviously unavoidable message saying that I had to download the install binary from Corel, because they couldn't distribute it automatically. The message was nice enough to include the URL to download the file from, which I cut & pasted into Netscape. A few moments later I was accepting a Corel WordPerfect license agreement and downloading the install files into /usr/ports/distfiles. I changed directories back to /usr/ports/editors/wordperfect and typed `make install`. It found the source files and started checking for dependencies. It started downloading and installing Linux emulation libraries. It downloaded and installed them correctly, however it didn't turn the Linux emulation on, so I got a rather mysterious error message. I pondered over it for a bit till I realized that it was trying to execute a Linux binary without Linux emulation activated. I pressed `<CTRL> C` and canceled the operation. Then I activated the freshly installed Linux Emulation by typing `linux`. I restarted the install process by typing `make install`. This time I was met with a really nice graphical install screen. The first time I tried to install WordPerfect after su'ing to root, the X Window System didn't allow root to connect to the X server. Instead, it complained that I was not authorized and WordPerfect launched a text based install that worked just fine, except that the xterm that I was using really mangled its appearance. I fixed this by using the xhost command and restarted the setup by typing `make install`. The graphical install was a breeze, I clicked through it with very little effort. In no time, there was a status bar showing the progress of the file installation. The Linux emulation definitely worked. If I hadn't had to turn the emulation on, I might not have realized that it was a Linux binary instead of a native BSD binary. As soon as the install process was finished, I created an icon on my X Window Desktop and clicked it. WordPerfect 8 was everything that I had remembered it to be. It had support for my HP Laserjet 5 Non-Postscript printer. It even had all the little annoyances that the regular version had. I had to turn off the auto correct feature so I could spell `Daemon' right as I wrote this article. As I have used WordPerfect 8 for Linux on BSD, I have found very little to complain about. I did have some difficulty placing graphics; however, after some configuring, it did seem capable of placing the graphics where and how I wanted them. It never froze or core dumped, but working with the graphics caused a tremendous slow down. I attribute most of the slow down to the fact that my system has very little RAM. Otherwise, I was quite pleased with the product; so much so, that I thought I would write up a "How to install WordPerfect 8". Yet, because it is in the ports collection, there was very little to talk about. This version is a `Personal' version that expires after 90 days if you don't register it with Corel using their online registration forms. At the end of the `make install' it gave the URL for registering it. I took a few minutes and filled out the forms. The forms didn't leave any place for people using BSD to explain that they weren't using Linux to run this, so I wrote BSD in any of the fields that allowed for `other' types of responses. I hope Corel notices the BSD community soon, at least enough to put us on their form. Chris Coleman, chrisc@vmunix.com

In Search of a Word Processor

Copyright © 1999 Chris Coleman

Chris Coleman, chrisc@vmunix.com