libreoffice - how to install?

[spchong]

Hi everyone,

I just received my Pi 2 days ago, and I had been waiting for 2 months!

When it reached me, I had everything ready, HD monitor, power adaptor, SD card with Debian Squeeze. I even learnt Scratch (well, not exactly a kid anymore), Python, Processing for this wonderful Singapore Dollars $45 PC. It worked the first time I switched it on (in my office) - that was a good experience for me.

Then I took it home and use RCA cable (somehow, the TV HD connector did not seem to work) and the image on my TV was lousy. I used wired internet connection at home (office is all wireless) to download Libreoffice, 32 bits, Debian, US English and tried to install.

I extracted the zipped file, right-clicked the DEBS to open in Terminal, typed sudo dpkg -i *.deb and got a series of error message, saying "package architecture (i386) does not match system (armel)".

Any idea what could be the cause of this error? Is Libreoffice not ready for Pi?

Thanks in advance for any kind of advice...

By the way, back in my office, with the HD monitor, I could read the error message. At home, I thought I had succesfully installed and searched high and low for the Libreoffice icons...!

The Scratch is working fine and I am creating a tank game and will try to use the GPIO with a button & joystick to build an arcade game.

[grumpyoldgit]

It is unclear to me where you got libreoffice from but I am about 110% it is not compatible with the Pi. You just can't download random applications, even if the word Debian is mentioned, and expect them to work on the Pi. They have to be compiled for the Pi. Try

sudo apt-get install libreoffice

[rpdom]

Installing software for Debian is a lot easier that the process you went through. You have downloaded a PC (intel/AMD) version of libreoffice and it won't work on an Arm processor like the one in your Pi.

At the command prompt type "sudo apt-get update" (without the quotes), then "sudo apt-get install libreoffice". That will download all the software needed to run the full Libreoffice suite on your Pi and install it for you. If running as the root user you should omit the "sudo" part of the command.

[grumpyoldgit]

I think I just said all that, perhaps not as eloquently.

[maddogdave]

I've not tried installing that version, but the similar OpenOffice is available and will work. But don't expect it to speed through any complex spreadsheets.
Link below is the general guide, there is a post on one of the other wiki pages about openoffice which is where I got the information from originally, but I can't find the link right now.

Try "openoffice.org" as the name.

http://elinux.org/Add_software_to_Raspberry_pi

[grumpyoldgit]

Though it is worth pointing out that you can create a 1000 (100x10) cell spreadsheet with dependencies through all cells, and if a single cell is changed the rest will be updated in less than a second.

[rpdom]

@maddogdave Ah, good point. Debian Squeeze still uses openoffice.org, while Debian Wheezy uses libreoffice. It's been a few years since I've used Squeeze seriously.

@grumpyoldgit We must have been typing our replies at the same time

[itsonlyme]

I have libreoffice installed under Wheezy. installed using Synaptic with the default repositorys. Nothing special. No problems with running.

Malcolm

[spchong]

Thanks to everyone! I learnt that I should go for open office instead of libreoffice for Debian Squeeze.

By the way, my libreoffice was downloaded from libreoffice.rrg straight into my RPi, extracted, then in the Terminal opened, I type sudo dpkg -i *.deb, exactly as instructed by libreoffice help -> installation.

[spchong]

Will try the "apt-get update" and then "sudo apt-get install libreoffice" before switching to open office. Thanks!

[jamesh]

Thanks to everyone! I learnt that I should go for open office instead of libreoffice for Debian Squeeze.

By the way, my libreoffice was downloaded from libreoffice.rrg straight into my RPi, extracted, then in the Terminal opened, I type sudo dpkg -i *.deb, exactly as instructed by libreoffice help -> installation.

The problem with this way is that the downloaded version from the website is build for a different processor architecture than the Raspi. The Raspi uses an Arm processor, whilst you downloaded one for the x86 processor family. Arm PC's are pretty rare when compared with the x86 PC, so its not supplied on the Libreoffice website.

The apt-get way downloaded the correct one for you.

[spchong]

You are right, the message "package architecture (i386) does not match system (armel)" told me that I used something meant for PC on Pi (Arm).

Thanks everyone! Will try over the weekend, and install other stuffs as well - Processing, XBMC...

[spchong]

Whole weekend was spent working on the Raspberry Pi. So far managed to do 1. Resize partitions to claim back unused part of SD card - OS image is 2G, SD card is 4G. 2. Sudo apt-get install openoffice (Writer, Impress, Calc = Words, Powerpoint, Excel) & VLC (which still can't work - no sound- because of ALSA problem). 3. Use Medori to surf web, access email & Facebook. (Still need a camera board before can use Skype - Pi Foundation is still trying.) 4. Write and run simple programs using Scratch & Python. (Still need to get GPIO code to compile before I can interface to sensors and actuators.) What else? Gaming? Wifi? Wireless mouse & keyboard? I have so much fun doing all these...

Thanks to all you helpful guys!

[Meccanut]

Have I got this right from the posts ?

1. Dont install libreoffice to an Rpi running Debian Squeeze as an OS

2. Instead install openoffice with the following command at the command prompt:

'sudo apt-get install openoffice'

Is that correct ??

[alexeames]

Have I got this right from the posts ?

1. Dont install libreoffice to an Rpi running Debian Squeeze as an OS

2. Instead install openoffice with the following command at the command prompt:

'sudo apt-get install openoffice'

Is that correct ??

Not really.

You can install either package on either squeeze or wheezy, but make sure you use the proper installation method, either apt-get or a package manager like synaptic.

But, to be honest, Wheezy is so much better than squeeze on the Pi, I wouldn't bother using squeeze at all any more.

[rpdom]

Have I got this right from the posts ?

1. Dont install libreoffice to an Rpi running Debian Squeeze as an OS

2. Instead install openoffice with the following command at the command prompt:

'sudo apt-get install openoffice'

Is that correct ??

Nearly...

In Squeeze you need to 'sudo apt-get install openoffice.org'

When you upgrade to Wheezy it will automatically install libreoffice instead.

[Meccanut]

Thanks for that clarification

[elatllat]

libreoffice won't install on the official rpi wheezy image due to missing "ure" package.

[rpdom]

"ure" doesn't appear to be in the Raspian repository.

I'd suggest asking for it on the "Packages from debian you want to see in raspbian repository" http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 66&t=12261.

I thought I had installed libreoffice on my raspi. I must have been wrong. I'll check next time I fire it up.

[r4049zt]

Open Office might be a bit big and bloated for rPi ideals.
IF you want a basic wordprocessor and spreadsheet, sufficient is
sudo apt-get install abiword
sudo apt-get install gnumeric

Those can read and write .doc and .xls formats, but have less clutterware than the full open office mammoth. The choice is yours.

[dwreid55]

As of this date LibreOffice is still not available for install via the standard Wheezy distro. It would be really nice if it were but there is a missing dependency. Any idea how to request this?

[jackokring]

I think the ure package is to do with the SDK option install. It may not be in the general source.

[wallarug]

Open Office might be a bit big and bloated for rPi ideals.
IF you want a basic wordprocessor and spreadsheet, sufficient is
sudo apt-get install abiword
sudo apt-get install gnumeric

Those can read and write .doc and .xls formats, but have less clutterware than the full open office mammoth. The choice is yours.

What if I want a pptx viewer? any ideas?

[ibrahimansari]

LibreOffice looks ugly on the Pi, while it looks different (and beautiful) when installed from the Pi Store. After a Google search (unsuccessful) and then checking the Pi Store's install script, I found that you have to install the following package to enable GTK and a much better interface.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-gtk

Currently, I have the renovated LXDE interface for the Pi, which uses Roboto Thin, which works very bad on LibreOffice with GTK (It automatically uses the system font). To fix that, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Under LibreOffice, select View and disable "Use system font for user interface". You can also change the system font but Roboto is too good.