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HPC Softmaker Office Beta available

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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 7:49 AM
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John Kless sent me this info though it appears it is all moot since it seems to run fine:

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Have you tried downloading the new beta of Softmaker Office 2008 for Windows CE? The main version doesn't support the 640x240 screen anymore but they have a version for 320x240 that runs just fine. Only catch is that it has the Pocket PC look and feel but all the features are there. Including the Presentations software which seems to run and be able to create everything powerpoint can. Just thinking somebody ought to review this or at least mention it (HPCNEC or HPC Factor or...) especially as to whether it is worth buying this over the 2006 version. I guess it is if you need the Presentations. Don't know if there are significant improvements over 2006. It does seem to me to type faster than 2002....

John Kless


Rich
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Jake Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 8:06 AM
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I hate to ask this, but does it matter? And I don't mean to be facetious or argumentative. I realize that there are some HPC2000 users who need incredibly sophisticated features in their wp, but even TM 2002 satisfied the vast majority of handheld needs, which is probably why TM stopped development.

I imagine I was one of the first twenty owners of TM 2002, I beta-tested, and emailed news of glitches back and forth with the very helpful staff, and have the original TM CD, and you know, today, I almost never use it.

The incredibly kind Wolfgang Rolke customized his Punctuation program for me so I could have smart quotes and em dashes and ellipses, and that's all I need for professional manuscript preparation. Except for TM's good file conversions, the lowly Pocket Word can do the job. (PM me if you need that Punctuation file)

Furthermore, I found TM's execessive CPU usage to be a real problem in Linux (twice as hungry as even the bloated OO), and have to wonder what goes on with TM at the HPC level.

I feel badly that some people are disappointed by TM's recent decision, and hope they find their workarounds. And again, I don't mean to appear flip. I guess that a real issue will be: will at least TM 2006 always be available for now-abandoned machines? TM has always been very weird about selling back copies of their stuff. I had to look hard to find rev 397 to run TM on my Sharp Mobilon (and though I have it, I never use it )

Jake
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mr-mac Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 8:27 AM
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Jake,

I agree 2006 for planmaker and textmaker may be fine for most users.. But 2008 now has presentationmaker (equivilant to powerpoint) which is a totally new app and as far as I am aware there isn't other options that allow presentation design and MS office compatability.

Will compare CPU use on 2006 and 2008 on my smartbook and see if it has dropped at all.

John
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Jake Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 8:52 AM
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I can certainly see how that would be a problem for some. I'll also be interested to hear your CPU findings. Anecdotally, the CPU in my ASUS 900 running Puppy Linux went from 16 percent to 27-33 percent just by TM running in the background (I wasn't printing or converting, etc.).

It made the program untenable, given that ASUS battery life isn't that great to begin with. Everybody in HPC land knew that TM needed a lot of memory; but I hadn't ever thought about battery drain via high CPU demands.

Jake

Edited by Jake 2008-08-20 8:52 AM
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johnkless Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 9:34 AM
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Let me reiterate that Softmaker Office 2008 comes in TWO versions; you choose which one you want at download time. The normal 640x480 one actually runs and looks OK on the 900c but the dialog boxes don't fit the screen (ugh!). The other version is 320x240 and it runs just fine, fills the screen, dialogs OK. However, it has the familiar Pocket PC look and interface where you click an icon at the bottom left to open the menu set, etc. (ugh! again). So I don't think Softmaker is very open about fixing the dialog thing - they have a version that already works... Read this thread on their forum: http://www.softmaker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=6106

John
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Jake Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 9:53 AM
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In that Softmaker thread, I'm surprised at the TM bluntness about the failed sales of TM for HPC. On the other hand, I just don't see how a keyboardless device can work with any version of TM. By the time you found and attached your keyboard, couldn't you already be at your laptop?

I also wonder if the advent of minipcs (eee, etc.) will put TM at a disadvantage. Linux will give you Abiword or OO, so no real need for TM. And with a 40-second boot into XP, users have Word available.

It'll be fascinating to see how this plays out. But all my best to TM; they have been so bold.

Jake
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mr-mac Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 11:13 AM
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They also say in the forum it runs on Sigmarion 3 or any device that has 64mb system memory.

Well first off it's CE .net 4.1, the installer doesn't work on Sig3, most ram I can make available with MUI Installed is about 60Mb.

And it doesn't run on Sig even if you get round the cab issue.

John

Edited by mr-mac 2008-08-20 11:14 AM
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cmonex Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 3:26 PM
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mr-mac - 2008-08-20 5:13 PM

They also say in the forum it runs on Sigmarion 3 or any device that has 64mb system memory.

Well first off it's CE .net 4.1, the installer doesn't work on Sig3, most ram I can make available with MUI Installed is about 60Mb.

And it doesn't run on Sig even if you get round the cab issue.

John



bummer! I'll try it out soon on mine ...





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Jake - 2008-08-20 2:06 PM

I hate to ask this, but does it matter? And I don't mean to be facetious or argumentative. I realize that there are some HPC2000 users who need incredibly sophisticated features in their wp, but even TM 2002 satisfied the vast majority of handheld needs, which is probably why TM stopped development.


it does matter to some - I didn't like TM2002 at all. 2006 fixed many many things, and can finally open more than one document (ftw!) and on ce.net it handles the accented chars finally..
I actually like using 2006, I didn't feel so with 2002.
of course it is still a heavy app, but at least it can finally do basic things (and not just advanced shit I don't need as much) such as the above mentioned ones. and even though it is a heavy app, it runs quite well on sig3 and flies on smartbook, bit sluggish on 900c, but quite usable still.
I mainly need TM for the document compatibility. and if I wanted to write a paper for university as it needs some - I think quite basic - features that pocketword doesn't offer. other than that pocketword wins 90% of the time
this is like the IE4 vs netfront thing - without netfront i feel naked on a hpc2000 device, same for the lack of TM in terms of document handling.
P.S: due to this, rev 397 is a godsend on some of my MIPS devices. though 2006 did vastly improve on document compatibility too..


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mr-mac - 2008-08-20 2:27 PM
But 2008 now has presentationmaker (equivilant to powerpoint) which is a totally new app and as far as I am aware there isn't other options that allow presentation design and MS office compatability.



there are other options, but softmaker's offering may be more compatible, we will see


Edited by cmonex 2008-08-20 3:28 PM
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mr-mac Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 3:41 PM
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CPU seems good now.

On the smartbook there is almost no difference in CPU usage with no apps open and having textmaker open. Also makes no diffrence if the window is focussed or not. CPU spikes when typing but goes right back to 9%

So nothing open sits at 8% CPU and Textmaker 2008 open avg 9% cpu. Cant test 2006 as my demo ran out (was waiting for 2008 and having some money to buy it). though was thinking I wanted it for Sig3 but that's out the window.

John

Edited by mr-mac 2008-08-20 3:42 PM
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Jake Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 5:02 PM
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John, that is very intriguing. The Linux TM is a 2002 build, and perhaps TM did modify the GUI as they went along. In another thread, Monica had said that it was proprietary GUI, which may have accounted for the resource demand.

Because there's no way I have your CPU specs on a TM/ASUS setup.

Of course, the fact that the newest release doesn't run on our machines makes it essentially resource-free All the way down to your money, since you don't need to buy it anymore.

Jake
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mr-mac Page Icon Posted 2008-08-20 5:11 PM
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Jake - 2008-08-20 10:02 PM

John, that is very intriguing. The Linux TM is a 2002 build, and perhaps TM did modify the GUI as they went along. In another thread, Monica had said that it was proprietary GUI, which may have accounted for the resource demand.

Because there's no way I have your CPU specs on a TM/ASUS setup.

Jake


Smartbook is a CE4.2 200mhz Strongarm.

softmaker said linux beta of 2008 would be out in a week or so.

John
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