Re: [libreoffice-users] which version has the best legacy importing?

Hi :)
Floppy drives were notoriously unstable and kept needing to be replaced or
just left in the machine in their broken state.

It's also kinda inevitable that people have ended up with files in formats
that can't be read anymore.  It's one of the main reasons for the need for
a big push for greater use of Open formats.

I find it hilarious that the Senate decided their library was going to be
all in Rtf format as the one that would finally allow all their files to be
readable by anyone on any machine with any relevant program forever.  It's
what MS promised for the format despite all the 'accidental' troubles that
format had.  The Senate is far from being the only organisation so easily
fooled by MS.

Regards from
Tom :)






On 29 June 2014 14:27, Kracked_P_P---webmaster <webmaster@krackedpress.com>
wrote:

> On 06/29/2014 08:36 AM, Charles-H. Schulz wrote:
>
> > Hello Tim,
> >
> > Le Sat, 28 Jun 2014 19:23:56 -0400,
> > Kracked_P_P---webmaster <webmaster@krackedpress.com> a écrit :
> >
> >  On 06/28/2014 10:09 AM, Charles-H. Schulz wrote:
> > > > Le Sat, 28 Jun 2014 16:03:59 +0200,
> > > > "Charles-H. Schulz" <charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org> a
> > > > écrit :
> > > >
> > > >  Hello Tim,
> > > > > Le Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:23:23 -0400,
> > > > > Kracked_P_P---webmaster <webmaster@krackedpress.com> a écrit :
> > > > >
> > > > >  I would like to know which of the older versions of LO has the
> > > > > > best ability to import really old word processor formats.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I remember that LO was reducing the number of import filters for
> > > > > > those old file formats, but I may need one of them.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I have been asked to copy files off a floppy drive and convert the
> > > > > > files to be able to work with the current tech.  Right now, I have
> > > > > > to find a working floppy drive to access the disc.  Right now, the
> > > > > > only system with a floppy drive has a non-working drive, I have to
> > > > > > replace it.  My main system does not even have a cable port for a
> > > > > > floppy drive, and it seems all of the others I have opened up are
> > > > > > the same.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > So, as soon as I get a working floppy drive working, I will need
> > > > > > to get support for 1990's to early 2000's era word processing
> > > > > > formats. The way she remembers, she did not use Word, but may
> > > > > > have used Works or some other older package that are before
> > > > > > MSO .doc format became the "standard" format before FOSS office
> > > > > > packages came out.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Any idea which older version of LO would be the best to try?  As I
> > > > > > have stated, as soon as I get a working floppy drive installed,
> > > > > > then I will know which legacy format I need to work with.  It
> > > > > > would be nice to know which version of LO to install for the
> > > > > > conversion to the modern formats
> > > > > > - MSO's and ODF.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  I could actually point you to the latest version of LibreOffice
> > > > > (the 4.2.5) as the project keeps on creating new filters for these
> > > > > old formats.
> > > > >
> > > > > As for recommending anything older than the currently supported
> > > > > versions (4.1.6 and 4.2.5), it is just unwise to do this and we do
> > > > > not do it anyway: there are some major security holes left
> > > > > unpatched, and anyway the "old" versions are no longer supported.
> > > > To which I should add that the 4.3.0 will be released by the end of
> > > > July.
> > > >
> > > > Best,
> > > >
> > > >  I would be doing the work, then removing the older version in favor
> > > of the newer ones.
> > >
> > > Hope to download the current versions of LO, again, and all of the
> > > info I was working on.  I lost my list of which versions supported
> > > which formats, and will have to look into that again, with a drive
> > > failure.
> > >
> > >
> > > Interesting that I read a while back on the lists that some of the
> > > older legacy formats were not going to be supported anymore.  I have
> > > no problem with using the current version[s] of LO, if it would work
> > > with the file format.  Once I get a working floppy drive setup to
> > > read it.  I know that the drive is bad, since it cannot
> > > read/write/format/etc. the blank floppies I have.
> > >
> > > I may opt for a USB floppy drive, instead of trying to get the 12+
> > > year old system to use a "parts box" floppy drive.  I had one for an
> > > old laptop [XP era] but it dropped and stopped working.  Will work on
> > > that. Just recovered from a 2-TB drive failure for a drive that was
> > > 10 months old.  Have backups for my large drives, but lost some work
> > > between backups and had some backup file corrupted as the drive was
> > > failing the night of the backup process.  New drive in and old drive
> > > going to be replaced via warranty and used as another spare/backup
> > > drive.  I tend to replace drives after 2 years of use and keep the
> > > old ones "offline" for USB backups or system spares. Never had a new
> > > one die in only 10 months.  I currently have three SATA 2-TB data
> > > drives and one 250-GB IDE OS drive internal and three SATA 2-TB USB
> > > backup drives with a spare IDE drive as well.  I use one drive - the
> > > failed one - as both for data and an internal backup for the Linux OS
> > > drive's /user/ Home folder[s].
> > >
> > > That is why I have been offline these past weeks.  My LO folder, with
> > > all my working files, was on the failed drive.  Took some time to get
> > > a new one in so I could have a place to try to recover anything from
> > > the failed drive.   The Floppy project was pushed back, along with a
> > > lot of other "stuff" since the failure and the heat/humidity issues
> > > that came up with the coming of summer.
> > Sorry to hear about that!
> > To comment on one of your points; you're right that LibreOffice did
> > get rid of the old StarOffice formats. However at that time it was
> > done for technical reasons (i.e. these filters were problematic and
> > causing trouble elsewhere in the code). I don't read in tea leaves but
> > writing a new filter for these is just what the Document Liberation
> > project (www.documentliberation.org) is supposed to do and I'm sure
> > they're considering it.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> >  Well, we will see what happens in the near future about these filters.
>
> Having a package, LO or other, that can take as many of the legacy formats
> and convert them into the ones that are used now is always a good thing to
> have.  Every time I changed packages, graphics or office, I tended to take
> the original files/documents/graphics/etc. and make copies of them in the
> file formats that are the defaults of the packages I "now" use. I now keep
> all my documents in ODF and make MSO formatted version as I need them.  The
> vector graphics are still being converted to what Inkscape can use, as I
> get time to do the conversion work.  Then these graphics get
> copied/converted to JPG or PNG as needed by LO or other packages.  I even
> had an old 24+/- page PDF file that had printing issues that I opened into
> Draw and exported it back out as a new PDF file, as well as a Draw file, to
> fix the printing issue.
>
> I tend to try and keep all my files/documents/etc. up-to-date to the best
> format of the packages I now use to deal with them. Between my audio files,
> video files, graphic files, documents, etc., I needed to have 6-TB worth of
> drive space for all that "data" in my desktop.  I have about 4.5-TB space
> currently used for all that, plus another 6-TB of backup drives to "try" to
> keep it all safe. [as long as I remember to backup the desktop every week]
>
>
>
>
>
>
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