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

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From: William W. Austin <airedad@att.net>
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] which version has the best legacy
importing?
To: anne-ology <laginnis@gmail.com>


Hello,

Apologies for replying off-list.  I'm working VO right now, and even if
I do so while I'm at lunch, my employer tends to think I'm "goofing
off."  Hence any replies I send between 08:00 and 18:00 (M-S) are
usually "off-list."




> I would like to know which of the older versions of LO has the best
> ability
> to import really old word processor formats.

Concerning the floppy drive, get a USB floppy drive.  They're not only
easier to deal with, they're also faster than the old "normal" floppy
drives.  If that isn't an option, there are floppies which use an IDE
cable and work nicely (I think I've seen them on both NewEgg and
Amazon). (BTW, converting things from 8" DSDD floppies is less fun than
it sounds ... and I don't think there actually is a USB version of
those...)

[SNIP]

> 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.

[SNIP AGAIN]

I have kept a "well protected" copy of the 2.4 release of OOo around
for just such tasks as reading "orphaned" format docs, and I also have
a VERY old copy of StarOffice7 for the same purpose.  There may be a
release of LO which corresponds to the OOo release I hang on to, but I
didn't start using it until the 3.4.1rc3 release, so I don't know...
sorry).

Surprisingly the last release of IBM's Symphony tucks in a couple of
items which were not in any of the OOo or LO releases I've used - or it
did a better job on some of them (sorry - it has been 2 years since I
did any of this, so I'm a bit "fuzzy" as to details).

Occasionally I have to resort to the last Linux release of Applix, but
it is a little bit of a pain because I have to reinstall (my own rpm) a
set of libraries going back as far as what came with either RedHat 9 or
Fedora FC 2 (not sure off the top of my head) - otherwise sometimes
Applix and or WP (yes there actually was a Linux version at one
point) bomb out while running.

Finally I also have - on a windows xp machine (kept just for that
purpose) copies of Framemaker and Word Perfect - again for the same
reason.

I had to set up all of that about 3 years ago when I inherited a
project from someone who retired, and it included porting about 30k of
docs from "ancient" formats to something readable today.

I hope this helps...

 - wwa

--
william w. austin                                     airedad@att.net
"life is just another phase i'm going through. this time, anyway ..."

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