Microsoft Office and Wine

[abestern]

Hi All,

I'm considering installing MS office on my 64bit Fedora 14 laptop and I'm looking for a bit of advice. I would like to have the best shot at a getting a stable, problem free MS office suit running. So what I'd like to know is what version of wine should I install and what version of office should I get.

I looked through the app db and it seems like 2002xp and 2007 both run pretty well. Looking through some of the forum posts I have seen a few problems here and there but it seems like generally office runs ok.

Any advice? Are there issues with 64bit machines?

Thanks!

[dimesio]

I'm considering installing MS office on my 64bit Fedora 14 laptop and I'm looking for a bit of advice. I would like to have the best shot at a getting a stable, problem free MS office suit running. So what I'd like to know is what version of wine should I install and what version of office should I get.

I looked through the app db and it seems like 2002xp and 2007 both run pretty well. Looking through some of the forum posts I have seen a few problems here and there but it seems like generally office runs ok.

Any advice? Are there issues with 64bit machines?

Use the latest development release of Wine. Office 2007 works best at this point. However, "works well" applies only to Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Outlook and Access work poorly, if at all; if you need either of those, try Crossover, as they include some hacks to make those apps work.

I'm not aware of any problems with Office on 64 bit systems.

[snejjj]

I'm considering installing MS office on my 64bit Fedora 14 laptop

Do you need some special MS office functionality OpenOffice doesn't support? If not, just stick to OpenOffice. Running a Linux-native app is (almost) always better than going via Wine

[abestern]

In my experience, OpenOffice isn't 100% compatible with MSOffice docs. Since the majority of the people I work with use MSOffice for docs and presentations, I must be able to work with these formats too.

Justification for my decision aside, I am having some issues with, well all the apps after installation. I have a twin monitor setup which seems to cause problems when opening word or excel. The apps open, but only half the window appears and I cant resize it or drag it to the first monitor. No big deal, though, I disconnected my second monitor and Word and Excel seem to work fine when there is only one monitor. Any advice? I am using an nvidia 9200M with "twin view".

This is the MUCH larger concern because Powerpoint is the PRIMARY reason I am installing. Powerpoint doesnt' open at all. The MS splash screen flashes briefly then nothing happens. Second attempt, wine asks if I would like to open in safe mode, "yes", with same result. Third time, wine asks about debugging mode, I again say yes, and nothing else happens. Did this produce a bug report? Maybe someone could tell me where to look for it so I can provide it on a subsequent post?

My gut tells me this is related to the twin view setup I have since powerpoint needs to know details about your monitor setup to properly display presentations.

[abestern]

Here's the output from the command line:

Code: Select all

[stern@subatomic Office12]$ wine POWERPNT.EXE 
fixme:heap:HeapSetInformation 0x110000 1 (nil) 0
fixme:heap:HeapSetInformation 0x110000 1 (nil) 0
fixme:heap:HeapSetInformation 0x110000 1 (nil) 0
fixme:heap:HeapSetInformation 0x110000 1 (nil) 0
fixme:advapi:RegisterEventSourceW ((null),L"Microsoft Office 12"): stub
fixme:advapi:ReportEventA (0xcafe4242,0x0001,0x0000,0x000007d1,(nil),0x0002,0x00000000,0x32ef48,(nil)): stub
fixme:advapi:ReportEventW (0xcafe4242,0x0001,0x0000,0x000007d1,(nil),0x0002,0x00000000,0x141258,(nil)): stub
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L"Microsoft Office PowerPoint"
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L"PowerPoint failed to start correctly last time.  Starting PowerPoint in safe mode will help you correct or isolate a startup problem in order to successfully start the program.  Some functionality may be disabled in this mode.\n\nDo you want to start PowerPoint in safe mode?"
fixme:advapi:DeregisterEventSource (0xcafe4242) stub
fixme:heap:HeapSetInformation 0x110000 1 (nil) 0
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32a004,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32a004,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:wtsapi:WTSRegisterSessionNotification Stub 0x20052 0x00000000
fixme:mscoree:get_runtime_info unsupported runtimeinfo flags 50
fixme:mscoree:CLRMetaHost_GetRuntime Unrecognized version L"v2.0.0"
fixme:advapi:RegisterEventSourceW ((null),L"Microsoft Office 12 Sessions"): stub
fixme:advapi:ReportEventW (0xcafe4242,0x0002,0x0000,0x00001b5b,(nil),0x0004,0x00000000,0x32a554,(nil)): stub
fixme:advapi:DeregisterEventSource (0xcafe4242) stub
fixme:mscoree:CorExitProcess (0) stub
[stern@subatomic Office12]$ 

[dimesio]

This is the MUCH larger concern because Powerpoint is the PRIMARY reason I am installing. Powerpoint doesnt' open at all. The MS splash screen flashes briefly then nothing happens.

Assuming this is Office 2007, did you follow the howto in the AppDB--specifically, the override for riched20 required for Powerpoint? http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.p ... n&iId=4992

[abestern]

Thanks for the reminder; I forgot about that.

I set the override for riched20 and powerpoint opens but has major issues. The equation editor allows you to write an equation, but then it isn't displayed at all when you close the window.

Word also has some issue with the equation editor. If you attempt to insert an equation, it hangs or crashes entirely.

There were a couple of packages that I didn't have when I configured/compiled. Should I go back and try to get every single package and recompile wine? How would I go about this? Do I have to uninstall Office first, then uninstall wine? Or can I just uninstall wine and that will take care of Office?

[dimesio]

The equation editor allows you to write an equation, but then it isn't displayed at all when you close the window.

File a bug.

Word also has some issue with the equation editor. If you attempt to insert an equation, it hangs or crashes entirely.

Did you set the override for usp10.dll?

There were a couple of packages that I didn't have when I configured/compiled. Should I go back and try to get every single package and recompile wine? How would I go about this? Do I have to uninstall Office first, then uninstall wine? Or can I just uninstall wine and that will take care of Office?

Without knowing what you left out, I really can't say whether you need to recompile.

[abestern]

File a bug.

ok.

Did you set the override for usp10.dll?

Thanks, equations in Word work correctly now.

Without knowing what you left out, I really can't say whether you need to recompile.

Here's the last few lines of output of configure:

Code: Select all

config.status: executing Makefile commands

configure: OpenCL 32-bit development files not found, OpenCL won't be supported.
configure: libgphoto2 32-bit development files not found, digital cameras won't be supported.
configure: gstreamer-0.10 base plugins 32-bit development files not found, gstreamer support disabled
configure: libmpg123 32-bit development files not found (or too old), mp3 codec won't be supported.

configure: Finished.  Do 'make' to compile Wine.

Also, I discovered a manageable way to work with Office while multiple monitors (twin view) are enabled. In winecfg->graphics, I enabled a virtual desktop. When the apps open now, there is no issue and I can simply drag the "desktop" around to which ever monitor I need it in. Unfortunately, right now, I can't resize the desktop but I'm sure that will be fixed soon. If you try, a "fixme" message is spit out on the command line so I'm sure the developers are aware.


Do I need the libmpg123 library to embed mpeg movies in powerpoint? Right now, it says that I am using an incompatible format which is an untruth.

[dimesio]

Here's the last few lines of output of configure:

Code: Select all

config.status: executing Makefile commands

configure: OpenCL 32-bit development files not found, OpenCL won't be supported.
configure: libgphoto2 32-bit development files not found, digital cameras won't be supported.
configure: gstreamer-0.10 base plugins 32-bit development files not found, gstreamer support disabled
configure: libmpg123 32-bit development files not found (or too old), mp3 codec won't be supported.

You don't need OpenCL. If you're not using a digital camera, you don't need libgphoto2. If you want sound, you need gstreamer and libmpg123.

Do I need the libmpg123 library to embed mpeg movies in powerpoint? Right now, it says that I am using an incompatible format which is an untruth.

You need libmpg123 for mp3 sound.

You can't embed mpeg movies in Powerpoint. http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16485

You can embed avi files, but you need to install Windows Media Player to the same wineprefix. Follow the instructions in the AppDB. http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.p ... &iId=12813

[abestern]

Major bummer. What is the status of movies in powerpoint in CrossOver Office?

[dimesio]

Major bummer. What is the status of movies in powerpoint in CrossOver Office?

Don't know. They have their own forum; ask there.

[dminik]

Also, I discovered a manageable way to work with Office while multiple monitors (twin view) are enabled. In winecfg->graphics, I enabled a virtual desktop. When the apps open now, there is no issue and I can simply drag the "desktop" around to which ever monitor I need it in. Unfortunately, right now, I can't resize the desktop but I'm sure that will be fixed soon. If you try, a "fixme" message is spit out on the command line so I'm sure the developers are aware.

I've noticed that wine (tested with MS Word and Powerpoint) has mentioned issues (when you drag app window to the second monitor it freezes) only if second monitor is enabled prior to launching app with wine.