"new" iBook G4 - RAM or other problem

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smurfix


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Hi,

I'm new to MACs, I've just bought an iBook G4 running 10.3.9 (Panther?) from ebay. Everything seems to be working fine but I've tried downloading and using Open Office with the RAM (256Mb) it came with but OO doesn't start. I initially tried OO 3.2, when that didn't work I tried OO 2.2 and then 2.0 but OO still didn't start up.

I've bought an extra Gig of RAM, installed that but still no joy (1.25Gb shows in "About this MAC" so I'm presuming the new RAM is installed properly). I'm currently downloading OO 3.0 which apparently runs on MAC OSX 10.2 or later.

Am I doing something simple wrong ?

Just wondering (and will be very grateful) if someone can help me.

Thanks

Steve
 
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shoorace for

I think I might have found my problem. Open Office is only for Intel machines, I have a PowerPC and that therefore has pointed me towards a program I'd never heard of "NeoOffice". I'm downloading this and hoping that will work.

I did say I was a newbie :)
 
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smurfix said:
Hi,

I'm new to MACs, I've just bought an iBook G4 running 10.3.9 (Panther?) from ebay. Everything seems to be working fine but I've tried downloading and using Open Office with the RAM (256Mb) it came with but OO doesn't start. I initially tried OO 3.2, when that didn't work I tried OO 2.2 and then 2.0 but OO still didn't start up.

I've bought an extra Gig of RAM, installed that but still no joy (1.25Gb shows in "About this MAC" so I'm presuming the new RAM is installed properly). I'm currently downloading OO 3.0 which apparently runs on MAC OSX 10.2 or later.

Am I doing something simple wrong ?

Just wondering (and will be very grateful) if someone can help me.

Thanks

Steve
Click to expand...

I'm going to guess that you didn't check the system requirements for Open Office before downloading & installing it!;) Even if you did...since you're new to Mac's...the system requirements may or may not have made sense.

Here's the deal:

- Open Office 3 won't run on your computer because it requires an Intel cpu...your iBook has an older G4 cpu
- Open Office 2 won't run on your computer because it requires OS 10.4 or higher...your iBook has OS 10.3.9. If you upgrade to Tiger (10.4...expensive) then you can run Open Office 2.
- you can run Open Office version 1.1 or 1.0:)

Here is the link for Open Office system requirements:

System Requirements

Hope this helps...welcome to Mac-Forums,:)

- Nick
 
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Thanks Nick, you spotted my fatal mistakes re system requirements, impatience D'oh :)

Having trouble finding any mirror sites that will allow me to download OO 1.1 or 1.0. Do you have any mirror site suggestions (I'm in the UK) for either of the above or NeoOffice 2.2.5 (think this one will be compatible with my "new" MAC)?

Thanks for the welcome, might be spending some time here ;-)
 
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There IS a power PC version of OO3. It's hard to find but I have it on my iMac G5 (Power PC) and it works GREAT. Works on my iBook G4 also. I will try and find the URL. It's not on the official download page is all I can remember.

http://download.openoffice.org/other.html

Right there. There is only an English, French and Danish version.
 
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dtravis7 said:
There IS a power PC version of OO3. It's hard to find but I have it on my iMac G5 (Power PC) and it works GREAT. Works on my iBook G4 also.
Click to expand...

VERY interesting...considering the "official" system requirements in the link I included above say you need an Intel cpu!

I went to your link...and there it is...a PowerPC version of OO3!:)

- Nick

p.s. Would be an interesting question to send to the Open Office folks...and see how they answer it!;)
 
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pigoo3 said:
VERY interesting...considering the "official" system requirements in the link I included above say you need an Intel cpu!

I went to your link...and there it is...a PowerPC version of OO3!:)

- Nick

p.s. Would be an interesting question to send to the Open Office folks...and see how they answer it!;)
Click to expand...

Yeah it gave me a headache at first also as they flat out said no PPC support then there is that. I have been using it for months and it works great so far. I was discussing it with Van Smith at the time. Not sure if he found that for me or I found it.
 
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I don't seem to be having much luck here.

Downloaded the PowerPC version, it unpacked itself, I dragged the OO icon into the applications folder and tried to open it up but no joy, is this a Panther issue now ? If so, have you got any leads for NeoOffice 2.2.5 please.

Thanks very much guys !
 
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smurfix said:
I don't seem to be having much luck here.

Downloaded the PowerPC version, it unpacked itself, I dragged the OO icon into the applications folder and tried to open it up but no joy, is this a Panther issue now ? If so, have you got any leads for NeoOffice 2.2.5 please.

Thanks very much guys !
Click to expand...

Have you tried downloading this version of OO 1.1.2:

OpenOffice 1.1.2 Free Download | 5 Star Shareware

HTH,

- Nick
 
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I did but it wouldn't open up, seems to download a filename.dmg.bz2 file which I can't open unless I go pay for something like stuffit expander.

Have you got any ideas to open the .bz2 file ?
 
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smurfix said:
I did but it wouldn't open up, seems to download a filename.dmg.bz2 file which I can't open unless I go pay for something like stuffit expander.

Have you got any ideas to open the .bz2 file ?
Click to expand...

Stuffit Expander is a free program. I had to search for about 10-15 minutes to find an older version of Stuffit Expander that was compatible with OS 10.3.9...so here you go:

Downloads: StuffIt Expander installers mac win

...make you that you select the proper "Downloads for older Macintosh operating systems:" that's listed on the page.

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. Here's a 2nd link just in case:

http://stuffit-expander.uptodown.com/en/mac
 
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Hey guys,

I just wanted to say thank you for your help the other day.

I didn't really get anywhere with the older versions of OO or NeoOffice so I decided to upgrade to Tiger, which I've done today, and I'm now running NeoOffice and have been able to download, and am using, Thunderbird. Facebook is formatting properly now, which it wasn't for some reason.

Anyway, thanks again fellas !!
 
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You will be a lot happier with Tiger. Glad you went that route. It's a much better OS anyway plus as you have already found out, a lot more support! :D
 

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