Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

I have attached some information about WP's various linux versions, in 
particular the one from 11/1/99 (8.1 PE ver 1.2) which can be used on a 
computer that does not already have libc5 and ld.so-1 (which BL3 does 
have).  What would be nice is to get hold of WP 6, 7, or 8 Server Edition,
which comes with both xwp for X11 and plain console-based wp.  They left 
that out of the Personal Edition which is what they based the smaller free 
download edition on (having left out technical support among many other 
things).  It sounds like you have the free download version without 
text-mode.

There was also a 'lite' version with fewer fonts.  I don't want any fonts, 
or templates.

There seem to be import filters for WORD 97 but not later (no surprise 
considering it is a 1999 program that got reissued in 2003 with libc5.3 
and ld.so-1.9.5 added to the installation).

The installation program is said to put an icon on your KDE desktop.

They seem to be up to WP10 or maybe also WP2000 now.


On Thu, 14 Oct 2004, James Miller wrote:

> On Thu, 14 Oct 2004, sindi keesan wrote:
>
> > Sure, something to keep me busy in the cold weather if I get RP8 working
> > and ghostscript compiled and mutt sending binary attachments.  I have not
> > used GUI WP but I am familiar with the DOS CLI versions.  How enormous is
> > WP8?  I could run WP4.2 off one floppy disk (and spellchecker off
> > another).  360K floppy disk.

> The download was something like 26MB.  Floppy disks are, obviously, out of
> the question.  Don't know about keyboard functionality either.

> > I presume this recent WP will import .doc (WORD) and .rtf.  WP51 won't.
>
> I really haven't used it much, but my supposition is that it's probably
> .doc compatible up to the versions of Word contemporaneous with it.
> Perhaps dedicated users have produced import filters for newer Word
> versions in the interim?  I'd be *very* surprised if it won't handle .rtf.

Supposedly you can use DOS printer drivers with just a name change.

> I'll plan on sending a CD of the tar.gz install file(s) I downloaded
> a couple of years ago.  I also have the stuff uncompressed on a CD I got
> from Edmunds that includes Corel Draw, if you'd rather have that.

The download version was 'lite'.

Is this CD also Personal Edition without the CLI 'wp' just 'xwp'?  If it 
is the Server Edition I would be really delighted to try it in console 
mode. The lite version also omitted equation editor, networking, and some 
other things I have never used.  (What I would really like is a text 
editor that will produce rtf with centering, underlines, and bold, and 
display WYSIWYG in console mode on my TTL like WP51/DOS does).


> James
> _______________________________________________
> BasLinux mailing list
> BasLinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/baslinux

keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org   #[1]WordPerfect on Linux FAQ [2]Introduction [3]Technical Problems.

   WordPerfect on Linux FAQ
   [4]Prev          [5]Next
   ______________________________________________________________________

2. Taxonomy and History

2.1. Corel WordPerfect Product Strategy

   To understand Corel's WP versions for Linux, and what they're like, it
   helps to know the company's product history. As a proprietary software
   company, Corel wants customers to buy its boxed-set products.
   WordPerfect is one such product. CLOS was another. The Corel Netwinder
   Linux-based computer was a third.

   Proprietary software companies are motivated to keep development costs
   down and product-development cycles short. So, Corel always attempts
   to use one main codebase, the Win32 version (the MacOS one having been
   axed in May 2001, per [6]http://www.geocities.com/bulgybear/wp.html)
   as the flagship version, and minimises time and money spent on other
   OSes' versions.

   For similar reasons, the WP product line is always fundamentally less
   diverse than it seems: To fill different niches and hit various price
   points, WP is / was offered in different "editions", with more
   features omitted or disabled from the base "Server" edition (about US
   $500, boxed set) as one descends the price scale.

2.2. Versions and Editions

   WP versions 6 and 7 for Linux (native ports coded by SD Corp.) are
   long gone from the market, at this date. The (premium-priced) Server
   Edition boxed-set version included multiuser support and NFS locking,
   and included both an X11 version ("xwp") and a text-mode / console one
   ("wp"). The lower-priced Personal Edition boxed set omitted both
   multiuser / NFS support and the console version. (By "boxed set", I
   mean that the product was not available for download, only in a retail
   box, via stores or mail-order.)

   WP 8.0 editions for Linux were mostly similar: The Server Edition and
   Personal Edition boxed-set versions were as detailed for prior
   versions. However, Corel also introduced a WP 8.0 Download Personal
   Edition, which could be downloaded free of charge as a gzipped tar
   archive, and was also redistributed for the cost of media on CD-ROMs,
   in either tar.gz or RPM format. In late 2001, Corel disabled download
   of WP 8.0 DPE from its ftp site, but it remains available elsewhere.

   WP 8.0 DPE for Linux differed from the boxed-set versions in lacking
   the other versions' drawing / charting module, their module to create
   custom dictionaries and hyphenation databases, their equation editor,
   their network support, their print-queue manager, their prepaid
   technical support, their sample documents / templates / textures /
   clip-art / photos, their font-installer module, most of their fonts,
   their multi-language support, and their documentation. (The program
   could call up an HTML manual from http://linux.corel.com/wpmanual, now
   removed, and that entire Internet server was finally decommissioned on
   Feb. 26, 2003.) Also, after 90 days, it refuses to run until you enter
   a registration key, available free of charge (for now) on
   [7]http://venus.corel.com/nasapps/wp8linuxreg/register.html or
   [8]http://nas.corel.com/nasapps/wp8linuxreg/register.html (or use one
   of the ones people have posted in public). Also, the licence permitted
   only personal, non-commercial use. Last, it was compiled dynamically
   linked against some now-obsolete libraries, which must thus be
   furnished for its benefit (prior to installation).

   Balanced against these drawbacks is supplies of 8.0 DPE being
   effectively inexhaustible -- despite legal questions.

   WP 8.0 Personal Edition for Linux was offered in boxed sets, and was
   offered bundled with the book "WordPerfect for Linux Bible" by Stephen
   E. Harris and Erwin Zijleman. It included 140 fonts, the
   font-installer module "xwpfi" (see:
   [9]http://www.rodsbooks.com/wpfonts/wpfonts-fonts.html), 5,000 clip
   art images, support for grammar / spelling checkers and thesaurus
   lookups in additional (non-English) languages, and a now-outdated set
   of KDE 1.1 RPMs for Red Hat 5.1 / 5.2. The CD-ROM includes a text file
   with a registration key. Be aware that the electronic-format WP manual
   included is for character-mode WP, not the graphical X11 version.

   Next came WP 8.1 Personal Edition for Linux (WP 8.1 PE), arguably the
   best version to date, showing "Release 8.1 11/1/1999" in its About
   screen. It came only in boxed sets of CLOS Deluxe Edition versions 1.0
   and 1.2. (CLOS 1.2 was better known as "Second Edition", a name Corel
   evidently pitched at MS-Windows users.)

   WP 8.1 PE differed from prior versions in several ways. It wasn't
   licensed for multiuser (only Server Editions included multiuser
   support and console-mode WP; I know of no 8.1 Server Editions), but
   was licensed for commercial use. As part of CLOS Deluxe Edition, it
   was in .deb package format. Redistribution was / is strictly
   prohibited. It came with a full set of 300 fonts, the font-installer
   module, network support, WP Draw, an equation editor, and a printed
   manual. It ships with and installs all required libraries.

   WP 8.1 Light Edition for Linux was the bundled WP copy included in
   boxed sets of CLOS Standard Edition. According to one report, it
   differs from WP 8.1 PE only in having approximately 1/3 as many
   included fonts (only one of the Deluxe bundle's three .deb-format font
   archives).

   Starting in late 2003, an update to WP 8.1 PE, confusingly called
   "WordPerfect 8 for Linux" (but showing "Release 8.1.0076 11/1/1999" in
   the About screen), was available through the Corel Store e-commerce
   Web site on eBay, then on Corel's own site intermittently from April
   15, 2004 until around June 2004 as a "pilot project" aka "proof of
   concept" market-testing limited offering, "to determine the
   feasibility of developing future Linux versions of WordPerfect or
   WordPerfect Office". It uses its own graphical installer routine
   (eschewing the system package database) that prompts you for a licence
   number (included), installs under /usr by default, provides the
   necessary set of libc5 libraries and matching wrapper scripts,
   provides 130 PostScript Type 1 fonts, and incorporates the equivalent
   of Valentijn Sessink's Filtrix fix. Supported languages are English
   (UK, US, CA and OZ) and French (CA and National), only -- which can be
   fixed. Like prior releases of WP 8.1 PE, the 2003-4 "WordPerfect 8 for
   Linux" pilot-project offering was licensed for commercial use, but not
   multiuser.

   The intended successor to 8.x was WP 9, promoted by Corel as
   "WordPerfect Office 2000". This FAQ will have little to say about WP 9
   for Linux, as it was not a true native port, but rather consisted of
   Win32 code running in a Winelib environment -- with predictable RAM
   bloat and instability, as a result. (Boxed sets only were offered.)
   ______________________________________________________________________

   [10]Prev     [11]Home            [12]Next
   Introduction          Technical Problems.

References

   1. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/index.html
   2. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/introduction.html
   3. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/problems.html
   4. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/introduction.html
   5. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/problems.html
   6. http://www.geocities.com/bulgybear/wp.html
   7. http://venus.corel.com/nasapps/wp8linuxreg/register.html
   8. http://nas.corel.com/nasapps/wp8linuxreg/register.html
   9. http://www.rodsbooks.com/wpfonts/wpfonts-fonts.html
  10. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/introduction.html
  11. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/index.html
  12. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/problems.html
   #[1]WordPerfect on Linux FAQ [2]Taxonomy and History [3]Downloadable
   WP 8

   WordPerfect on Linux FAQ
   [4]Prev          [5]Next
   ______________________________________________________________________

3. Technical Problems.

3.1. WP 8.0 DPE for Linux installs but won't start on my Linux distribution.
How do I fix that?

   WP 8.0 for Linux was distributed as a dynamically linked ELF binary,
   linked against libc5 (C library), libm (the related math library), a
   set of five X11 libraries for libc5-based software, and
   ld-linux.so.1.9.* (aka ld.so 1.9.*), the dynamic-linker/loader
   software current on Linux at that time. Those old libraries are often
   omitted from current Linux distributions. In such cases, you need to
   retrofit those libraries. (You can see the exact library links by
   running "ldd" = list library dependencies against the WordPerfect
   "xwp" main executable file.) Specifically: Prior to running the WP 8.0
   installer, you must install ld-linux.so.1.9.* (usually in an ld.so
   package), libc of some version from 5.3.12 through 5.4.46, and
   libm.so.5.* (both usually in the libc5 package), and a set of X11
   backward-compatibility libraries compiled against libc5 (libXt.so.6,
   libX11.so.6, libXpm.so.4, libSM.so.6, and libICE.so.6). Don't forget
   to ensure the libraries' directories are listed in /etc/ld.so.conf,
   and then re-run /sbin/ldconfig.

   What binary packages these libs and dynamic linker/loader will occupy
   differs between distributions. If in doubt, documents linked from
   [6]http://linux-sxs.org/utilities/wp_index.html may give details for
   your distribution. (Also, FAQ section "After I locate WP 8.0 DPE for
   Linux, how do I install it, and what can I do to improve and fix it?"
   has more details and remedies for installation problems.)

3.2. WP 8.0 DPE for Linux installs perfectly, and runs fine for the root
user, but quits with a segmentation fault if any non-root user starts it.
What's the cause?

   You installed Accelerated-X, a proprietary X11 server, and included in
   your installation its version of the X11 libraries, which were
   compiled with glibc. You need the more-traditional XFree86 versions of
   those libraries (libXt.so.6, libX11.so.6, libXpm.so.4, libSM.so.6, and
   libICE.so.6), specifically ones that were compiled for libc5 X11
   clients. Remove Accelerated-X completely, reinstall the XFree86 shared
   libraries for libc5 clients (which may have any of various package
   names, such as xlib-compat, oldlibs/xlib6, etc.), and then reinstall
   the Accelerated-X server only (minimal installation). WordPerfect
   should then run correctly.

3.3. How do I stop the WP 8.x installer from getting diagnostic message
"../install.wp: [: 18-10: integer expression expected" followed a short
while later by termination with a Segmentation Fault error?

   You are running with "libsafe" enabled, a wrapper library that aims to
   protect system security by blocking library calls that are known to be
   vulnerable to buffer overflows. Unfortunately, that technique blocks
   execution of any binary that attempts a dynamic library call to
   libc5.x. Both the WP 8.x installer and WP 8.0's runtime binary were
   compiled as libc5 executables.

   To confirm that libsafe is the culprit, type "echo $LD_PRELOAD | grep
   libsafe". You can turn off that setting by typing "unset LD_PRELOAD".
   Then, remove the libsafe reference in /etc/ld.so.preload, if this
   exists. You should now be able to successfully run the installer, and
   can call the main "xwp" binary using a shell script that runs "unset
   LD_PRELOAD" just prior to executing xwp.

3.4. How do I fix the WP 8.x installer's failures resulting from errors
copying files onto my NFS network drive?

   You're probably using one of the personal editions of WP 8.x. Only the
   server editions include code required to enable support of NFS file
   locking (which in server editions you can enable via the WPadmin login
   facility). Otherwise, neither the installer nor the WP program binary
   will run if any components are on (or will be installed to) any NFS
   mounted drive, including user settings in users' home directories and
   temporary files in /tmp.

3.5. How do I fix MS-Word import / export filters (the Filtrix module) on WP
8.x for Linux?

   The third-party Filtrix module, because of a programming oversight
   concerning date-handling, doesn't work on systems whose current date
   is set later than September 9, 2001: On attempts to import / export
   MS-Word files, it fails with error message "Filtrix unable to convert
   this file". The problem can be fixed by installing a wrapper by
   Valentijn Sessink, available at
   [7]http://olivier.pk.wau.nl/~valentyn/wp8fix/. (This fix isn't
   necessary for the 2003-4 "pilot project" re-release, which includes an
   equivalent fix.)

   Note: Reportedly, the Filtrix module will not process MS-Word .doc
   files that were saved in MS-Word with password-protection applied.
   This is not a bug: Filtrix never handled such files. (Nor can Filtrix
   handle MS-Word documents with embedded non-MS-Word COM objects such as
   spreadsheet tables from MS-Excel.)

   Import will also fail on any file saved in a post-Word97 version of
   Microsoft's .doc format. This is not a bug, just an inevitable result
   of the program's age and lack of maintenance.

3.6. Why didn't Corel itself release any fix for the MS-Word / Filtrix
problem, especially given its obligations to purchasers of boxed-set
versions?

   Good question. By the time the problem cropped up, Corel had
   discontinued all involvement in Linux. Just before that, Microsoft
   Corporation made a major investment in Corel, preventing the latter
   firm's collapse. It's possible that lack of Linux-competent staffing
   was an issue, that Corel didn't wish to displease its investor, that
   the firm perceived inexpensive Linux versions to be impairing sales of
   its US $500 versions for other Unixes (especially given increasingly
   common support for Linux-native binaries on those Unixes), or that
   corporate inertia after liquidating the entire Linux division
   accounted for this lapse. (Corel was later passed to Vector Capital,
   Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's venture-capital firm, which took
   Corel private.)

   Corel's only comment (November 5, 2001) was "The corporation is not
   prepared to make any comment", and to post a comment on
   http://linux.corel.com/support/updates.htm#wp8, unchanged since late
   2001, that "Corel is currently working with the filter manufacturer to
   resolve this issue." (That claim was still present when Corel took
   down the linux.corel.com machine on Feb. 26, 2003.)

3.7. How do I make WP for Linux's integration with KDE Address Book ("kab")
work with KDE2 / KDE3?

   You don't. WP is compatible with the "kab" version in KDE 1.1, only,
   that being the KDE version shipped with CLOS. For unexplained reasons,
   this feature also doesn't work on Linux 2.4.x or later kernels.

3.8. I get rendering problems with icons and other graphical objects when
running WP for Linux at greater than 16 bits per pixel. How do I fix that?

   This is a frequent symptom of colour palette exhaustion. The only real
   cure is to run X11 at a lower colour depth. 32 bpp will sometimes work
   where 24 bpp doesn't, but 16 bpp always works (assuming hardware
   support).

3.9. Can I make WP for Linux use TrueType fonts?

   No. WP can use PostScript Type 1 fonts, only. The issue is covered
   comprehensively by Rod Smith, here (including describing a utility for
   generating PostScript Type 1 fonts from TrueType ones -- with, no
   doubt, inevitable loss of detail resulting from "hinting"-routine
   omission and other conversion artifacts):
   [8]http://www.rodsbooks.com/wpfonts/

3.10. How do I get printing to work?

   By default, WP for Linux (uniquely) ignores Linux's system printing
   facilities, and uses its own print engine and drivers. (The latter are
   the same as for WP on MS-DOS, giving the program very broad printer
   support. More are available at
   [9]http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/, which should be reachable as
   [10]http://www.wpdos.org/.) You need to configure the printing
   subsystem. As the root user, start xwp with the -admin (or -adm)
   command-line option, then select and install an appropriate printer
   driver, using the Add Printer Driver widget. (In such cases but not
   the Passthru Postscript option discussed next, specify "-oraw" in the
   WP8 Printer Setup dialogue's Lpr options box on the Select Destination
   sub-page, or define a "raw" printing destination in your system print
   daemon, e.g., CUPS.) Alternatively, select "Passthru Postscript" to
   hand off jobs to the system printing daemon, and use the latter's
   print drivers, instead.

   The 2003-4 "WordPerfect 8 for Linux" pilot-project offering retains
   this print engine, except that it defaults to Passthru Postscript
   using print destination WPSpool, a reasonable default for compatiblity
   with modern Linux systems' existing system print regimes, which mostly
   use CUPS. (You can still alternatively use WP's own print drivers, and
   either specify "raw" printing in your system print spooler or "-oraw"
   in WP's print options as described above.)

3.11. How do I keep the "WordPerfect 8 for Linux" re-release's installer
from crashing?

   Because of a bug in the install script, the 2003-4 "WordPerfect 8 for
   Linux" pilot-project release's installer must be run setting US
   English option initially as default, or it will fail. You can then
   choose one of the other installed language options after installation.

3.12. Can my language's absence from the "WordPerfect 8 for Linux"
re-release be fixed?

   Yes. The "pilot project" re-release included language modules for
   English (UK, US, CA and OZ) and French (CA and National), but not
   Dutch, German, Italian, or Spanish. Those modules can be installed
   from separate downloads mentioned elsewhere in this FAQ. After
   installing them, you'll need to add "/usr/i386-compat-gnulibc1/lib"
   (or as appropriate, if you didn't install WP to the /usr/wplinux
   default) as a new line to /etc/ld.so.conf and re-run "ldconfig".
   (Otherwise, you'll see an error about inability to find libm.so.5,
   when you execute the language module's ./Runme script.)

3.13. Why aren't the PostScript Type 1 fonts I've installed available in WP?

   You haven't yet run the xwpfi font-installer, to inform WP of their
   presence. (A Readme explains how to use it.) Note that xwpfi is
   intentionally omitted from WP 8.0 DPE. Please see FAQ section "How do
   I add fonts to WP 8.1?" for more details.

3.14. Why aren't the PostScript Type 1 fonts I've installed available to
applications other than WP?

   You haven't yet configured X11 to know about them, though perhaps
   you've run xwpfi to inform WP about their existence. The two are
   distinct, WP's font integration being incomplete relative to that of
   standard Linux apps. Please see FAQ section "How do I add fonts to WP
   8.1?" for more details.

3.15. I see the process "wpexc" still running in my system process table,
even after quitting WordPerfect. If the WordPerfect program is "xwp", what's
"wpexc", and why does it need to remain running?

   Tests by Valentijn Sessink have confirmed that this process must have
   something to do with printing: If you rename the wpexc binary, then
   start WP, printing will malfunction but no other program features
   will. The fact that it's left running even after you quit WP appears
   to be a bug. You can safely kill it, when not running WP.

3.16. What is the "xwppmgr" process?

   It's the WordPerfect Print Manager. WordPerfect by default manages its
   own printing, and only optionally hands off jobs to the system
   printing facility, if so configured.

3.17. How do I prevent "xwp" from starting the wrong version of WordPerfect?

   (This problem obviously applies only to the minority who keep multiple
   editions of WP for Linux on tap.) "xwp" in some editions, such as
   2003-4's "pilot project" re-release and WP 8.1 PE, is a symbolic link
   pointing to a launcher script. (Thus, you should rename any existing
   /usr/bin/xwp, before installing, as the installer will overwrite it.)
   In others, it's a binary: Run "file" on it to tell. You may have to do
   some debugging and creation of your own symlinks to untangle multiple
   editions' startup mechanisms.

3.18. How do I get WP to support my wheelmouse?

   You need to run "imwheel -k" (which utility must, of course, be
   installed) just prior to launching WP. This can be added as a line
   near the top of WP's startup script (which you can create, if none
   such exists).

3.19. WP9 stopped working / won't install, even with the upgraded support
packages and installer. How do I fix that?

   Check the version of libc, which should be in /lib. If it's 2.3.2 or
   above (as it is in essentially all current Linux distributions), and
   you're using either the original bundled version of Corelwine or
   Michael Torrie's corelwine-cvs-20010613-1.i386.rpm upgrade (or Andreas
   von Heydwolff's corelwine-cvs_0.1-2_i386.deb [11]conversion to .deb
   format of Torrie's release), that's why: There's a libc-support
   problem, which will necessitate fixing and re-releasing Corelwine. (A
   [12]bug in ld.so's dynamic linker/loader prevents solving this using a
   wrapper to use an older libc and the existing Corelwine libs.)
   However, in September 2004, Torrie graciously provided his
   [13]Corelwine source code. It's hoped some volunteer will soon code
   the patch required.
   ______________________________________________________________________

   [14]Prev             [15]Home          [16]Next
   Taxonomy and History          Downloadable WP 8

References

   1. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/index.html
   2. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/taxonomy.html
   3. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/downloadwp8.html
   4. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/taxonomy.html
   5. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/downloadwp8.html
   6. http://linux-sxs.org/utilities/wp_index.html
   7. http://olivier.pk.wau.nl/~valentyn/wp8fix/
   8. http://www.rodsbooks.com/wpfonts/
   9. http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/
  10. http://www.wpdos.org/
  11. 
http://web.archive.org/web/20040225112645/http://members.chello.at/hrdisk/corelwine.html
  12. http://sources.redhat.com/ml/bug-glibc/2003-05/msg00047.html
  13. http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/apps/
  14. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/taxonomy.html
  15. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/index.html
  16. http://www.linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/downloadwp8.html