Lubuntu 20.04: alternative programs to those GTK still present

#1

Hi to Everybody.

So, with Lubuntu 20.04 a new adventure has begun.

However, there is still a link with the past that we can see in the presence of programs based on GTK and not QT specific.

In your opinion, could there be preferable QT-specific programs to the existing ones?

For example: Calligra suite instead of LibreOffice?

#2

You can’t change too much at once or people will be lost. I am very used to Libre and just updated from 17.10. I have already spent a lot of time on the 20.04 OS, and getting used to new program suites would take up more time. If we weren’t in Corona lockdown, I wouldn’t have had time to install 20.04 even because of the time it takes to adapt and modify the new OS.

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#3

@Chris I understand what you’re saying, but given that there will be no supported versions of Lubuntu based on the old paradigm come April, I see no utility to hold onto making changes that are too drastic. We’ve already done them.

Regarding LibreOffice, it’s kind of baffling. It is actually Qt friendly (see libreoffice-qt5) but it’s a little rough around the edges. @HMollerCl can speak more to this.

As for Calligra, never used the word processor or spreadsheet but I do really like Krita a lot and was kind of thinking it might be a nice addition. However, it’s kind of heavy. I’m worried that will be the case for the other applications. Does someone want to put together a comparison of disk usage and memory/CPU footprint?

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#4

I will try to install Calligra on one of my machines to test…

#5

at a first glancescreen1

#6

at a first glance / 2nd partscreen2

#7

What about usability?

#8

Well, I also installed Calligra to two other users, our first impressions are:

  • the UI is less cute than the LO one (also i don’t like it, it seems coming from the deep 90s!!);
  • the suite seems very fast and reactive;
  • the first documents in docx format we are receiving seem “well-translated” (no strange text formattings), although they were simple documents (commercial offers, transport documents…).
    So, Calligra looks promising!
    If the UI was a little bit different… (I don’t pay too much attention to the UI, but it’s easy to find the LO one definitely better).
    Anyway, Calligra would be much more better than your previous choices, Abiword and Gnumeric (I’m joking, of course!!) :grinning:
#9

What’s the overall disk footprint like? Does it have a bunch of additional required dependencies?

#10

it seems it has very few dependencies:

zambo@zambo-aspire5732z:~$ apt-cache depends calligra
calligra
Dipende: calligrasheets
Dipende: calligrastage
Dipende: calligrawords
Dipende: karbon
zambo@zambo-aspire5732z:~$ apt-cache rdepends calligra
calligra
Reverse Depends:
kde-full
loook

#11

It was more of a question of what in addition to what’s already installed in Lubuntu it needs. Also, keep in mind that all of those dependencies have their own dependencies.

#12

Ok… how can I deepen the point? During the installation, apt has downloaded about (only!) 60MB…

#13

Ok there we go :slight_smile: So now we need some more opinions from folks! Anyone vehemently opposed to replacing LibreOffice with Calligra?

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#14

I’ve never used Calligra, but I’ll try it for a while to see how it compares to LibreOffice. I’ll post my thoughts in a few days.