OFFER: StarOffice 3.1 for Linux
I have recently obtained a copy of the first StarOffice version for Linux from 1997 (v3.1), which has completely disappeared from the internet. It is not entirely clear whether this is the last beta 4 release or the final version, but it appears not to be a time-limited version. The packages come as RPM files (Redhat Package Manager version 2), require libc-5.4.4, and install in /opt/StarOffice-3.1. Binaries linked both statically and dynamically against Motif 2.0 are included. The statically linked version runs well on SuSE Linux 7.3 with libc-5.4.46 after some minor fiddling, although I had to install the user files by hand, because "setup" crashed with undefined symbols.
I have uploaded the package under the following link, which will expire on 19/04/2019:
https://depot.uni-konstanz.de/cgi-bin/exchange.pl?g=9qzqen3rf6
There is a Mini-HOWTO available in several places on the web:
https://www.linux.co.cr/office-apps/review/1997/0707.html
The archive was sourced from a shareware CD-ROM from the German IT magazine "c't" from 06/1997.
Comments
Wow thank you! CT CDs are almost always a big box of funny things.
Old linux software is hard to find and not always easy to get up and running.
If you never heard of LST linux (one of the first distributions), this one I've found on a chip CD from 1994:
https://archive.org/details/lst_18.7z
(It is in german, I think you might like that)
The CT CD is also there on archive.org.
Did someony capture this? :(
Yea, but it is just a tgz file, so I don't know if it is complete.
All the period press releases and READMEs I found about it a while back mentioned that it was only released on anonymous ftp, so I'd reckon the tgz files are actually accurate to the software you're getting. (see for example https://www.linux.co.cr/office-apps/review/1997/0414.html )
This is indeed the only format in which StarOffice 3.1 for Linux has been made available, and, to my knowledge, the only version that can still be run. Previous beta releases had an expiry date. The first version that was not labelled "beta" and appeared on commercial CD-ROMs is StarOffice 4.0.
The TGZ file contains all the archives that were available on the shareware CD-ROM mentioned above, and all I remember from installing it for the first time in 1997. The old link is unfortunately long gone. I have uploaded the archive again at https://gofile.io/?c=KYw38T
Thank you all.
The HOWTO linked in the first post states that …
This was the full version, sadly the download links were not archived:
https://web.archive.org/web/19990203015754/http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/staroffice/
The "upgrade2" file is a delta update from beta4 to final.
I am actually not sure whether there ever was a final version. According to some comments from the website of the German magazine "c't" that published the shareware collection these files actually are the 3.1 final version. Unfortunately I cannot verify that claim. However, all beta releases had an expiration date, unlike the present package.
Well, the final version is shown in my post above, it just hasn't been archived by Wayback Machine. The Linux version was free for private use. My hope is that we find a mirror which still has the filenames written in bold, at least archived at Wayback some years ago. Here are some things that could help:
I've tried that yesterday, but without any success. Maybe someone could help?
Arnold, the delta "StarOffice31-update2final.tar.gz" is 0.5MB, that might be an indication to some minor differences. Anyway, you made a great find that is worth preserving!
The information is pretty murky. I have found the reader's question from that magazine regarding the issue of that version being the beta 4 or final release, which I translate freely here (only the relevant parts):
Q: In the last issue of c't the article that accompanies the Linux package of StarOffice-3.1 refers to a non-limited non-beta release. On the shareware cd-rom and the respective HTML page I find the file stof31b4.tgz, which points to a beta release. What is correct?
A: The information in the printed issue is correct.
Original: https://www.heise.de/ct/hotline/StarOffice-3-1-fuer-Linux-300802.html
Elsewhere I have read that the file StarOffice-3.1upgrade2final.tar.gz is supposed to remove only the expiry date, which my uploaded version does not have:
"For everybody who still doesn't believe it, here I say it again: the version included in c't and PC-Online is the one which we call Final 3.1, and it is not time limited. It is also identical to the one offered by Caldera. On the ftp server in Goettingen there is the same version, only packaged as *.tar.gz. For those who have already downloaded the Beta4 release, it can be upgraded to the same version as on the cd.roms with the 500kB file StarOffice-3.1upgrade2final.tar.gz" (01/06/1997 by Jens-Heiner Rechtien on fido.ger.linux)
Also in German: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/fido.ger.linux/RtPKq4IzrBI/cvJBuwinWt0J
That is all I know. To my knowledge StarOffice 3.1 Final never shipped, but was quickly superseeded by version 4.0. I may be wrong here...