On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 11:32:50 +0100
Matthias Seidel wrote:
> Hi Rory,
>
> Am 18.11.22 um 10:25 schrieb Rory O'Farrell:
> > There have been many reports of OpenOffice files Writer and Impress (not
> > sure about Calc), of all versions, suddenly losing pictures, and leaving
> > only a blank frame.
> >
> > I use the Xubuntu LTS versions, running usually the latest Apache
> > OpenOffice, more recently the 4.5.0 nightlies. I have not used Windows
> > since 2007/8, so cannot say if the following remarks have relevance to that
> > version
> >
> > LibreOffice have fixed the problem of picture loss, at a cost (from memory)
> > of 44,000 euro.
> >
> > I regularly make and re-edit Impress presentations, some of considerable
> > size (~100+ slides, for later selection) and some of 10/12 years of age,
> > and have found a method that seems to overcome the picture loss.
> >
> > My files are stored on a network addressed storage; I have disabled "Save
> > Autorecovery every n seconds" (entering 0); in more than 9 years of using
> > that setting in OpenOffice, both in the creation and editing of large
> > Impress presentations of 100+ slides containing images and also of several
> > illustrated booklets, I have never lost pictures. Prior to disabling the
> > AutoRecovery process, I regularly did lose images.
> >
> > My guess is that the AutoRecovery process, when it happens, does not
> > correctly preserve the existing OpenOffice environment, perhaps itself
> > being interrupted by input keystrokes from the User.
> >
> > I do not offer this as a sure-fire solution, but merely record my experience
>
> Thank you for sharing your experience!
>
> A memory corruption may be the main problem, but pictures nowadays are
> typically much bigger than they were, when OO was designed.
>
> That said, I would like to increase the memory settings at least for
> trunk/AOO42X.
>
> Default is now:
>
> Graphics cache: 20 MB, 5.2 MB per object, Remove after 10 minutes. 20
> Objects
>
> Opinions?
>
> Regards,
>
> Matthias
With the amount of memory available on modern machines, there can be no
objection to increasing memory allocation; that said, I don't think the picture
loss problem relates to picture size, within reason - obviously there are
extreme examples of gigantic pictures which will break any system.
I am aware that other users of experience have had the picture loss problem,
usually on Windows versions; knowing some of these users and my own experience
of picture loss I am reasonably certain that the size of pictures involved was
reasonable; the picture loss appears to happen spontaneously: my limited
investigation suggests, as I said, that it relates to AutoRecovery and possibly
input during the AutoRecovery process by the User.
My standard procedure is to make a master file in Impress (note: not an
OpenOffice Master File) with links to pictures of reasonably good resolution,
and later downscale them, breaking their links by the Minimize Presentation
process, the downscaling selecting such resolution as the target projector
might require - higher resolution is now desirable for 1920x1080 projectors
than for the older 1024x768 projectors.
My low level programming dates from the late 1970s/early 1980s, when I
programmed in Z80 assembler and was then very conscious of the need to preserve
the operating system environment around interrupts from peripherals. I would
love to delve into the AOO source, but unfortunately have too many demands on
my time to permit the study of C++ (which I don't know) and the navigation of
the maze of AOO source code.
One suggestion I would make, both for AOO 4.2.0 and 4.5.0, is that careful
attention be given to enabling multimedia - sound and video - integration in
Impress. If a multimedia file (of most common formats) is playable at
operating system level, then it should be readily insertable and playable in
Impress.
--
Rory O'Farrell
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