Nimble, Excel-Compatible Spreadsheets for *nix?

linguae writes "I'm running a FreeBSD desktop on a PC that has a 475MHz K6-2 processor with 64MB RAM. I use lightweight programs on my desktop such as Window Maker, AbiWord, and Firefox. I have been looking for a decent yet lightweight (and preferably Open Source) spreadsheet that is compatible with Excel, and also doesn't rely on dependencies such as GNOME or Java. I'm not an Excel power user, but sometimes I do have to share spreadsheets every now and then. I wonder if there is a spreadsheet equivalent of Abiword?"

Comments

nimble spreadsheet

[lscoughlin]

Gnumeric is about as close as you're going to get.

It's really quite nice...

I'm not sure if it still has any gnome dependencies or not.

But really
abiWord:word::gnumeric:excel

OpenOffice

[seinman]

OpenOffice runs on my P1/150mhz system with 48 megs of RAM. It starts up a little slow (30 seconds or so) but once it's going, has no problems. You can do a custom install so that you can use only the spreadsheet program without taking up the HD space on the word processor and presenation programs.

A fair few actually...

[polyp2000]

http://www.linuxlinks.com/Software/Spreadsheets/

An amazing tool google ... you ought to try it sometime....

OTOH Gnumeric and / or OOo would be a good place to start. OOo xls compatibility is very good in my experience. Havent used Gnumeric for a while last time (several yrs ago) its xls compatibility was a tad ropey - Im sure its improved by now though!

Nick

Gnumeric

[cbr2702]

I'm not sure if it still has any gnome dependencies or not.

fullyautomatix root # emerge -p gnumeric | grep gnome
[ebuild N ] gnome-extra/libgsf-1.9.0
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libglade-2.4.0
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libgnomeprint-2.6.2
[ebuild N ] x11-themes/gnome-icon-theme-1.2.3
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libgnomecanvas-2.6.1.1
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libgnomeprintui-2.6.2
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/orbit-2.10.3
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libbonobo-2.6.2
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/gconf-2.6.2
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/gnome-mime-data-2.4.1
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/gnome-vfs-2.6.1.1
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libgnome-2.6.1.1-r1
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libbonoboui-2.6.1
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/gnome-keyring-0.2.1
[ebuild N ] gnome-base/libgnomeui-2.6.1.1
[ebuild N ] x11-themes/gnome-themes-2.6.2

So it doesn't have the major gnome dependencies, but it has a few.

GNOME Depends are optional in next release

[Jody Goldberg]

The upcoming 1.4.0 release (due in the next few days) supports a --without-gnome configure time option that decreases functionality (no gnome-vfs means no direct http support), but still works nicely as a spreadsheet. We use this for our win32 port.

Actually, Gnumeric *is* much better

[SgtChaireBourne]

Another option for spreadsheets on *BSD, besides Gnumeric, would be OpenOffice.org Calc.

But Gnumeric is a very good choice. Here is a detailed write up of Gnumeric. The Computational Statistics & Data Analysis Statistical Software Newsletter has a report reviewing Gnumeric vs MS-Excel titled Fixing Statistical Errors in Spreadsheet Software: The Cases of Gnumeric and Excel (Warning for PDF) Regardless, of which spreadsheet you use, it's worth a read. Some excerpts:

When apprised of the errors in v1.0.4, the developers of Gnumeric indicated that they would try to fix the errors. Indeed, Gnumeric v1.1.2 has largely fixed the flaws, while Microsoft has not fixed its errors through many successive versions.
...
Persons who desire to use a spreadsheet package to perfome statistical analyses are advised to use Gnumeric rather than Excel

So, actually, Gnumeric *is* currently much better than MS-Excel. At least if the metrics are that it's statistical functions are more accurate and that bugs get fixed faster. I'd speculate that once Quattro was killed off, MS coasted on development of MS-Excel like it has done with MSIE after killing Netscape. Anyway...

Re:Actually, Gnumeric *is* much better

[Otter]

So, actually, Gnumeric *is* currently much better than MS-Excel. At least if the metrics are that it's statistical functions are more accurate and that bugs get fixed faster. I'd speculate that once Quattro was killed off, MS coasted on development of MS-Excel like it has done with MSIE after killing Netscape.

On the contrary, I'd say Excel is by far the best product Microsoft makes, and it keeps getting better. The statistical problems are a legitimate criticism (and Gnumeric should be commended for doing a better job with them) but they mostly involve a few decimal places of accuracy in edge cases that matter to a vanishingly small number of users. The Excel developers haven't been rolling around in piles of money instead of fixing those algorithms -- they've been doing things like making references update seamlessly when a cell is moved, something none of the free spreadsheets comes close to doing.