Problems with OpenOffice 2.4 & OS 10.3.9

[samlowry]

I have a 1999 iMac DV and wanted to try Open Office so I downloaded the latest version 2.4.

The OS I have on this iMac is version 10.3.9 and has only 384 MB of memory. Can't really run a newer OS version due to the constraints of the hardware. The release notes from Open Office claim it is compatible with this OS version. I have also recently re-downloaded and installed X11 from the Apple website per the install notes on the Open Office website.

When I start Open Office, it looks like it is starting (it gives an initial menu across the top of the screen), then X11 starts, I get an xterm window from X11, then Open Office just shuts down. No error messages come to the screen, it just shuts down.

Any thoughts about what is going on here? Can I get this thing to actually run on this aging hardware or am I just being naive?

Any help would be appreciated.

[kabing]

Any chance you can increase the RAM? That might be part of the problem.

If that doesn't help and no other suggestions arise, you might want to give NeoOffice a try. It is an independent port/fork of OpenOffice.org and doesn't require X11. It is compatible with 10.3.9. But it will be slow with that little RAM, I think.

kabing

[keme]

Been there, done that. (Never got the T-shirt.)
IIRC, the 2.4 version needs OS-X version 10.4 or later. Try version 2.3 instead. I've used that successfully on a 700MHz G3 with 256 MB of RAM. When I installed 2.4, it was completely dead. Reverting to 2.3 solved the problem.

[lgusaas]

I have a 1999 iMac DV and wanted to try Open Office so I downloaded the latest version 2.4.

The OS I have on this iMac is version 10.3.9 and has only 384 MB of memory.
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Any thoughts about what is going on here? Can I get this thing to actually run on this aging hardware or am I just being naive?

OpenOffice.org 2.1 is the last version of OpenOffice.org supported for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).

To download it go to http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/x11-103.html