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App Size vs Load Time Compromise

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sirfelixportable
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App Size vs Load Time Compromise

I did an experiment to test load times for this app. The total app size increase of 50% pales in comparison to the unreasonable wait time increase of 800%. See data below:

Libreoffice 5.0.2.2 Portableapp.com 317mb 2min 0sec
Libreoffice 5.0.2.2 [link to warez site removed by mod JTH] 485mb 0min 15sec
Kingsoft Office 2012 Portable 147mb 0min 7sec

With more portable devices out there, like Windows tablets, users here would gladly give up some space for a faster version of this app. Please consider offering an uncompressed version of Libreoffice.
Thanks,
David

John T. Haller
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Likely Your Antivirus

A first run of a fresh install of LibreOffice Portable 5.0.2 standard edition without removing extra languages on my internal hard drive launches in approximately 1.5 seconds. A first run of a fresh install of LibreOffice Portable 5.0.2 standard edition without removing extra languages on my Sandisk Extreme USB 3 flash drive launches in approximately 4 seconds.

It isn't the app that's running slowly, it's likely a combination of your flash drive (or Windows tablet's slow internal storage) and your antivirus. More likely the latter. One or two of antivirus apps used to perform horribly with compressed files due to some poorly handled internal code. I thought that had been fixed in the last several years.

If you think compression is causing a speed issue for you, you can uncompress LibreOffice Portable by running the PortableApps.com AppCompactor on it and selecting the DECOMPRESS option.

Please note that I removed the link to the warez site you mentioned. The site illegally distributes apps like Photoshop and has been caught stealing our graphics and code on numerous occasions.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

sirfelixportable
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Thanks John,

Thanks John,
I always use the standard edition with extra languages removed during install.
Yes, I'm running Libreoffice on Windows Tablet with solid state storage (fairly slow processor & low memory) and Windows Defender.

I reran my test using your Appcompactor.
As Is: 322mb 1min 52sec
Uncompressed: 495mb 0min 17sec

Not sure if the problem is the tablet drive/memory or if its Windows Defender.
Either way, uncompressing it works for me. I'll just take the extra step after install and use appcompactor.
Is there a reason you don't offer the app uncompressed? Seems like we can both save some time.

Thanks again,
David

John T. Haller
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Specs?

Windows Defender works quite well with compressed apps and is the first thing I test against. Does this happen with every run or just the first run? I ask that because when you remove extra languages, LibreOffice itself (their own code, not our portable code) must rebuild its settings, plugins, and languages file on the next run, so it will have to run through the startup process once, reset, then run through the startup process again. So the first run after a new install of LibreOffice Portable when you remove extra languages will be quite a bit slower than normal.

Also, what are the specs of the system you're running it on? What's the tablet model, etc? Have you tried running CrystalDiskMark on the storage to see how fast/slow it is? I have an HP Stream 7 (absurdly slow under-specced Windows tablet) with Windows 10 on it I could try some test comparisons on.

We don't make it available uncompressed because a the majority of users use it either on a cloud synced folder or flash drive, where space is limited. We already make it available in two variants. Adding two more would be quite a bit more work and generally unnecessary on nearly any semi-modern Windows machine.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

sirfelixportable
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Specs

Funny, cause im running a stream 7 with 8.1.
The long waits happened every run after a fresh boot, but after closing the app, running it again is fast as long as i dont reboot. During the testing i rebooted the tablet before each test to get a good baseline on the memory access. I also ran the tests with wifi off, cause someone online blamed the delay on libreoffice trying to access the internet. Could it be the 1gb ram? I use all portable apps, so only a few basic hardware drivers are running post boot. Not to get into hardware troubleshooting, but here is the drive benchmark.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.0.2 (C) 2007-2015 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 137.125 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 35.807 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 34.473 MB/s [ 8416.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 6.272 MB/s [ 1531.3 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 161.483 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 71.107 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 15.973 MB/s [ 3899.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 4.801 MB/s [ 1172.1 IOPS]

Test : 100 MiB [C: 40.6% (9.6/23.5 GiB)] (x3) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2015/10/24 15:01:04
OS : Windows 8.1 [6.3 Build 9600] (x86)

----------------------------

Let me know if there is anything you want me to try, otherwise your version of LO is starting fast now after uncompressing.
Upon the next update install, ill redo the test and see if the start times are consistent.
Thanks.

John T. Haller
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Running Out of Memory

It's almost definitely due to the lack of memory. EXE and DLL files compressed with UPX compression to save space must be decompressed in memory before being loaded. Libreoffice Portable has 133MB of DLL files within it. Only those over 1MB are compressed to save time with poor performing antiviruses. But there are DLL files as large as 17MB in there.

That 1GB of RAM in the Stream 7 is mostly used by Windows and related processes, leaving basically nothing to run apps. My Stream 7 with Windows 10 generally sits at around 70-75% of RAM used with no apps running. So, running an app like LibreOffice, you wind up with an already large app, adding the memory overhead of UPX - negligible on any standard machine, but not in this case - and then you add in the Windows Defender overhead... and you wind up swapping out to disk constantly because memory is full.

Using portable apps does help keep things off the small 32GB internal drive, but the compressed ones will run slower due to running out of memory. One option is to uncompress our larger apps that are compressed, as we are here. Another option is to get a speedier microSD and use that for your media and a few larger apps for local installs. It will be slower than your internal memory, but fast enough for movies, music, pictures, and apps that you use less often. The Sandisk Extreme Pro is probably the fastest on the market at present, goes for about $50 for 64GB, and achieves numbers like this (taken from a couple Amazon reviews):

Sequential Read : 95.325 MB/s
Sequential Write : 90.660 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 89.314 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 75.971 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 7.492 MB/s [ 1829.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 2.441 MB/s [ 595.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 7.472 MB/s [ 1824.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 2.380 MB/s [ 581.0 IOPS]

You could also consider a different machine. I bought my Stream 7 to test out touch Windows programming on but found it lacking in terms of performance. I recently picked up a refurbished ASUS T100TAF 10" Windows 2-in-1 for $109 after rebate to serve that purpose better. It's got a similar processer (within about 10% performance), same resolution, not terribly bigger size/weight, but it has 2GB of RAM and a removable keyboard/dock and works pretty well with Windows 10 on it (comes with Windows 8.1). They're sold out at the moment, but I found the deal from a thread on SlickDeals similar to this one. And they've popped up multiple times in the past few weeks, so if this would be a good fit for you needs/budget wise, it's something to consider.

Obviously, you know your budget and needs best, but I wanted to give you a few options that may work for you even if it may not involve using our software. From personal experience, I'd steer folks away from a Windows machine with 1GB if they were hoping to run regular apps on it. While Windows 8.1 and 10 are lighter weight and do a better job running in that footprint than Windows 7 and 8, it's still geared more towards tablet and the touch apps than to traditional desktop apps and acting as a laptop.

Hope that helps a bit.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

sirfelixportable
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Thanks John,

Thanks John,
My main use of a portable windows solution is for standard browser websites like Hulu and LibreOffice. At $99, I couldn't pass up the HP. I'm already using WPS Office in Android and would love to see a WPS Office 2015 Portable app show up here. LO is lacking in the mobile market and has become bloated over the last 8 years.

With Black Friday approaching, I'll be looking at a more robust windows tablet. This HP, besides the memory issue, has a horrible wifi/bluetooth card. The antennas interfere when running simultaneously and Realtek's support is lacking.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. BTW, I've been putting off the Win 10 upgrade on the Stream. Is the performance different? Any bugs with hardware compatibility? Curious.

John T. Haller
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Gamble

I bought the Stream 7 for the Office 365 license, mainly. That plus the fact that it was $79 and came with a Windows App Store credit that I used to buy some Xbox games. Basically, the tablet was free in the deal. Less than zero all told. I think Windows 10 is a bit better than Windows 8.1 in terms of feel, but I don't recall Windows 8.1 on the Stream 7 at this point.

There are currently no legal versions of WPS Office made portable. Any illegal ones very likely have extra nasty things added. I've never used WPS Office myself. LibreOffice works very well for my needs and has a much larger development team behind it. Plus, it's open source, so you know that no nasty things are going on behind the scenes.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

farat_as
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How you decompress fils

How you decompress fils inside portable app?

how you remove extra unused laguages from libreoffice portable?

can you please share some links?

John T. Haller
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AppCompactor

You use the PortableApps.com AppCompactor to DECOMPRESS a compressed app. Just run it and select the LibreOfficePortable directory, select DECOMPRESS and click Next/Go.

You can remove extra languages during a manual install of LibreOffice Portable. The option is not shown/not available during platform installs/upgrades.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

farat_as
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Thank you John. I try them.

Thank you John. I try them. Now there is two simple questions here. I will be happy if you can asnwer me.

1- After portableapps.com platform menu will update my Libreoffice portable, will other languages intall automatically again?

2- After portableapps.com platform menu will update my all decompressed apps, will overrride them with compressed files again?

John T. Haller
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Manual

You have to run it manually to remove languages. It's only a difference of a couple hundred MB, so honestly just leave it.

The compressed files are shipped with the app. If you want to manually decompress the files because you have a nearly unusably slow Windows tablet like an HP Stream 7 due to it having an underpowered processor and only 1GB of RAM (seriously, nothing running Windows 8/10 and these specs should ever have been released), you need to do it with every release.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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