Required software on Linux

LibreOffice

All functions in SENIB work with LibreOffice.
To be able to automatically download outdoor temperature statistics from NASA, LibreOffice 4.2.4.2 or later is required.
Recommended version is LibreOffice 7.2.4.1

OpenOffice

If you only need to download outdoor temperature statistics for Swedish locations from SMHI, OpenOffice 4.1.9 or later also works.

Fonts

SENIB use these fonts:

1. Arial
2. Arial Bold
3. Verdana
4. Verdana Bold

These fonts are included with all versions of Windows and Mac OS X v10.0 or later and therefore chosen for all SENIB files. Without these fonts installed the texts in some cells won't fit and it will look ugly. It can also be very slowly to scroll when the fonts are missing.

The fonts are not included with Ubuntu for example.
To add them to Ubuntu or Linux Mint then open a terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type:

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

It may look like the installation hangs sometime but be patient, it takes time. If a license agreement pops up during the installation then select the OK button at the bottom of the agreement with the Tab key and press Enter. After the installation is complete and you have a promt enter this:

sudo fc cache -fv

or log out of Ubuntu and then log back in again and the fonts will be available.

Python scripts

Please note that this only applies to LibreOffice
SENIB mainly uses the programming language Basic which is built into LibreOffice and OpenOffice, but for some macros it is not powerful enough and then Python is used instead. Linux always comes pre-installed with Python, but LibreOffice has stopped pre-installing the bridge between LibreOffice and Python so it must be installed using the terminal.

If you want to check if the Python bridge is installed, you can open LibreOffice and go to the menu bar:

Tools -> Macros -> Organize Macros -> Python...

If you do not see "Python" then the bridge is not installed. To install it, follow these steps:

  1. Quit LibreOffice if you have it running.
  2. Open a terminal window with Ctrl + Alt + T and copy and paste this with Ctrl + Shift + V
    sudo apt-get install libreoffice-script-provider-python
  3. Enter your password and the installation will begin.
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