Kelson Reviews Stuff - Page 2

I’ve been using LibreOffice, specifically the Writer and Calc parts of it, for years. It does everything I need a word processor or spreadsheet to do, and it doesn’t get in my way with nagware, or making sure I have enough licenses for all the family’s computers, or trying to monetize my data or convince me to move files to a cloud service.

There are probably a few Word and Excel features they don’t support, but none that I’ve noticed for a long time.

Back in the days before LibreOffice split off from OpenOffice, there were more problems with opening Microsoft file formats. I used to make sure we had at least one Microsoft Office installation on a Windows partition, just in case. That hasn’t been necessary for years.

I used to sometimes write in AbiWord and use Gnumeric for spreadsheets on Linux. They’re both faster and lighter than LibreOffice, but that’s also less important than it used to be, except on older or low-spec devices.

The only real trouble I’ve had recently is getting it to switch properly into dark mode on Linux. I can get it to show a dark document in a light window, or a light document in a dark window, or a light document in a light window, but I can’t reliably get it to show a dark document in a dark window. I’m not a total dark-mode fanatic, but I do prefer it in low-light situations.

LibreOffice also has presentation, database, and vector drawing applications. I’ve never had to use them for my home or hobbyist projects, though, so I can’t really say how Impress, Draw and Base compare to PowerPoint, Visio and Access.

If you include its predecessors OpenOffice and Star Office, I’ve been using it regularly for decades on Linux, years on Windows, and occasionally on macOS.

Most Linux distros include LibreOffice in their package repositories, or you can use the Snap, Flatpak (on Flathub) or AppImage. You can get it on the Microsoft and Apple app stores for a small charge. Free installers are available on their website for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Mobile

The core office suite doesn’t have a mobile version (unless you count the viewer for Android, which you can’t use for editing), but Collabora Office is built on LibreOffice. Their mobile app will open files on your phone, or on any storage service registered on your phone. If you have Nextcloud or Dropbox installed, it can seamlessly open, edit and save those files. Spreadsheets are a bit janky on my phone, but then it’s an older phone.

Online/Offline and Collaboration

The best part is: it still runs on my computer, even when offline. With a cloud-based app you have to trust that Google or Microsoft won’t be using your docs to train AI or something. With an app that runs directly on your machine, you know.

The downside is that it only runs directly on my computer. Which does make it hard to do online collaboration. But formats are compatible enough these days that you can usually open a file in something that does handle collaborative features when you need them.

There are a couple of online suites built on LibreOffice:

• Collabora Online is mainly aimed at businesses, but you can self-host their developer edition (a.k.a. CODE) of the web app for free.
• Nextcloud Office combines Collabora with Nextcloud, which makes it a lot easier to install if you already have Nextcloud. I’ve been experimenting with it a bit, and it works, but I may need to throw more memory at my self-hosted server for it to run well.

Neither works as easily as Google Docs when it comes to multiple authors, comments, and sharing permissions, unfortunately.

Google Workspace includes a fast, cloud-based office suite. It runs in most web browsers, the collaboration features are dead simple, and the mobile apps are decent. It auto-saves as you go and keeps a record of changes, so you can easily go back to an older version. Docs, Sheets and Slides are far less complete than Word, Excel or PowerPoint (or their LibreOffice counterparts), but they’re sufficient for most purposes. It’s the only online office suite I’ve used that allows you to share a document with comment-only permissions, which is kind of surprising.

Unfortunately it only runs in the cloud. (Even if you use the offline extension for Chrome, it’s still syncing to Google Drive when you go online.) And I don’t trust Google’s services any more than Microsoft’s these days. Back in the day I trusted that they wouldn’t use my writing for targeted advertising. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if they trained their LLMs on it even if they claimed otherwise, and it’s not at all clear in their privacy policy

I used it a lot during the 2010s, but I’ve switched back to using regular files and my own cloud sync when needed. Mostly plain text, Markdown and LibreOffice, except when I really need live sharing features.

I’ve been happy with the Boox Poke3 as my main eReader for almost five years, but it’s been showing its age. It was time to replace it with a newer, faster model. Preferably with physical page-turning buttons, possibly with color.

Boox specializes in Android-based e-ink tablets ranging from pocket size to full sketchpad. I like the idea of the phone-sized device, and I really like the idea of the convertible e-ink tablet/laptop, but I don’t need either of those as much as I could use a new paperback-sized multi-source eBook reader.

First Impressions

The Go 7 Color is slightly larger than the Poke3 (which is roughly the size of a Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Clara), and does indeed have physical page-flip buttons! (Judging by photos, it’s comparable to the Kobo Libra or Sage.)

The screen is the size of the old device, edges included, and of course this one adds a wider edge for the buttons. I can’t fit it in my jacket pocket anymore, but it’s still light enough to hold directly above me while reading in bed.

It’s also a lot faster than the previous device, and it can run apps like Wallabag and Bookshop.org that the Poke3 struggled with.

Its touchscreen handles gestures and taps well. I no longer feel like I need to press hard on the screen to get it to react. It’s still not fast enough for typing comfortably (and besides, it’s too small for “real” typing and too big for two-thumbs phone typing), but it’s good enough for search terms, passwords etc. I suspect it would be decent for sketching or note-taking with a stylus. And it’s responsive enough that I don’t really need the physical buttons most of the time.

The battery seems to run out a little faster than the Poke3, but it still lasts a lot longer than most phones and tablets. Especially if you keep it set to power off completely when it’s not being used. I’ve only had to charge it a couple of times in the month I’ve been using it.

Display

The black ink is still sharp for letters and line art, and the size isn’t bad for black-and-white manga.

Colors are very pastel, lower resolution than the black ink, and noticably dithered. You wouldn’t want to use it for photos or even color comics unless it was all you had available, but it’s good for diagrams, and helps immensely with displaying websites legibly.

The e-ink is easily visible in bright sunlight, and an adjustable front light takes care of indoor and dimmer lighting.

The built-in apps are well optimized for the display. General apps, not so much, but the fact that it’s color (and faster) makes this a lot less of a problem than on the older model.

You can still customize the style, input and refresh modes on a per-app basis. I’ve found that it helps to enable high-contrast mode on all the eBook readers apps, but haven’t had to change too much otherwise.

Some third-party apps still have trouble with button color schemes that end up being a totally illegible solid black or solid white. Setting the app to use outlined text usually makes it possible to read these buttons, and usually doesn’t affect the normal text in the app.

I still wouldn’t use it for games or video, though! Refresh and input are both way too slow for that.

Speaking of media, the Go 7 also has a speaker. It’s not a very good speaker, so I’d rather not use it for music, but it’ll do for audiobooks and podcasts. Or you can just pair it with bluetooth headphones.

Reader Apps

Like the Poke 3, the Go 7 ships with Neo Reader, which handles every DRM-free book I’ve thrown at it.

In addition to side-loading books over USB-C, there’s a cloud service, Onyx, that I still haven’t used after five years with the older reader!

Of course what sets Boox’s devices apart is that you can install any third-party eBook reader that supports Android. Google Play is included, and I had no problem installing F-Droid alongside it.

Kobo, Kindle, Bookshop, eBooks.com, B&N Nook, Hoopla and Libby all work well so far. Bookshop and recent versions of Kobo have been struggling on the Poke3, and I have a lot of stuff still to read in my Kobo library, so having that work reliably again is a relief. (I mean, we still have the Clara, but it’s nice to have everything on one device.)

Hoopla still has the additional quirk where you need to customize it using the Boox dot to “Stay active in the background.” (The usual Android app setting doesn’t do it in this case.)

Page-Flipping Buttons

The buttons work out-of-the-box with Neo Reader and some other apps. For the rest, the major eBook apps all have the option to flip pages with the volume buttons (which these map to), but you need to configure the apps one by one.

And yes, the buttons adjust when you rotate the screen. So whether you hold it left-handed or right-handed, they’ll still jump down/forward and up/back.

I haven’t found a way to reverse them, though, which seems like it might be helpful depending on how you grip the tablet.

Other Apps

Boox devices ship with Neo Browser, a fairly simple Chromium web browser. It runs a lot better than it did on the older device. Plus, you know, color. I suspect I’ll be using it more often than I used to, though I want to avoid getting too distracted. (I am not putting any social media apps on here!)

I’ve also been using:

KeePass2Android for password management, synced over Nextcloud. The only problem so far is that I had to use the outlined-text trick to make some of the buttons visible.

Nextcloud News as a feed reader, also synced over Nextcloud. It was a bit slow on the Poke3, so I didn’t use it much on there, but runs well on the Go 7.

Wallabag is a read-it-later app for articles, synced over its own service. This is another one that the old tablet could barely handle, but that runs smoothly now.

Bottom Line

I liked the Poke3 a lot, and I considered getting the Go 6, which appears to be the current equivalent. But I’m glad I paid the extra for this model. It’s such a drastic upgrade.

Even if it doesn’t fit in my pocket anymore.

Shopping for Books

★★★★★ The Bookshop.org website is great for buying print books online and still supporting indie bookstores. When you buy books, they contribute part of your purchase to a local bookshop of your choice.

I’ve been using them for pre-orders for several years now. The prices can be slightly higher than Amazon, but the selection’s good, and I like being able to credit a local (or previously local) bookstore even when I don’t actually get out to shop in person.

EBooks

★★★★☆ They launched eBook sales early in 2025, providing another alternative to Kindle. The books are in ePub format, making them a lot more portable than Amazon’s, especially the ones from publishers that don’t insist on locking access with DRM. You can just download from the website and put them on whatever reader you want. Off the top of my head, Tor publishes most of their books DRM-Free, and Bookshop has a deal to include Standard Ebooks’ catalog of free public-domain books.

For books that do have DRM, you can read them on the website, or with Adobe Digital Editions, or using Bookshop.org’s mobile app. Similar to Kobo or eBooks.com, really.

Reader App

★★★★☆ Bookshop’s mobile app has improved since launch. Initially I rated it 3, but it’s a 4 now.

The app still complains when you’re offline, popping up first an alert (“Looks like you’re offline. Time to do some reading.” with a mismatched sad-looking book, slouching under a rain cloud) and then popping up an error message about how it couldn’t load your library. But after you dismiss both alerts, you can get at the books you’ve already downloaded now.

It’s also just a little bit slower than other apps I’ve used, which isn’t a problem on most devices, but made it completely unusable on the Boox Poke3 I was using as my main reader at the time they launched. The Go 7 I eventually replaced it with handles the app fine.

On larger displays it can do a 2-page landscape layout, but only for books, not for the home screen.

Like Kobo, the app tries to sell you more books. But this one directs you to their website for making purchases. (Apple and Google take 30% of all in-app purchases on their platforms.) It does, however, let you add a book to your wishlist, so it’ll be there the next time you open the website.

Bottom Line

I’m happy to keep buying new physical books from here! (Though I try to check Better World Books first on anything that’s been out for a while.)

As for eBooks, I went back to eBooks.com just because because I could use it on the Poke3. Though I have continued to buy the occasional DRM-free book from Bookshop and just read it in a faster app. Now that I have hardware that can handle Bookshop’s app, it’s a closer call.

An absurd, character-focused, darkly humorous, psychological take on people with the super-power/body horror combo.

The title sequence sets the tone perfectly with Dave McKean-style imagery and music that sounds like the His Dark Materials theme as played by Garbage.

They start out playing up some of the X-Men similarities (the original comics for both debuted almost simultaneously). Costumes and code names mostly don’t show up until a couple of seasons in. (Though Rita seems to have a fondness for red and white outfits.)

Mostly it’s just weird.

The first two seasons are strongest. After that it gets very uneven.

Characters

Aside from Cyborg, “Crazy Jane” – the one with 64 personalities (each with its own super-power) – is the most stable and even-keeled of the bunch. Rita, Larry and Cliff spend decades hiding from the world in Niles Caulder’s oversized mansion (the fact that they haven’t aged isn’t acknowledged until at least the second season), in various forms of depression.

Putting Cyborg in the Doom Patrol instead of the Titans is a bit of an odd fit at first. He’s from the brighter side of the DCU, and an actual super-hero in this world. But he’s always had a streak of insecurity (at best) about his transformation and what he feels he’s lost of his humanity. Even the Teen Titans cartoon had that “repairs are not yet complete” episode. So he ends up being simultaneously a foil for the rest and still being one of them. It’s especially interesting to compare him to Cliff, who’s only a brain in a robot body at this point.

Rita Farr is an interesting case, since the Doom Patrol run that most directly informs the show is Grant Morrison’s…in which she wasn’t a member, having been killed years before. My knowledge of the comic book version mostly comes from the 1980s run of The New Teen Titans, in which she’s Gar Logan’s fondly-remembered dead adoptive mother. I do remember that she mainly had stretching powers in the comics, and thought of herself as a freak after gaining them. Which kinda worked in the 1960s, but doesn’t work for the 2010s. Giving her uncontrolled powers here, such that when she gets upset she starts melting into a blob, fits the tone of the show and justifies her self-loathing more effectively.

(In theory the whole team was killed off in the comics of the 1970s, but by the time Morrison picked it up, everyone except Rita had turned out to still be alive.)

Specifics

Cliff seeking a father-daughter relationship with Jane (not realizing at first how horrible her own father was), then finally working up the nerve to get in touch with his family. (And I must say, Brendan Fraser is perfect for the role.)

Rita is such fun as sort of a glamorously-drunk den mother.

Larry coming to terms with the fact that he skipped out on the decades-long struggle for gay rights - today (well, in the late 2010s, anyway) he could be himself, if he wasn’t radioactive and bonded to an alien creature.

It’s fascinating to see a storyline in which Vic actually regains his human appearance for an extended period of time, and ultimately chooses to reactivate his tech, appearance and all.

I got so tired of the butts.

The obligatory musical episode, “Immortimas Patrol,” was…not very good. With the exception of “The Elements of Love,” a well-performed dance number full of chemistry puns. (Weirdly enough, I ended up watching it in the same week as one of the Magicians musical episodes and “Subspace Rhapsody,” which was a lot more fun. Of course Star Trek is all about people who are competent at what they do, and Doom Patrol is the opposite. Including, as it turns out, music.)

The last scene (Cliff and the vision of the future) was a perfect bittersweet coda to the whole show.