Office Suite – OpenOffice November 14, 2009
Posted by kanakatech in Linux, Office, Windows.add a comment
Ok, so the staple of the computer has got to be the office suite. It’s what is expected to be on the computer. So, I guess we’ll do this one first. Enter OpenOffice.org, sometimes referenced as OOo. GET IT HERE!!! Install it and wala, free office suite.
What’s that you say? You want to open office files? Even more, all your friends and people you share stuff with use M$ Office?
Open up and OpenOffice.org document. Go to Tools -> Options, then expand the Load/Save group in the list box to the left. Now go through each Document Type and select the default format to save the selected document type in. If you will be exchanging documents with M$ Office users often, set this to save the documents in the respective M$ formats. This way you won’t have to do a “Save As” over and over again. Uncheck the option to display a warning if not saving in the default ODF format.
So far it’s done everything I’ve needed done.
Aloha!
How Far Can I Get For Free? November 9, 2009
Posted by kanakatech in Uncategorized.add a comment
So, since I’ve discovered the wonderful world of Open Source Software I have since uninstalled windows as my primary O/S and installed Linux Mint. One of the most time consuming tasks I had when I decided to switch to the Open Source platform was deciding which flavor of Linux to install on my system. I went through all the forum posts and read the pros and cons and bashing and name calling. I finally settled on Linux Mint. I’ll go over some of the determining factors in another post.
After installing Linux Mint, I went out and got the software packages that I wanted. They were all free, from word processors to MySQL modeling and adminstration tools. I went through numerous sites and read countless write ups to find the software that I wanted. I finally got everything I needed on my computer, and it didn’t cost a dime.
I have Firefox setup with my free iGoogle homepage customized to what I want to see. Firefox is also configured with a free Password manager that remembers all my passwords for me, also accessible via my iPhone. I have most of my neccessary documents in Google Docs online, which I can access and edit from my iPhone if I need to. I have a small business that I’m trying to get off the ground, so I have a free Quickbooks online account.
I did notice a pattern though, finding out about a lot of these packages took a lot of time. Time that average Joe wouldn’t spend, because face it, he’s just not THAT interested. He just wants the stuff to work and not have it take up his entire weekend. I also have friends that I try to enlighten and I rattle off numerous website addresses to. I know they won’t remember them all, if any at all. So, I need a place that is accessible to everyone for me to store and make available all this knowledge. I need a website.
Hmmmm…. I’m not the most graphically inclined person, so I figure I’ll get a cheap hosting account and buy a cheap web template and wallah!!! Now, I would have someplace to tell everyone about all the cool free stuff out there…. Hmmmm… if I’m going to attempt to let people know about free stuff, shouldn’t I try to do it “on the free” instead of “on the cheap”? Yup, so I assessed the situation, I want a platform that I can use to continually keep people informed of my findings as time goes on. Sounds like a blog to me. WordPress, here I come…. and here I am.
So over the next couple weeks I’ll be posting stuff about free software and services. Mostly for ordinary Joe, but some for techno-nerds as well. I won’t keep it all Linux either. Those with Windows can use a bone or two or twelve since they’re paying inflated prices for most of their stuff anyways.
Stay tuned…..
Aloha!!!
Hello world! November 8, 2009
Posted by kanakatech in Uncategorized.add a comment
I am basically your undercover-techno-geek-nerd. I used to be a Microsoft fan-boy but have “seen the light” and am converting to the open source platform. I dabbled with it some years ago and found the platform, Linux mainly, not quite ready at the time, mostly because of driver issues and ‘not-so-user-friendly’ installation procedures. However, with the advancements in the open source community, I believe a lot of the open source software available now is more than capable of replacing their proprietary counterparts.
Upon the initial dabbling I referred to earlier I actually set out to explore the open source arena. This time, however, I actually stumbled into it. I had a GMail account and was aware of Google Docs, which is a free online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation creation package. I started wondering what else was available for free. And so it began…. I started searching and found more and more software and online services that are available completely free. I was so intruiged by the quality of the software and services available I kept searching and finding more stuff. The night turned into morning, the morning turned into night and days melded together and soon weeks. I was on an information high, something akin to Johnny Number 5 in the movie Short Circuit when he was reading those books. After a while the wifey finally pulled in the reigns. You see, by this time I haven’t seen much of my bedroom or sleep for a few weeks and that doesn’t go over well with the spouse.
Now, being a techno-geek-nerd I was amazed, it was like I found the promise land. I was also amazed that this entire movment was happening and I didn’t have a clue, and I’ve been in the industry for a while. Been working computer jobs for over 10 years, since I was 17. I am convinced that the only reason people aren’t using this software as much as the other stuff is because people don’t know about it. I’m going to do my part to try and change that. This is the first step!!!
Aloha!!
