Computer Illiterate

[trangfarang]

I'm in the unfortunate position of knowing how to use a computer quite well but knowing nothing about setting them up and how they run. I've been quite happy with this arangement until now that I am shopping for a notebook computer.

I have what to some of you is probably a fairly straight forward question. I have read that Microsoft Word cannot run on a Linux operating system. If so does this mean installing Microsoft office on a Linux operating system is also impossible?

I have found a notebook I am quite fond of that has a Linux operating system, is there another word processor or alternative to Microsoft office that I can install?

Thanks in advance

[organic]

You can use OpenOffice (from openoffice.org, some linux distros already come with it). It will open most Micros**t Word documents. In fact someone on another forum recently claimed it has better Word backward compatibility than Word itself has! OpenOffice also has some big advantages - it's free, it's open source, and runs under windows, linux and osx.

[croftrobin]

In answer to your first question.

You can NOT install Microsoft Office under Linux

You will not be able to run any Software designed for Windows under Linux OS's

(be it Microsoft's or any other vendors)

As suggested by organic, Open Office is a good and free suite of programs that will allow you to perform most of the tasks that Microsoft Office offers.

[francois]

You will not be able to run any Software designed for Windows under Linux OS's

WRONG!

please don't through out things like this

have you heard about "wine"?

in fact some program can be run under Linux "IF', there is a windows partition present on the computer, and if this application "wine" is installed and well configured on the Linux system.

but, where is the point to run windows programs with a Linux machine, if you prefer windows, stay with it ...

what Linux offers is a kinda freedom, but it has a price ...

get into it, and make a list of all what you need to learn to run a proper Linux machine

the list of the how-to's is endless

as the man-pages ...

I do agree with organic, Open Office is far the best on a Linux system

francois

ps; anyone tried the kernel 2.6? ... just a question

[exchange1973]

Hi there,

also VMware is good piece of software. You can set up several virtual machines with different OS's. So you are able to run a W2k as a virtual machine within a Linux.

But to reach a good performance you have to run it an a fast machine with some memory in it. ;-)

Open Office is a real good alternative for MS Office!

Regards!

exchange1973

[francois]

also VMware is good piece of software. You can set up several virtual machines with different OS's. So you are able to run a W2k as a virtual machine within a Linux.

and it is the only good way to use vmware, on a Linux machine to get all the good of it

and not reverse (win with vmware on and linux as a virtual os, just to get the worst of windows ...)

but then again, why use windows on a Linux machine, why not have a second disk?

and run them as you like in their own ressources.

francois

[croftrobin]

Francois - I am perfectly aware that using "other programs" like Wine you can run Windows apps (with varying degrees of success it must be admitted)

. However as you admit yourself -

"some program can be run under Linux "IF', there is a windows partition present on the computer, and if this application "wine" is installed and well configured on the Linux system"

The original posters question has a subtitle "computer illiterate" - Therefore he is highly unlikely to have both a Windows and a Linux partition on the same machine or be in the least bit interested in running virtual machines etc.

He asked if he could install Microsoft Office (ie put in the CD and go ) on a Linux OS (as found on the cheap laptops sold here in Thailand)

The answer to help him is NO, IT CAN NOT!

He is not interested in fiddling around with dual partitions or the kernel builds etc.

Sometimes a simple answer is considerably more helpfull!

[trangfarang]

Thanks for the replies. just another, if I get a Linux system and install open office, will I be able to open Microsoft Word and Excel documents, or is it a hit and miss affair?

[croftrobin]

You will be able to open and save the files without any problems at all.

[randyksf]

I know everyone love Linux but here is a different thought. If you don't know any computer systems stay with Microcrap. I disk like them as most people. However I have this way of thinking.

If you just want to type Excel you will be fine but if you ever want to use Photoshop or any of the other popular programs you should stay with Windows XP. Not all programs are made to work with Linux. (Running VM’s is still running MS so why do that?)

Most programs I Windows are simple to install.

Put the CD or download page and click Agree, Next, Next and your done.

To install yahoo instant messenger with Linux this is the process.

Download application

Log in as root and type

rpm -i <filename>

with the appropriate filename depending on your version to install the application.

Run /usr/bin/ymessenger from X Window to launch the application.

Also there is a less support out in the world for Linux.

Also XP has a lot of other nice things for MPS, or using photos from your camera. You may not have one now but in 2 years you might.

I think the curve to get handy with Linux might be more than is let on. However I am typing this from a Linux system. Just a different point of view.

To the geeks, XP reloaded is coming soon. AKA XP SP2. has a lot of nice upgrades.

[Zendesigner]

is you are a computer illiterate stick with windows.

You can by or copie programs everywhere. your kids can play a game on it , your office work is standard for 80 percent of the world. when it is installed XP or 2000 is pretty stable compared to earlyer versions, Drivers are available for every hardware ect...

The Legal licensing cost is high but i think we all know the way around that ??? pantip plaza anyone ??

If you are a computer freak that likes to peal around with numbers, command lines, drivers ect... get linux, its cheap to buy but you spend 5 times more installing stuff on it then on a windows platform.

It's still for computer geeks no matter how they try to easy the use of it.

Yes i'm pro microsoft even if their licensing an marketing tactics riek to high heaven.

Don't forget if microsoft hadden't pushed the ease of use through their windows platforms.

We would still be typing around in long command line structures and coupling batch files to each other ...like Linux i presume.

If linux was so easy to use why are they running so hard to make Windows look alike gui's ???

Simple , Basic computer users know how windows works... it's the defacto standard...

B

[jim_g]

Under the WINE emulator you most certainly can run Word or any other Microsoft product. The creator used the Microsoft programs as a benchmark.

This nonsense people are writing about needing a Windows partition is just that, nonsense.

The question is, why would you want to use Linux if you also want to use programs like Word? There are capable wordprocessors for Linux and there are very good programs for almost anything you can do on a Windows machine. I find OCR to be seriously lacking, for instance.

Linux is cheaper, more secure, virtually virus free, and frequently abler than Windows. I recommend the Libranet distribution although it's been a while since they have updated it. Suse 9.0 looks quite good as well.

[francois]

I have what to some of you is probably a fairly straight forward question. I have read that Microsoft Word cannot run on a Linux operating system. If so does this mean installing Microsoft office on a Linux operating system is also impossible?

here was the question!

can I run word on a linux machine?

the answer is yes ...but! and this should lead to another question ... how to?

can I install word?

the answer is NO!

as simple as this!

and more than this,

The question is, why would you want to use Linux if you also want to use programs like Word? There are capable wordprocessors for Linux and there are very good programs for almost anything you can do on a Windows machine. I find OCR to be seriously lacking, for instance.

Linux is cheaper, more secure, virtually virus free, and frequently abler than Windows. I recommend the Libranet distribution although it's been a while since they have updated it. Suse 9.0 looks quite good as well.

I do agree, make your choice of os

they both have good and bad sides, but anyone who is not ready to learn and read should stay with windoze

is it simple enough?

add-on : suse 9 is a real nice piece of work ...

waiting for mandrake 10.0 for test ... soon

francois

[organic]

Don't forget if microsoft hadden't pushed the ease of use through their windows platforms.

We would still be typing around in long command line structures and coupling batch files to each other ...like Linux i presume.

It wasn't micros**t that pushed it through it was Apple, Windows is just a buggy, bloated attempt to catch up with the Mac. Anyway, if you want a machine that's easy to use within minimal amount of learning, a Mac is what you buy instead of messing about with a pc.

[cathyy]

Francois, you can install all of Office under Linux, should you want, by using wine. The proper sequence will be:

install wine and configure it by typing wine on the command line. It creates a "windows" directory in your home directory. A good distro will have it already installed, but it will still need to be configured.

mount the cdrom with the Office cd in it (mount /dev/sr0 /cdrom)

cd to there (cd /cdrom)

wine ./setup.exe (can you guess?)

A better solution is to use a not-free program called Crossover, which not only lets you run many Windows apps, but lets windows plugins work.

Winex is a not-free version of wine from Transgaming that is tweaked to run windows games. You'd be surprised at what runs.

Anybody who is thinking of running Linux does need to get comfortable with looking up commands in a reference book and trying them.

[cathyy]

trang, yes, you will be able to open Office docs IF they are not from Office XP. MS changes the file format every release or two to keep other programs from being able to open their files. OpenOffice will add this capability as soon as they can. Of course, Office 2000 can't open an Office XP file sometimes, either. (Word changed, but Excel didn't, I think maybe?)

[francois]

Francois, you can install all of Office under Linux, should you want, by using wine. The proper sequence will be:

install wine and configure it by typing wine on the command line. It creates a "windows" directory in your home directory. A good distro will have it already installed, but it will still need to be configured.

mount the cdrom with the Office cd in it (mount /dev/sr0 /cdrom)

cd to there (cd /cdrom)

wine ./setup.exe (can you guess?)

A better solution is to use a not-free program called Crossover, which not only lets you run many Windows apps, but lets windows plugins work.

Winex is a not-free version of wine from Transgaming that is tweaked to run windows games. You'd be surprised at what runs.

Anybody who is thinking of running Linux does need to get comfortable with looking up commands in a reference book and trying them.

hmm hmm

might be not too bad that you read the previous posts ...

I say, and it's a fact that no Linux user would go against :

to run Linux properly, you NEED to read faqs, how to's, and quite a few man pages!

if you don't, can you tell me how did you learn to install a new driver, or even more simple, how to get an error log of a program ... just tell me

or further up ... how did you learn to compile a new kernel and install it?

you see, I run Linux since Red-Hat version 5.0, now with Suse 9.0, I do think that I know what I'm talking about a little bit

alright, with the latest release of wine, you can install microsh#t stuffs ... and so what?

aren't you happy with open office?

all the Linux programs aren't enough?

do you miss the easy microsh#t?

in fact I use both, just for one reason, for sound and video, we have what we need with

microsh#t, and not yet with Linux, it just cost millions to build program like these.

for sure, I would love to have a kinda cool-edit for sound and something like mpeg4 direct maker with Linux ... but I don't have this yet

just to say, the best is to run microsh#t progs on a microsh#t machine and Linux stuffs

on a Linux machine, two discs and here you are

but, it's only my humble opinion

francois

[francois]

trang, yes, you will be able to open Office docs IF they are not from Office XP. MS changes the file format every release or two to keep other programs from being able to open their files. OpenOffice will add this capability as soon as they can. Of course, Office 2000 can't open an Office XP file sometimes, either. (Word changed, but Excel didn't, I think maybe?)

Open Office is in perpetual development, and so new fonction are added regularly

word in every new version ask you "do you want to be compatible for previous file format" ... or something like this in the options of install.

but, if you have still a 97 version, this will never open 2003 files!

this is microsh#t commercial politic!

you have to be updated, you have to pay!

(lucky for us here, the update is reasonable)

so, obvioulsy, you have to be up to date to open and use any new file format ...

the best would be to say to your friends or collaborators to use Open Office, this could solve a lot of problems

francois

[sting01]

TO help a little bit here are 2 links who can be usefull:

http://www.openoffice.org

the place where you canfind OpenOffice, and the most part of the answers to the questions you can have.

http://www.staroffice.com

there is the place about the OpenOffice version released by Sun Microsystem. In fact it's Sun who have bought this programm in 1999 from Star Division Gmbh, and who have given to the open source community the code. The fact to have the code in Open source make you sure the product will be not stopping for commercial reasons.

If you have, or any other members of this webboard, some questions related to OOo (openOffice) or SO (StarOffice) (basically the same core engine) feel free or to go to the places sus mentionned, or to pm directly here. I will do my best to give you the most accurate (at least, or I will loose my face) answers concerning the migration from a proprietary program to an open source one.

Regards