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OpenOffice.org: The Limits of Readability and Grammar Extensions
September 8th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
OpenOffice.org: The limits of readability and grammar extensions
As a professional writer, my software needs are simple. Give me a text editor -- preferrably Bluefish, but vim or OpenOffice.org Writer will do -- and I have all I need.
OpenOffice.org: Cross-References Revisited
August 10th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
Four years ago, I wrote an article about OpenOffice.org writer called "Fielding Questions, Part 2 - Cross References and User-Defined Fields." I regularly receive mail about it, but these days I have to preface each reply by explaining that the article is obsolete. Repeating the explanation gets old quickly, so I decided that an update is necessary.
OpenOffice.org Calc: The Mysteries of DataPilots Revealed
July 16th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
If you're coming fresh from Microsoft Excel, you might wonder where the Pivot tables are in OpenOffice.org Calc. The problem is, they're masquerading under the name of DataPilots. But, under any name, DataPilots are Calc's way of allowing you to quickly reorganize information in a range of cells so that you can gain a new insight into them.
Fast Is Hot
May 8th, 2009 by Doc Searls in
Last month, we reported here about Splashtop, which starts a laptop in only a few seconds. Since then, Splashtop reportedly has found its way into the Lenovo IdeaPad S10e and the ASUS Eee PC.
Creating Reports in OpenOffice.org Base
April 14th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
OpenOffice.org Base: Editing Information in a Database
March 18th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
Once you have a database set up, sooner or later you will want to edit its tables or add a new record. You have four ways to do so.
OpenOffice.org Base: Creating basic databases and tables
February 18th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
When databases became available for the personal computer in the mid-1980s, they quickly gained a mystique as the ultimate productivity applications. Despite their widespread use, in some ways they have never lost that mystique -- so much so that many desktop users will stretch the use of spreadsheets to cumbersome lengths rather than consider setting up a database.
OpenOffice.org Impress: Preparing a Slide Show
January 27th, 2009 by Bruce Byfield in
OpenOffice.org: The many views of Impress
December 15th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
Presentation software isn't complicated compared to a word processor or spreadsheet. It doesn't need to be. Maybe that's why OpenOffice.org's Impress offers a variety of views of your work.
Kuklomenos—Weird Space Shooter?
November 11th, 2008 by John Knight in
Kuklomenos has to be one of the weirdest games I've ever come across. I'm not doing a full review here, because I simply can't figure it out! If you want to compile it, go right ahead; it's easy with the usual ./configure, make, make install routine. But, once you get into the game, be prepared to be puzzled.
Tables in OpenOffice.org Impress: New and Unstylish
November 6th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
Animating slide shows in OpenOffice.org Impress
October 16th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
OpenOffice.org: Knowing when to use Impress
September 8th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
With Labour Day past, we back in the season of slide shows -- million of them daily in both academia and business. For over a decade now, slide shows have become an accepted prop for public speaking, regardless of whether they are useful or well-designed, and the trend shows no sign of slowing. You can, of course, just acquiesce and accept that as soon as you click to the first slide, most of your audience will sigh deeply and sit back low in their chairs. But, if you really want to make slide shows work for you, you'll think before opening up the Impress wizard.
OpenOffice.org Impress: Using Master Slides
August 22nd, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
The Master view in Impress is the equivalent of page styles in Writer. It's the view where you can set elements of design that appear throughout your presentation, such as the slide background and foreground colors, any reoccurring elements, and the fonts. By creating the master slides you need before you add content, you can automate your work and free yourself to focus on content.
Google Gadgets for Linux
July 21st, 2008 by LJ Staff in
Google Gadgets for Linux are simple HTML and JavaScript applications that can be embedded in web pages and other applications. By all accounts, Gadget support for Linux was a major undertaking for the Google team as it is an entire platform for mini applications.
Exploring Space with Celestia
July 15th, 2008 by Mike Diehl in
I, as well as my 4 year old son, have always had an interest in Astronomy. My son puts planet puzzles together and looks at picture books. I'm proud to say that he can name all the planets in order, and astonished to realize that he knows that Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore. I've read books on Astronomy; I've been to planetariums and observatories.
Automating the creation of slide shows in OpenOffice.org
July 7th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
Why do you need an article on building slide shows in Impress? You don't, in one sense, because the application is simple enough for anyone who has ever seen a slide show to figure out. If you want, you can just plunge in and learn by doing. However, if you take the time to learn, you'll find that OpenOffice.org has two tools to help you organize and automate the process -- and, ultimately, to help you save time.
OpenOffice.org Template Collections
June 9th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in
Stubbornly, OpenOffice.org continues to ship with only a handful of templates. Despite the efforts of several sub-projects and individuals to change the situation, the standard OpenOffice.org download includes only a couple of slide show presentations and a few templates to accompany the wizards available in the file menu. This lack of templates is a serious handicap for many users, and often leaves a poor impression on new users who are accustomed to the selection of templates found in other office suites.
It's Not About the Distro
June 5th, 2008 by Shawn Powers in
This summer, I'm changing our entire 250+ workstation infrastructure from Fedora to Edubuntu. Under the hood, our computers will be very, very different. Not a single one of my users, however, will notice.
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December 2009, #188
If last month's Infrastrucuture issue was too "big" for you then try on this month's Embedded issue. Find out how to use Player for programming mobile robots, build a humidity controller for your root cellar, find out how to reduce the boot time of your embedded system, and if you're new to embedded systems find out the basics that go into one. You can also read about the Beagle Board, the Mesh Potato and a spate of other interestingly named items. And along with our regular columns don't miss our new monthly column: Economy Size Geek.








