Free Alternative To Microsoft Office

Anyone who ever priced the Microsoft Office Suite knows it represents a significant investment.

A quick check of the CompUSA.com website shows Microsoft Office Standard costs $399 and Microsoft Office Professional will set you back $449. Now, this doesn’t discount the value of the software.

In fact, the functionality in MS Office represents the true workhorse of home and small business computing, namely: word processing (Word), spreadsheets (Excel), presentations (PowerPoint), and desktop database applications (Access).

However, with the cost for such functionality at a premium, it comes as no surprise that a viable alternative emerged to challenge Microsoft’s position atop the office application market.

OpenOffice.org offers a suite of office software applications free to download for anyone with a computer, including PC’s operating with Windows or Linux.

Open Office also offers a free version for Macintosh computers.

Open Office offers its software freely to anyone who wants to download it.

Their all-volunteer organization, sponsored in large part by Sun Microsystems, operates with the noble goal of making productivity software available worldwide in 36 languages, particularly to economies that simply can’t afford the cost of other office solutions.

The Open Office software publishes in the Open Document Format to make data universally available (instead of using proprietary file formats that, for instance, make it hard to share between Microsoft Word and Word Perfect).

Open Office contains several main components, each of which help the user with specific tasks.

Writer – This software offers a full-featured word-processing program enabling the user to type letters, brochures, faxes, even entire books. No matter what you need to type, this program lets you do it. It also offers such features as spell check, auto-correction, and thesaurus.

Calc – Calc offers a spreadsheet program enabling the user to create cells containing text or digits, execute simple and complex calculations, database functions, and more. Calc is perfect for accounting spreadsheets, inventory and more.

Impress – Impress enables the user to create “slideshow” presentations containing text and images for use in sales or group presentations. Impress also allows the user to create impressive slide transition effects and eye-catching animation.

Draw – Draw gives the user the ability to create simple to complex drawings using vector graphics. Users can create drawings by hand, or incorporate an array of existing shapes, arrows, lines and other graphics.

Though it does represent an excellent alternative to expensive office software suites, Open Office is not without a few drawbacks.

Since they make the software available free of charge, tech support for the free version only lasts 30 days. Also, by its nature, the software is a “work in progress.”

As such, you will find bugs periodically that should get reported to the Open Office website so they can fix them.

However, despite these drawbacks, Open Office software rates a “must look” if you need word processing, spreadsheets and other capabilities we’ve naturally come to associate with home and small business computing.

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and co-author of an amazing program that teaches you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs… without spending a dime on advertising! Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

Dual Boot Windows and Linux: Single and Multiple Hard Drives

The internet is full of technical articles, many of which are way too complicated for the average computer user who just wants to solve a simple problem. If you pay close attention, the internet is also a place where the “gurus” spend a lot of time yelling for help in discussion boards and forums. So don’t feel bad, nobody has all the answers.

So you want to dual boot Windows and Linux on the same computer—it is really quite easy. I only have enough room here to tell you the most common way to do this on a single hard drive or using multiple hard drives. Obviously then, there are many ways to get the job done, but there are some critical things you should know. Let’s start with some critical information.

Windows and Linux: Same Hard Drive
The windows operating system MUST occupy the master boot record (MBR). Linux, on the other hand does not have to. In this scenario, you must install windows first! After Windows has been successfully installed, then you can install Linux. This is critical! The Linux “boot loader” is called GRUB. When you install Linux—MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT INSTALL THE LINUX BOOT LOADER TO THE MBR.

Configure the Windows Boot Loader: A Two Step Process
It is also possible to use GRUB to dual boot Windows and Linux on the same drive but this is a bit more complex—the Windows boot loader will get the job done. In the following commands, you will create a copy of the Linux boot sector and then save it in a file in the top level directory under Windows (C:\).

Step 1: Linux
From the shell in your Linux installation (boot from your installation disks):
Execute the following shell command, replacing /dev/hda3 with the location of your Linux boot partition.

shell# dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1

Copy the new file—bootsect.lnx—to a floppy disk and reboot to Windows.

Step 2: Windows
Copy bootsect.lnx to C:\ in Windows. Then execute the following command at the DOS prompt.

C:\> attrib -H -R -S \boot.ini

Edit boot.ini so that the first two lines are:

[boot loader]
timeout=30

After the last line, add:

c:\bootsect.lnx=“Start Linux”

That’s it, you are done! Reboot your machine and you will see a menu allowing you to select either Windows or Linux. Congratulations.

Windows and Linux: Two Hard Drives
This is also quite easy. In this case, you will boot to the Linux drive. We will add Windows to the Linux boot loader (i.e., GRUB). GRUB is my favorite boot loader.

Edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file. One of the very first lines should contain:

timeout=30

After the last line add:

title Start Windows
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Reboot your machine to the Linux drive and you will see a menu allowing you to select between Linux or Windows. Nice work!

This article is obviously short and does not include any explanations of how these commands work. There are variations on what I have shown here depending on your hardware setup, but I believe that these are the most common and should get the job done nicely. I would be happy to direct you to additional resources if this does not work for you.

David Picella is a Family Nurse Practitioner and PhD Student at UW Milwaukee who studies women’s health issues and NaProTechnology. He also writes computer technical articles. You can find additional technical resources for this article in the technology section at: http://www.majella.us

Using your iPod in your Car

Using an iPod in your car can be difficult if you aren’t familiar with the different options. Here are six ways to listen to your iPod inside your car.

• Use Headphones – I have seen many people do this. It is not a safe way to listen to your iPod in your car. If you do this, you should make sure you always leave one ear free to listen to traffic.
• Cassette Adapter – For $10 to $15 you can find a cassette adapter that plugs into your car stereo tape player. While these work fairly well, the sound quality is not very good.
• Radio Transmitter – There are devices that plug into your iPod and transmit to your car stereo. The quality isn’t particularly great, but it is a simple way to play your iPod through your car stereo without dealing with wires or complicated setup. Not all vehicles have stereo’s that can receive these type of transmissions, so you will have to test it to make sure it will work for you.
• Auxiliary Input – Many car stereo’s have an input jack that you can plug the iPod’s headphone connector into. This gives good sound, but still requires you to use the iPod controls to change songs.
• Stereo Integration – Some car stereos can talk directly to your iPod. With this type of integration, you can control the iPod just like the radio.
• Stereo Integration Add-on Box – Some stereos are compatible with third-party add-on boxes that connect between the iPod and your stereo. Usually these boxes plug into the CD changer input and allow you to treat your iPod as if it were a CD changer.

The Digital501 website offers insights into dealing with technology lifestyle issues. You can find more articles like this one at: http://www.digital501.com/. If you liked this article you may be particularly interested in the expanded version called Six ways to Play an Ipod in your Car.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Shead

First We Had Portable Music, Now Thanks To The iPod We Can Take Videos With Us

The newest iPod models are video capable. Talk about never leaving a good thing alone. Apple decided to add video to the device’s many features. You can now watch your favorite movie on your iPod video. However, you’ll have to convert it to a form your iPod can understand. This is called encoding. This may not sound strange to those of you who have a PSP. This is because it uses the MPEG 4 format for its video files. There is nothing difficult about encoding. I’ll walk you through the process so you can start watching those videos wherever you want.

You’ll need QuickTime Pro 7 or a later version. With it you can encode your video to the MPEG 4 format that your iPod will understand and play. It is a pretty straightforward process. Download it if you don’t have it or if you have a version older than 7. Once you’re through with the installation, open it and click on File and Choose Open File. Export the video after you have selected the movie, home video or whichever video recording you intend to watch on your ipod. Now make sure you choose the 320 x 240 resolution. That’s the resolution that your iPod can handle. The next step now is for you to simply click Save. You’ll see how the encoding is going from a bar that comes on once you save.

Once the process is completed, you’ll see the movie on your desktop or anywhere else you specified. You now need iTunes not older than version 6 to load it onto your iPod. All you have to do then is to make sure your iTune synchronizes with your computer. You can then play the movies of your choice with ease.

Take note of this: your encoding time will depend on the length of your video. Longer videos will take longer while shorter videos will take less time. The configuration of your computer will also determine the time this process takes. You don’t expect a 1 gigabyte processor with a 256MB RAM to do the job as fast as your friend’s 3 gigabyte duo processor with 2GB RAM.

You can take the whole iPod video thing to another level by watching it on your standard TV. For this you’ll need an AV cable, then go to your iPod video’s options screen from Video then Video Settings and choose how you want your iPod to play back your movies. You have several options: TV out, TV signal and Wide screen. Choose the TV out option and select Yes. If you choose otherwise you won’t be able to watch the movie on your TV.

Now your movies can go with you wherever you go. Have a nice time but, please, never turn on the iPod video while driving for your safety and others.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as high tech gadgets at http://www.shop4gadgetsplus.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Hall

How To Download A Movie On Your Ipod – A Step By Step Guide

So everyone has heard of an Ipod by this point, and most people own one. However when it comes to actually taking advantage of all the features and functions an Ipod is capable of, we don’t always have the necessary knowledge, nor detailed enough instructions to achieve what we desire.

I for example had quite a lot of trouble downloading movies onto my ipod, though I knew that without a doubt it was possible. So once I finally succeeded I thought it would be a good idea to take that information and put it into article form so that others might benefit. So here is my step by step guide on how to download movies on your ipod, it should make the process easy and achieveable.

First you will need to find somewhere to actually download the movies from in the first place, and usually this means some sort of subscriber website. I have included a link at the bottom of this article which should take you to a review of the two best movie and music download sites available at the moment.

The next step is of course to find the movie you want to watch on the subscriber site. Once you have found the desired movie, make sure you choose the Video Ipod/ Sony PSP download option. This is simply to ensure that you get the correct file type to be watched on your Ipod. Then download the file to a place on your computer, it is best to create a folder called IpodMovies or something similar so you will know exactly where they are.

Once the file has been completely downloaded to your computer, it is time to connect your Ipod to the computer via its USB cord. Open the Apple iTunes application. Select ‘Add File to Library’ from the ‘File’ menu in the iTunes application. Browse your computer for the video you previously downloaded and click ‘Open.’ Then Click ‘Edit,’ then click ‘Preferences in the iTunes application. Once that is done click the ‘iPod’ tab, then click ‘Videos,’ and then ‘Automatically update all videos.’ Lastly, you should click ‘OK.’

Itunes will then automatically copy the movie from your computer to your Ipod. Once this has been done all you need to do to play back your movies on your iPod is click ‘Videos,’ then click ‘Movies’.

If all instructions above have been followed correctly you should have been able to successfully download a movie on your Ipod, and been able to watch it. As you can see, it is not a complicated process and you should be able to achieve this quite easily.

As mentioned above, one of the most important parts of this process is picking the right subscriber site. The wrong one will not have the selection you desire, and could end up costing you more than you are willing to pay if it charges download fees. So I have created a small page with links to two great Ipod sites which do not charge download fees and have a massive selection of movies. But don’t take my word for it, check them out for yourself and pick the right one for you. Click here to check out my two favourite Ipod download sites. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Samuels