Just updated Open Office 2.0 to 2.2 and the first obvious difference? - it is fast, much faster to launch and that is great because it used to take for ever!
Strangely, for such a well established product, the installation requirements in Linux, particularly Ubuntu being Debian based, are not exactly straightforward and a guide of some sort is required but it is worth the effort.
It can be difficult to find useful guides so I have chosen to blog about one of the many that I found and eventually used.
Click on the image above to access the guide and keep in mind that it is for OpenOffice 2.1 so some of the commands will need to be edited. It does also require that you are comfortable using a terminal to navigate to various folders so as the correct commands can be entered.
Is also important that "alien" is installed to convert the .rpm packages to .deb packages
Note the author states that it is very easy to do but I think anyone new to Linux may find it a slightly challenging process!
If you have got java runtime installed, and I would be surprised if you haven't actually, you can obviously skip the section of the instructions relating to installation.
There does not seem to be an option to uncheck the Java runtime (jre) download option with OpenOffice 2.2 so I just removed that particular rpm file from the folder after unpacking before I converted the rest of the rpms using alien.
Use this link to to get the OpenOffice 2.2 package.
One of the most important steps is to make sure you install the debian menus so as the OpenOffice modules show up in your Kde or Gnome menu.
Having done this you can probably skip Step 5 unless you usually use a terminal to operate your PC/laptop.
My thanks to jfinkels at the ubuntu forums for his great installation guide.
PS I have been pushing OpenOffice of late as some measure of my work involves training new computer users and many of them do not have access to MS Word and cannot afford it.
I was delighted yesterday that one of my Noongar girls that I am working with currently had downloaded OpenOffice 2.2 and asked to be able to take her text home so as she could use it!
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