Also, we encourage you to experiment with the different programs. Linux offers a number of alternatives to costly software like Photoshop [GIMP] and Microsoft Office [Open Office].
Click on the question for the How to.
When logging in to the Linux desktop, every machine uses the same login name and password, which should be on a note attached to your monitor. You do not have to use your regular Novell or student login.
If you want to take a look at the different programs on the Linux computer, click on the red "N" in the left corner of the desktop. A drop-down menu similar to Window's "Start" menu will open up revealing the different categories of programs.
On each desktop there is a Groupwise icon. Double-clicking on the icon will open a window asking for your Groupwise username and password. Once you have logged in and clicked ok, the full Groupwise window displaying your email will open up. If you close this window, you will be asked to login again when you reopen Groupwise. This ensures that other users on the machine will not have access to your email.
Open Office is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. It can open and produce the same documents, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations as MS Office. When opened on the Linux machine, any Microsoft Word document (signified by the .doc at the end of the file name) will be opened in Open Office.
If you create a new document in Open Office and wish to save it in Word format, follow these instructions:
- When you are ready to save the document, click File-->Save As. This will open up a window.
- Enter the name of the file in the box marked "Name." Like in Microsoft Word, this can be any name that you choose.
- Below where you entered the filename, you will see a box labeled "Save in folder." This allows you to choose where to save your file.
- Below the "Save in folder" box is a box labeled "File Type." To save the document in Microsoft Word format, click on the box. A drop-down menu listing a number of different file formats will appear. For MS Word, choose the format "Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc). Click Save and you're done.
- As you add to the file, you can click on the diskette icon on the left side of the Open Office toolbar to save your progress. From now on the document will save in the same format and in the same place.
If you recieve a message that reads "This document may contain attributes and information that cannot be saved under Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP. Do you want to save your changes using OpenOffice.org 1.0 Text Document format?", click "Do Not Show this question again." and then click "No." It shouldn't display the error again.