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alternative word processing / spread sheet programs

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
I am wondering, since I want a computer to do homework, and I probably can't afford a good un, is there an OS / programs that aren't so memory hungry as windows? I've heard linux can still be very good at really low end computers, but would just like to know more information. And are the programs compatible with windows equiv. ?

thankyoooo

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you use windows you should try what I use which is Open Office from www.openoffice.org - It's free and has everything you need. You can even convert text files to PDF.

    I used to have a free copy of Ability Office but I dunno where it is. :(

    You could also try Mandrake Linux 9 or SuSe Linux - They also come with loads of software and their pretty cheap... about 50 quid I think. Also I think you'll find SuSe linux more easy to install/use than Mandrake although their both pretty simple really.

    www.suse.co.uk
    www.linux-mandrake.com

    How do I run Windows applications under Linux?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^^What Felix said.
    Plus there's also Sun's Star Office. They charge about $50 for the latest version, but it used to be free (version 5.5) I believe. Some work with a search engine will probably find the older version out there somewhere. There's a Windows, and a Linux version of it.
    As for Linux, I've found that Mandrake is easy to use. The latest version, 9.2, if free to download, though it is three CD-ROM's worth of downloading, but extremely comprehensive.

    Mr_Wobble ;)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you need a PC only for home work then go to a PC Fair and look around

    My friend and I went to one a few weeks ago and bought a Compaq Pentium 2 300 MHz with Windows ME installed.

    for

    £35
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Shyboy your best bet would to download a distribution of linux which you can boot from CD, commonly known one's such as Suse's live evaluation, Knoppix, morphix etc etc, most of them are just modified debian packages altered to run from CD however there are some live distros of slackware, gentoo etc but these are slightly more difficult to use (they all use a ramdisk in your PC memory as a temporary swap space for the OS)

    Your best bet would probably be knoppix, no major setup required, just download, burn and boot from cd... comes with openoffice too! :)

    get it here
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