Help Ubuntu!: Making LibreOffice Play Nice with Microsoft Office!

Our latest video in the continuation of the 'Help Ubuntu!' video series has just gone live!  Ubuntu 11.04 includes LibreOffice as the default office suite.  LibreOffice is a great software package that offers a lot that can contend with other retail offerings such as Microsoft's Office.  And it's free and open source.

LibreOffice is forked from the Open Office project.  When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice eventually became handed over to the Apache Foundation.  In the meantime, a handful of developers from the Open Office development team decided it was a great idea to fork Open Office into what we now know as LibreOffice.

One of the big things a lot of people complain about when using LibreOffice (and OpenOffice for that matter) is that by default any files made within the program become saved as 'ODF' files.  And these files don't translate well (if at all) towards Windows software (namely, Microsoft's Office suite).  So, how do we fix it?

Easy, watch this video and follow along to get your LibreOffice files to play nice with Microsoft's Office file formats!









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You can now view all of our videos in the series over at the 'Help Ubuntu!' section of our site!

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Our latest video has gone live, be sure to check it out: "Help Ubuntu!-Video Series: Customizing Ubuntu Pt.1"!

In this video we will cover how to setup Gwibber; so you can let it do the hard work in keeping you updated on what is happening on your Social Networking sites (Twitter and Facebook).  We also cover how to install packages (in my case I will install Google's Chrome Web Browser), and we cover installing and using Ubuntu Tweak.

Ubuntu Tweak is a great tool for new Ubuntu user's because it includes pretty much every setting you'd ever want access to all within a single location.  From changing desktop settings, and login screen options.  All the way down to installing packages and even editing the Source Code (if that is your cup of tea).





And as always, be sure to visit my YouTube Channel and 'Like' the video and Subscribe so you stay updated on the latest videos when they go live!

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Help!: Ubuntu Video Series- Installing Unity 2D & Switching to Ubuntu Classic in 11.04

If you have been following along with our video series on Ubuntu, than you should be ready for our latest video!  In our latest video we will cover how to download and install Unity 2D and how to switch between Unity, Unity 2D, and Ubuntu Classic.

So, why would you want/need to install Unity 2D?  Simple, by default Ubuntu 11.04 includes Unity as it's default Desktop Environment.  It requires OpenGL to be run and can slow things down somewhat (especially boot times).  Not to mention you need a machine with decent hardware specs to run it without too much trouble.  And as we all know, a lot of people turn to Linux to breath new life into older hardware.  So default Unity may not be the best choice.

For example, you install Ubuntu and one of three things will happen:
1- You will meet Unity and immediately fall in love.
2- Your machine can't run it and will be thrown into Ubuntu Classic mode.
3- You absolutely dislike it.


Let's say you fall into either the first two cases listed above.  Let's say you like to idea and look of Unity but you're computer just can't seem to pull it's weight as fast as you'd like with Unity as default.  That's when you should look into Unity 2D.  Unity 2D gives you the functionality and appearance of Unity but without OpenGL being required to run.  In other words, Unity 2D runs from Qt and cuts some of the bloat away from standard Unity.

If you happen to fall into the third scenario; where you log into Ubuntu 11.04 for the first time and aren't too thrilled with Unity.  Relax, don't freak out and start looking for other Linux distributions to use.  There is a little something here for you too.  It's really easy to switch back to Ubuntu Classic.  Ubuntu Classic is the new name for the desktop look and feel everyone has come to know and love from Ubuntu including every release prior to 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).  Personally, this is my choice.  Just because I have always like how Ubuntu looks.  And I feel that Unity may be better suited for a touchscreen situation (my personal opinion).

So, without further delay; check out our latest video on how to download and install Unity 2D and switching between desktop environments.







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Video Coming Tomorrow!

Apologies for the short delay of our latest Ubuntu Video.  It will be making it's way live tomorrow.  I believe we are looking at a video release schedule of Tuesday's and Thursday's moving forward.  So look for a step by step guide tomorrow for switching from Unity to either Unity 2D or Ubuntu Classic in 11.04!

Happy Surfing!

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Help!: Ubuntu Video Series- Installing Ubuntu 11.04 Using Virtual Box

As part of our video series on Ubuntu Help we continue with a video guiding us through the Ubuntu 11.04 'Natty' release.  We will be using Virtual Box to install this as a Guest Operating System (Guest OS) within Windows XP (in my case).

If you missed our previous video on setting up the Virtual Hard Drive (Virtual Drive Image File) to use when installing the operating system be sure to check it out first:  http://youtu.be/YhQeSIJ4hec






As always, be sure to swing by our YouTube Channel and Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/user/TechieSmarts

Our next video will cover how to install Unity 2D or set Ubuntu Classic as the default desktop.

Happy Surfing!

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