Computer Issues

[tinytherese]

My HP laptop was mega slow, so an acquaintance of my dad suggested getting Ubuntu and put it on there for free.

 

The internet connection comes and goes, youtube rarely works, and I lost Microsoft Word and gained Libre Office. Is this normal for Ubuntu? Does anyone have experience with it?

 

My dad has it too, but youtube and the internet actually work on his.

 

My dad refuses to get Microsoft Word back because you have to pay for it every month. On another computer is Word Pad which prints the pages funny. I don't like Word Pad and Libre Office because I can't upload resumes to online job applications, my resume prints out strangely, and I can't email attached documents. I'm going back to school and I don't want to get docked points for the odd formatting and not being able to attach documents. (Sometimes professors want both a copy that's attached and a hard copy.)

 

My dad found on Libre Office something where you can click email the

 

Should mom pay the fee for Microsoft Word or are there substitutes that avoid these problems?

[Basilisa Marie]

Microsoft word is a monthly subscription? Since when? 

[Nihil Obstat]

It was probably a bad idea to switch to Linux, being someone who has never used Linux before. It is surprising that your dad though it would solve your issues.

[Basilisa Marie]

It was probably a bad idea to switch to Linux, being someone who has never used Linux before. It is surprising that your dad though it would solve your issues.

 

Yeah, it's pretty doubtful that a new OS would solve your problems, unless you're talking about reformatting your hard drive in the process. 

 

And I just discovered that Microsoft office is moving toward a subscription format. Huh. 

[Nihil Obstat]

Office 365 University edition is amazing.

[KnightofChrist]

Libre Office can save files out as Word file types (.doc , .docx). The best option is saving as the old format, .doc not .docx. If you saved the file as a .doc most of the websites that take résumés made in MS Word should be able to read it. If you need a guide on how let me know.

Forget about using Word Pad for anything you want to be professional.

The internet connectivity and performance may be affected by
factors other than Ubuntu. What is the make model of your machine?

Your dad is right about MS Word subscription. I hope Microsoft fails in this attempt to rip off people. (I hope Adobe also fails, but that's a somewhat different story. If MS and Adobe are successful we'll soon see most apps having monthly subscriptions. Which would not be affordable for me and a lot of not rich people.

Edited November 28, 2013 by KnightofChrist

[tinytherese]

My dad found on Libre Office something where you can click email the

 

 

 

I must have gotten distracted. It should say "My dad found a feature on Libre Office where you can email the document as a Microsoft Word document, but for whatever reason, the computer refused to do it."

[Eowyn]

Google docs allow you to send things in Word format. Very useful for those of us who do not actually have Word. 

[KnightofChrist]

I must have gotten distracted. It should say "My dad found a feature on Libre Office where you can email the document as a Microsoft Word document, but for whatever reason, the computer refused to do it."

 

It will and should save as a ".doc" file (as well as a number of others). I don't believe it will email the file, I don't think Libre Office has an email client to be able do so. But again you should be able to 'save as' a '.doc' Word 97 file. You may be trying to save it in a folder that you cannot write/save/copy files to. Such as a system folder. Are you saving directly to the desktop?

Edited November 29, 2013 by KnightofChrist

[tinytherese]

Libre Office can save files out as Word file types (.doc , .docx). The best option is saving as the old format, .doc not .docx. If you saved the file as a .doc most of the websites that take résumés made in MS Word should be able to read it. If you need a guide on how let me know.

 

Yes, please.

 

 

The laptop is old. I go it over 4 years ago. I'll have to take a closer look at the model. All I know is that it's HP.
 

[KnightofChrist]

Yes, please.

 

 

The laptop is old. I go it over 4 years ago. I'll have to take a closer look at the model. All I know is that it's HP.
 

 

Hopefully you can watch this, if not there is another link below this one. This will show you how to change the default save settings to .doc Word 97 format. It will also should you how to save spreadsheets to default to Excel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn2_6BXIWek

 

http://drainedapple.com/421/have-libre-office-save-in-microsoft-office-format-by-default/

 

----

 

Get me the model number and I can find out if there are communication issues with Ubuntu and your wifi card in the laptop.

Edited November 29, 2013 by KnightofChrist

[arfink]

Sadly, while Ubuntu has several nice advantages, it will always be the case that using Linux requires more technical literacy than Windows, not less.

[brandelynmarie]

We use Linux on one of my machines at work...it's a whole other world...

[KnightofChrist]

Sadly, while Ubuntu has several nice advantages, it will always be the case that using Linux requires more technical literacy than Windows, not less.

Yep. Which is why I hope there will not be a need to use the terminal to fix the communication WiFi issue. That may make TT's head go boom.

[Gabriela]

I had Ubuntu on my mac when I first bought it (used). Got rid of that junk immediately. Ain't nobody got time for dat.

 

If Microsoft has switched to a monthly subscription (which is mind-bogglingly stupid), I recommend you either switch to a mac and use Pages (which is what I use, and which easily exports to .doc and .pdf), or you use Google docs. I hated Libre Office when I used it, though the others are correct that it does easily export to .doc files. You just need to find the menu to do that.

 

I sympathize with you, Tiny. Computer troubles make me want to break things.