Huh? Linux? Word processing? What?

Question

I need a portable laptop JUST for word processing so I can start my new novel while I'm on vacation. Sooo... I was looking at this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10243009

The reviews on Circuit City were really good, but I'm a little worried about the word processing aspect. What is Linux? Does it have its own word processor? It need not be compatible with Microsoft Works since I'm starting a NEW novel, but I'm worried about whether I'll be able to do any writing on it PERIOD.

Answer 1

Just write it using pen and paper. Don't get wrong, I'm pro-technology, but in your case... It's much more nice to have an original, hand written copy of a potential best seller ;-). It's not worth spending that much money for something you'll use just a little bit. That's just my opinion though. Good luck!

Answer 2

Linus is just another operating system. Like OSX, it's based on the far more modern Unix design philosophy and is known for stability and costing zero cents. Linux comes in distributions, and the Aspire One runs Linpus. It has OpenOffice, a clone of Microsoft Office that reads the same files. If you want, you can also use the simpler AbiWord, which also reads and writes Word files. Like most Linux software, both are free of charge and very easy to install. It's a good machine, mostly, but I think you should also consider the MSI Wind. Why? It stores ten times as much data on its hard disk.

MSI Wind:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSI_Wind_PC

Answer 3

Linux is the commonly used short name for a gigantic family of operating systems that are based on the Linux kernel (written by Linus Torvalds and improved upon by many volunteers) and the GNU project (spearheaded by Richard Stallman).

Apparently, that laptop comes with the Linux distribution called "Linpus Linux Light.

To learn more about Linpus Linux Lite, go to this URL: http://www.linpus.com/xampp/webmaster/Pr...

(The site was a little slow at 01:47AM [Eastern Time] on 2008-08-22, and it might be worse in the daytime, so be patient.)

To speed up the process, I have copy/pasted the core bundled applications below.

Software Catalogue



Core bundle applications

  

Internet browser

W3C standards compliant, full-function internet browser, support various plug-ins like Java and Flash.

RSS reader

A powerful stand-alone RSS organizer.

Instant messenger

Versatile instant messaging tool with concurrent multiple IM client support, such as AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, QQ and more.

Email Client

Full function email client with POP/SMTP/IMAP4 protocol support and built-in PIM applications, MS Exchanger Server compatible.

Internet Telephony

Popular VoIP applications.

Webcam

Motion/still picture capturing with digitial zoom, brightness and white balance adjustment. Also support video conferencing.

Photo Management

Photo viewer and management tool with EXIF support and convenient photo editing features.

Music Management

Music management tool with audio ripping and internet radio support. Also sync with Apple iPod.

Media Player

Powerful video/audio playback tool with support of most popular media formats.

Image Viewer

General purpose image viewer with support fo most popular image formats.

Office Suite

Word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tools. Good compatibility in formats with MS Office applications.

Dictionary

On-spot vocabulary look-up feature with expandable dictionary database support.

Calculator

Multi-mode calculator─basic , finanical and scientific mode.

Document Viewer

PDF/Postscript file viewer.

Application Management

Application addition/removal and on-line update tool

Optional bundle applications

  

Games

Wide selections of numerous popular open-source games.

Education

Selections from numerous open-source education applications for children for different ages.

3G

3G modem management

GPS

GPS receiver management tools, integrated with Google Maps to provide LBS.

Digital TV

Digital TV viewer with PVR and EPG support.

Answer 4

I'm going assume, from some hints in your question, that you already have a Windows desktop machine and are looking to get a laptop to add to it.

You can have OpenOffice on both your Linux laptop and a Windows desktop which will mean you can share things back and forward very easily (which you will want to do at some stage even if you don't realise it now).

You can do this without installing OpenOffice everywhere but with your low level of knowledge make things easy for yourself.

So go here - http://www.openoffice.org/

and get yourself OpenOffice for Windows and OpenOffice for Linux and start enjoying the world of free software

Answer 5

That would be a perfect laptop for both you and me, hehe. I think that is an awesome find for the price. I have started using Ubuntu which is another form of Linux and I could see it working very well. The one cool thing about Linux based operating systems is that they are nearly indestructible. What I mean by that is that you can stay focused on your task at hand, which in your case is writing a novel, and never have to worry about the computer crashing because something just happened to fail. The learning curve with Linux is a little tougher than with Windows, but once you understand how it works you'll be able to do tasks much faster then you would with Windows. The difference with Linux is that every program you get is downloaded via internet to the laptop and it's 100% free. If there's a program that you like on Windows but didn't have the money to buy it, chances are Linux has a copy cat program online ready for you to download for free. Good luck with that find I may check it out myself, hehe.