Making the switch to Linux, even part-time, can feel like a bit of a shock to the system. Doc helps to ease the transition by rounding up his 10 favorite Linux apps that are free for the download. This week, we finish the series off with numbers six through 10. Check out last week's episode for apps one through five.

We hope that you've enjoyed this 10-part series on OpenOffice.org, Beginning Studies. We've tried to give you a rundown of Writer, Calc, Impress and the other programs included in this

free office suite

. Now that you're armed with all of those handy programs and you know the basics of

how to use OpenOffice.org

you're ready to

create professional documents

, spreadsheets, artwork and more. Not only do you now have some great

productivity software

, it didn't even cost you a dime!

OpenOffice.org

is not only an awesome

free software suite

, it's also got some of the best online communities around. One of the benefits to that is having a wide range of templates available for all of the different OpenOffice.org programs. You can go to the OpenOffice.org website to search for a template that meets your needs and grab it for future use free of charge. We'll show you where to go and

how to download templates

for OpenOffice.org in this episode.

Another program included with

OpenOffice.org

is Math, which is great if you want to

create math formulas

. The formulas that you create can be used in Writer, Calc and the other OpenOffice.org programs. We'll show you how to get started using Math in this episode.

Databases can be used for so many things. You can maintain employee records, accounts and all kinds of other information. Not only is it good for businesses, you can also

create a database

at home to record recipes, grocery lists and more. As a full-featured

office suite

,

OpenOffice.org

comes with a powerful database appropriately called Base. We'll show

you how to use base

in this tutorial!

If you want to

create your own artwork

on your computer then you'll need a

drawing program

. One such option is

Draw

which is included with

OpenOffice.org

. You can make your own art, make slides to use with Impress and more. We'll show you how to get started with draw in this episode.

You might be familiar with

presentation programs

such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Well with

OpenOffice.org

being the full-featured

office suite

that it is, it's got a presentation program of its own called Impress. As with all of the other programs included in this suite, Impress is free and comes loaded with all of the features that you'd find in a paid-for product. In this episode we'll show you how to

create presentations using Impress

.

Having a

spreadsheet program

can be extremely handy, which is why it is a staple part of any office suite.

OpenOffice.org

is no exception, as it offers Calc for spreadsheet purposes. In this episode, we'll show you

how to use Calc to create spreadsheets

.

An important part of any office suite is the word processor. Writer is the word processor in OpenOffice.org and it's full of features and is compatible with Microsoft Word documents. Here we'll walk you through some of the basics and what you need to know to get started

creating documents

using Writer in OpenOffice.org

.

If you want to get started using OpenOffice.org the first thing you'll need to do is download and install it. Since OpenOffice.org is a completely

free software package

, it's only a couple of clicks away. In this episode we'll walk you through the

installation process

so that you can

get started using OpenOffice.org

.

You may have heard of "office suites" before. These are packages of productivity programs and chances are you've used at least one even if you didn't know what an office suite was. Perhaps most popular is Microsoft's Office Suite. These software packages generally come with a

word processor

, a

presentation program

, a

spreadsheet program

and more. They're also usually quite expensive. Here we'll give you an overview of a

free office suite

,

OpenOffice.org

!

Mac users are at something of a disadvantage as the wealth of free software available on the PC is unmatched. There are some

great free Mac applications

available though and Doc runs down his top five list of the must-haves.

Cheryl Poirier, AKA Miss Download, somehow managed to obliterate

Microsoft Office

from her home PC only to discover the

open source equivalent to Office, OpenOffice.org

. Not a moment too soon either; she had an important spreadsheet due in two days' time!

So, there's a new computer in your life, whether it's a desktop or a notebook. Let the Lab Rats be the first to say congratulations on your new addition. And, in classic Lab Rats form, offer some practical advice.
In episode 152, Andy and Sean take a look at what you should do after you've unboxed your new PC, have connected everything and are ready to boot it for the first time (how exciting!). The guys give some useful tips on how to stay safe and secure, along with a chronological listing of everything you need to do to make your PC your own.

One really important set of software that most people can't do without is called an office suite. You've probably used these before, they usually consist of a

word processor program

, a

spreadsheet program

, a

presentation program

and more. They often come in a bundle and most people are familiar with Microsoft's Office Suite. What many people don't know, however, is that there are many great alternatives like OpenOffice.org. What sets

OpenOffice.org

apart from the rest is that it is a completely

free office suite

!