When it comes to productivity, new users often look for a good office suite or a
friendly word processor. While some desktop environments like
KDE already provide an office suite, there is no default
productivity package. FreeBSD can provide all that is needed, regardless of your desktop
environment.
This section covers these applications:
The KDE community has provided its desktop environment with an office suite which can
be used outside KDE. It includes the four standard components
that can be found in other office suites. KWord is the word
processor, KSpread is the spreadsheet program, KPresenter manages slide presentations, and Kontour lets you draw graphical documents.
Before installing the latest KOffice, make sure you have an
up-to-date version of KDE.
To install KOffice as a package, issue the following
command:
# pkg_add -r koffice
If the package is not available, you can use the ports collection. For instance, to
install KOffice for KDE3, do:
# cd /usr/ports/editors/koffice-kde3
# make install clean
AbiWord is a free word processing program similar in look
and feel to Microsoft®
Word. It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth. It is
very fast, contains many features, and is very user-friendly.
AbiWord can import or export many file formats, including
some proprietary ones like Microsoft's .doc.
AbiWord is available as a package. You can install it
by:
# pkg_add -r abiword
If the package is not available, it can be compiled from the Ports Collection. The
Ports Collection should be more up to date. It can be done as follows:
# cd /usr/ports/editors/abiword
# make install clean
For image authoring or picture retouching, The GIMP is a
very sophisticated image manipulation program. It can be used as a simple paint program
or as a quality photo retouching suite. It supports a large number of plug-ins and
features a scripting interface. The GIMP can read and write a
wide range of file formats. It supports interfaces with scanners and tablets.
You can install the package by issuing this command:
# pkg_add -r gimp
If your FTP site does not have this package, you can use the Ports Collection. The graphics directory of
the Ports Collection also contains The Gimp Manual. Here is
how to get them installed:
# cd /usr/ports/graphics/gimp
# make install clean
# cd /usr/ports/graphics/gimp-manual-pdf
# make install clean
OpenOffice.org includes all of the mandatory applications
in a complete office productivity suite: a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation
manager, and a drawing program. Its user interface is very similar to other office
suites, and it can import and export in various popular file formats. It is available in
a number of different languages -- internationalization has been extended to interfaces,
spell checkers, and dictionaries.
The word processor of OpenOffice.org uses a native XML file
format for increased portability and flexibility. The spreadsheet program features a
macro language and it can be interfaced with external databases. OpenOffice.org is already stable and runs natively on Windows®, Solaris™,
Linux, FreeBSD, and Mac OS® X. More
information about OpenOffice.org can be found on the OpenOffice.org web site. For FreeBSD
specific information, and to directly download packages, use the FreeBSD OpenOffice.org
Porting Team's web site.
To install OpenOffice.org, do:
# pkg_add -r openoffice.org
Note: When running a -RELEASE version of FreeBSD, this should work. Otherwise,
you should look on the FreeBSD OpenOffice.org Porting Team's
web site to download and install the appropriate package using pkg_add(1). Both the
current release and development version are available for download at this location.
Once the package is installed, you just have to type the following command to run OpenOffice.org:
% openoffice.org
Note: During the first launch, you will be asked some questions and a .openoffice.org2 folder will be created in your home directory.
If the OpenOffice.org packages are not available, you still
have the option to compile the port. However, you must bear in mind that it requires a
lot of disk space and a fairly long time to compile.
# cd /usr/ports/editors/openoffice.org-2
# make install clean
Note: If you want to build a localized version, replace the previous command
line with the following:
# make LOCALIZED_LANG=your_language install clean
You have to replace your_language with the correct
language ISO-code. A list of supported language codes is available in the files/Makefile.localized file, located in the port directory.
Once this is done, OpenOffice.org can be launched with the
command:
% openoffice.org
