Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 1: Installing StarOffice |
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StarOffice is installed by a setup program, just like most Windows programs with which you might be familiar. After running a small script to install the correct system libraries in a StarOffice directory, you can run setup to install StarOffice.
Note - The network installation procedure is described in the later part of this hour. A network installation of StarOffice differs from a single-user installation only in the location of the StarOffice files and the capability of multiple users to run StarOffice at the same time. |
To install StarOffice, follow these steps:
1. Log in as the user for which you are installing StarOffice, and start the X Window System if it isn't already running.
3. Change to the directory that contains the StarOffice archive that you downloaded:
$ cd /tmp/so50/1
4. Change to the glibc2_inst directory:
$ cd glibc2_inst
5. If you're running a tcsh or ( pd)ksh shell, start an sh shell (the StarOffice installation scripts were written for bourne-compatible shells):
$ sh
6. Start the StarOffice preparation script (note the dot-space-dot-space):
$ . ./soprep
7. Respond to the first prompt by entering the name of the directory in which the new StarOffice libraries will be installed. This will be the lib/ subdirectory below where you intend to install the StarOffice program:
glibc2 directory [/opt/Office50/lib] ? /home/nwells/Office50/lib
The soprep script installs the libraries in that directory and returns to a command prompt. Within the text that appears onscreen, you see a notice that the libraries were installed successfully.
Note - If the libraries are not installed successfully (often because of limited permissions in the library directories), the installation of StarOffice fails. You might need to attempt a network installation first, followed by a single user installation (see the next section of this hour), or contact your system administration to prepare the system as root. |
8. Change to the main StarOffice installation directory. (Don't leave the bash shell! Some environment variables needed by the setup program were set by the soprep script.)
$ cd ../so501_inst
9. Start the setup installation program:
$ ./setup
A message might inform you that the window manager has not defined icons, so defaults are being used. This is harmless.
After a few seconds, the StarOffice graphic appears and the installation process begins.
The first screen to appear is a welcome screen, shown in Figure 1.1. Press Next to continue the installation.
Figure
1.1
The first screen welcomes you to StarOffice.
The next screen that appears shows the StarOffice license agreement (see Figure 1.2). The license agreement defines how you can use your copy of StarOffice for Linux. Read the license agreement carefully, and then press Accept to continue.
Figure
1.2
The license agreement defines how you can use your copy of StarOffice for Linux.
Perhaps because of the complications involved with running multiple versions of Linux, the next screen displays installation and use hints for StarOffice. You can read through these, and then choose Next to continue the installation.
In the next screen, you enter your personal information. (See Figure 1.3.) This information is used to customize document templates, create email messages, and so on.
You must enter all of the information that you entered on the StarDivision Web site to obtain your Customer Number and license key. This information is coded to the license key itself; if you don't enter precisely the same information, the license key does not work and you cannot install StarOffice.
Figure
1.3
The User Data screen enables you to personalize your copy
of StarOffice.
Tip - If you need to update, modify, or add to the personal information that you enter in this screen, you can do so at anytime by using the Tools menu. Choose Options, General, and select the User Data tab. This might necessitate getting a new license key, however. |
Choose the Next button to continue. An information screen warns you that the User Data information must match what you entered on the StarDivision Web site. Use the Back button to return and edit the information if necessary. (You can also use the Back button twice to change the User Data screen if the license key that you enter fails.) Choose Continue to go on.
In the next screen (see Figure 1.4) you enter the Customer Number and license key that you obtained from the StarDivision Web site. When you press Next, the key is checked against your personal information. If you entered the correct key, the next screen appears.
Tip - Entering the license key is difficult. If you use so much as an extra space after your first name, entering the license key that you received does not work. Use the Back button twice to check the User Data screen if necessary. Also watch for swapped characters in the license key, such as zero and the letter O. |
Figure
1.4
The license key and Customer Number must be entered correctly before you can
continue with the installation.
The next decision that you have to make is which components of StarOffice you want to install. As mentioned earlier, StarOffice is not a small program, so you can choose to leave some parts out of the installation.
Remember, however, that the integrated nature of StarOffice means that most of the program is shared among all the components. That means that you can't leave out a large component such as the StarImpress presentation software.
If you do need to save hard disk space, you can leave out things such as the following:
Clipart or Graphics collections
Templates
Help files
Sample documents
You can choose one of several installation options, as shown in Figure 1.5.
The easiest choice is the Standard Installation. This takes a lot of space (139MB, plus 20MB extra during installation), but provides you with graphics, templates, help files, dictionaries, and so forth. If you choose the Standard Installation button, you have about 160MB of free hard disk space.
Figure
1.5
You can select which components of StarOffice to install by selecting an installation
option.
Tip - If you have KDE on your system, choose the Custom installation option to automatically add StarOffice to your KDE menus. Details are provided in the next section. |
If you don't have that much space, you can choose the Minimum Installation button. This requires a mere 97MB of hard disk space, but doesn't install things such as the help files and sample documents (which will be referred to in later hours for some of the examples). Choose Next to continue. (If you chose the Custom installation option, refer to the following section after completing the next screen.)
Next you'll see the screen where you can select the Installation directory. Because you're doing a single user installation, the default directory that is shown is probably a good choice. It is probably something such as /home/nwells/Office50. If you want to change it, choose the Browser button and select another directory.
Caution - If you don't install StarOffice in the same place that you designated for the libraries when running the soprep script, the program might not run after installation is complete. |
If you selected the Standard or Minimum installation options and choose Next, the screen in which you select components of StarOffice, described in the following section, does not appear.
If you enjoy setting things up yourself, you can choose the Custom Installation option. When Custom Installation is selected, the screen that appears after the installation directory is chosen enables you to select which components of StarOffice to install. (See Figure 1.6.)
Figure
1.6
The Custom Installation option enables you to select which
components of StarOffice you want to install.
From this screen, you can select which components you want to install. Clicking on a plus sign opens a sub-list of components. The icons are used to indicate which components are selected:
A solid color indicates that all of that component is selected for installation.
A fuzzy color indicates that part of that list of components will be installed.
An empty (black outlined) icon indicates that the component will not be installed.
StarOffice uses the same set of underlying functionality for the word processor, the spreadsheet, the presentations software, and so on. If you leave out a key section, none of these will function. Instead, you can save space by selecting which sample documents, templates, help files, and so on you want to install.
To deselect options from the list, follow these steps:
1. Click on the plus sign (+) to the left of the type of item that you want to deselect. That item expands to display its contents.
2. Click on the plus sign for sublevel components, if necessary.
3. Click on the icon or name of an item that you don't want to install. The icon goes blank and the Required disk space line in the bottom of the screen is updated to reflect the new space requirements.
4. Click again on any icon that you want to reselect so that it is included in the installation.
5. When you have selected and deselected all the components that you want to use, continue the installation by choosing the Next button.
Tip - If your Linux system is running KDE as its desktop, open the Optional Components list and choose the KDE Integration icon to automatically add StarOffice to your KDE menu during installation. |
When you have finished selecting the installation directory and setting any custom installation options, the next screen shows that the installation is ready to begin. At this point you can use the Back button to return to any previous screen to alter your entries, or you can choose the Complete button to begin installing StarOffice.
When you choose the Complete button, StarOffice is installed. (See Figure 1.7.) A progress bar, which displays the percentage completed for the installation, appears on the left side of the screen. The installation takes 5-25 minutes to complete, depending on the speed of your system components.
After most of the files are installed (at 99% complete), a dialog box tells you that the Installation is complete. Choose the Complete button to close the dialog box and end the installation program.
Figure
1.7
The progress bar in this screen shows how the file installation is proceeding.
Note - The installation program also places a filed named .sversionrc in your home directory. |
If you aren't interested in learning about a network installation, you can jump right to Hour 2, "Getting Started with StarOffice."
Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 1: Installing StarOffice |
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