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VPC - How to use:
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ABI WORD - Word Processor
The way that AbiWord works is also very similar to most other word processing programs that are available on the market at the moment, and so skills in AbiWord will translate well into skills with most other word processing software.
How To Change Default Styles
When AbiWord opens a new document, a number of styles and other settings are automatically set. AbiWord comes with built-in values for these, but you can also change them if you would prefer a different look. You do this by editing a file called normal.awt -- the normal template.
There are two kinds of normal template: user and system. A user normal template is found in your home directory, and only applies to documents you create. A system normal template is found in the directory where AbiWord is installed, and applies to all documents created by AbiWord on that system. AbiWord will follow a user normal template if one is installed. If not, it follows the system template, if one is installed. If no templates are installed, it uses built-in values.
Finding the Normal Template
The normal template must be in the correct place for AbiWord to make use of it. On Linux, the user template should be in the .AbiSuite/templates directory in your home directory. (.AbiSuite is a hidden directory, so it will not normally be displayed. However, if you are in your home directory, you can move to it by typing its name into the Save or Open dialog.) On single-user Windows systems, it is in the templates folder in the folder where you installed AbiWord.
If the template or the directory does not exist, you can create it. Create the directory in the normal way for your operating system.
To create the normal template, open a blank AbiWord document, and save it in the appropriate directory. Set the file type to AbiWord Template, and the name to normal.awt
Changin the Normal Template
Open normal.awt.
Make any changes you want. You can add and change styles from the Style dialog. You can also make any changes that you can make to a normal document. All of these changes will be reflected in any new documents you create. So, if you add a page number in the footer of normal.awt, all new documents will have page numbers in the footer.
Save the changes. Make sure that you save as a template called normal.awt, in the correct place.
Once the changes are saved, any new documents will follow the template.
Exchanging Files with Microsoft Word
It is almost inevitable that you will, at some point, need to send a document you have created in AbiWord to someone using Microsoft Word, or open a document created in Microsoft Word in AbiWord. Fortunately, this is quite easy to do.
Viewing AbiWord Documents with Microsoft Word
Until Microsoft announces support for AbiWord files, documents created with AbiWord will first need to be exported into a format that Word can read. This is most easily done by choosing Rich Text Format when saving.
Rich Text Format is often used by Microsoft Office products, and they will have no trouble importing documents saved in this fashion.
Viewing Word Documents with AbiWord
AbiWord can open some documents created in Microsoft format. Open the document using File > Open. After opening the document, there may be some differences in the way AbiWord presents the document when compared with Microsoft Word. In addition, AbiWord cannot yet open all the various formats used by Microsoft Word.
If you do encounter problems, ask the Word user to save the document as Rich Text Format (.rtf). All versions of Microsoft Word can do this, and AbiWord can open RTF files reliably.
How To Create Tables
AbiWord has sophisticated table creation tools. You can create tables of any size, embed tables in one another, and merge cells to create headings. It is easiest to create tables in AbiWord if the Table toolbar is visible. It can be turned on from the View menu. The commands are also found in the Table menu.
The left-most button of the Table toolbar inserts a new table. When you click it, you are presented with a grid, with some of the cells highlighted. The inserted table will be the same size as the highlighted grid.
Alternatively, you can go to the Table menu and open the Insert Table dialog.
Once you have a table, you can move between the cells using the arrow keys on your keyboard. As you type in a cell, the text is wrapped to fit in the cell, and the height of the row is automatically adjusted. To finish editing a table, use the arrow keys to move out of it.
If you need to add another row, press the button on the Table toolbar showing a horizontal block being pushed into a pile. This inserts a new table row underneath the row containing the insertion point.
To next tables, put the insertion point in a table cell, and insert another table.
To merge cells, you must open the Merge Cells dialog. You can do this by pressing the rightmost button on the table toolbar, or by choosing Merge cells... from the Table menu.
The Table menu also contains the command for the Format Table dialog. This dialog allows you to change the appearance of the table lines, and to set the background color for cells.
You can remove rows or columns from a table using the Delete Rows and Delete Columns commands from the Table menu, or the delete buttons on the Table toolbar. The Table menu also has a Delete Table command, which will remove the whole table from your document.
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Gnumeric - Spreadsheet
Gnumeric is a spreadsheet, a computer program used to manipulate and analyze numeric data. Gnumeric can help you keep track of information in lists, organize numeric values in columns and rows, perform and update complex calculations by defining each step of the calculation and modifying particular steps subsequently, create and display graphical plots of data using bar plots, line graphs, pie charts or radar charts, implement complex optimization modeling or perform many other tasks involving numbers, dates, times, names or other data.
Gnumeric currently supports a full complement of calculation functions, formatting options, graph types and drawing options.
Using a spreadsheet generally involves several steps. First the application is started to obtain an empty workbook, which generally has several empty worksheets. Next, data and formulas are entered into one or several sheets. The data may be entered by hand or imported from external files. The formulas are generally entered by hand, possibly with the help of various tools. The data may be formatted to appear in particular ways and to clarify the structure of the data in the worksheet. A user may also create several graphical plots.The work is then usually saved into a file which can be re-opened later to add or modify the contents of the workbook.
Using Keyboard Shortcut Commands
You can trigger certain common commands by using a combination of keys. The menu entries are often followed by a combination of keys which you can use to trigger that command. For instance, to save the file which you are currently using, you can jointly type the control key and the s key (i.e. Ctrl+S).
The Types of Data in a Spreadsheet
Spreadsheets like Gnumeric treat information by separating the data into separate cells and considering the data in each cell to be separate elements. Each cell in the spreadsheet has both a value, which is what Gnumeric manipulates, and a representation, which is what is actually shown. Understanding this distinction is complicated and make take some time if you are new to spreadsheets.This distinction between value and representation is one of the reasons spreadsheets are so useful.
The cells of the spreadsheet are contained in the cell grid area. The cell grid area is the area with a white background and grey grid lines. The grid lines separate this area into separate cells. Each cell has a unique reference name which is the combination of the letters of the name of the column and the number of the row. For instance, the top, leftmost cell is the cell named "A1" and the cell two over to the right and four rows down is named "C4" because it is in the column labelled "C" and in the fourth row. Each of these cells can contain only one single datum.
The datum contained in any cell will have one of five types: a text string type, a number type, a formula type, a boolean type or an error type. These five types of data values can then have various display formats so that, for instance, a number value can be displayed as a number, a monetary amount, a date or a time. Text strings are sequences of characters and punctuation marks and could, for example, contain textual information such as people's names. Number values are simply numbers but may be input and displayed in various formats including decimal numbers, dates, times, and numbers in scientific notation. Formulas are instructions to Gnumeric to calculate a result. The power of spreadsheets comes from these formulas because the results of the calculation can depend on the contents of other cells. Boolean values are either TRUE or FALSE and can be used in logical statements. Error values are usually the result of mistakes or impossible calculations.
In order to enter data into the spreadsheet, you must first select a cell in which to place the information and then actually type the information on the keyboard. Once you have entered the information, Gnumeric attempts to figure out both the appropriate data value type to assign to the cell and the appropriate data format in which to display this data value. Because this process is quite complex, you may occasionally need to actively select these parameters of the cells.
File Opening and Saving
When you first start Gnumeric a new workbook will be opened. To save this workbook into a file, click on File Save As … . This brings up the file dialog where you can pick the filename and format for the book you are saving. It is best to save the book in the Gnumeric XML file format the first time. This allows you to easily edit the file without worrying about changes in the format and look of the book.
Once the file has a name and a file format, saving subsequent changes can be done easily either through the File menu, through the toolbar or through a keyboard shortcut. Saving with the menu requires selecting the File and then the Save menu item. Saving with the toolbar simply requires clicking on in the tool bar. Finally saving with a keyboard shortcut simply requires typing Ctrl+S.
Sometimes you want your book to be saved often so you do not lose any work. To save the book at intervals click on Tools Auto Save The Auto Save dialog appears.
Click on the Automatic Save Every button and enter the number of minutes will pass between each save. When the interval is shorter more of your work will be potentially saved, but Gnumeric might appear sluggish. If Gnumeric is sluggish increase the time between saves. The button Prompt Before Saving brings up a dialog to ask if you want to save the book.
An existing spreadsheet file can be opened in several ways. If the file has an icon on the desktop, this icon can be clicked or double-clicked with the mouse button. Similarly, if a file manager, such as the Nautilus file manager, lists the file, then the file name can be clicked and opened. If Gnumeric is already opened, a file can be opened by clicking on the File and selecting the Open menu item. Alternatively, the "Open file" button on the toolbar, , can be used or the F3 key clicked. All three of these open the Open File dialog. You can then select the spreadsheet file you wish to open. Gnumeric can open many different types of spreadsheet file formats.
Closing Gnumeric
There are several ways to close Gnumeric. The simplest is to select the File menu and then the Quit menu option at the bottom of the File.
Gnumeric can also be closed through the window manager by clicking on a close box in the window frame or through a pop-up menu. The placement of the box and the invocation of the menu depend on the particular window manager and the theme being used. Usualy appears in top right hand corner.
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VPC - File Manager
File Manager on the VPC is very similar to Windows file manager. To start click on the File Manager icon.
The window that will open will be divided into 2 sections. The left section will have the chips(drives) that are available and on the left hand side you will see the details of what is inside the item you are clicking on on the left. Depending on the version of the VPC you will either see one chip(drive) or two.
On the top right hand corner of the window you will see options that are available for file management. These options are, going from left to right, "Up to Parent", "Copy", "Cut", "Paste", and "Delete".
Up to Parent
This option will take you up to the directory above the one you are in right now. Let say you click on "USB" directory and then click on "sda" directory. Once inside the "sda" directory click on "Up to Parent" will take you back up to "USB" directory. If you would click it again is will take you up to chip(drive) C:.
Copy
This option will copy a file from one place to another on the drive. It will create a copy of the file without deleting the original. This is a good option if you are copying files from USB flash stick to the chip on the VPC.
Cut
Thie option will copy a file from one place to another on the drive but will remove the original copy. In other words it will move the file from one directory to the next.
Paste
This options works identically to Windows function Paste. Once you click to copy or cut a file the VPC will put the contents of the file into the temporary memory and will hold it there when you switch directories or drives to copy to. Once you selected the directory to copy to click Paste and it will place the file into that directory.
Delete
This option will delete the selected file. Once you click on the delete button a window will appear with a message "Really need to delete "filename". This pop up box will give you two options "Yes" or "No". If you click "Yes" it will permanently delete the selected file. Please note there is not way that the deleted files can be restored. If you click "No" it will cancel the delete action.
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VPC - Settings
To change the setting on the VPC please double click on the "Settings" icon. Once the window will open you will see four options, "Language and Keyboard", "Display Settings", "Network Settings", and "Application Manager".
Language and Keyboard
The window for Language and Keyboard options will have two tabs. One for Keyboard settings and the other for Language settings. To change the language on the VPC you will have to change both of these options. Once you select one or the other the VPC will ask you to restart. Please restart the VPC for the changes to take effect. To change the language and the keyboard to French you will have to restart the VPC twice, once when you change the keyboard setting and once more when you change the language settings.
Display Settings
In display settings you will be able to adjust the brightness of the screen by moving the bar to the left or to the right. Once you have adjusted the setting click "OK" for the changes to take effect.
Network Settings
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