Steve Oualline and

Grace Oualline

Practical Free Alternatives to Commercial Software

Steve Oualline

San Diego, California, USA

Grace Oualline

San Diego, California, USA

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the book’s product page, located at www.​apress.​com/​9781484230749 . For more detailed information, please visit www.​apress.​com/​source-code .

ISBN 978-1-4842-3074-9

e-ISBN 978-1-4842-3075-6

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3075-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018941973

© Steve Oualline and Grace Oualline 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

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Introduction

Hundreds of free programs exist that have similar functionality to proprietary software. Here are some of the ones we cover in this book:

Free Program

Proprietary

LibreOffice

Microsoft Office

Firefox

Edge/Internet Explorer

Gimp

Adobe Photoshop

Inkscape

Adobe Illustrator

Dia

Visio

GnuCash

Quicken

Audacity

Many audio editors

OpenShot

Many video editors

LibreOffice

Microsoft Access

In many cases, these free programs are better quality and have more features than their expensive counterparts. So, why aren’t they used more? It’s because the companies that make free software spend $0 on marketing. Microsoft and other companies spend millions .

Personally, I haven’t paid for any software program in the past 20 years, until buying a copy of Microsoft Windows to write this book. As such, I haven’t missed anything.

Proprietary software is written by people who want money. If a feature is not going to bring in money, it doesn’t get produced. Free software is written by people who want programs that work. Because they are using the programs, the features they choose to implement are the ones that are most beneficial to the people using them.

Thus, free software is sometimes on the cutting edge of technology. For example, tabbed browsing first appeared in Firefox in 2001 (back when it was called Mozilla). Microsoft eventually decided to copy this useful feature and include it in its Edge and Internet Explorer browsers.

You will find that the software introduced in this book is not only cheap but highly useful. You are encouraged to download and try the programs presented for free. The publisher’s web site at www.apress.com contains links to the various programs described as well as the examples used in this book.

—Steve Oualline

Acknowledgments

This book could not have been written without the efforts of thousands in the open source community who gave their time and effort to make the software we cover in this book.

Table of Contents

  1. Chapter 1:​ Web Browsing with Firefox
    1. Getting Firefox
    2. Using Mute Tabs
    3. Browsing Privately
      1. Starting Private Browsing
    4. Synchronizing Tabs and Bookmarks
      1. Setting Up an Account
      2. Performing the Synchronization
    5. Using Reading Mode in Firefox
    6. Blocking Ads
      1. Getting the Ad Blocker
    7. Using Video DownloadHelper
      1. Getting Video DownloadHelper
    8. Using Other Firefox Features
    9. Summary
  2. Part I: LibreOffice
    1. Chapter 2:​ Getting Started with LibreOffice Writer
      1. Starting LibreOffice
      2. Creating a Party Invite
      3. Adding the “No Good Reason” Paragraph
      4. Indenting and Justifying a Paragraph
        1. Indention Method 1:​ Moving the Indicator
        2. Indention Method 2:​ Increasing the Indent
        3. Indention Method 3:​ Setting the Before Text Indent
      5. Creating the “Where” Section
      6. Adding Graphics
      7. Summary
    2. Chapter 3:​ Writing Business Letters with LibreOffice Writer
      1. Creating a Business Letter
        1. Creating the “From” Section
        2. Creating the “To” Section
        3. Completing the “Dear” Line and Text Body
      2. Creating an Envelope
      3. Summary
    3. Chapter 4:​ Writing a Report with LibreOffice Writer
      1. Starting the Report
      2. Adding Footnotes
      3. Adding Quotes:​ Styles and Custom Styles
      4. Adding End Notes
      5. Formatting Footnotes and Endnotes
      6. Adding Tables
      7. Inserting Graphics
      8. Summary
    4. Chapter 5:​ Working with Spreadsheets in LibreOffice Calc
      1. Balancing Your Checkbook
      2. Creating a Double-Entry Checkbook
      3. Creating a Budget
        1. Creating a Basic Budget
        2. Computing Totals
        3. Setting Up Multiple Sheets
      4. Creating Charts
      5. Summary
    5. Chapter 6:​ Creating Presentations with LibreOffice Impress
      1. Creating a Presentation
      2. Adding Graphics
      3. Adding Animation
      4. Adding Slide Transitions
      5. Adding Sound
      6. Working in the Presenter’s Console
      7. Summary
    6. Chapter 7:​ Using LibreOffice Base for Database Management
      1. Importing Data into Calc
        1. Creating the Form Letter
      2. Using LibreOffice Base
        1. Java
      3. Creating a Database
        1. First Column
        2. Second Column
        3. Third Column
        4. Fourth Column
      4. Summary
  3. Part II: Graphics and Multimedia
    1. Chapter 8:​ Getting Started with GIMP
      1. Using GIMP
        1. Rotating Images
        2. Managing Files
      2. Cropping an Image
      3. Fixing the Color
      4. Using Filters
      5. Summary
    2. Chapter 9:​ Drawing with Inkscape
      1. Getting Started with Inkscape
      2. Drawing a Rose
        1. Drawing the First Shapes
        2. Tweaking the Shape
        3. Cleaning It Up
        4. Drawing the Body of the Rose
        5. Adding Color
        6. Adding a Detail Line
        7. Adding a Stem
      3. Summary
    3. Chapter 10:​ Using Dia Diagram Editor
      1. Creating a Flowchart
      2. Creating an Electrical Diagram
      3. Summary
    4. Chapter 11:​ Using GnuCash
      1. Creating a Checking Account
      2. Writing Checks
      3. Working with a Memo Line
      4. Printing Checks
      5. Creating a Savings Account
      6. Reconciling Checks
      7. Scheduling Checks
      8. Summary
    5. Chapter 12:​ Editing Audio with Audacity
      1. A Half-Hour of Hell for 60 Seconds of Air Time
      2. Getting Started with Audacity
      3. Adding a Musical Introduction
      4. Adding Background Music
      5. Summary
    6. Chapter 13:​ Editing Videos with OpenShot
      1. Converting Video Files
      2. Importing the Media
      3. Lessons Learned
      4. Adding a Title
        1. Creating Titles
      5. Creating Stills and Transitions
      6. Looking at Advanced Features
      7. Summary
    7. Chapter 14:​ Creating DVDs with DVDStyler
      1. Getting Started with DVDStyler
      2. Preparing the Video Clips
      3. Using DVDStyler
      4. Summary
  4. Part III: Cloud-Based Services
    1. Chapter 15:​ Using Gmail
      1. Getting Started with Gmail
      2. Tagging Messages
      3. Making Sure Your Email Is Secure
        1. Authentication Icon for Verified Senders
      4. Summary
    2. Chapter 16:​ Using Google Docs
      1. Getting Started with Google Docs
      2. Writing a Simple Letter
      3. Printing
      4. Finishing the Document
      5. Voice Typing
      6. Sharing Documents
      7. Summary
    3. Chapter 17:​ Using Google Backup and Sync
      1. Installing Google Backup and Sync
      2. Sharing Files
      3. Using the Backup and Sync Controls
      4. Summary
    4. Chapter 18:​ Using Google Sheets
      1. Getting Started with Google Sheets
      2. Creating a Spreadsheet
        1. Creating Titles
        2. Creating a Chart
      3. Summary
    5. Chapter 19:​ Playing Games
      1. Who Is Tux, and Why Is He Everywhere?​
      2. SuperTuxKart
      3. Xonotic
      4. 2048
      5. Torcs
      6. FlightGear
      7. Neverball
      8. Teeworlds
      9. 0 A.​D.​
      10. OpenTTD
      11. SuperTux
      12. Summary
  5. Index

About the Authors

A450107_1_En_BookFrontmatter_Figb_HTML.jpg

Steve Oualline is an expert Linux programmer currently living in San Diego, California. He is the author of many books concerning Linux, C++, and open source software.

His hobbies include volunteering at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum, where he restored its Acme Traffic signal, one of 13 known to exist.

A450107_1_En_BookFrontmatter_Figc_HTML.jpg

Grace Oualline is currently a freshman in high school and lives in San Diego, California, with her father, Steve, and his wife Chi. Grace is known by her peers as an art and math prodigy, with a love for learning. She aspires to work in the field of mathematics and design.

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