When switching to the Linux operating system, the user wishes that files of all formats to which he is accustomed can be viewed and sometimes edited in the new OS. In this case, the user is faced with the problem of determining the application to work with certain file formats.
Instructions
Step 1
The first question that arises before a novice user is how to open DOC and DOCX files. To do this, in large distributions, use the OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice software package, and in small distributions, use the Abiword editor. You can also supply the proprietary but free IBM Lotus Symphony package. With a broadband and unlimited connection, documents in this format can be viewed and edited directly in the browser using Google Docs and Microsoft Office Web Apps.
Step 2
XLS and XLSX files can be opened by all the programs listed above, except for Abiword. You can also install the Gnumeric program to work with them. Like Abiword, it is quite resource intensive.
Step 3
Most Linux distributions already have Mplayer for viewing audio and video files. It is compatible with many formats, but does a poor job of playing streams of Internet radio stations. If you need to listen to them, download and install another player - Real Player. You can also listen to local audio files through it.
Step 4
To view files of graphic formats, you can use any of the browsers available in the system. To do this, just put the full path to the file you want to see in the address bar. The console display utility is also suitable for this, but it is not available in all distributions. Perform image editing using the Gimp package or the small Mtpaint program.
Step 5
PDF documents on Linux can be viewed with the Adobe Reader program familiar to Linux users. If your machine is too slow, use the more compact XPDF utility. You can view such documents directly in the browser using the Google Docs service. A small DjView package will allow you not to leave after switching to Linux with the ability to view documents in the DJVU format.
Step 6
Those who have to view files created in various CAD systems need to install the free version of the QCAD program. Sometimes it is already in the distribution. Ask the authors of the drawings to convert them to DXF format before sending the files, and you will most likely be able to familiarize yourself with them.
