Author Archives: im000

GNU/Linux applications alternatives and workarounds

Posted on by • Posted in Collaboration Software, Devices, Microsoft 365 Software, Misc Productivity Software, OneDrive, Other Devices, Outlook, SharePoint, Software, Teams, Utility Software, Zoom •

Introduction

As you may understand, Microsoft 365 tools are not natively available on Linux.

Many people as of time of writing are leaving Windows for GNU/Linux (for a variety of reasons, often being privacy, dissatisfaction increasing bloat, recall/AI spyware, etc…), but some believe they cannot (despite that they would like to) because they need to use tools like Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Word.

However, there are free and open source alternatives that can integrate just fine. This is mainly a list of applications, methods, and alternatives to Windows software that can be used on Linux. This often takes the form of free and open source (FOSS) alternatives.

Using OneDrive and SharePoint

Although Linux does not have an official OneDrive client, a free open source fully functional command line interface with an optional GUI can be found here. It can be used to interface with OneDrive systems, with full functionality.

The repository and installation instructions can be found here:

https://github.com/abraunegg/onedrive

Using Microsoft 365 Tools/Email

Microsoft 365 tools like Word are not available natively on Linux, because Microsoft would rather you stay in their ecosystem, because they make money that way.

However there are multiple ways to use these products regardless.

Webapps

All Microsoft 365 tools are available as platform agnostic web apps, that fully integrate with other Microsoft 365 services. All you need is a web browser of choice, and to login with your MS account.

You can even use things like Microsoft Outlook this way, allowing you to access your inbox and emails without needing an application.

Compatible Native via WINE

You can try to run software like Microsoft Word through a Windows-Linux compatibility layer such as WINE, though this is not recommended and often has issues.

Alternatives

Some popular alternatives to the Microsoft application suite include LibreOffice, for example. Unlike Microsoft’s paid subscriptions, many of these are free and open source. They can fully read and write all types of Microsoft documents, and when integrated with the previously mentioned OneDrive client can be used very similarly to how you would on Windows, enabling you to edit documents and even push them to the cloud.

For Email Clients, Mozilla Thunderbird is a popular alternative to Microsoft Outlook, and for good reason. You can even forward your UW Outlook Email to it if you so desire.

Graphic Design & Digital Drawing/Art

A lot of people like Adobe Photoshop for some reason. Of course, because Adobe is motivated by profit, they do not have a Linux native version. Again, you could try to run it via compatibility layers, but ideally you want something native.

GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program is a good alternative for more image editing related tasks and is FOSS software.

If you are more into digital drawing/animation or like a more intuitive interface (GIMP has a bit of a learning curve), Krita is a solid choice, and also FOSS software.

If you need to work with scalable vector graphics (SVG) things, Inkscape is ideal for this kind of work.s

3D Rendering/Modeling/Animation/Art

A lot of proprietary 3D Modeling and Rendering software is not available on Linux. There are some outliers that have Linux native versions, but those are less common. You may want to run a majority of these with WINE if possible.

However there is one outlier, that being Blender, which you have most likely at least heard of. Blender is a FOSS 3D modeling and rendering tool, and is sometimes regarded as better than it’s proprietary alternatives. It is the main choice for Linux users and is very versatile. You may know it for creating movies such as Flow.

In fact, Blender was originally developed for Linux operating systems, and only ported to other operating systems later. It runs significantly better on Linux operating systems as a result.

CAD

As with 3D Modeling and Rendering, a lot of proprietary CAD software is only available for Windows natively (because companies are profit driven, there is no intensive for them to provide Linux options or improve the software). You can again run these with WINE if possible, but this is not a perfect solution and can have issues. Some people may opt for a virtual machine.

As for Linux native options (native options are always ideal for performance reasons, and why would you use a software that refuses to support your operating system of choice), a popular choice is FreeCAD, which is FOSS software for aforementioned CAD. From the writer of this article’s experience, it works very well.

 

Video Calling/Chat

Most video call or chat applications are webapps, and for those that are not there is usually a Linux version (Discord, matrix.org, etc).

A popular option for video calling in professional spaces, Zoom, has packages for major distributions available on their website.

 

This article is incomplete and could use more detail. Unfortunately the original writer does not have much time. If you are knowledgeable in these topics and have the ability to, please improve this (albeit do not remove my existing suggestions even if you think you know better alternatives, just list both please. we don’t need softwarewars as a bootleg of stupid distrowars here).

Microsoft SharePoint and how to use it (iSchool)

Microsoft SharePoint and how to use it (iSchool)

Posted on by • Posted in Collaboration Software, Devices, SharePoint •

What is SharePoint?

Microsoft SharePoint (SP) is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) web application, primarily used for intranet purposes.

This is different than internet.

  • Internet: The web as you know it.
  • Intranet: The internal network of an organization or similar.

Each SP instance/site is configured differently depending on what it is being used for. This document primarily focuses on the restricted iSchool SP site.

The root of iSchool’s SP intranet is: https://uwnetid.sharepoint.com/sites/ischoolnew

Check with your supervisor as to how to navigate to your team’s SP site. It should be in the primary top menu, under the “restricted” tab in the root site, under the “information technology” section. This is part of how the access control makes sure people only have authentication for what they need.

 

Navigating your team’s subsite

When you navigate to your restricted site from the above mentioned menu, you will be taken to the subsite’s landing page. This site is created by your team to categorize commonly or frequently used items.

Then, from your subsite, if you navigate to “site content” in the secondary top menu, you can then see your team’s document libraries.

Document libraries are folders that define access control, with each library having a different group of people who can use it. Your supervisor should be the main source of information as to what groups of people are allowed to access each library.

Your SP site, or any document library within, is intended to only be shared as designed. It is not designed to be shared with people outside your team. 

 

How to access SharePoint

There are multiple ways to access documents stored on SP.

You can access them through navigating as explained above (in the webapp). This is ideal for any computer or operating system, as things like Microsoft Word can function as platform-agnostic webapps in any browser.

However, this is not ideal for any document that needs to be edited in a desktop application installed on your computer, because you would have to download it and upload it manually. Of course, you might be able to write a script to automate that, but not everyone has those skills.

Microsoft Windows and MacOS

In this case, iSchool recommends that you install Microsoft OneDrive (Microsoft Windows and Mac computers), and then navigate to the SharePoint folder your documents are in. Then you can click “add shortcut to OneDrive”.

Protip: Every time you add a shortcut to your OneDrive, it is simply added to the top folder/level of your OneDrive. This can clutter it up very quickly, and be confusing. The way to avoid this is to organize your OneDrive so that the structure replicates the SharePoint layout.

Linux

Linux does not have an official GUI OneDrive client. However, there is a Free Open-Source solution for using OneDrive and SP. It’s repository, and other details (like how to use) can be found here, if you would like to utilize it: https://github.com/abraunegg/onedrive

The installation guide can be found here, with relevant instructions. a little command line knowledge might be needed depending on the install method you choose and distribution: https://github.com/abraunegg/onedrive/blob/master/docs/install.md

Collaboration

Because of the way the SP site is structured, it is not intended for ad-hoc collaboration. Ad-hoc collaboration is collaborating with random people instead of your team.

As previously mentioned, each document library is already shared with a particular group of people. Therefore to collaborate with the respective people, you simply need to place the document in wherever your team decides inside the previously mentioned document library.

To share with people outside of the already predetermined users, you have three options.

  1. If read-only access is sufficient, it is simplest to email the document itself (not a link, the actual file) as an attachment in whatever method is suitable.
  2. To edit collaboratively with a single individual, you could move the document to your Personal OneDrive (or other version control solution, such as GitHub) and share it from there.
  3. To edit collaboratively with a group of people, work with your supervisor and IT to create a new document library that is shared with the desired users. Another version control system, again such as Gitub, could also be used here if your supervisor or IT personnel are unavailable, or if you would like more granular control.

Intended use of SharePoint

Any organization documents that should be retained, even past your employment, should be placed on SP. Do not go uploading random notes, memes, or other such nonsense. Although your meme taste is excellent according to you and you only, we don’t need that taking up space in SP. Please share them via other methods.

Any documents such as your personal notes or files are better suited for your own OneDrive, SSD, or other cloud/physical storage solution. This is because all files related to your account like these will be removed when you leave UW.

Identifying SharePoint collaborators

To clearly identify who a document library is shared with, it is generally a two part process. This is because the iSchool leverages your role and not your identity, whereby even if a person leaves and a new person takes over then the document will still be shared with the same roles.

Example: If you are familiar with the communications platform platform Discord, it would be like if when a member left a server, their roles would stay and be transferred to a new member filling the same position.

To identify collaborators:

If you navigate to “site settings”, and then “library settings”, and then “more library settings”, and then “permissions for this document library”, you will see groups of users that start with “uw_ischool”.

These are collections of role-based access controls to the document libraries and other SharePoint features.

To see the individuals in these roles, you have to go to a different website, “groups.uw.edu”, and search for this particular group name.

Go to “find group”, and then enter the ID from your library permissions into the “find by id” box.

After you search, click over to the “membership” tab, and you should be able to see the group members.

 

Using Mail Merge (Word) on MacOS

Posted on by • Posted in Apple, Apple Devices, Outlook •

Assuming you are familiar with Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge feature, you may realize that when you are ready to send your email, the option to send your merge emails is not available or greyed out. This document addresses how to solve this issue.

  1. First, launch your MacOS “Mail” client. Then go to “Mail” in the top left, and go to Settings.
  2. From Mail settings, change your default mail client from “Mail” to “Microsoft Outlook”.
  3. Then, go back to your document, the Mail Merge E-Mail button should now be available.
  4. If it still is not available, you may need to save your document somewhere and/or restart Word before using Mail Merge.