Changing from Windows Xp to Ubuntu

[Peter Goggin]

gI need help with several problems. I have a laptop running XP which I 
wish to convert to Ubuntu. I do not wish to have a dual boot syustem but 
intend to get away from windows completely.  I have fully backed up the 
XP system to an external drive and I have installed Ubuntu on a spare 
laptop and checked that Linu box can access all of the data files in the 
backup.

I have several applications and data I need to transfer.
1. E-Mail  - I have been using Thunderbird for e-mail. Presumably it 
should be possible to transfer my accumulated e-mails and address from 
XP to Ubuntu.  I presume that I have to install Thuderbird on the Linux 
box and then locate the profile data on the XP backup and copy it to th 
apprpriate place in the Linux system.  Has this process been documented?

2 A number of Excel spreadsheets need to be transferred.  I have checked 
that these can all be opened in Linux using LibreOffice spreadsheet 
functions. So far as I can tell these transfer perfectly. Are then 
"gotya" that I need to be aware of?

3. Some powerpoint displays. I believe these can be read and used by 
LibreOffice Presentation. I have been using these presentations in 
teaching with an interactive white board. In PowerPoint it is possible 
to direct the output to an external display and track it on the laptop,  
Is this possible with LibreOffice Presentation?

4.  A Microsoft Access data base. This dosen't seem to open properly 
with LibreBase.  I have tried LibreOffice under windows and this fails 
to display the forms and regards views as tables. Since there are a 
number of ineracting forms in the Access application I want to preserve 
their fuctionality. Are here any other Linux data base programs which 
would be better.  Some years ago I developed a system using MySQL with 
forms written in HTML and PHP. Is this still a viable option? Is Oracle 
and Oracle form still available on Linux? If so then this would be my 
preferred approach.

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

I have four laptops running XP ?windows 7 which I need to convert to 
Linu so this one will, with any luck show me how much work will be involved.


Regards


Peter Goggin

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