Abiword is a word processor for Linux similar to openoffice.org writer. It launches nearly instantly unlike openoffice writer. It also seems to emulate Microsoft Word a little better than openoffice. Anyways, I encourage you to try it.

Download abiwordupload.sh to /home/user/ open a terminal window (ctl-alt-t) and enter sudo bash abiwordupload.sh

After the script runs, you should have a functional copy of abiword. Type abiword into the terminal window to test it. If it works, you're done. If not, keep reading and do the install manually.

Simply download the following .deb files and depackage them (I'll explain this later). To download, click on these links and save the files to My Documents (other locations WILL work, but instructions are for .deb files saved to /home/user/My Documents/).

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/e/enchant/libenchant1c2a_1.3.0-2_i386.deb

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/a/abiword/abiword-common_2.4.6-1.1_all.deb

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/a/abiword/abiword_2.4.6-1.1_i386.deb

In case those links break, Google these (each separately) and see if you can download them from somewhere else.

libenchant1c2a_1.3.0-2_i386.deb

abiword-common_2.4.6-1.1_all.deb

abiword_2.4.6-1.1_i386.deb

I am going to assume that you downloaded the .deb files to /home/user/My Documents/

There are two ways to install a .deb file. I'll explain the easy way first, then the more complicated way in case the easy way doesn't work

Using the File Manager, navigate to your .deb files. Right-click on one of them. There should be an option called “install .deb file…” Click this and enter your password when prompted. After a few seconds, it should report a successful installation. Repeat this for the other two .deb files.

If the easy method doesn't work, or you want to try something else for fun, keep reading.

Open a terminal window (ctrl-alt-T in easy mode) and enter the following lines of code, hitting enter after each.

sudo bash

cd My\ Documents/

dpkg -i libenchant*.deb

dpkg -i abiword-common*.deb

dpkg -i abiword_2.4.6-1.1_i386*.deb

Hint: you can copy and paste these lines into the terminal (Ctrl-C in Firefox, Shift- insert in terminal)

Abiword doesn't have a working spellchecker preinstalled, but, fortunately, this is pretty easy to overcome. Open a terminal (ctl-alt-t) and enter

sudo apt-get install ispell

The computer will ask you to veryfy the installation, please do (hit y then enter)

If this doesn't install you need to add additional repositories

you should know when ispell is installed because it will pop up with this little blue window that asks you to define its default language.

Now, enter the following line into the terminal.

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ispell /usr/share/enchant/ispell

The spellchecker should now

If you are running easy mode, download sublimeports launcher tools here and install like the other .deb files. Then create an icon in the tab of your choice. The command is /usr/bin/abiword. To learn more about customizing easy mode, go to this link.

You can always launch abiword by typing abiword into the terminal.