[guod]

I have a ibook g3 ( dual usb) and need to do some word processing and things like that. I was wondering what program i should get to do this besides MS office as it is expensive and I dont wanna spend 400 bucks. Is there a free program that does this? Or is there a way to get iWorks 06 because my ibook cant handle iworks 08.

[TETENAL]

What do you need from an office package? Just a word processor or more?

I had iWork 05 running on an iBook and it was tolerable. You can get 05 or 06 from eBay, but they lack a spreadsheet. AppleWorks 6 also runs. Same source. NeoOffice is too slow.

If you just need a word processor (beyond TextEdit), there are several shareware solutions you can try like Mariner Write (they also offer the spreadsheet Mariner Calc), Mellel and others.

[SVass]

If you are running OS 9 or less, you may be able to find a FREE copy of Word Perfect for the Mac which is good enough for word processing. AppleWorks is far better than the early versions of iWork for anything else. sam

[guod]

I am running os 10.3.9. I will look into iworks and appleworks

[pcryan5]

<>i should get to do this besides MS office as it is expensive and I dont wanna spend 400 bucks.

My kid is a student and he got MS OFFICE for Mac for $120 Canadian. ($105US?).
Amazon sells it for $124.99US
Having said that - iWork 08 is pretty nice.

[@pplejaxkz]

For a while I was using OpenOffice. It got mostly everything done and is free.

[JKT]

Typically I would recommend NeoOffice (free, native OpenOffice.org for the Mac), but it is quite resource hungry. You'll need at least 512MB RAM, and the performance on a G3 isn't going to be anything to write home about, but it is the closest you are going to get to MS Office for the Mac without running X11.

[besson3c]

Also check out Abiword.

[peeb]

But what do you want it for?

[Big Mac]

For G3s I recommend Word X in Classic, if Word is absolutely necessary.

[guod]

Does open office NEED x11 or is there a way i can run it like a normal application? I was thinking of using it but i thought you needed to run it though x11

[peeb]

NeoOffice is a version of Open Office that does not need X11.

[Big Mac]

The problem with NeoOffice, guod, is that it's not exactly light weight. It's semi-sluggish on my G5, I assume due to it being produced in Java. It won't run well on a G3.

[guod]

oh ok. should a program like abiword work like a normal program would?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by guod 

oh ok. should a program like abiword work like a normal program would?

I don't know what you mean. Why don't you download it and try it out?