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From the Mailbag

EUGENE is trying to use LibreOffice Calc to create an electronic time card. The problem he is having is that he cannot get it to properly subtract time. For example, in cell D10 he has the "Clock In" time - 07:00 AM. In Cell D11 he has the "Clock Out" time - 03:00 PM. He wants Calc to output the elapsed time in Cell D12 - 8 hours. How can he do this?


As far as I know, you must incorporate the date in order to have LibreOffice perform the calculation correctly.

  1. Highlight Cells D10 (Clock In) and D11 (Clock Out).

  2. Then go to Format > Cells > Time > 12/31/99 01:37 PM > OK.

  3. Fill in your dates and times. You may also need to widen the D Column to properly view your inputs.

  4. Now highlight Cell D12 and go to Format > Cells > Time > 876613:37:46 > OK.

  5. Finally, input the formula =D11-D10 in Cell D12.

The output is 08:00:00 - 8 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds. This is correct and it is what you are looking for.



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JEREMY wants to try out Linux Mint. He recently bought a refurbished laptop that came with a Windows 10 install disc. He already swapped out the 500GB spinning drive with a 1TB Solid State Drive (i.e. SSD) How does he go about installing the operating systems and setting up the dual boot?


The key lies in doing this in the correct order. (1) Install Windows 10. (2) Install Linux Mint.


That is all you have to do. Windows 10 must be installed first because it does not know how to play nice and share with other operating systems. As far as I know, Windows still has no built-in dual boot feature. However, Linux Mint will play nice. It will automatically detect the Windows partition and give you the option to carve out a separate partition for itself. Then it will use a boot loader (i.e. GRUB) to create a menu so that you can select which operating system you wish to use whenever you start up the laptop.


You can find more details over at the Linux Mint Installation Guide.



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GRETCHEN AND JULIE are planning a trip to Tanzania. They want to be able to use their cell phones while they are over there. What should they do about this?


Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki to the rescue! According to their Tanzania page, you have several options. I would review the wiki and then call Verizon to see what they can do for you. Compare and go from there.


At the moment, 1 U.S. Dollar = 2,319 Tanzania Shillings. Click HERE for cost of living information.



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