Is LibreOffice not able to handle your spreadsheet files? I know that it is not exactly the same as Excel, but it does seem to be able to handle most spreadsheets which were made with Excel.
LibreOffice Calc is not a direct substitute for Excel. For basic spreadsheet stuff such as vanilla formulas they're equivalent. But if you're running fancy VB scripts then you're SOL.
By automation people usually mean full automation. So your box is doing the trading without any interference from you.
Still vulnerable even if it's a dedicated trading box because it's online. Very risky using an unpatched Windows box.
Setup Excel/Word/Powerpoint on Ubuntu Linux in early 00's. Worked fine for what I set it up for, but you don't get thing slike DDE and proper OS/GUI integrations (drag & drop, clipboard objects, shortcuts etc.). The secret wine was Wine, older versions of Office should be possible to run. But I don't recommend it, as it's more trial by fire, than anything else, not supported. Crossover or similar might offer some paid support though, never tried it. With today's hardware, you're really better off running VM, on a real desktop comp with lots of mem, not the hot laptop shit. ReactOS is interesting, if it ever got good compatibility, which is probably near impossible. It'll probably be too late when it's ready. Your best bet is to bet on Free/GPL'ed Software, but remain flexible using VMs. For non-techies, Winblows or Mac probably OK for them still. Unfortunately, you won't be able to abuse LibreOffice as you can with Excel. There what you can do with formulas and <200 MB files is pretty darn impressive. Though, Excel is probably wrong choice for anything more complex than a simple multi-column list. In the end, use what works. Tech comes last unless it becomes bottleneck.
You could run Windows and install cygwin to be able to use your favorite Linux commands (vim, grep, bash, xterm, gcc, etc.) while still be able to run Windows applications.
I have pretty much settled on a course of action. I am gonna start with an IB account and TWS on a new desktop machine dedicated to trading, with another one alongside for googling and newsfeeds and stuff. Probably three monitors for the trading machine. Running good ol dependable Ubuntu. I plan to paper trade for a month or two, just one or two trades per day for a week or so, then more intensely as I get a handle on what I am doing wrong and what I am doing right. I might do a single trade per week for real after the first month, when I start seeing familiar patterns. I know the first $100 I make just sitting on my ass for an hour or two is gonna put a grin on my face and increase my enthusiasm. I will only have $5k or $10k at most to play with initially. It will be a few months before I have the riskable $ to go full-on PDT unless I put a lot of other projects on hold, but it is definitely gonna happen before the end of the year. Thanks everybody for the helpful replies. I think this thing is gonna work out okay, Linux and all. I plan to stick with IB/TWS for a year or so before considering other brokerages and platforms. It LOOKS like TWS will do pretty much everything I need, including simple scanning. I am afraid my strategies will mostly be boring and simple for a while and I won't need any fancy tricked out software or specialized data feeds any time soon.
OMG, you'll loose your GF, your retirement and peace of mind. Trading is not for newbies and not to supplement your retirement income. Trading is not Uber for intellectuals.