A5 booklet

scribus would be the way to go. It is in the repos.

The latest version can be obtained via the scribus repos:
http://www.scribus.net/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=4&page=1

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

I do this regularly with OpenOffice but with US Letter Size (8 1/2" X 11"). I make 5 1/2" X 8" booklets by printing four pages per sheet (2 pages on each side. I'm sure that you can do the same with A5 paper. I wish that the US would start using the A size paper. Many advantages no disadvantages that I know of. After I get what I want to print into the OpenOffice word processor the first thing that I do is to go to Format>Page and reset the page height to 12.76" and the margins Left .40" Right .25" Top .50" and bottom .25'. If I didn't do this I would have a blank space of about 2" at the bottom of each page. By doing it my way I have .50" at the bottom of each page. You'll have to set it up how you want it for A5 pages.

After the page setup, I press Ctrl P, and when the Print block comes up I choose Properties and select Landscape. After pressing OK, I choose Options and then I choose Left pages and Brochure. After pressing OK, I then press OK on the Print block and it starts printing. When it is finished printing the Left pages, I put the pages back in the printer's paper tray (being careful to put them in the proper way) and start over at the beginning of this paragraph and print the Right pages. If you do it properly (might take a time or two to get it down pat) everything is in the proper order and you can staple your booklet together. If you wanted to make the booklet full sized (A5) it should be even easier.

Hope this helps.
/don

Thanks, that sounds like exactly the thing I want to do! I seem to remember from doing it in Windows that the really difficult bit is getting my head round which way up to put the paper in for the second run

And the printing with OpenOffice.org worked perfectly -- I didn't even have to tinker with the borders! Thanks again.