GUI apt-get

[Bryan.ONeal at asu.edu]

Ok, I purchased a cheep desktop for my dad, and it comes with LindSiper pre
installed.  I need to get some stuff on thier, like OpenOffice.or 2.0 (Ok 1.9+
Beta), the latest firefox with a bunch of plugins, VMWare, etc.  

What I need is 
1) how do I set the apt-get repositories in LindSpire
2) where can I get a GUI front end?
3) any sugestions on configuring a machine for a first time linux user who lives
1000 miles away?