Garry Knight’s Linux Stuff has a useful looking tutorial for creating flat file databases using OpenOffice.org, along with some other Linux stuff. Evidently, you can create and populate dBase format files from OpenOffice.org.
I spent yesterday coaxing OpenOffice.org to produce labels on our aging laser printer (ActionLaser 1500, a LaserJet III clone), but used a spreadsheet as a data source. Making the labels was not particularly intuitive, but the documentation included with OpenOffice.org worked. I printed the labels one page at a time because our printer’s feed mechanism is almost worn out, and tends to jam when presented with anything other than plain text weight paper. I plan to retire the printer when the current toner cartridge empties or the printer jams so badly I can’t free it, but it just keeps going and going. Those old laser printers were tough little beasties, unlike the current crop of inkjet printers that look like they would blow away in a mild breeze.
There seems to be a bug (or at least a distinct lack of flexibility) in using OpenOffice.org to make more than one page of labels. I managed to do, but the label synchronization process slowed to a crawl. It wasn’t a big issue, because of our printer limitations, but would be annoying if you had a more functional printer.