I’m writing novels on an Acer running factory installed Ubuntu. How do I start a document without any footers or headers, as I want to manually place page numbers as needed by simply centering them on the last text line.
But when you open Writer it does start without headers and footers. You open a blank page and you can add page number manually to the last line of text at current page. All you have to do is not use templates, blank page is default.
And there is no need to add page number manually at last line of text, you can do it by using variables: Insert → Fields → Page number.
You can even assign a shortcut to insert page number even conveniently: Tools → Customize → Keyboard. In Shortcut area do CTRL + ALT + i, and in Function area in Category choose Insert and in a Function choose Page number and after that click Modify (up at the top) and Ok (back at the bottom). That’s it.
Although, strange way to insert page numbers, so much that makes me wonder if I misunderstood something. 
I tried that last night, and the headers and footers were there. Perhaps there is a setting I’m missing.
Libre Office Writer will not let me have pages in the middle of the books that have no number and then continue with the proper number sequence. It can be done in MS Office but is tricky there. Such pages are important in a professionally formatted novel.
I just checked in Writer again, and I guess you are correct that there are initially no headers and footers. I was fooled by the narrow space where the go that says “Footer (default style)”.
Adding page numbering in a footer is quite straightforward and a big time saver. Because if you want to add or remove text somewhere in your document after you added the page numbers, you will have to reformat it from that point.
Libre Office Writer will not let me have pages in the middle of the books that have no number and then continue with the proper number sequence. It can be done in MS Office but is tricky there. Such pages are important in a professionally formatted novel.
I just checked in Writer again, and I guess the other commentator was correct that there are initially no headers and footers. I was fooled by the narrow space where the go that says “Footer (default style)”.
You should tell us what you want to achieve, not how you want to achieve it. That way you put us on the wrong track. In Word you have to use sections, lots of them if they didn’t improve on the concept since version 7, in Open/LibreOffice it’s page styles. See Tutorial on Page styles and headers/footers.
I thought it is pretty straight forward_ I do not want to deal with footers. Placing a number where I want it is pretty easy with the footers out of the way, and I can skip numbering any particular page that I want. I have noticed that when one looks at multiple pages of a book on one screen, many word programs do not line up all the page numbers exactly the same with respect to height. Without footers, I can do as well as them and have more control too.
LibreOffice’s page styles are doing the same thing MSW’s sections are doing: they divide document into chunks so that each one can have different footer. You can have unnumbered page in the middle of the document and then continue numbering five pages after. If you really don’t want footers, that’s OK. But if you want to know how to do this with footers - open another question and we will help.
In LibreOffice the headers and footers are part of the Page and not part of the text as they are in some other text processors. If you wish to have page numbers on some pages, but not all, for example a new chapter, you can use two PAGE STYLES. One with numbers and the other without. This way, the page numbers will be consistent, even if you add text, as mentioned previously, but also automatically maintained. This is a normal way when writing a book.
If you are writing a book, I find LibreOffice Templates and styles are perfect to allow you to concentrate on the content and let LibO handle the formatting. There are TITLE pages, preface, TOC, index etc. which also may need their own layouts. Styles should not be confused with the more basic functions with the same name in some other office systems.
I suggest you read the chapters on style in the LibreOffice Writer manual http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/ To freely download by book or chapter. You might also be interested on the excellent book Designing with LibreOffice by Bruce Byfield, also freely to download. (Download / Buy |) These books can also be bought in a paper version which I prefer.
That is helpful to know. But are you saying that each time I reach a point where there should be no page number, I start a new PAGE STYLE and thus the style change will occur several times?
You need two page styles, one with page numbers, one without. Then you just select the alternate when you need to change. If it is just a single page change, the organiser can automatically switch back to the default when you change to the next page.