Virtual Desktops

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It is now time to discuss a rather unique and convenient feature of Linux: virtual desktops. And the best way to understand what this virtual-desktop business is all about is to just give it a try.

In your GNOME Panel, click on Wanda, your Home folder, and Mozilla. You will then have three windows open in your present desktop, or workspace. Now look at the Workspace Switcher icon on your panel. The top half of the icon should be blue; this is your present workspace. Click the bottom half of the icon, the gray half, and all your open windows will suddenly disappear.

Actually, nothing has really disappeared — you are just viewing a new desktop. All your other windows are still open and running in the previous desktop. In this second desktop you can open something else: Go to the Main menu and select Games > AisleRiot. The AisleRiot solitaire card game will soon appear.

You now have windows open in two different desktops, and you can switch back and forth between them. To do so, just go to the Workplace Switcher in your Panel and click the top gray box, which will take you to your original desktop. Once you’ve done that, the bottom box will become gray, and you can then click that one to go back to your game desktop.

As you can imagine, this feature has some potential benefits for you, in addition to helping you avoid clutter. Just imagine that you are at work typing up some long document in OpenOffice.org Writer. Eventually, you get a bit tired and decide to goof off a bit by playing GNOME Mines for a while. To do this, you switch to another desktop where you open and play the game. A bit later, when you notice your boss making the rounds of the office, you simply switch back to the first desktop so that you look busy when he walks by and says, “Keeping yourself busy, Boaz?”

Phew!



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Linux for Non-Geeks. A Hands-On, Project-Based, Take-It-Slow Guidebook
Linux for Non-Geeks: A Hands-On, Project-Based, Take-It-Slow Guidebook
ISBN: 1593270348
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 188

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