Chapter 3. Using Ubuntu on the Desktop
WITH UBUNTU INSTALLED and ready to rock, its time to get started using your new desktop. The stock install of Ubuntu provides a very complete and flexible system. Unlike other operating systems (OS), Microsoft Windows for example, Ubuntu includes everything you need to get started, such as an office suite, media tools, a Web browser, a graphics package, an e-mail client, and more. With the installation complete, you are up and running right away. Using a computer is a rather individual process, and different people use their computers in different ways. To help promote this choice, Linux has the capability to use any one of a number of different graphical interfaces. This flexibility, combined with the ballooning popularity of Linux and Open Source, has resulted in literally hundreds of different graphical environments springing up, each covering these different types of users and ways of working. Despite this huge range of different environments available, there are two clear leaders in KDE and GNOME. Both environments provide a comprehensive and easy-to-use desktop, but they differ in how that desktop is used. The KDE system is more akin to Windows and aims for complete configurability of your desktop. The competing GNOME desktop shows inspiration from both Windows and Mac OS X and sets as a priority simplicity and ease of use. Luckily, Ubuntu users are blessed with the choice of either desktopthe default desktop in stock Ubuntu is GNOME, and the Kubuntu distribution uses the KDE desktop. Kubuntu is covered in Chapter 7. In this chapter, you get started with GNOME and use it to do the normal and not-so-normal things you face every day with your computer. This includes opening and running applications, managing your files, adjusting the look and feel, using applications, managing your media, and more. Buckle up and get ready to take your shiny new desktop for a drive! Tip: The Ubuntu Desktop is GNOME When reading about Ubuntu you often see the terms Ubuntu desktop and GNOME used interchangeably. Both of these terms refer to the same thingthe Ubuntu desktop uses GNOME itself. There is, however, the Xubuntu distribution, which takes the Ubuntu OS and replaces it for the lightweight Xfce environment. This is particularly useful for those of you who want to run Ubuntu on a lower-performance computer. |
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