A Tour of the Red Hat Linux Desktop


GNOME (www.gnome.org), a product of the GNU project (page 4), is the user-friendly default desktop manager under Red Hat Linux. KDE (www.kde.org), the K Desktop Environment, is a powerful desktop manager and complete set of tools you can use in place of GNOME. This tour focuses on KDE. This full-featured, mature desktop environment boasts a rich assortment of configurable tools and features. After you log in, this section discusses several important features of the desktop, including the Main panel and the Main menu, and explores how to use some of the unique features of windows under KDE. Along the way, you will see how to roll up a window so only its titlebar remains on the desktop, how to move easily from one desktop or window to another, and how to configure the desktop to please your senses. As the tour continues, you will learn to work with files and browse the Web using Konqueror, one of the primary KDE tools. The tour concludes with coverage of the KDE Control Center, the key to customizing your desktop, and a discussion of how to use the Panel menu to modify the panel (at the bottom of the screen) to best suit your needs.

As Red Hat Linux is installed, when you log in, you use GNOME. Because the examples in this section are based on KDE, you must tell the system that you want to run KDE before you log in. The following section explains how to log in to a KDE desktop environment.

Starting with "Getting the Facts: Where to Find Documentation" on page 102, the chapter covers both KDE and GNOME.

Logging In on the System

Typically, when you boot a Red Hat Linux system, it displays a Login screen on the system console. This screen has a text box labeled Username with four word/icon buttons below it. These buttons allow you to work in a different language (Language), specify a desktop manager (Session), reboot the system (Restart), and turn the system off (Shut Down). For more information refer to "The Login Screen" on page 111. Click Session and the system displays the Sessions dialog box, which allows you to choose whether you want to run GNOME or KDE, or make another choice. To follow the examples in this section, click the radio button next to KDE and then click Change Session to close the dialog box. If the KDE radio button is not visible, KDE is probably not installed; refer to the "If KDE is not installed" tip on page 84.

Enter your username in the text box labeled Username and press RETURN. The label changes to Password. Enter your password and press RETURN. If you get an error message, try entering your username and password again. Make sure the CAPS LOCK key is not on; your entries are case sensitive. See page 112 for help with problems logging in and page 114 if you want to change your password.

RHEL


The change you make in the Sessions dialog box affects only the current session. The next time you log in, you revert to your default desktop environment (KDE or GNOME). Use switchdesk (page 116) to change your default desktop environment.

FEDORA


Once the system has determined that you are allowed to log in, it displays a dialog box that asks, Do you want to make KDE the default for future sessions? It displays this dialog box because you elected to change your session to KDE before you logged in. The dialog box has three buttons that allow you to make the change effective Just For This Session (until you log off), Cancel the change, or Make Default (make the new desktop manager your default desktop manager). To work with the examples in this chapter, choose Make Default.

The system takes a few moments to set things up and then displays a workspace with a panel along the bottom and some icons at the upper left (Figure 4-1).

Figure 4-1. The initial KDE screen (FEDORA)


Tip: If KDE is not installed

The KDE desktop environment should be installed on the system to follow the examples in this chapter. You can use the GNOME desktop environment, but some of the examples will not work the same way. To install KDE, log in on the system as described earlier, omitting the step that has you click Session (do not click the KDE radio button).

This procedure works only if the system is connected to the Internet. Without an Internet connection, it is easiest to reinstall Red Hat Linux with KDE.

RHEL Use up2date (page 494) to download and install the following packages: kdeaddons, kdeadmin, kdeartwork, kdebase, kdegraphics, kdelibs, kdemultimedia, kdenetwork, kdepim, kdeutils. Now you can log in to the KDE environment as described in "Logging In on the System" on page 83.

FEDORA Once you are logged in under GNOME, click Applications at the left end of the panel at the top of the screen. GNOME displays a drop-down menu. Slide the mouse pointer until it is over Add/Remove Software at the bottom of the submenu and then click. Supply the root password when the system asks for it. After a pause, the system displays the pirut Package Manager window (Figure 4-2).

Figure 4-2. The pirut Package Manager window


Click Desktop Environments in the left frame and pirut displays GNOME Desktop Environment, KDE (K Desktop Environment), and XFCE in the right frame. Click the small box next to KDE so that a check mark appears. Click Apply at the bottom right of the screen and pirut displays the Package Selections window that asks you to confirm which packages you want to install. Click Continue and pirut displays various windows as it resolves dependencies (checks whether the system needs any other software to support the packages you are installing), downloads the KDE packages from the Internet, and installs them. When it is finished it displays a dialog window that says Software installation successfully completed. Click OK and you are finished installing KDE. Click System from the panel at the top of the screen, select Log Out from the drop-down menu, and click Log out from the window that GNOME displays. Now you can log in to the KDE desktop environment as described in "Logging In on the System" on page 83.

See page 483 for more information on pirut.


Tip: Click and right-click

This book uses the term click when you need to click the left mouse button and right-click when you need to click the right mouse button. See page 98 to adapt the mouse for left-handed use.


Getting the Most from the Desktop

When you are working in a complex environment and using many windows to run a variety of programs simultaneously, it is convenient to divide the desktop into several areas, each appearing as a desktop unto itself and occupying the entire screen. These areas are virtual desktops. The workspace comprises what is on the screen: buttons/icons, toolbars/panels, windows, and the root window (the unoccupied area of the workspace). Typically GNOME and KDE are set up with a desktop that includes four workspaces.

Desktop theme


In a GUI, a theme is a recurring pattern and overall look that (ideally) pleases the eye and is easy to interpret and use. To view a wide variety of themes, go to themes.freshmeat.net, www.kde-look.org, or art.gnome.org. Using themes, you can control the appearance of KDE, GNOME, and most other desktop environments.

Tip: Is it a desktop, a workspace, or what?

Confusion reigns over naming the subcomponents, or divisions, of a desktop. This book, in conformance with GNOME documentation, refers to everything that usually occupies the display monitor, or screen, as a workspace; desktop refers to the sum of the workspaces. Put another way, the desktop is divided into workspaces.

KDE documentation and windows use the term desktop instead of workspace.


The Power of the Desktop: Using the Main Panel

When you log in, KDE displays a workspace that includes the KDE Main panel, which is essential to getting your work done easily and efficiently. The Main panel is the strip with icons that act as buttons (Figure 4-3) along the bottom of the workspace. A panel does not allow you to do anything you could not do otherwise; rather it simply collects things in one place and makes your work with the system easier. Because the Main panel is easy to configure, you can set it up to hold the tools you use frequently, arranged the way you want: application launchers to start, for example, email and word processing programs, menus (including the Main menu, represented by the red hat or Fedora logo), applets (applications that are small enough to be executed within a panel), and special objects (such as a Logout button). You can create additional panels, called extensions or extension panels, to hold different groups of tools.

Figure 4-3. The KDE Main panel


Tooltips


Tooltips (Figure 4-4), available under both GNOME and KDE, is a minicontext help system that you activate by moving the mouse pointer over a button, icon, window border, or applet (such as those on a panel) and leaving it there for a moment (called hovering). When the mouse pointer hovers over an object, GNOME and KDE display a brief explanation of the object.

Figure 4-4. The Firefox tooltip


Icons/buttons


The icons/buttons on the panel display menus, launch programs, and present information. The Web browser button (the mouse with its cord wrapped around the world) starts Firefox by default. The email button (the stamp and letter) starts Evolution, an email and calendaring application (www.gnome.org/projects/evolution). You can start almost any utility or program on the system using a button on a panel.

Panel Icon menu


Each icon on a panel has a Panel Icon menu, which allows you to move the icon within the panel, view and change (configure) the icon's properties, and remove the icon from the panel. It also contains the Panel menu (page 100) as a submenu. Some icons have additional context-based selections whereas some applets have a different menu. Right-click an icon on the panel to display its Panel Icon menu.

Pager


Each rectangle in the Pager, the group of rectangles labeled 14 on the panel, represents a workspace (Figure 4-5). Click a rectangle to display the corresponding workspace. For example, click the rectangle labeled 2. This rectangle becomes lighter to indicate that you are viewing workspace 2. While you are working with workspace 2, click the Firefox icon on the panel. KDE opens the Firefox window and a small window with the Firefox logo in it appears in rectangle number 2 in the Pager.

Figure 4-5. The Pager (left) and the Taskbar (right)


Now click the rectangle labeled 3 and open the OpenOffice.org Writer by clicking the Main menu icon (the red hat or Fedora logo), clicking Office from the pop-up menu, and then clicking Word Processor from the submenu. With Writer in workspace 3 and Firefox in workspace 2, you can click the rectangles in the Pager to switch back and forth between the workspaces. GNOME calls this tool the Workspace Switcher.

Taskbar


To the right of the Pager is the Taskbar, a group of skinny, horizontal rectangles with an icon and the name of a program in each one. You can use the Taskbar to display a specific window regardless of which workspace it appears in. Click one of the rectangles and the corresponding program/window appears on the screen; KDE switches to a different workspace if necessary. If the window running the program you clicked on is not visible because it is buried under other windows, you can click a rectangle on the Taskbar to pop the window to the top of the stack of windows. GNOME calls this tool the Window List. If you have a lot of applications running on various workspaces, you can configure the Taskbar to show only those applications on the current workspace. See "Configuring the panel" on page 101 for more information on configuring the Taskbar.

Launching Applications from the Main Menu

The red hat or Fedora icon at the left end of the KDE Main panel has a function similar to that of the Start button on a Windows system; click it to display the Main menu. From the Main menu and its submenus, you can launch many of the applications on the system. This menu differs under GNOME and KDE.

KNotes


You can use the Main menu to launch KNotes, a reminder system that displays windows that look like Post-it notes. After you display the Main menu, slide the mouse pointer over the Main menu until it is over Utilities. The system displays the Utilities submenu. If you click Utilities, KDE freezes the Utilities submenu. With or without clicking Utilities, move the mouse pointer until it is over Desktop and KDE displays another submenu. Now slide the mouse pointer until it is over KNotes and click to display a small, yellow window that you can type in (Figure 4-6).

Figure 4-6. KNotes


You can use these windows to leave yourself reminders. Although KNotes may seem trivial, it offers many things to experiment with. Click and drag the titlebar at the top of a KNote to move it. Right-click the titlebar to display the KNotes menu. When you start KNotes, it puts an icon toward the right end of the panel. Right-click this icon and see what happens.

Copy icons to a panel


To copy a selection from the Main menu to a panel, left-drag the item from the Main menu to a panel. To remove an icon from a panel, right-click the icon and choose Remove from the pop-up menu.

Logging out


At the bottom of the Main menu is Log Out. Click this selection to dim the workspace and display a window with four buttons: End Current Session (log out), Turn Off Computer, Restart Computer, and Cancel (do not log out). Log out or continue experimenting as you please.

Feel free to experiment


Try selecting different items from the Main menu and see what you discover. Many of the submenus provide submenus with even more selections (such as KNotes). Following are some applications you may want to explore:

  • OpenOffice.org's Writer is a full-featured word processor that can import and export Word documents. From the Main menu, select Office Word Processor (RHEL uses Office OpenOffice.org Writer [only with the openoffice.org package installed]).

  • Firefox is a powerful, full-featured Web browser. Click the panel icon of the world with a mouse wrapped around it to start Firefox. You can also select Main menu: Internet Firefox Web Browser.

  • The gaim Instant Messenger (IM) client allows you to chat on the Internet with people who are using IM clients such as AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! To start gaim, select Main menu: Internet InstantMessenger.

    The first time you start gaim, it opens the Accounts window and the Add Account window automatically. In the Add Account window, put check marks in the boxes next to Remember password and Auto-login if you want gaim to log you in automatically when you start it. Click Save. In the main gaim window, enter your IM password if necessary and click Sign on. Go to gaim.sourceforge.net for more information, including gaim documentation and plugins that add features to gaim.

Controlling Windows

On the screen, a window is a region that runs, or is controlled by, a particular program (Figure 4-7). Because you can control the look and feel of windows, even the buttons they display, your windows may not look like the ones shown in this book. (Select Main menu: Settings Desktop Settings Wizard to customize windows in your account [FEDORA only]. You can further customize windows by selecting Main menu: Control Center and then clicking either Appearances and Themes and selecting one of the subtabs or by clicking Desktop and selecting Window Behavior.)

Figure 4-7. A typical window


Resizing a window


To resize a window, move the mouse pointer over an edge of the window; the pointer turns into a double arrow. Click and drag the side of the window as you desire. When you position the mouse pointer over a corner of the window and drag, you can resize the height and width of the window at the same time.

Titlebar


A titlebar (Figures 4-7 and 4-8) appears at the top of most windows and in many ways controls the window it is attached to. You can change the appearance and function of a titlebar, but it will usually have at least the functionality of the buttons shown in Figure 4-8.

Figure 4-8. A titlebar


The minimize button collapses the window to its rectangle in the Taskbar on the panel; click the rectangle on the Taskbar to restore the window. Clicking the maximize button expands the window so it occupies the whole workspace; click the same button on the titlebar of a maximized window (the button has a double-window icon) to restore the window to its former size. Clicking the maximize button with the middle or right mouse button expands the window vertically or horizontally. Use the same or a different mouse button to click the maximize button again and see what happens. Clicking the close button closes the window and terminates the program that was running in it. Left-click the titlebar and drag the window to reposition it.

Window Operations menu


The Window Operations menu (Figure 4-8) contains most of the common operations that you need to perform on any window. Click the Window Operations menu button or right-click the titlebar to display this menu.

Toolbar


A toolbar (Figure 4-7) usually appears at the top of a window and contains icons, text, applets, menus, and more. Many kinds of toolbars exist. The titlebar is not a toolbar; it is part of the window decoration placed there by the window manager (page 121).

Context menu


A context menu is a menu that applies specifically to the window you click. Frequently a right-click brings up a context menu. Try right-clicking on the icons on the desktop. Depending on what the icon represents, you get a different menu. For example, the context (icon) menu is different for the Trash, CD/DVD, and folder icons. Try right-clicking with the mouse pointer in different places; you will find some interesting menus.

Changing the Input Focus (Window Cycling)

The window with the input focus is the one that receives keyboard characters and commands you type. In addition to using the Taskbar (page 86), you can change which window on the current workspace has the input focus by using the keyboard; this process is called window cycling. When you press ALT-TAB, the input focus shifts to the window that was active just before the currently active window, making it easy to switch back and forth between two windows. When you hold ALT and press TAB multiple times, the focus moves from window to window, and KDE displays in the center of the workspace a box that holds the titlebar information from the window that currently has the input focus. Under KDE, you can hold ALT and SHIFT and repeatedly press TAB to cycle in the other direction.

Shading a Window

When you double-click a KDE titlebar (Figure 4-8), the window rolls up like a window shade, leaving only the titlebar visible. Double-click the titlebar again to restore the window. If the window does not roll up, try double-clicking more quickly.

Cutting and Pasting Objects Using the Clipboard

There are two similar ways to cut/copy and paste objects (e.g., icons and windows) and text on the desktop. You can use the clipboard, technically called the copy buffer, to copy or move objects or text: You explicitly copy an object or text to the buffer and then paste it somewhere else. Applications that follow the user interface guidelines use CONTROL-X to cut, CONTROL-C to copy, and CONTROL-V to paste.

You may be less familiar with the selection or primary buffer, which always contains the text you most recently selected (highlighted). You cannot use this method to copy objects. Clicking the middle mouse button (click the scroll wheel on a mouse that has one) pastes the contents of the selection buffer at the location of the mouse pointer (if you are using a two-button mouse, click both buttons at the same time to simulate clicking the middle button).

With both of these techniques, you start by highlighting the objects or text you want to select. You can drag a box around objects to select them or drag the mouse pointer over text to select it. Double-click to select a word or triple-click to select a line.

Next, to use the clipboard, explicitly copy (CONTROL-C) or cut (CONTROL-X) the objects or text.[1] If you want to use the selection buffer, skip this step.

[1] These control characters do not work in a terminal emulator window because the shell running in the window intercepts them before the terminal emulator can receive them. You must either use the selection buffer in this environment or use copy/paste from the Edit selection on the menubar or from the context menu (right-click).

To paste the selected objects or text, either position the mouse pointer where you want to put them (it) and press CONTROL-V (clipboard method) or press the middle mouse button (selection buffer method).

Using the clipboard, you can give as many commands as you like between the CONTROL-C or CONTROL-X and CONTROL-V, as long as you do not use another CONTROL-C or CONTROL-X.

Using the selection buffer, you can give other commands after selecting text and before pasting it, as long as you do not select (highlight) other text.

You can use klipper, the KDE clipboard utility, to paste previously selected objects. See page 262 for information on klipper.

Controlling the Desktop Using the Root Window

The root window is any part of the workspace that is not occupied by a window, panel, icon, or other object. It is the part of the workspace where you can see the background.

Desktop icons


Icons on the root window respond appropriately to a double-click: A program starts running, a data file (such as a letter, calendar, or URL) runs the program that created it (with the data file loaded or, in the case of a URL, with the browser displaying the appropriate Web page), and a directory brings up the Konqueror file manager (page 94). Within Konqueror, you can move, copy, or link a file or directory by dragging and dropping it and selecting Move/Copy/Link from the resulting pop-up menu; you can run or edit a file by double-clicking it.

Icon context menus


Display an Icon context menu by right-clicking an icon that is not on a panel. The Icon context menu is the only way to perform some operations with icons on the root window. Figure 4-9 shows the Icon context menu for the Trash icon.

Figure 4-9. The Icon context menu for the Trash icon


Desktop menu


Display the Desktop menu by right-clicking the root window. You can open a window or perform another task by making a selection from the Desktop menu. Both KDE and GNOME have Desktop menus, although each presents a different set of choices.

Configure Desktop


The Configure Desktop selection on the Desktop menu opens the Configure window (Figure 4-10), which presents many choices for you to experiment with. Each icon in the vertical panel on the left of this window displays a different set of choices. Some choices, such as Behavior, display multiple tabs on the right, with each tab displaying a different set of choices.

Figure 4-10. The Configure window, Background selection


Desktop background


Click Background on the left panel of the Configure window to change the desktop background settings (Figure 4-10). Near the top of the right side of this window is a combo box labeled Setting for desktop. Initially the box says All Desktops, meaning that whatever changes you make to the desktop using the rest of this window apply to all (four) workspaces. Click All Desktops and choose a single desktop from the drop-down menu to have the settings apply only to a single workspace. Using this technique you can make each of your workspaces look different.

Click the radio button next to Picture and choose a file that contains an image to use as wallpaper from the combo box to the right of this button. Alternatively, you can click No picture and choose a pattern and color(s) for the desktop background. Choose a pattern from the combo box adjacent to Colors and click one of the two color bars under the combo box. KDE displays the Select Color window. This window presents several ways of selecting a color. Click the palette icon, move the resulting crosshairs cursor over a color you like anywhere on the screen, and then click again to select the color. Click OK. Refer to "kcolorchooser: Selects a Color" on page 260 for more information on the Select Color window.

Experiment with the choices in the Background and Options frames to create a desktop background that pleases you. Click the Get New Wallpapers button under the picture of a monitor to choose and download new backgrounds that you can select in the Picture combo box. Select Picture, choose default, and then click Apply to return the background to its initial state.

GNOME and KDE


The Configure window presents numerous choices for how you can set up the appearance and functionality of the desktop. This abundance of choices demonstrates a major difference between KDE and GNOME, the two major Linux desktop managers. While GNOME has moved toward simple sophistication, giving the user a standard interface with fewer choices, KDE has emphasized configurability. If you try to configure the GNOME desktop manager, you will have fewer choices but each choice is well thought out and powerful. Some users prefer one approach; others prefer the other.

Running Commands from the Terminal Emulator/Shell

A terminal emulator is a window that functions as a textual (character-based) terminal and is displayed in a graphical environment (Figure 4-11). To open a terminal emulator window under KDE, right-click the root window (the desktop) to display the Desktop menu and select Konsole (RHEL uses Main menu: System Tools Terminal). Under GNOME, select Applications: Accessories Terminal (RHEL uses Applications: System Tools Terminal). Because you are already logged in and are creating a subshell in a desktop environment, you do not need to log in again. Once you have opened a terminal, try giving the command man man to read about the man utility (page 104), which displays Linux manual pages. Chapter 5 describes utilities that you can run from a terminal emulator.

Figure 4-11. A konsole terminal emulator window


You can run character-based programs that would normally run on a terminal in a terminal emulator window. You can also start graphical programs, such as xeyes, from this window. A graphical program opens its own window. When you run a program from GNOME or KDE, you may be asked whether you want to run the program in a terminal. When you answer yes, the program runs in a terminal emulator window.

When you are typing in a terminal emulator window, several characters, including *, ?, |, [, and ], have special meanings. Avoid using these characters until you have read "Special Characters" on page 126.

The shell


Once you open a terminal emulator window, you are communicating with the command interpreter known as the shell. The shell plays an important part in much of your communication with Linux. When you enter a command at the keyboard in response to the shell prompt on the screen, the shell interprets the command and initiates the appropriate actionfor example, executing a program; calling a compiler, a Linux utility, or another standard program; or displaying an error message indicating that you entered a command incorrectly. When you are working on a GUI, you bypass the shell and execute a program by clicking an icon or name. Refer to Chapter 7 for more information on the shell.

Session Management

A session starts when you log in and ends when you log out or reset the session. With a fully compliant GNOME or KDE application, these desktop managers can session-manage your data. When you run a managed session, the desktop looks much the same when you log in as it did when you logged out the previous time. The data in this case includes not only the data that the application manipulates but also information about the state of the application when you end your session: which windows were open and where they were located, what each of the applications was doing, and so forth.

Using Konqueror to Manage Files, Run Programs, and Browse the Web

Konqueror is the desktop tool you will probably use most often (Figure 4-12). It is similar to but more powerful than Windows (Internet) Explorer and easily morphs into a file manager, browser, and executor of many programs, both within and outside the borders of its window. Even though Konqueror is much more than a Web browser, its name indicates its place in the evolution of browsers: Navigator, Explorer, and now Konqueror, spelled with a K because it is part of KDE.[2]

[2] Apple used KHTML, Konqueror's HTML rendering engine, to create its browser and continued the tradition, naming the browser Safari.

Figure 4-12. Konqueror the Web browser


Konqueror provides network transparent access, which means that it is as easy to work with files on remote systems as it is to work with local files. With Konqueror, you can copy files from or to a remote system, using the same techniques you use for copying files locally.

Because it opens an application within itself, Konqueror makes the process of clicking and viewing almost any type of file transparent. Click a PDF (Acrobat) file icon within Konqueror, and it opens the file within the Konqueror window.

The most important feature of the Web browser, the file manager, and the other faces of Konqueror is that each of these separate tools is seamlessly integrated into the same window and shares the same appearance, tools (such as bookmarks), menu system, icons, and functional characteristics. As a result, you can browse from a Web site to an FTP site, copy a file from the FTP site to the local filesystem or desktop as though you were copying it locally, and run, edit, or display the file within Konqueror or in another window.

Getting started


You can bring up Konqueror as a browser or a file manager, and you can switch from one to the other while you are working with it. Double-click the Home or Trash icon on the workspace to open Konqueror the file manager. Once Konqueror is open, enter a URL, such as fedora.redhat.com, in the location bar and press RETURN to switch Konqueror to browser mode. You can toggle the Navigation panel (the narrow subwindow on the left; see Figure 4-14 on page 97) on and off by pressing F9 or selecting Konqueror menubar: Window Show/Hide Navigation Panel.

Because you can change the appearance and functionality of Konqueror, what your system displays may not match what is shown and described in this book.

Konqueror works with many different kinds of targets: plain files (including executable, sound, and graphical, among others), directory files, and URLs, including HTTP and FTP addresses. You select the target by clicking the target's icon within Konqueror or by entering its pathname or address in the location bar. Konqueror's reaction reflects the kind of target you select:

  • Plain file (local or remote): If the file is executable, runs the file (see "MIME/executing files," on the next page). If it is not executable, tries to find the appropriate utility or application to open the file.

  • Directory file: Displays the contents of the directory in a Konqueror File Manager view.

  • HTTP address: Opens the URL in the HTML (Web) viewer, which has been loaded and embedded within the Konqueror window.

  • FTP address: Treats a file obtained by FTP just as it would treat a local plain or directory file.

MIME/executing files


MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) types were originally used to describe how specific types of files that were attached to email were to be handled. Today MIME types describe how many types of files are to be handled, based on their contents or filename extensions. Both GNOME and KDE use MIME types to figure out which program to use to open a file. An example of a MIME type is image/jpeg: The MIME group is image and the MIME subtype is jpeg. This MIME type is associated with the kuickshow KDE image display utility. (Many MIME groups exist, including application, audio, image, inode, message, text, and video.)

When you click a file whose name is sam.jpg, KDE examines the file's magic number (page 1042) to determine its MIME type. If that technique fails, KDE looks at the file's filename extensionin this case, jpg. When KDE determines the file's MIME type is image/jpeg, it calls kuickshow to open the file.

Optional

From the Main menu, select Control Center. When the KDE Control Center window opens, click KDE Components and then Fle Associations to display a complete list of the MIME types that KDE can work with. Be careful when making changes in this window as changes here can affect how Konqueror and other programs work with files.


Running a program


In the Konqueror location bar, enter /usr/bin/xclock, the pathname of an executable file that runs a graphical program. Press RETURN. After checking that you really want to run it, Konqueror runs xclock.

When you want to run a textual program, select Main menu: Run Command or press ALT-F2 to open the Run Command window. This window is part of KDE, not Konqueror. After entering the name of the program you want to run, click Options and put a check mark in the box adjacent to Run in terminal window. For more information refer to "Run Command" on page 261.

Views


The term view describes a subwindow within the Konqueror window (Figure 4-13). Choose Konqueror menubar: Window to add and remove views in the Konqueror window. The choices in this menu always work in the active view, the one with a green dot at the lower-left corner (or the only view). For more information refer to "More About Views" on page 256.

Figure 4-13. Konqueror displaying browser and File Manager views


Toolbar


The Konqueror toolbar (the bar with the icons in Figure 4-13) is straightforward. A right arrow at the right end of the toolbar indicates that not all the icons fit in the width of the window. Click the arrow to display (and choose from) the remaining icons.

File Manager


The Konqueror File Manager view allows you to work with the filesystem graphically (Figure 4-14). Press F9 to display the Navigation panel, which helps you navigate the filesystem. Try clicking either the root or home folder icon in the vertical stack of icons at the left of the Navigation panel. Then click a directory in the Navigation panel to display its contents in the Directory window. Double-click a file in the Directory window to execute it, display its contents, and so on, depending on the contents of the file.

Figure 4-14. The Konqueror file manager displaying icons


Customizing Your Desktop with the KDE Control Center

The KDE Control Center and the GNOME Desktop Preferences window present information on and allow you to control many aspects of the desktop environment. Each tool works differently. This section discusses the KDE Control Center. The gnome-control-center utility displays the GNOME Desktop Preferences window. Display the KDE Control Center (Figure 4-15) by choosing Main menu: Control Center.

Figure 4-15. The KDE Control Center


The column at the left side of the KDE Control Center window displays a list of categories such as Appearance & Themes and Power Control. You may have to click the clear button (the broom and dustpan) at the top left of the column to display this list. Click on a category to expand it and display the topics within that category; click on it again to hide the topics.

When you click a topic, the KDE Control Center displays information about the topic on the right side of the window. Frequently tabs appear at the top of this information. Click the tabs, make the changes you want, and click Apply at the lower-right corner of the window to make your changes take effect.

Left-handed mouse


For example, you can change the setup of the mouse buttons so it is suitable for a left-handed person by clicking the plus sign in the box next to Peripherals to expand this category and then clicking Mouse (Figure 4-16). On the right side of the window, click the tab marked General. Under Button Order, click the radio button next to Left handed. Finally click the Apply button at the lower-right corner of the window. Now the functions of the right and left mouse buttons are reversed. See page 239 for instructions on how to perform the same function under GNOME.

Figure 4-16. The KDE Control Center mouse topic


If you change the setup of the mouse buttons, remember to reinterpret the descriptions in this book accordingly. When this book asks you to click the left button or does not specify a button to click, use the right button, and vice versa.

Help


Select Help What's This from the menubar; KDE adds a question mark to the mouse pointer. If you click the item you want more information on, KDE will display a brief message about this item.

Administrator mode


Some topics, such as those in the System Administration category, control system functions and require Administrator mode (Superuser) access to the system to make changes. When the KDE Control Center displays the Administrator Mode button at the bottom of the window and items in the window are grayed out, click this button and enter the Superuser (root) password to display and work with these topics.

Following are brief descriptions of some of the categories and topics in the KDE Control Center.

Appearance & Themes


Controls how information is presented to the user, including desktop elements (background, colors, fonts, and icons), the screen saver, and window decorations.

Desktop


Controls how the desktop, including panels and windows, works.

Internet & Network


Controls file sharing and desktop sharing. This category includes a subcategory for setting up Web browsing with Konqueror (page 95); the subcategory controls the use of cache, cookies, plugins, stylesheets, browser identification, and other Konqueror-specific settings.

KDE Components


Configures file associations (refer to "MIME/executing files" on page 96), Konqueror's File Manager mode (page 97), KDE sessions (page 94), and KDE spell checking.

Peripherals


Controls the system monitor (display), the system keyboard and mouse, system printers, and an optional digital camera.

Power Control


Controls battery operation and monitoring for battery-powered computers.

Regional & Accessibility


Controls accessibility for disabled users, country- and language-specific settings, and the keyboard layout and shortcuts.

Security & Privacy


Controls how passwords are displayed and remembered, privacy settings, and cryptographic settings, including configuring SSL and managing certificates.

Sound & Multimedia


Controls the sound system, playing of audio CDs, the system bell, and system notifications.

System Administration


Many of the topics in this category require you to click Administrator Mode and enter the Superuser (root) password. Working as yourself, you can modify your password and perform some other tasks. Working as Superuser, you can change the system date and time, install fonts, and change the way users log in on the system.

Customizing the Main Panel Using the Panel Menu

Handles


Right-clicking an icon displays the Panel Icon menu for most icons. Some icons, such as the KNotes icon and the Pager and Taskbar, display Icon context menus (page 91) when you right-click them. This type of icon has a handle. Right-click or middle-click the handle adjacent to the icon (not the icon itself) to work with the Panel Icon menu.

KDE does not display a handle until you position the mouse pointer over an icon. The handle appears to the left of its icon as a narrow vertical space with a triangle at the top and hatchmarks on its left (Figure 4-17). With the mouse pointer hovering over a handle, KDE displays a tooltip that includes the word handle.

Figure 4-17. A handle


Icons that display pop-up menus when you click them have an indicator that is similar to a handle. However, this indicator does not have hatchmarks and the triangle is not filled in. In addition, the tooltip displays the name of the menu and does not include the word handle.

Adding icons


The Panel menu provides tools to customize the panel. Right-click an icon or handle on the panel and select Panel Menu or right-click an empty space on the panel to display the Panel menu (Figure 4-18).

Figure 4-18. The Panel menu


From the Panel menu you can add and remove applets and applications and configure the panel. You can also add different types of panels to the desktop. Feel free to experiment by adding icons to the panelyou cannot do any harm.

Adding applications


You can an add an application from the Main menu by clicking Add Application to Panel in the Panel menu, selecting an application category, and then selecting an application. For example, Panel menu: Add Application to Panel Office Word Processor adds an icon for the OpenOffice word processor to the panel.

At the top of each menu that you display by selecting Add Application to Panel is an Add This Menu selection; click it to add the entire menu to the panel. When you click the icon that adding a menu places on the panel, KDE displays a pop-up menu.

Removing icons


To remove an icon from the panel right-click the icon or handle to display the Panel Icon menu and then select Remove. You can also remove an icon by selecting Remove From Panel from the Panel menu, selecting Applet or Application from the resulting pop-up menu, and clicking the name of the icon you want to remove.

Moving icons


You can move a panel icon by clicking the icon with the middle mouse button and dragging it. For icons with handles, click and drag the handle. To cause an icon to shove aside bordering icons and not jump over them, hold the SHIFT key while dragging.

Configuring the panel


The Configure Panel selection on the Panel menu displays the ConfigureKDE Panel window, which determines the location, appearance, and functionality of the panel (Figure 4-19). Click the icons on the left side of the window to display pages where you can modify the panel. One icon selects the Taskbar (page 86) for modification.

Figure 4-19. The ConfigureKDE Panel window, Arrangement page


Try changing the appearance or arrangement of the panel. Click Apply to make your changes take effect. Click Defaults and then Apply to return things to the way they were when the system was installed.

When more than one panel appears in the workspace, KDE displays a combo box labeled Settings for at the top of the Arrangement page. Use this combo box to specify which panel you want to work with.




A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux
A Practical Guide to Red HatВ® LinuxВ®: Fedoraв„ў Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (3rd Edition)
ISBN: 0132280272
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 383

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net