Using KDE


Because KDE has so many features, associated utilities, and programs, this section cannot hope to cover them all. Instead, it attempts to familiarize you with the content and style of KDE; it is up to you to explore and find out more. One of the best ways to learn about KDE is to go through the online documentation and experiment. You can also look through the Main menu and browse www.kde.org.

Konqueror Browser/File Manager

Konqueror was introduced on page 94. This section describes additional Konqueror features.

Tip: What is a KDE desktop?

In KDE documentation, the term desktop refers to a single division of a larger area. This book, in conformance with the GNOME documentation, divides the larger area, called the desktop, into workspaces. You may notice the disparity between the terminology on the KDE desktop and that in this book.


Web Shortcuts

Konqueror Web Shortcuts (different from regular shortcuts [page 258]) enable you to search for a keyword rapidly, using the default or a specified search engine. Search engines can include dictionaries, bug-tracking systems, classic search engines, and more. For example, to look up the word colocation in the Free Online Dictionary of Computing, enter the shortcut foldoc:colocation in the location bar. To search for discussions about Samba on Google Groups, enter groups:samba. Other abbreviations that you may find useful are gg for Google (standard search), webster (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), and fm for Freshmeat.

When you enter a keyword on the location bar without specifying a search engine, Konqueror looks it up using the default search engine. Use Menubar: Settings Configure Konqueror, scroll down the tabs on the right, and click Web Shortcuts from the column on the left to specify a default search engine and work with Web Shortcuts.

Tip: You can use Web Shortcuts by pressing Alt-F2

You can also use Web Shortcuts from the Run Command dialog box, which you can open by pressing Alt-F2. See page 261 for details.


Bookmarks

As with any browser, Konqueror bookmarks give a user-friendly name to a URL or local pathname and allow you to return to the bookmarked location by selecting the name from a menu. Figure 8-16 shows the Konqueror Bookmarks menu, which is available on the menubar. The bookmarks list appears below the standard entries in the Bookmarks menu (Add, Bookmark Tabs as Folder, Edit, and New Bookmark Folder). When you click the bookmark of the location you want to visit, Konqueror displays that location.

Figure 8-16. Konqueror Bookmarks menu


Choose Konqueror menubar: Bookmarks Add Bookmark (or press CONTROL-B) to add the location displayed in the active view to the bookmarks list. You can also work with bookmarks from the Navigation panel (Figure 4-14, page 97). Click a bookmark entry on the Navigation panel or on the Bookmark toolbar (page 255) to display that entry.

To open, check the status of, or edit the name of or location associated with a bookmark, open the Bookmark Editor window (Konqueror menubar: Bookmarks Edit Bookmarks) and right-click the entry you want to work with; choose the appropriate selection from the pop-up menu. You can also use the Bookmark Editor to change the order of the bookmarks: Use the mouse to drag the highlighted bookmark where you want it to appear in the list or use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlighted bookmark within the list. The right and left arrow keys open and close directories and folders containing bookmarks. Click New Folder to insert a new folder below the highlighted bookmark.

Menubar

The menus on the Konqueror menubar (Figure 8-17) change depending on what Konqueror is displaying. Clicking a selection on the menubar displays a drop-down menu.

Figure 8-17. Konqueror menubar and toolbars


Toolbars

Konqueror has five toolbars that you can turn on and off from Konqueror menubar: Settings Toolbars: Main, Extra, Location, Bookmark, and Speech. These menu entries toggle the toolbars on and off. When a check mark appears to the left of a toolbar name, Konqueror displays that toolbar. Figure 8-17 shows three toolbars. Each toolbar has a handle that you can use to move the toolbar. The handle is the area with hatchmarks, usually at the left end of the toolbar; see Figure 4-17 on page 100 for a closeup picture of a handle. Right-click almost anywhere on a toolbar that has a handle to display the toolbar menu.

Main Toolbar

The Konqueror Main toolbar typically has left and right arrows that move linearly through the locations you have viewed with Konqueror. The up arrow moves up in a directory hierarchy. Clicking the house icon displays your home directory; clicking the reload button (the arrows going in a circle) reloads a Web page or file structure that may have changed. Clicking the stop button (the X that is red when there is an action you can stop) halts the search for or loading of a Web page, and clicking the print button (the printer) sends the image in the active view to the printer.

Extra Toolbar

Choose Konqueror menubar: Settings Toolbars Extra Toolbar to display the Extra toolbar. Use Konqueror menubar: Settings Configure Toolbars Extra Toolbar to change which icons appear on this toolbar.

Location Toolbar

The Location toolbar has two items you can work with: the text box and the clear button. The clear button (the broom and dustpan at the left end of the toolbar) clears the text box. To display a location, you can enter a local or remote filename or URL, modify the contents of the text box, or click the down arrow at the right of this box and choose from the locations you have visited.

By default, the Search toolbar appears to the right of the Location toolbar. You can remove this toolbar from the Location toolbar by using Konqueror menubar: Settings Configure Toolbars Location Toolbar.

Bookmark Toolbar

The Bookmark toolbar gives you quick access to bookmarks (page 253). Display the Bookmark toolbar with Konqueror menubar: Settings Toolbars Bookmark Toolbar.

kfind: Finds Files

Start kfind by clicking Main menu: Find Files/Folders or by selecting Konqueror menubar: Tools Find file (this selection is not active when Konqueror is working as a browser). Konqueror opens a new view that has three tabs: Name/Location, Contents, and Properties. The view opens to the Name/Location tab with a default filename to search for of *, which matches all filenames, including those that begin with a period, and your home directory as the place to start the search. If you used kfind previously in the current session, kfind specifies the previous name you searched for instead of the *. In the Named text box, enter the name of the file you want to search for (you can include wildcard characters); in the Look in text box, enter the directory you want to start the search in. Click the Browse button to help locate the directory you want to start the search in. Put a check mark in the box next to Include subfolders to search through subdirectories. Click Find to start the search. The part of the window with the fields you just filled in dims as kfind tabulates and displays the results of the search in the lower part of the window. You can do whatever you want with the found files: copy, move, delete, edit, and display them, among other things.

Figure 8-18 shows a search for all files whose names end with rc (*rc) in Sam's home directory and all subdirectories. The asterisk matches filenames that begin with a period.

Figure 8-18. Find Files window


In addition to or instead of filling in the Name/Location tab, you can click the Contents tab to specify a text string that the files you are looking for contain. Put a check mark in the box next to Case sensitive to perform a case-sensitive search for the text in the Containing text box. For a file to be found when you specify a text string, the file must match the Name/Location criteria and the Contents criteria.

You can also use the Properties tab to specify the type, creation or modification date, owner, or size of the file you are searching for.

You can save the results of the search to a file by clicking Save As, two buttons below the Find button on the right side of the window. You will be given a choice of filename, location, and type of file (text or HTML) you want to save.

More About Views

Views, or subwindows, are key to taking advantage of Konqueror's power. This section expands on what was covered in "Views" on page 97 and explores some of the buttons, indicators, and menu choices that work with views.

Figure 8-19 shows two views side-by-side. Two indicators are important when you work with more than one view simultaneously: the Active View indicator and the Link indicator (Figure 4-13, page 96).

Figure 8-19. Konqueror displaying two views


Active View Indicator

The small circle at the lower-left corner of each view is green in the active view and gray in other views. The active view has the input focus and is the target of all Konqueror menu commands. The location bar displays the location of the file displayed in the active view. Click within a view to make it the active view.

Tip: Konqueror terminology: view versus window

The Konqueror window consists of the entire window with four sides adjacent to the root window, the edge of the workspace, or other windows, usually with a menubar, location bar, and toolbar. The Konqueror window can house multiple viewsthat is, subwindows within the Konqueror window. The Navigation panel and terminal emulator are views with special properties. In Figure 8-19, the Konqueror window is displaying two views.


Link Indicator

Click Konqueror menubar: View Link view to link the two views that were most recently active. A link of chain appears in the small rectangle at the lower-right corner of each linked view. Two linked views always show the same location, with one useful exception that is covered in the next paragraph. Although linked views display the same information, each may present it differently. For example, one may display an Icon view and the other a List view.

Lock to Current Location

Choose Konqueror menubar: View Lock to Current Location to place a check mark next to this selection and cause the contents of the active view to remain constant, regardless of which links (URLs) you click in that view. With a normal (not locked) view, when you click a link, the view is replaced by the contents of that link. With two linked views, neither of which is locked, when you click a link in one, both views change to reflect the contents of the link. When a locked view is linked to an unlocked view and you click a link in the locked view, the contents of the link appears in the unlocked view. Click the same selection to remove the check mark and unlock the active view.

To see how linked views with one view locked can be useful, open Konqueror, hide the Navigation panel if it is present (press F9), maximize the window, enter fedora.redhat.com/docs in the location bar, and press RETURN. Konqueror displays the Fedora User Documentation page. Next click Window Split View Left/Right to display two identical views side-by-side. Link the views (View Link View); a link of chain appears at the lower-right corner of each view. Make the left view active by clicking anywhere in the view that is not a link and then lock the view (View Lock to Current Location). Now when you click a link in the left view, the linked-to page appears in the right view. You can view several links from the User Documentation page without constantly returning to this page as you would have to with a single view.

Shortcuts

A Konqueror shortcut (not a Web Shortcut [page 253]) is the connection between a key or keys (CONTROL-C, for example) that you hold or press at the same time and an action that the system performs when you do so. Open the Configure Shortcuts window (Figure 8-20) by selecting Konqueror menubar: Settings Configure Shortcuts. In Figure 8-20 the action Copy, which appears at the top of the list of shortcuts, shows that CONTROL-C (Ctrl+C) is a shortcut for copy and that CONTROL-Insert is an alternate shortcut. The action Find File is highlighted; it has a shortcut of ALT-F. The bottom frame in the window shows that ALT-F is a Custom shortcut. With Copy highlighted, this frame would show that CONTROL-C is a Default shortcut.

Figure 8-20. Configure Shortcuts window


When you click and highlight an action, you can remove its shortcut by selecting None or you can revert to the default shortcut (if one exists) by selecting Default. To assign or change a custom binding, click the keycap button (the button labeled Alt+F in Figure 8-20) or the Custom radio button. A second Configure Shortcuts window opens. To specify a shortcut, clear any existing shortcut by clicking the broom and dustpan icon, press the key(s) you want to use for the shortcut, and click OK. The names of the keys that are now bound to the highlighted action appear on the keycap button.

The shortcuts you set in the Configure Shortcuts window apply to actions you take within Konqueror. You can set global and application shortcuts in a similar manner by selecting Main menu: Control Center Regional & Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts). Within Konqueror, the bindings you establish in the Konqueror Configure Shortcuts window take precedence over bindings you set up in the Control Center.

Navigation Panel

To select the information displayed by the Konqueror Navigation panel, click one of the icons/tabs that appears in a stack at the left of the panel. On the active tab, text replaces the icon. Figure 8-21 shows the Navigation panel with the History tab active.

Figure 8-21. Navigation panel, History tab


Toggle the Navigation panel on and off by using Konqueror menubar: Window Show Navigation panel or by pressing F9. Although the Navigation panel is a view, it has a different background than other views and cannot be active. When you click an entry in the Navigation panel, in the active view Konqueror opens the file or directory that that entry points to.

Click one of the icons/tabs in the Navigation panel to display a list of directories and files that corresponds to that icon. In this list, click the plus sign in the small box to expand a directory and click a minus sign in a small box to collapse a directory. Clicking an entry without a box causes Konqueror to display that entry in the active view. When you click a directory in this manner, Konqueror displays a File Manager view of the directory. When you click a URL of a Web site, Konqueror displays the Web site. (The $KDEHOME/share/apps/konqsidebartng/entries directory holds files that correspond to the icons in the Navigation panel. $KDEHOME defaults to /usr.)

Each of the initial icons/tabs in the Navigation panel gives you a different perspective on the system and what you have been doing with it. You can modify, delete, and add to some of these icons by right-clicking the icon. Right-click in the empty space blow the tabs to modify the Navigation panel.

KDE Utilities

Many utilities are available on the Main menu and on the KDE Web site. You can also take advantage of utilities, such as the GNOME utilities, that were not specifically designed with KDE in mind. This section lists a few of the most commonly used utilities.

konsole: Terminal Emulator

The KDE terminal emulator (konsole) displays a window that mimics a character-based terminal. Bring up a terminal emulator by selecting Main menu: System Terminal or by selecting Konsole from the Desktop menu.

You can display multiple terminal sessions within a single Konsole window. With the Konsole window open, make a selection from Menubar: Session New Shell or click the yellow icon (at the left end of the toolbar, usually at the bottom of the window) to open another session. Click and hold this icon for a few moments to display the Session menu, which offers a choice of sessions to start. Switch between sessions by clicking the terminal icons, also on the toolbar, or by holding SHIFT and pressing the RIGHT or LEFT ARROW key.

kcolorchooser: Selects a Color

The Select Color window (kcolorchooser; see Figure 8-22) appears when you click a color bar, such as one of the two that appear in the Options frame when you select Configure Desktop from the Desktop menu and then click Background in the stack of vertical tabs at the left side of the Configure window. The square centered on top of the line above the OK and Cancel buttons always displays the selected color. When you click the OK button, this color returns to the color bar that you initially clicked.

Figure 8-22. Select Color window


There are several ways to select a color:

  • Click the color/shade you want on the multicolored box at the upper-left portion of the window.

  • Click the palette to the right of the Add to Custom Colors button. The mouse pointer turns into crosshairs. Position the crosshairs over the color you want, anywhere on the workspace, and click. The color you click on becomes the selected color.

  • Choose a line from the combo box at the upper-right corner of the window (Forty Colors in Figure 8-22). You have a choice of several groups of colors, including Recent Colors (an automatically generated list of colors you have selected) and Custom Colors (colors you have added to the list of custom colors by selecting and then clicking Add to Custom Colors). Click a color in the area below the combo box to select it.

  • Enter the HTML specification of the color you want.

  • Enter the appropriate numbers in the H, S, and V (hue, saturation, value) column of text boxes or in the R, G, and B (red, green, blue) column.

After you select a color, you can adjust its brightness by clicking the vertical bar to the right of the multicolor box or by dragging the pointer on the right side of this bar up or down. Click OK when you have selected the color you want.

Run Command

To run a character-based program, display the Run Command window by selecting Run Command from the Main menu or the Desktop menu, or by pressing ALT-F2. Enter the name of the program in the Command text box, click Options, put a check mark in the box adjacent to Run in terminal window, and click Run. KDE then runs the program in a Konsole window. When you run who in this manner, for example, KDE displays the output of who in a new window and displays <Finished> on the titlebar of the window. Close the window when you are finished viewing the output; you can do no further work in it. If you run a program such as ssh from a Run Command window, the window remains active until you exit from ssh.

You can also use the Run Command window to start graphical programs (enter the name of the program), display Web pages (enter the URL), or enter Web Shortcuts (see page 253).

klipper: Clipboard Utility

The klipper utility is a sophisticated multiple-buffer cut-and-paste utility. In addition to cutting and pasting from multiple buffers, klipper can execute a command based on the contents of a buffer. As distributed with Red Hat Linux, klipper is started by default when you log in. If you need to start klipper manually, choose Main menu: Run Command, enter klipper, and click Run. The klipper utility does not start a second occurrence of itself when it is already running. The klipper icon (a clipboard and pencil) appears at the right of the Main panel.

Each time you highlight text, klipper copies the text to one of its buffers. Click the klipper icon or press CONTROL-ALT-V to display the klipper pop-up menu (Figure 8-23). The top part of this menu lists the text that klipper is holding in its buffers. When the lines are too long to fit inside the window, klipper uses ellipses (...) to indicate missing material. To paste the text from a buffer to a document, display the klipper pop-up menu and click the line you want to paste; the pop-up menu closes. Move the mouse pointer to the location where you want to paste the text and middle-click. In a terminal emulator window, the text is always pasted at the location of the text cursor.

Figure 8-23. klipper pop-up menu





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

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