Section 1.3. I Can t Configure a Standard Background


1.3. I Can't Configure a Standard Background

I define a standard desktop as one with a consistent look and feel after login. It's consistent for all users, at least before individual users customize their desktop environments.

In general, desktop settings are the sum of their parts. Both KDE and GNOME have standard desktop environments, defined in specific directories, such as /etc/kde3 or /opt/gnome/share, as well as hidden directories associated with specific users, such as ~/.kde/share.

If you want a standard desktop, you need consistency with respect to the following:

  • Installed packages

  • Desktop resolution

  • Program menu

  • Menu bar

  • Uniform group of icons

  • Login screen

  • Background

I address some of the other components of a standard desktop (desktop resolution, a consistent program menu, a standard menu bar, a custom login screen, and a uniform group of icons) in different annoyances. In this annoyance, I show you how to configure a consistent background and screensaver for a KDE and a GNOME desktop environment.

One benchmark in a consistent organizational image is what people see when they walk through your offices. Everyone has different items on their desks, such as family photos, personal souvenirs, etc. However, almost everyone has a computer with a monitor.

Personally, I think people should be able to put what they want (with the possible exception of obscene words and pictures) on their monitor desktops and screensavers at work. But your manager and/or company may think differently. They might tell you that what visitors (and his bosses) see on everyone's GUI desktop background and screensaver should look and feel professional, as it affects their opinion of your organization.

1.3.1. A Consistent Background

The foundation of a consistent look and feel on the desktop is a consistent background. Assuming you use one of the two standard Linux desktop environments, you can configure it through the KDE Control Center or the GNOME desktop background applet.

1.3.1.1. KDE backgrounds

If you want to customize the background on a KDE desktop, run the kcmshell background command to open the Configure - Background window. This applet is surprisingly versatile; it allows you to configure the image or even a slideshow of images. If you want to set up your corporate logo as the background on your KDE desktops, you could add the image to the /usr/share/wallpapers directory and then configure it as the picture for your background.

To make this background the standard for your users, copy the kdesktoprc, kcmshellrc, and kdeglobals files from your ~/.kde/share/config directory to the home directories of the other KDE users on your network.

1.3.1.2. GNOME backgrounds

If you want to customize the background on a GNOME desktop, run the gnome-background-properties command to open the Desktop Background Preferences window. This applet is simple; it allows you to select the image of your choice for a desktop background.

If you want to add a standard image for a background, put it into the /usr/share/images/desktop-base directory (/usr/share/backgrounds/images on Red Hat/Fedora and /usr/share/wallpapers on SUSE). You can then copy this directory to the other GNOME desktop systems on your network.

Any changes are saved to the backgrounds.xml file in the individual user's ~/.gnome2/ directory. To make this the standard background for your GNOME systems, you'll have to copy this file to each user's home directory.

If you want to keep users from changing their backgrounds, you can disable regular user access to the gnome-background-properties applet. What I do is limit executable access to the root user with the following command:

 chmod 700 /usr/bin/gnome-background-properties 

1.3.2. A Secure Screensaver

In a secure environment, you may not want customers or visiting rivals (or anyone who might be considered a security risk) to see what your users are doing. When your users leave their workstations temporarily, they often don't shut down their computers. With password protection on their screensavers, you can help protect any critical or confidential information.

In addition, screensavers are one more opportunity to set up a consistent look and feel in your office environment.

1.3.2.1. GNOME screensavers

The GNOME desktop environment takes advantage of a group of standard screensavers available to all Linux systems, part of the xscreensaver package. The configuration tool is xscreensaver-demo, which is in either /usr/bin (SUSE, Fedora, and Debian) or /usr/X11R6/bin (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). This opens the Screensaver Preferences window.

There are a substantial number of things you can configure in the Screensaver Preferences window. I'll focus on only those two items critical to your system security:


Blank after _ _ minutes

Specifies the amount of time before a screensaver activates. If you want to keep your systems secure after a user walks away, you should keep this to a minimum; I suggest one minute.


Lock Screen after _ _ minutes

Sets the amount of time, after the screensaver starts, after which a password is required to dismiss the screensaver and start work again. This should also be kept to a reasonable minimum; zero minutes is probably too short, as it would make users enter a password each time they turn away from the computer for a few seconds.

Once you select a screensaver and close the utility, the configuration is saved in the ~/.xscreensaver configuration file, which you can copy to each of your users' home directories.

Before any changes take effect, you'll need to restart the xscreensaver daemon (it's not a standard daemon, as it doesn't have a start script in the /etc/init.d directory). The easiest way to restart it is from the xscreensaver-demo utility; click File Restart Daemon. Alternatively, you can restart the daemon from the command line. First, find the Process Identifier (PID) associated with the The PID is the number in the second column. For example, if the PID is 1111, you can restart the daemon with the following command:

 kill -hup 1111 

1.3.2.2. KDE screensavers

There is little difference in the workings of the GNOME and KDE screensaver tools; both use the xscreensaver package described earlier. To start the KDE screensaver tool, run the kcmshell screensaver command. This opens the Configure - Screen Saver (which may be named Configure KDE Control Module) window. If available, select the XScreensaver and then click Setup. You'll see the same Screensaver preferences window described earlier.

Alternatively, if you want to use one of the KDE screensavers, the menu is straightforward. For system security, two settings are critical:


Start automatically after _ _

Specifies the amount of time before a screensaver activates. If you want to keep your systems secure after a user walks away, you should keep this to a minimum; I suggest one minute.


Require password to stop after _ _

Sets the time, after the screensaver starts, after which a password is required. This should also be kept to a reasonable minimum; don't make it too short, or your users will be highly annoyed at entering a password every time they turn away from their computers.

Once you select a screensaver and close the utility, the configuration is saved in the ~/.kde/share/config/kdesktoprc configuration file, which you can copy to each of your users' home directories.

1.3.3. Going Further

There are lots of things you can do to customize each desktop environment. If you want to keep a standard environment for your users, take away the tools that they can use to change their environment. Remove or limit permissions to use key configuration tools. For example, you could limit use of the KDE Control Center to the root administrative user with the following command:

 chmod 700 /usr/bin/kcmshell 

(In SUSE Linux, kcmshell is in the /opt/kde3/bin directory.) Naturally, you should change the permissions of each GNOME Control Center utility that you don't want your users to take advantage of.



Linux Annoyances for Geeks
Linux Annoyances for Geeks: Getting the Most Flexible System in the World Just the Way You Want It
ISBN: 0596008015
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 144
Authors: Michael Jang

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