Adding and Removing Applets

If you find that you don't use the Pager (the virtual desktop selection tool), you can remove it to save space. Simply right-click a blank space on the Panel and click Remove, and then Applet, and then Pager. Alternatively, you can bring it back by right-clicking the Panel, selecting Add, then Applet, and then Pager.

There are many more applets available than those set up to appear by default. Just right-click a blank area of the Panel, select Add, then Applet, and take your pick. Those that are grayed out are already in use on the Panel. There are even more applets available on the K menu. Just select K menu ® System ® Desktop. Click the icon for the applet you want to add to activate it and put it on the Panel. Table 10-1 lists the available applets, along with brief descriptions.

Table 10-1. SUSE Linux Desktop Applets

Applet	Description
Application Launcher	This applet adds a small box into which you can type commands or program names in order to launch them (akin to Start ® Run under Windows).
Clock	This shows the current time and provides a means by which the time and date can be altered. It is set up by default.
Color Picker	This lets you click anywhere on screen and immediately view the RGB decimal and hex values of the color under the cursor. This can be useful when creating web sites or editing images.
Devices	This provides quick access via icons to any removable media devices you may have installed on your system, such as the CD-ROM and floppy drives. It also lets you mount and unmount drives quickly.
KBinaryClock	This is like the Clock applet, except it displays the time as a graphi- cal display showing binary values! It can be quite fun to learn how to tell the time using binary.
Klipper	This applet gives you more control over your clipboard history, allowing you to recall items that were cut or copied some time ago.
KNewsTicker	This displays scrolling headlines from various web sites, such as the popular Slashdot.org geek news site and the KDE home page. It can be configured to work with any site that offers Resource Description Framework (RDF) feeds.
KSysGuard	Despite what its name might imply by way of security, this applet actually displays system resource usage figures, such as how much memory is in use or how busy the CPU is.
Lock/Logout Applet	As its name suggests, this applet provides two small icons which, when clicked, either log out the user or lock the computer so that the user's password must be entered to restore functionality.
Media Control	This applet gives quick control over the SUSE media player (although it can be configured to work with other compatible software, too). It provides controls for pausing the media player or skipping tracks, for example.
Pager	This provides control over the virtual desktop system. It is set up by default.
Public File Server	This effectively lets you create a temporary web server on your machine by which you can make files available to other computers on your network or (firewall permitting) across the Internet. All the user of the remote computer needs to do is enter your IP address into his web browser together with the port number you specify during setup (this can be done by clicking the applet icon).
Quick Launcher	This adds a miniature icon bar to the Taskbar, which you can use to start various programs or services. Its main benefit is that it takes up very little space.
Runaway Process Catcher	This applet is a legacy from the older age of SUSE Linux when some software was buggy and would consume system resources at a runaway rate. It effectively watches for runaway processes and automatically kills them. Nowadays, it's useful only if you're deliberately using beta (testing) software. It can cause problems such as false alarms if used incorrectly.
System Monitor	Like KSysGuard, this provides graphed information about system resources. However, it's much smaller than KSysGuard.
XMMS-KDE	This puts a miniature version of the XMMS media player program on the Taskbar. It includes some of the controls of the media player, but right-clicking allows access to more options.