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103Chapter 3Getting into the DesktopFrom the gconf-editor window, select apps.metacity, and then choose from gen- eral, global_keybindings, keybindings_commands, window_keybindings, andworkspace_names. Click each key to see its value, along with short and longdescriptions of the key. Using the GNOME panelThe GNOME panel is the place from which you manage your desktop. From thispanel you can start applications (from buttons or menus), see what programs areactive, and monitor how your system is running. There are also many ways tochange the panel by adding applications or monitors, or by changing theplacement or behavior of the panel, for example. Right-click any open space on the panel to see the Panel menu (see Figure 3-8). Figure 3-8:The GNOME panel menu. From GNOME s Panel menu, you can perform a variety of functions, including: .Use the main menu.The main menu (represented by a red hat in Red Hat sys- tems) displays most of the applications and system tools you will use fromthe desktop. .Add to panel.Add an applet, menu, launcher, drawer, or button. .Delete this panel.Delete the current panel. .Properties.Change the panel s position, size, and background properties. .New panel.Add panels to your desktop in different styles and locations. You can also work with items on a panel. For example, you can: .Move items.Move items on a panel simply by dragging and dropping them tonew positions. .Resize items.Some elements, such as the Window List, can be resized byclicking an edge and dragging it to the new size. .Use the Window List.Tasks running on the desktop appear in the WindowList area. Click a task to minimize or maximize it.

102Part ILinux First StepsTable 3-3Metacity Keyboard ShortcutsActionsKeystrokesWindow focusCycle forward, with pop-up iconsAlt+TabCycle backward, with pop-up iconsAlt+Shift+TabCycle forward, without pop-up iconsAlt+EscCycle backward, without pop-up iconsAlt+Shift+EscPanel focus Cycle forward among panelsAlt+Ctrl+TabCycle backward among panelsAlt+Ctrl+Shift+TabWorkspace focusMove to workspace to the rightCtrl+Alt+right arrowMove to workspace to the leftCtrl+Alt+left arrowMove to upper workspaceCtrl+Alt+up arrowMove to lower workspaceCtrl+Alt+down arrowMinimize/maximize all windowsCtrl+Alt+DShow window menuAlt-Space barClose menuEscAnother Metacity feature of interest is the workspace switcher. Four virtualworkspaces appear in the workspace switcher on the GNOME panel. Here are somethings to do with the workspace switcher: .Choose current workspace Four virtual workspaces appear in theworkspace switcher. Click any of the four virtual workspaces to make it yourcurrent workspace. .Move windows to other workspaces Click any window, each representedby a tiny rectangle in a workspace, to drag-and-drop it to another workspace. .Add more workspaces Right-click the workspace switcher, and selectPreferences. You can add workspaces (up to 32). .Name workspaces Right-click the workspace switcher and selectPreferences. Click in the Workspaces pane to change names of workspaces toany names you choose. You can view and change information about Metacity controls and settings usingthe gconf-editor window (type gconf-editorfrom a Terminal window). As the win- dow says, it is not the recommended way of changing preferences, so when possi- ble, you should change the desktop through GNOME preferences. However, gconf-editor is a good way to see descriptions of each Metacity feature.

101Chapter 3Getting into the DesktopFigure 3-7:In the GNOME desktop environment, you can manage applications from the panel. There really isn t much you can do with Metacity (except get your work done effi- ciently). Assigning new themes to Metacity and changing colors and window deco- rations is done through the GNOME preferences (and is described later). A fewMetacity themes exist, but expect the number to grow. Basic Metacity functions that might interest you are keyboard shortcuts and theworkspace switcher. Table 3-3 shows keyboard shortcuts to get around theMetacity window manager. Preferences windowDesktop areaNautilus file managerPanelDesktopiconsE-mailWriterPrintmanagerRed Hatnetwork alertnotificationWorkspaceswitcherImpressClockWindow listCalcWeb browserRed Hatmainmenu08_

100Part ILinux First Stepspreferences. To use your GNOME desktop, you should become familiar with the fol- lowing components: .Metacity (window manager) The default window manager for GNOME inFedora is Metacity. It provides such things as themes, and window bordersand controls. .Nautilus (file manager/graphical shell) When you open a folder (bydouble-clicking the Home icon on your desktop, for example), the Nautiluswindow opens and displays the contents of the selected folder. Nautilus canalso display other types of content, such as shared folders from Windowscomputers on the network (using SMB). .GNOME panel (application/task launcher) This panel, which lines the bot- tom of your screen, is designed to make it convenient for you to launch theapplications you use, manage running applications, and work with multiplevirtual desktops. By default, the panel contains the main menu (representedby a red hat in Red Hat Linux or a footprint icon in others), desktop applica- tion launchers (Evolution e-mail and a set of OpenOffice.org applications), aworkspace switcher (for managing four virtual desktops), window list, and aclock. It also has an icon to alert you when you need software updates. .Desktop area The windows and icons you use are arranged on the desktoparea, which supports such things a drag-and-drop between applications, adesktop menu (right-click to see it), and icons for launching applications. There is a Computer icon which consolidates CD drives, floppy drives, thefilesystem, and shared network resources in one place. GNOME also includes a set of Preferences windows that enable you to configuredifferent aspects of your desktop. You can change backgrounds, colors, fonts, key- board shortcuts, and other features relating to the look and behavior of the desk- top. Figure 3-7 shows how the GNOME desktop environment appears the first timeyou log in, with a few windows added to the screen. The following sections provide details on using the GNOME desktop. Using the Metacity Window ManagerThe Metacity window manager seems to have been chosen as the default windowmanager for GNOME in Red Hat Linux because of its simplicity. The creator ofMetacity refers to it as a boring window manager for the adult in you then goeson to compare other window managers to colorful, sugary cereal, while Metacity ischaracterized as Cheerios.

99Chapter 3Getting into the Desktop3.Select one of the categories of applications. 4.Select any application from that category (or select Add This Menu To Addthe Whole Menu of Applications). An icon representing the application immediately appears on the panel. (If thepanel seems a bit crowded, you might want to remove some applications youdon tuse.) If you decide later that you no longer want this application to be available on thepanel, right-click the edge of the icon and click the Remove button. To move it to adifferent location on the panel, right-click it, click Move, move it to where you wantit on the panel, and click again. Adding Applications to the DesktopTo add an application to the desktop, use the desktop menu. Here s how: 1.Right-click an open area of the desktop. 2.Select Create New.File.Link to Application from the menu. 3.On the Properties window that appears, click the General tab and replace Linkto Application with the name you want to appear for the application on thedesktop. On that same tab, click the gear icon and select one icon from the listto represent your application. 4.Click the Application tab and add a description of the application and a com- ment. Then in the Command box, type the command you want to run orbrowse your file system (click the Browse button) to find the command to run. 5.Click OK, and the icon for the new application launcher appears on the desktop. If you decide later that you no longer want this application to be available on thedesktop, right-click the icon and click Delete or Move to Trash. The GNOME DesktopGNOME (pronounced guh-nome) provides the desktop environment that you get bydefault when you install Fedora Core and other Red Hat Linux systems. This desk- top environment provides the software that is between your X Window Systemframework and the look-and-feel provided by the window manager. GNOME is astable and reliable desktop environment, with a few cool features in it. The new GNOME 2.8 desktop comes with the most recent version of Fedora Core. For GNOME 2.8, enhancements include a new volume manager (for managingremovable media), keyring manager (for managing keys), and remote desktop08_

98Part ILinux First StepsOther attributes you can change for the selected fonts are size (in points) andcharacter set (to select an ISO standard character set). Select Apply to applythe changes. .Colors Under the Appearance & Themes heading, select Colors. The win- dow that appears lets you change the color of selected items on the desktop. Select a whole color scheme from the Color Scheme list box. Or select an itemfrom the Widget color box to change a particular item. Items you can changeinclude text, backgrounds, links, buttons, and title bars. Changing Panel AttributesFor most people, the panel is the place where they select which desktop is active andwhich applications are run. You can change panel behavior from the Configure Panelwindow. Right-click any empty space on your panel, and then select Configure Panel. You can change these features from the Settings window that appears: .Arrangement Change the location of the panel by clicking Top, Left, Bottom, or Right in the Panel Location list box. The Panel Style selection lets you changethe size of the Panel from Medium to Tiny, Small, or Large. .Hiding Certain selections enable you to autohide the panel or use hidebuttons. Under the Hide Mode heading, choose whether to hide only when apanel hiding button is clicked or to hide automatically after a set number ofseconds when the cursor is not in the panel area. You can also show or notshow hiding buttons. Sliders let you select the delay and speed at whichpanels and buttons are hidden. .Menus Unlike with the GNOME main menu, you have the capability tomanipulate the main menu from the GUI in KDE. Click the Edit K Menu button. The KDE Menu editor that appears lets you cut, copy, paste, remove, andmodify submenus and applications from your main menu. Adding Application Launchers and MIME TypesYou want to be able to quickly access the applications that you use most often. Oneof the best ways to make that possible is to add icons to the panel or the desktopthat can launch the applications you need with a single click. Procedures for addingapplications to the panel and desktop are described in the following sections. Adding Applications to the PanelYou can add any KDE application to the KDE panel quite easily. Here s how: 1.Right-click an open space on the panel. 2.Choose Add.Application Button.

97Chapter 3Getting into the DesktopChanging the DisplayYou can change a lot of the look-and-feel of your desktop display. Under theAppearance & Themes topic (click the plus sign), you can change Background, Colors, Fonts, Icons, Launch Feedback, Panel, Screen Saver, Style, Theme Manager, and Window Decoration. Here are a few of the desktop features you may want to change: .Background Under the Appearance & Themes heading in the KDE ControlCenter, select Background. By default, all of your virtual desktops use thesame background. To have different backgrounds for each virtual desktop, select the box next to the Setting for Desktop heading, choose any of the fourdesktops, and then choose the background you want for the current desktop. For each desktop, select Picture, Slideshow, or No Picture. For a Picture, thereare several backgrounds you can choose from the pull-down menu, or you canbrowse your file system for a picture. To do a slide show, click Slideshow andselect Setup (to choose your pictures and define how often they change). Click Apply to apply your selections. .Screensaver Under the Appearance & Themes heading, select Screen Saver. From the window that appears, select from a list of screen savers. KNOPPIXonly includes a blank screen saver. However, Fedora Core comes with about160 different screen savers. My favorite is Slideshow, where you can have aslide show of images for your screen saver. Click Setup to identify an imagedirectory or otherwise modify the behavior of the screen saver. Under set- tings, select how many minutes of inactivity before the screen saver turns on. You can also choose Require Password to require that a password be enteredbefore you can access your display after the screen saver has come on. If you are working in a place where you want your desktop to be secure, be sureto turn on the Require Password feature. This prevents others from gaining accessto your computer when you forget to lock it or shut it off. If you have any virtualterminals open, switch to them and type vlockto lock each of them as well. (Youneed to install the vlock package if the vlockcommand isn t available.) .Fonts You can assign different fonts to different places in which fontsappear on the desktop. Under the Appearance & Themes heading, selectFonts. Select one of the categories of fonts (General, Fixed width, Toolbar, Menu, Window title, Taskbar, and Desktop fonts). Then click the Choose checkbox to select a font from the Select Font list box that you want to assign tothat category. If the font is available, an example of the text appears in theSample text box. To use 100dpi fonts, you need to add an entry for 100dpi fonts to /etc/X11/ xorg.conffile. After you make that change, you need to restart the X server for itto take effect. TipTip08_

96Part ILinux First StepsUsing Virtual DesktopsTo give you more space to run applications than will fit on your physical screen, KDE gives you access to several virtual desktops at the same time. Using the 1, 2, 3, and 4 buttons on the panel, you can easily move between the different desktops. Just click the one you want. If you want to move an application from one desktop to another, you can do so fromthe window menu. Click the window menu button for the window you want tomove, click To Desktop, and then select Desktop 1, 2, 3, or 4. The window willdisappear from the current desktop and move to the one you selected. Configuring the DesktopIf you want to change the look, feel, or behavior of your KDE desktop, the bestplaceto start is the KDE Control Center. The Control Center window (Figure 3-6) lets you configure dozens of attributes associated with colors, fonts, backgrounds, and screen savers. You can also change attributes relating to how you work withwindows and files. To open the KDE Control Center from the desktop, select Settings.Control Centerfrom the K menu or open a Terminal window and type sudo kcontrol. Figure 3-6:Manage your KDE desktop from the KDE Control Center. Click the plus (+) sign next to the topic you want to configure, and then select theparticular item you want to configure. The following sections describe some of thefeatures you can configure from the Control Center.

95Chapter 3Getting into the DesktopUncluttering the DesktopIf your windows are scattered willy-nilly all over the desktop, here are a couple ofways you can make your desktop s appearance a little neater: .Unclutter windows Right-click the desktop, and then click Windows. Unclutter Windows on the menu. All windows that are currently displayed onthe desktop are lined up along the left side of the screen (or aligned withother windows), from the top down. .Cascade windows Right-click the desktop, and then click Windows. Cascade windows on the menu. The windows are aligned as they are with theUnclutter selection, except that the windows are each indented starting fromthe upper-left corner. Moving WindowsThe easiest way to move a window from one location to another is to place the cur- sor on the window s title bar, hold down the mouse button and drag the window toa new location, and release the mouse button to drop the window. Another way todo it is to click the window menu button (top-left corner of the title bar), selectMove, move the mouse to relocate the window, and then click again to place it. If somehow the window gets stuck in a location where the title bar is off the screen, you can move it back to where you want it by holding down the Alt key and clickingthe left mouse button in the inner window. Then move the window where you wantit and release. Resizing WindowsTo resize a window, grab anywhere on the outer edge of the window border, and thenmove the mouse until the window is the size you want. Grab a corner to resize verti- cally and horizontally at the same time. Grab a side to resize in only one direction. You can also resize a window by clicking the window menu button (top-left cornerof the title bar) and selecting Size. Move the mouse until the window is resized andclick to leave it there. Pinning Windows on Top or BottomYou can set a window to always stay on top of all other windows or always stayunder them. Keeping a window on top can be useful for a small window that youwant to always refer to (such as a clock or a small TV viewing window). To pin awindow on top of the desktop, click in the window title bar. From the menu thatappears, select Advanced.Keep Above Others. Likewise, to keep the window onthe bottom, select Advanced.Keep Below Others.

94Part ILinux First StepsCreating an Image Gallery with KonquerorThere s a neat feature in Konqueror that lets you create a quick image gallery. The featuretakes a directory of images, creates thumbnails for each one, and generates an HTML (Web) page. The HTML page includes a title you choose, all image thumbnails arranged on a page, and links to the larger images. Here s how you do it: 1.Add images you want in your gallery to any folder (for example, /home/jake/images). Make sure they are sized, rotated, and cropped the way you like before beginning. (TryThe Gimp for manipulating your images by typing gimp&from a Terminal.) 2.Open the folder in Konqueror (for example, type /home/knoppix/imagesin theLocation box). 3.Click Tools.Create Image Gallery. The Create Image Gallery window appears. 4.Type a title for the image gallery into the Page Title box. You can also select otherattributes of the gallery, such as the number of rows, information about the imageto appear on the page (name, size, and dimension), the fonts, and the colors to use. 5.Click OK. Konqueror generates the thumbnails and adds them to the thumbs directory. The imagegallery page itself opens and is saved to the images.htmlfile. (Select the Folders button tosave the gallery under a different name. You can also have Konqueror create galleries inrecursive subfolders to a depth you choose.) You can now copy the entire contents of thisdirectory to a Web server and publish your pictures on the Internet. Here s an example of aKonqueror image gallery: