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Chapter 3 . Getting into the Desktop 87 desktop. Konqueror also supports WebDAV, which can be configured to allow local read and write access to remote folders (which is a great tool if you are maintaining a Web server). . Web browser interface The Konqueror interface works like Mozilla, Internet Explorer, or other Web browsers in the way you select files, directories, and Web content. Because Konqueror is based on a browser model, a single click opens a file, a link to a network resource, or an application program. You can also open content by typing Web-style addresses in the Location box. The rendering engine used by Konqueror, called KHTML, is also used by Safari (the popular Web browser for Apple Mac OS X systems). Web pages that contain Java and JavaScript content run by default in Konqueror. To check that Java and JavaScript support are turned on, choose Settings. Configure Konqueror. From the Settings window, click Java & JavaScript and select the Java tab. To enable Java, click the Enable Java Globally box and click Apply. Repeat for the JavaScript tab. . File types and MIME types If you want a particular type of file to always be launched by a particular application, you can configure that file yourself. KDE already has dozens of MIME types defined so that particular file and data types can be automatically detected and opened in the correct application. There are MIME types defined for audio, image, text, video, and a variety of other content. Of course, you can also perform many standard file manager functions with Konqueror. For example, you can manipulate files by using features such as select, move, cut, paste, and delete; search directories for files; create new items (files, folders, and links, to name a few); view histories of the files and Web sites you have opened; and create bookmarks. Figure 3-4: Konqueror provides a network-ready tool for managing files. Tip
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86 Part I . Linux First Steps Table 3-2 (continued) Key Combination Result Directions Ctrl+Alt+Esc Close another window To close an open window on the desktop, press Ctrl+Alt+Esc. When a skull and crossbones appear as the pointer, move the pointer over the window you want to close and click the left mouse button. (This is a good technique for killing a window that has no borders or menu.) Ctrl+F1, F2, F3, Switch virtual desktops Go directly to a particular or F4 key virtual desktop by pressing and holding the Ctrl key and pressing one of the following: F1, F2, F3, or F4. These actions take you directly to desktops one, two, three, and four, respectively. You could do this for up to eight desktops, if you have that many configured. Alt+F3 Open window operation To open the operations menu for the menu active window, press Alt+F3. When the menu appears, move the arrow keys to select an action (Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, and so on), and then press Enter to select it. Managing Files with the Konqueror File Manager The Konqueror file manager helps elevate the KDE environment from just another X window manager to an integrated desktop that competes with GUIs from Apple Computing or Microsoft. The features in Konqueror rival those offered by those user-friendly desktop systems. Figure 3-4 shows an example of the Konqueror file manager window in Fedora Core. Konqueror s greatest strengths over earlier file managers include the following: . Network desktop If your computer is connected to the Internet or a LAN, features built into Konqueror enable you to create links to files (using FTP) and Web pages (using HTTP) on the network and open them in the Konqueror window. Those links can appear as file icons in a Konqueror window or on the
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Chapter 3 . Getting into the Desktop 85 Pointer Position Mouse Button Result On the desktop area Left (hold and drag) Selects a group of icons On the desktop area Right Opens system pop-up menu Click a desktop icon to open it. Double-clicking a window title bar results in a window- shade action, where the window scrolls up and down into the title bar. If you don t happen to have a mouse or you just like to keep your hands on the keyboard, there are several keystroke sequences you can use to navigate the desktop. Table 3-2 shows some examples. Table 3-2 Keystrokes Key Combination Result Directions Ctrl+Tab Step through the virtual To go from one virtual desktop to the desktops next, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Tab key until you see the desktop that you want to make current. Then release the Ctrl key to select that desktop. Alt+Tab Step through windows To step through each of the windows that are running on the current desktop, hold down the Alt key and press the Tab key until you see the one you want. Then release the Alt key to select it. Alt+F2 Open Run Command box To open a box on the desktop that lets you type in a command and run it, hold the Alt key and press F2. Next, type the command in the box and press Enter to run it. You can also type a URL into this box to view a Web page. Alt+F4 Close current window To close the current window, press Alt+F4. Continued
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84 Part I . Linux First Steps . Konqueror file manager Konqueror is the file manager window used with KDE desktops. It can be used not only to manage files but also to display Web pages. Konqueror is described in detail later in this chapter. . Desktop menu Right-click the desktop to see a menu of common tasks. The menu provides a quick way to access your bookmarks; create new folders, files, or devices (with devices, you re actually choosing to mount a device on a particular part of the file system); straighten up your windows or icons; configure the desktop; and log out of your KDE session. To navigate the KDE desktop, you can use the mouse or key combinations. The responses from the desktop to your mouse depend on which button you click and where the mouse pointer is located. Table 3-1 shows the results of clicking each mouse button with the mouse pointer placed in different locations. (You can change any of these behaviors from the Windows Behavior panel on the KDE Control Center. From the KDE menu, select Control Center, and then choose the Window Behavior selection under the Desktop heading.) Table 3-1 Single-Click Mouse Actions Pointer Position Mouse Button Result Window title bar or frame Left Raises current window (current window active) Window title bar or frame Middle Lowers current window (current window active) Window title bar or frame Right Opens operations menu (current window active) Window title bar or frame Left Activates current window (current window not active) and raises it to the top Window title bar or frame Middle Activates current window (current window not active) and lowers it Window title bar or frame Right Opens operations menu (current window not active) without changing position Inner window Left Activates current window, (current window not active) raises it to the top, and passes the click to the window Inner window Middle or Right Activates current window and (current window not active) passes the click to the window Any part of a window Middle (plus hold Alt key) Toggles between raising and lowering the window Any part of a window Right (plus hold Alt key) Resizes the window
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Chapter 3 . Getting into the Desktop 83 Figure 3-3: The KDE desktop includes a panel, desktop icons, and menus. Some of the key elements of the KDE desktop include: . Panel The KDE panel (shown along the bottom of the screen) includes items that enable you to launch applications and to see minimized representations of active windows, applets, and virtual desktops. A K icon on the left side of the panel is used to represent the main menu on a KDE desktop. In KNOPPIX, that icon is followed by a KNOPPIX-specific menu (it looks like a squished penguin) and other icons to launch common applications (the file manager, Terminal window, Web browser, and office applications). Four virtual desktops (shown in little boxes numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4) are available by clicking on the number of the virtual desktop you want to display. Applets (on the right side of the panel) in KNOPPIX let you change your keyboard, set screen resolution, adjust audio controls, and view the time. . Desktop icons The icons on the desktop are usually, by default, those that enable you to access removable media (CD, floppy disk, and so on), and throw out files (trash icon). In KNOPPIX, the KDE desktop also has a nice feature that lets you access your hard disk partitions directly from icons on the desktop.
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82 Part I . Linux First Steps K Desktop Environment The KDE was created to bring a high-quality desktop environment to UNIX (and now Linux) workstations. Integrated within KDE are tools for managing files, windows, multiple desktops, and applications. If you can work a mouse, you can learn to navigate the KDE desktop. The lack of an integrated, standardized desktop environment once held back Linux and other UNIX systems from acceptance on the desktop. While individual applications ran well, you mostly could not drag-and-drop files or other items between applications. Likewise, you couldn t open a file and expect the machine to launch the correct application to deal with it or save your windows from one login session to the next. With KDE, you can do all those things and much more. For example, you can: . Drag-and-drop a document from a folder window (Konqueror) to the Trash icon (to get rid of it) or on an OpenOffice.org Writer icon (to open it for editing). . Right-click an image file (JPEG, PNG, and so on), and the OpenWith menu lets you choose to open the file using an image viewer (KView), editor (The GIMP), slide show viewer (KuickShow), or other application. To make more applications available to you in the future, KDE provides a platform for developers to create programs that easily share information and detect how to deal with different data types. The things you can do with KDE grow every day. KDE is the default desktop environment for SUSE, KNOPPIX, and several other Linux systems. It is available with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora Core but is not installed by default when they are installed as desktop systems (you need to do an Everything install or to select to add KDE specifically in those cases). The following section describes how to get started with KDE. This includes using the KDE Setup Wizard, maneuvering around the desktop, managing files, and adding application launchers. In this chapter, KNOPPIX is the reference model for the KDE descriptions. Because KDE is very configurable, there may be some differences in these descriptions for KDE in other Linux systems. Using the KDE Desktop KDE, as it s delivered with KNOPPIX, uses a lot of the design elements that come from the KDE project, so it s pretty easy to distinguish from other desktop environments. The look-and-feel has similarities to both Windows and Macintosh systems. Figure 3-3 shows an example of the KDE desktop in KNOPPIX. Note
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Chapter 3 . Getting into the Desktop 81 . GNOME login manager The GNOME display manager (gdm) comes with a Login Screen Setup utility (from the desktop run the gdmconfig command as root user). From the Login Screen Setup window, you can select the Graphical Greeter tab and choose a whole different theme for the login manager. On the Security tab, you may notice that all TCP connections to the X server are disallowed. Don t change this selection, because no processes other than those handled directly by your display manager should be allowed to connect to the login screen. After your login and password have been accepted, the desktop environment configured for your user account starts up. Users can modify their desktop environments to suit their tastes (even to the point of changing the entire desktop environment used). Boot to a Text Prompt Instead of a nice graphical screen with pictures and colors, you might see a login prompt that looks like this: Welcome to XYZ Linux yourcomputer login: This is the way all UNIX and older Linux systems used to appear on the screen when they booted up. Now this is the login prompt that is typical for a system that is installed as a server or, for some reason, was configured not to start an X display manager for you to log in. Run level 3 boots to a plain-text login prompt in multiuser mode. Just because you have a text prompt doesn t necessarily mean you can start a desktop environment. Many Linux experts boot to a text prompt because they want to use the GUI only occasionally. However, if X and the necessary other desktop components are installed on your computer, you can typically start the desktop after you log in by typing the following command: $ startx The default desktop environment starts up, and you should be ready to go. What you do next depends on whether you have a KDE, GNOME, or some sort of homespun desktop environment. In most cases, the GUI configuration you set up during installation for your video card and monitor gets you to a working desktop environment. If, for some reason, the screen is unusable when you start the desktop, you need to do some additional configuration. The Configuring Your Own Desktop section later in this chapter describes some tools you can use to get your desktop working.
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80 Part I . Linux First Steps . Language Linux systems that are configured to start multiple languages may give you the opportunity to choose a language (other than the default language) to boot into. For this to work, however, you must have installed support for the language you choose. . Reboot or Shutdown There s no need to log in if all you want to do is turn off or restart your computer. Most graphical login screens offer you the option of rebooting or shutting down the machine from that screen. Figure 3-2: The Fedora Project login screen is based on gdm. If you don t like the way the graphical login screen looks, or just want to assert greater control over how it works, there are many ways to configure and secure X graphical login screens. Later, after you are logged in, you can use the following tools (as root user) to configure the login screen: .KDE login manager From the KDE control center, you can modify your KDE display manager using the Login Manager screen (from KDE control center, select System Administration.Login Manager). You can change logos, backgrounds, color schemes, and other features related to the look-and-feel of the login screen.
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Chapter 3 . Getting into the Desktop 79 So chances are that you will see the login screen associated with KDE or GNOME (depending on which is the default on your Linux system). When Linux starts up, it enters into what is referred to as a run level or system state. Typically, a system set to start at run level 5 boots to a graphical login prompt. A system set to run level 3 boots to a text prompt. The run level is set by the initdefault line in the /etc/inittab file. Change the number on the initdefault line as you please between 3 and 5 (don t use other number unless you know what you are doing, and never use 0 or 6). Because graphical login screens are designed to be configurable, you often find that the distribution has its own logo or other graphical elements on the login screen. For example, Figure 3-1 shows a basic graphical login panel displayed by the kdm graphical display manager. Figure 3-1: A simple KDE display manager (kdm) login screen includes a clock, login name list, and a few menu selections. With Red Hat s Fedora Core Linux, the default login screen is based on the GNOME display manager (gdm). Figure 3-2 shows the Fedora Core graphical login screen. You can just enter your login (username) and password to start up your personal desktop environment. Your selected desktop environment KDE or GNOME comes up ready for you to use. Although the system defines a desktop environment by default, you can typically change desktop environments on those Linux systems, such as Fedora, that offer both KDE and GNOME. X display managers can enable you to do a lot more than just get to your desktop. Although different graphical login screens offer different options, here are some you may encounter: . Session Look for a Session button on the login screen (such as the one that comes with Fedora). From there, you can choose to start your login session with a GNOME, KDE, or Failsafe environment. (Failsafe simply opens a Terminal window so, presumably, you can make a quick fix to the system without starting up a whole desktop environment.) Note
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78 Part I . Linux First Steps . GNOME desktop environment (www.gnome.org) GNOME is a more streamlined desktop environment. It includes a smaller feature set than KDE and runs faster in many lower-memory systems. Some think of GNOME as a more business-oriented desktop. It s the default desktop for Red Hat Linux systems such as Fedora and RHEL. The KDE Desktop is based on the Qt 3 graphical toolkit. GNOME is based on GTK+ 2. Although graphical applications are usually written to either QT 3 or GTK+ 2, by installing both desktops you will have the libraries needed to run applications written for both toolkits from either environment. . X and a window manager (X.org or XFree86.org + WM) You don t need a full-blown desktop environment to operate Linux from a GUI. The most basic, reasonable way of using Linux is to simply start the X Window System server and a window manager of your choice (there are dozens to choose from). Many advanced users go this route because it can offer more flexibility in how they set up their desktops. The truth is that most X applications run in any of the desktop environments just described (provided that proper libraries are included with your Linux distribution as noted earlier). So you can choose a Linux desktop based on the performance, customization tools, and controls that best suit you. Each of those three types of desktop environments is described in this chapter. Starting the Desktop Because the way that you start a desktop in Linux is completely configurable, different distributions offer different ways of starting up the desktop. Once your Linux distribution is installed, it may just boot to the desktop, offer a graphical login, or offer a text-based login. Bootable Linux systems (which don t have to be installed at all) typically just boot to the desktop. Boot to the Desktop Some bootable Linux systems boot right to a desktop without requiring you to log in so you can immediately start working with Linux. KNOPPIX is an example of a distribution that boots straight to a Linux desktop from a CD. That desktop system usually runs as a particular username (such as knoppix, in the case of the KNOPPIX distribution). To perform system administration, you have to switch to the administrator s account temporarily (using the su or sudo command). Boot to Graphical Login Most desktop Linux systems that are installed on your hard disk boot up to a graphical login screen. Although the X display manager (xdm) is the basic display manager that comes with the X Window System, KDE and GNOME each have their own graphical display managers that are used as login screens (kdm and gdm, respectively). Note
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