82 Part I . Linux (Web site directory) First Steps K
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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