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116Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet Table 6-3 (continued) Menu ChoiceWhat You FindAbout PanelsA dialog box with some basic Panel informationAbout GNOMEA dialog box with some basic GNOME informationThe Add To Panel menu optionThe Add To Panel dialog box (see Figure 6-4) is accessible from the Panel menu(see the previous section). This dialog box contains a list of applets small, specialized programs you can use to add particular functionality to a panel. To add one of these applets to your panel, open the dialog box, select theapplet you want to use, and then click Add. The applet now appears on yourpanel. If you right-click the applet and choose Move, you can then slide theapplet along your panel until you have it where you want it and then click torelease it. Playing with desktop iconsYour initial desktop icons form a vertical line along the top left of your screen(refer to Figure 6-1). In order from top to bottom: Figure 6-4: The GNOMEAdd ToBottomPanel dialog box.

Want to move a program from one workplace window to another? Click thelittle arrow in the program s upper right corner and select one of the follow- ing options: Put On All Workspaces:Makes the window show up on all four. Move To Workspace Right:Slides the window horizontally to the right, into the next door workspace. Move To Another Workspace:Gives you the option of specifyingWorkspace 1 (far left), 2 (second in from the left), 3 (third in from the left), or 4 (far right). You can see which workspace an open window is in at a glance by looking atthe Workspace Switcher and spotting the little windows that match how yourdesktop is laid out. The Panel menuIt s time to take a look at how to change the look and feel of your panels. Youcan customize your upper and lower panels individually through the Panelmenu, which you open by finding free space on the panel you want to workwith and then right-clicking to pull up the Panel s context menu. For a list ofwhat this menu s items offer, see Table 6-3. If you have so many programs open that you re using the whole width of thetask box section, you may not have any free space to right-click in. You mayneed to close an application or two to open up space. Table 6-3GNOME Panel Menu ContentsMenu ChoiceWhat You FindAdd To PanelThe applets, menus, and other objects you can addto your main panel Delete This PanelThe capability to delete a secondary panel but not the main icon panelPropertiesThe options for setting this panel s behaviorNew PanelThe options for creating new panels that sit on different parts of the screenHelpThe Help browser for GNOME(continued) 115Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_

114Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet Firefox:The Worldplanet-with-a-mouse pointer icon opens the FirefoxWeb browser. See Chapter 9 for more. Evolution:Just to the right of the Web browser button; launches ane-mail and calendar program. See Chapter 9 for more. OpenOffice.org Writer:Resembles two pieces of paper (and a pen) andopens the OpenOffice.org Writer word-processing program. See Chapter17 for more. OpenOffice.org Impress:Opens the OpenOffice.org Impress presenta- tion creation program. See Chapter 17 for more. OpenOffice.org Calc:Opens the OpenOffice.org spreadsheet program. See Chapter 17 for more. Then you see a large blank space where you can add new icons. After theblank space, you find, from left to right: Updater applet: This icon alerts you to available updates for yoursystem. (See Chapter 12 for more information.) Date and Time applet: Here you can see the day and time. Master Volume Control applet:Click this to open the master volumecontrol. Now for the bottom panel. From left to right, you find on this panel: Hide/Restore Desktop Applications:This button lets you minimize all ofyour running programs immediately and then re-open them again withjust one click. Taskbar:In this large space, you find entries for each program runningon your desktop. You can change a program s status by using the boxesas indicated: If a program is minimized, you can open its window by clicking itspanel task box. If a program is maximized but buried under another program, clickits task box on the panel to bring this program to the front. If a program is maximized and on top, you can minimize it by click- ing its panel task box. Workspace Switcher:Allows you to work in four different desktop envi- ronments during a single login session. Each desktop environment hasthe same menus, panels, and background, but you can run different pro- grams in each of the environments. It s an easy way to remain organizedwhile you re working in multiple programs. Try it out. It s like having fourmonitors in one!

there without trouble. Don t think of this feature as something that completelysecures your computer! Your best bet if you re walking away is to check allthe virtual terminals and make sure that you re not logged into any of them. Then you can either log out of your GUI or just use the Lock Screen option. The Log Out toolAfter you choose the Log Out option on the main menu, the screen darkensand the Are You Sure You Want To Log Out? dialog box opens. To use thisdialog box, follow these steps: 1.If you want GNOME to remember which items you have open andreturn you to its current state after you log back in, make sure thatyou select the Save Current Setup check box. This feature doesn t work with all programs, just some (mostly the onesthat are actually part of GNOME). 2.Click Log Out, Shut Down, or Restart The Computer to set the appro- priate action into motion or click Cancel if you don t want to do any of them. These options do the following: Log Out: Closes GNOME and returns to a login prompt. Shut Down: Shuts the machine down and then off. Restart The Computer: Shuts down the machine and then brings itback up. 3.Click OK to go through with your choice or Cancel if you change yourmind. The PanelsAlong the top and bottom of your GNOME desktop lives a pair of panels. Since these bars are neatly divided into sections, take a look at what s in eachsection from left to right, starting with the top panel. On the far left side ofthe top panel is the Applications button discussed earlier in the section Themenus. To its right is the Actions button, also discussed in the same section. As you continue your journey to the right, you run into the standard set ofFedora tools (refer to Figure 6-1). You can reach all these items through themain menu, but they re placed on the Panel so that you can find them quicklyand easily: 113Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_

3.If the file is in your user home directory, navigate down to it. If thefile is elsewhere on your system, double-click the Filesystem buttonand navigate to it. 4.After you have the file selected, click OK. This action returns you to the main dialog box. 5.Click the Run button to run the program. The Lock Screen toolIf you have your screensaver turned on (from the main menu, choosePreferences.Screensaver to change this setting) and choose the Lock Screenoption from the main menu, your screen fades to black, or your screen saverappears. Then, if anyone moves the mouse or uses your keyboard, a dialogbox appears with your login name in it and a password field. You can get backto work by entering your password. Until then, you re safe in knowing that noone else can mosey up to your computer and send off a joke e-mail to yourboss while pretending to be you. Note that if you re logged in as the root user, the Lock Screen option doesn t work. I m referring to just the GUI here, not the whole machine. Folks who knowhow to sidestep out of GNOME (something I discuss in Chapters 14 and 20) can start a virtual terminal session and do whatever they want. If you leftyourself logged into one of the virtual terminals, they can then do somethingFigure 6-3: The GNOMEChoose AFile ToAppend ToThisCommanddialog box. 112Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet

Menu ChoiceWhat You FindLock ScreenThe capability to set your machine so that no one can use your GNOME login without enter- ing your password. This feature is a good one if you need to walk away from the computer for a while (but don t want to log out of your account) and other people are around. Log OutThe capability to exit the GNOME session, shut down, or reboot the computer if you know the password of the root account. The Run Application toolAfter you choose the Run Application tool on the main menu, the Run Appli- cation dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 6-2. You can make this dialogbox friendlier by clicking the Show List Of Known Applications arrow at thebottom of the dialog box, which gives you a point-and-click way to choose. To run a program using this dialog box: 1.Either select the application from the Known Applications list or typeits full path by hand. For example, you might type /usr/bin/gimp. 2.If you want this program to operate on a particular file, click the RunWith File button. Otherwise, skip to Step 5. The Choose A File To Append To This Command dialog box appears (seeFigure 6-3). Figure 6-2: The GNOME RunApplicationdialog boxwith ShowList OfKnownApplicationsselected. 111Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_

110Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet Table 6-1 (continued) Menu ChoiceWhat You FindGraphicsA variety of graphics programs, including The GIMP. InternetA few Internet tools, such as Evolution (e-mail and calen- dar program), Gaim (instant messenger), and Mozilla (Web browser). OfficeThe OpenOffice.org suite of applications (word-processing, drawing, and more). PreferencesAccess to programs to control the look and feel of the GNOME and Linux graphical interface. Sound & VideoPrograms, such as a CD player and sound recorder, for working with your computer s multimedia hardware. System SettingsMany tools for working with your computer s hardware, such as display settings and packages to view and con- figure the software packages installed on your system. System ToolsMany tools for managing, monitoring, and updating your system, such as the Internet Configuration Wizard, Red Hat Network, and a System Logs viewer. File BrowserThe Nautilus file manager, defaulting to your home folder s contents. HelpThe Help Browser, for exploring the electronic documen- tation included in the Linux distribution. Network ServersThe Nautilus file manager, defaulting to your network for file browsing for example, your Windows network. Table 6-2Fedora Actions Menu Contents, Listed in the Order That They AppearMenu ChoiceWhat You FindRun ApplicationThe dialog box you can use to run a specific program without opening a virtual terminal. Search for FilesThe Search Tool window, for locating files in thefile system. Recent DocumentsA selection of the last files you opened from thefile manager. Take ScreenshotCapture a PNG format image of your desktop.

The menusThere are two primary menus in GNOME and Fedora Core 3. One of these isaccessible through the Applications button on the upper panel, and the otheris available by clicking Actions next to it. The Applications menu contains theoptions shown in Table 6-1, and the Actions menu s contents are shown inTable 6-2. Menu items that have an arrow on their right offer submenus, which you canopen by holding your mouse on that menu choice. Often, the submenus havetheir own submenus within that offer even more programs. Table 6-1Fedora Applications Menu Contents, Listed in the Order That They AppearMenu ChoiceWhat You FindAccessoriesSmall, specific-function GNOME and X programs. Contains a calculator, character map, dictionary, file roller, Pilot/Handspring tool, and text editor. GamesA collection of games. (continued) Figure 6-1: The defaultGNOMEdesktop in FedoraCore 3.109Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_

108Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet so you just add a cto make less grocand press Tab again to finish theautocompletion. This technique can save you a ton of typing, especially withreally long filenames! Most Linux distributions also keep a running historyof the most recentlyused commands. To use this list, press the up-arrow key on your keyboard. This action pulls up the last command you typed. As you continue to pressthe up-arrow key, you step through the most recently entered commandsfrom the most to least recent. If you accidentally pass what you re looking for, use the down-arrow key to go back. When the command you want appearsat the command prompt, press Enter to execute the command, or edit it andthen press Enter. In Chapter 14, I cover the command-line environment in more detail. When you installed Linux, you added a graphical login by default. (This addi- tion is true for all the versions discussed in this book.) Some versions of Linuxgive you the option of choosing a graphical or command-line login, which cancause a lot of confusion for folks who accidentally choose the command-lineoption. If you did so (or think you did) and find yourself lost after the machineboots up, see Chapter 19. GNOME BasicsGNOME stands for the GNU Network Object Model Environment not thatthis expansion tells you much! Suffice it to say that GNOME is a full graphicalenvironment. I focus here on Fedora since it is the only distribution I m cov- ering that uses GNOME by default. Figure 6-1 shows you what you see onceyou log into the system and the GUI finishes launching. To find out more about GNOME, visit the main GNOME site, at www.gnome.org. Keep in mind that the programs you have depend on the type of installationyou chose and what customizations you made; if what you have is differentfrom what you see in descriptions or the figures, don t panic! The GNOME desktop environment is essentially broken into four separateparts: The menus The menu and icon panel at the top of the screen The desktop panel on the bottom of the screen The icons on your desktop10_

Most distributions come with both KDE and GNOME, so most users simplychoose their preferred desktop. While it may look from here as though KDE isparticularly popular compared to GNOME, this isn t necessarily the case. Both are excellent desktops with strong fan bases. It s a pretty personal pref- erence, so I encourage you to install and experiment with both and to seewhich you like better. The cool thing is that you can run most KDE programsunder GNOME and vice versa. This ability is vital when it comes to making iteasier on developers (and users) in the Linux community. When you askpeople why they chose one over another, often they really can t give youmuch of a good answer aside from That s what I ve always used. Keep thisin mind when people try to convince you that one or the other is the bestthing since sliced bread! I cover how to switch between KDE and GNOME later in this chapter in thesection Switching between GNOME and KDE. Making the Best of the Command LineThe Linux command-line interface provides a quick and easy way of enteringcommands and executing actions. Even if you re mostly a GUI person, afteryou get the hang of using the command line, you discover that it s faster toperform some tasks at the command line than with a mouse in the GUI envi- ronment. However, if you prefer to use a GUI interface as your working environment, you can easily open a terminal window,which is a command- prompt window, to perform your command-driven tasks without having tocompletely leave the point-and-click environment (see Chapter 14). There are some interesting things that you might find useful to know aboutusing the command-line interface. One difference between the Linux com- mand line and other interface command lines, such as the Windows MS-DOSprompt, is that Linux commands are case sensitive. Typing LSis completelydifferent from typing ls, and, in fact, gives you an error because there is anlscommand but there is no LScommand. The Linux command line also hasan autocompletionfeature. If you know the first few characters of a commandor filename, type part of it and press Tab to complete the rest automatically. For example, if you re trying to use the lesscommand to view the contentsof the file /home/bob/grocery_list, you can type less /home/bob/groand press Tab to try and complete the filename. However, if you also have thesubdirectory (folder) /home/bob/group_projects, you hear a beep. Youcan press the Tab key again, like double-clicking a mouse, to see the output: grocery_list group_projectsThe cool thing here is that the command prompt beneath these items stillhas the text less groso that you don t have to retype it! You can then seethat typing a cmakes it clear that you re referring to groceryand not group, 107Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_