KDE4 desktop

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The KDE4 Desktop

The KDE 4.3 desktop which appears for the first time in MEPIS 8.5 is very different from the KDE 3.5 one with which most users are familiar. This section is designed to acquaint you with its basic features as well as some of the customization possibilities, liberally borrowing material from KDE.org documentation and other online resources such as Wikipedia.

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Plasma

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Basics

<a href="http://userbase.kde.org/Plasma">Plasma</a> provides the desktop interface for KDE 4, including the application launcher (start menu), the desktop and the desktop panel (Kicker). Plasma also provides many standardized services such as artwork, presentation and script management.

Plasma uses a system of applets (any small application that performs one specific task, often within a larger application) are collectively called plasmoids, but range from informative widgets (see below) to mini-applications like calculators and dictionaries. An applet may also contain another applet to become a containment. An important feature of Plasma is that there is no longer a distinction between panels (like the taskbar), desktop icons, and widgets; they are created the same way.

What is commonly referred as "cashew" is the Plasma logo you can find on the default desktop, on the upper right corner, and on the right-hand side of the panel. By clicking on a cashew, you can access configuration options and features. You can also access configuration options and features by right clicking on the desktop.

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Activities

One of the most useful and underused features is the plasma activities. The basic idea is that your desktop space is limited to how many widgets it can hold. Activities allow you to specialize each desktop (AKA "activity") to whatever task you need to accomplish to have a different set of plasmoids/wallpapers/information on multiple "desktops". Not really related to the traditional virtual desktops, but it looks like it at first.

Right-click on the Desktop --> unlock widgets, then left-click on the cashew and choose "zoom out". Now the desktop as you know it shrinks. Now choose "add activity". Now you should see a new blank desktop besides the old one. This can be repeated multiple times. Click on the + (plus sign) on the desktop you wish to use, and that gets you to the chosen activity. Set up your Desktop and when you have finished, do not forget to lock widgets.

What's the advantage? Every activity has its own configuration, which means that you can set a different wallpaper and a different set of icons or plasmoids for each of them, or one for every day of the week if you wish.

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Menus

You have the option of 3 menus:

  • Kickoff: default new style menu
  • Classic menu as used in MEPIS 8
  • Lancelot, an automatic menu

The first two are installed by default, and are toggled by unlocking widgets, then right-clicking the menu icon and selecting the alternative. Lancelot must be installed as a widget; then the Classic Menu can be restored by clicking the grail icon --> Configure Lancelot, select Classic Menu.

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Panel

By default, the panel (Kicker) appears along the bottom of the screen, and takes up much of the width of the screen. It is something of a one-stop shop for (almost!) everything that you might want quick access to. Besides the Menu, where you can start applications, the panel is also capable of running docked applets like the pager, the taskbar or the clock, and extensions, such as child panels.

There are options off the context menu when you left-click the panel's "cashew" on the right end:

  • The arrows on the right will adjust the maximum and minimum sizes of the scoreboard. The left arrow indicates the starting position.
  • Screen Edge allows you to choose the location by dragging.
  • Height determines the height of the dashboard by clicking / dragging. The result is visible in the release of the click.
  • More Settings gives you a sub-menu of more options such as hiding, alignment, etc.

You can also add other panels wherever you like, since they are treated as a widget.

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Widgets

A widget is a basic visual building block of the Plasma desktop (the GUI) which, combined in an application, holds all the data processed by the application as well as the available interactions with this data. Other common names are "applet" or "gadget". Superkaramba Themes, Apple's Dashboard, Google Gadgets, Yahoo Widgets, Vista Sidebar Widgets, Opera Widgets are all examples of other widget systems, some of which Plasma also supports. A certain number of widgets are supplied by default, and others are downloadable from the Add Widget dialogue box.

To add a widget to the desktop, first right-click the desktop and unlock the widgets if they are locked. Then simply right-click anywhere on the desktop add select the widget from the list. Particularly useful widgets include:

  • Quicklaunch: allows up to 6 applications to be available with a single click, nice on the desktop for the most used apps
  • Systen Monitor: various monitors: hard disk, network usage, temperature, etc.

When you are done configuring your widgets (including the panel), don't forget to lock them by right-clicking on the desktop (or the panel, under Panel Options) and selecting that command. This will prevent your widgets from possibly moving around or disappearing.

Additional widget source files can be obtained from KDE-look.org. They are found under plasmoids. Those that are not directly downloadable as binaries from the "Add Widget" dialog, can be downloaded as source files that will need to be compiled. Compiling instructions are included in the compressed file that the source comes in. You do need to have various compiling tools installed. If you get errors during the compiling process the compiling tools required will be listed and are available in the repos.

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System Settings

The KDE control center is called "System Settings," and is the place to go to change any settings that affect the whole of your KDE environment. You can open it using the menu, or in Krunner with its command-line name, system settings.

The System Settings screen is divided into numerous areas, including:

  • Appearance
  • Desktop
  • Network Settings
  • Default Applications
  • Sharing
  • Multimedia
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Krunner

Krunner is tool for searching and launching files and applications. It can also be used for more generic operations such as calculator or unit converter. Press Alt+F2 to start it; it is also included at the top of the Lancelot menu.

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Application launcher

This you probably already knew: type in mepis and see the options you have. Krunner can also launch applications. Start Krunner through the menu or with Alt-F2, and begin to type the name of the application you want to run. Krunner will grow a short list of applications based on the letters you type. You can finish typing the name, or just click the right one from the new short list.

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Calculator

You can use Krunner as an efficient calculator. It's very easy to use too. Just type the expression you want to evaluate such as 
32*12= or =32*12
(You can put the = sign before or after the expression). It is possible to evaluate more sophisticated expressions such as: 
=sqrt(4) + 32 * sin(60)
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Running BASH commands

Krunner doesn't only recognize applications, but it recognizes all binaries throughout your system. You can use this ability to run bash commands such as cp, mv, etc. To do so, start Krunner and type the commands just as you would in Konsole, for example: 

cp ~/Documents/myFile ~/myFile

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Running Internet commands

Enter any URL the page will pop up in your browser. Try web shortcuts, too: 

gg:SomeWord
will bring up Google search results.
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Navigating through options

<p> Say you searched for an item in runner that brought you more than one result. And say you don't want to move your hand to reach the mouse to select the item. How would you go about it? You can use the 'Tab' key on your keyboard to navigate through the results! Then just press Enter to select/run the item!

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Task-oriented searches

Start Krunner and click on the wrench symbol --> User Interface tab, select Task Orientated --> OK. This changes Krunner into QuickSand, an alternative front end. Just start typing to initiate a search. QuickSand represents matches to a query as a scrolling line of icons. A completion box of matches is also shown when the matches first arrive. The list can be scrolled using the up and down arrow keys when the completion box is shown or the left and right arrow keys.

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File management

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Basics

<a href="http://dolphin.kde.org/">Dolphin</a> is the default file manager in KDE 4. Dolphin includes several unique usability enhancements that aren't available in Konqueror. By focusing exclusively on file management, Dolphin avoids many of the pitfalls inherent in Konqueror's approach, such as a more flexible sidebar system and a less-invasive notification system that doesn't interrupt user work flow.

For directories containing lots of images, press the preview button in Dolphin's toolbar and get previews of the files located in the current directory. To quickly move between directories, click on the breadcrumbs located right above the fileview. Clicking on the arrow next to one of the breadcrumbs lets you move swiftly to different subdirectories. To quickly move between directories, directly above the fileview, click on a directory name. Clicking on the arrow next to one of the directory names lets you move swiftly to different subdirectories. For a side-by-side view that makes copying files between directories easy, hit the "Split View" button. While Dolphin remembers settings for a specific directory, you can also set the defaults to your personal taste via the "Settings" | "Configure Dolphin" menu. On the left-hand side, Dolphin's sidebar provides quick access to your most often used locations, called "Places". Just drag a folder to the sidebar and be able to quickly access it, from not only Dolphin itself, but also from the KickOff Places tab and from the "File Open" dialog of all your applications.

Konqueror can still be used as file manager (as can other alternatives such as the speedy pcmanfm, for that matter) and in fact it shares the fileview functionality with Dolphin.

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Bookmarks

Dolphin features <a href="http://userbase.kde.org/Tutorials/File_Management#Three_kinds_of_bookmark">a bookmark system</a> built around file management rather than web browsing. First, there is the set of bookmarks available only to Konqueror - web bookmarks - familiar from KDE 3.5. These are stored in ~/.kde/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml. Then there is a set which Dolphin calls 'Places'. This set is available to all applications as well as the Dolphin file manager. Every time you use File --> Open you will see this set. The third set of bookmarks are Application Bookmarks. These share one file, regardless of the application that set them, and are available to all applications, unless you restrain them to a specific application.

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Customization

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Desktop Effects

If you have the necessary video driver installed (for your particular graphic hardware), then the Desktop effects will be enabled (a few basic ones).

For example, the 'snowflakes' one should work by default (if you've met the video-driver requirement). [In contrast, though, the 'Desktop Cube' will probably NOT work, after you select/enable it, UNTIL you do some other things. At a minimum, to get the 'cube' to work, you'll need to: (1) have FOUR virtual-desktops defined (so that you get a 4-sided cube). You`ll also want to: (2) enable 'keyboard mapping', and (3) map the META-key (as described in `setup` below).]

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Setup

First set up the Meta Key: system Settings > Regional & Language > Keyboard Layout --> Advanced > Alt/Win-key behavior here you have a choice, check Meta is mapped to the left Win-key or Meta is mapped to the Win-keys. Apply.

Then enable the effects: System Settings --> Desktop --> All Effects tab. Check the following: Mouse Mark, Wobbly Windows , Snow, Desktop Cube. (Once Desktop Cube is enabled, click on the tool icon and set up the cube by selecting Always Enabled in the box for Switch desktop on edge. Here you can also switch background wallpaper if you like.) Click Apply or OK to close System Settings. Log out or reboot for these changes to take effect.

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Use

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Snow on the desktop

Ctrl + Meta (Win-key) + F12 to stop or repeat the action

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Write on the Desktop

Shift + Meta, move the mouse to write, To delete :- Shift + Meta + F11 To delete last action :- Shift + Meta + F12

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Desktop Cube

Ctrl-F11 toggle: (and/or) move cursor to left edge of screen: To spin, hold down the left-mouse-button and drag mouse; to quit, press right-mouse-button.

Switching among virtual-desktops should now result in you seeing 'cube rotation'. Remember that 'switching among virtual-desktops' has its own separate activation-binding, which is a different operation from spin/manual cube-rotation/inspection. You might not even have a scroll-wheel so, of course, these various bindings are changeable/configurable.</p <p>(NOTE: To use the scroll-wheel for desktop-switching, you MUST have mouse-cursor over an open-area of the desktop, otherwise the mouse-focus will send the scroll-event to the specific window's application, which won't allow it to go to the desktop-switcher.)

Cube end-caps: It is quite easy to change the image that appears on the two end-caps of the cube to a custom-image of your own choosing. Simply replace the system-file: 

/usr/share/kde4/apps/kwin/cubecap.png

with a .png image of your own. It's a good idea to first copy the existing cubecap.png to 'cubecap.orig.png' in that same directory, so that you could restore it later, if desired. HINT: To convert an image of another filetype into a .png file, you can simply use a file-manager (such as Dolphin) to open your favorite image of another type, and then do 'save as...' and choose 'png' as the new type, and it should auto-magically get converted into a .png.

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Wallpaper
<p>To change wallpaper, right-click the desktop and select Desktop Settings.

For the weather wallpaper, right click on the desktop > Desktop Settings > Wallpaper Type change to Weather Change, from the dialog that comes up type in your City/Town amd change the Provider to suit using the Search button, Then Apply, and the desktop will now reflect your local weather.

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Dolphin

Dolphin is a fantastic file manager once you get to know it. However, many features Dolphin has are either not well known, or not apparent to newer users. Here are a some tweaks you can do yourself to make your Dolphin experience more productive.

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Show the full title path

Many users find this invaluable - especially for copying/pasting. Toggle this by:

  • View > Navigation Bar > Editable Location, or by the short-cut <CTRL>+<L>
  • and if you > Settings > Configure Dolphin, in the StartUp tab - you can have it always open with full editable path - by checking the two tick boxes.

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Customize the main tool bar

Change the toolbar to add the up arrow (up a directory), one of the handiest buttons on the toolbar - and necessary after you enable full editable paths (above).

  • Settings > Configure toolbars ....
    Choose Main toolbar, and add the up arrow from the left panel to the right panel. Place it so it is between the existing previous and next buttons. Make any other changes you'd also prefer.
  • Note that you can also get to the toolbar customization menu by right clicking in the toolbar area. You can also change icon size, orientation and a plethora of other options.

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Customize the bottom (status) bar

From the menu ... Settings > Configure Dolphin >

  • Under Startup - check the "Show Fiter Bar" box - this allows easy location of files in large directories.
  • Under General - Status Bar tab - check "zoom slider" and "show space information" boxes.
    The zoom slider allows you to easily resize your icon sizing for visibility
    The space info shows available space remaining in the current partition.
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Working with the left hand panel.

By default this is set to Places - and it's the one you'll likely use most often.

  • You can toggle the Places panel on and off with F9. You can also add another handy panel (folder view) by hitting the F7 key. For easier visibility and switching, enable both - and then drag one on top of the other. They should then both become full length and be available with two bottom tabs for easy switching.
  • To organise the Places file - just drag and drop the icon files for your drives / places etc to the order you prefer them to appear.
  • Add shortcuts to your most used directories. Simply right click the panel, choose "add entry" and choose a description, a location and an icon. Or - navigate to a directory you want to add. Right click in the main pane - and choose "add to places".
  • Icons can also be changed for folders (not drives) by right clicking and choosing "edit ...". For example - you can change both home folder and root folder icons to make them more visible.
  • The biggest plus with the left Places panel is that you can mount a drive (in Mepis) by clicking on it. To unmount, right click the drive and choose "unmount".
  • If you have icons in the left panel that you don't use, right click and hide them. To get them back, right click an empty section of the panel, choose 'show all entries'. Then right click the entry you hid and untick "hide".
  • To name your drives in the left panel (let's face it "Volume (ext3)" is not exactly clever!) - the best method is to label your partitions. Fire up a livecd. Run gparted. Label each partition. When you boot back into your install and run Dolphin, the labels appear instead of the generic names. This makes navigation a lot easier.

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Working with the middle (main) panel

  • You can toggle a split mode (two panes like krusader) with the F3 key. You can also add the split panes button to your main toolbar if not there by default. This makes it really easy for dragging and dropping.
  • There are 3 buttons on the main toolbar - for default viewing as icons, details and columns. The columns is good for showing a hierarchal tree system ie drive, folder, files. The icon or detail view are the most commonly used.
  • There is also a button on the main toolbar "preview." which you can leave enabled for most of the time. This allows you to preview files - but will also show which folders have pictures in them.
  • To change default alignment, grid spacing, fonts in any of the three views (icon, detail or column) go to Settings > Configure Dolphin > View Modes.
  • To change any default icon, right click on the icon you wish to change --> Properties --> General --> click on the icon, take your pick or click on Places and select a category from the list, click on the icon you want to use OK.

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Right panel - information panel

The information panel can be toggled on or off by using F11. If you do have it on, and want a use for it (if you don't label your partitions etc), you can use the Comment or Tag links to input a description so that when you click a drive on the left, the name (or a description) comes up in the info panel.

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Useful links

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Textual links

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Visual links

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