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<!-- #################### THE GNOME DESKTOP - CHAPTER ###################### -->
<chapter id="desk">
<title>The GNOME Desktop</title>
<sect1>
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a27">
<primary>GNOME Desktop</primary>
</indexterm>
The GNOME Desktop provides the functionality of any traditional operating
system desktop. You can drag files, programs and directory folders to the
desktop; you can also drag those items back into GNOME-compliant
applications, allowing you to quickly access any items you select.
</para>
<important>
<title>IMPORTANT</title>
<para>
The GNOME Desktop is actually provided by a backend process in the GNOME
File Manager. If, for any reason, that backend process has stopped running
you may start the Nautilus File Manager again and your desktop will be
restored. Even if you do have to do this you do not need to keep the
Nautilus File Manager window open to enable the desktop.
</para>
</important>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="deskuse">
<title>Using the Desktop</title>
<para>
Using the Desktop is as simple as dragging items you wish to use
routinely to the desktop. The default desktop includes a
folder of your home directory (usually <filename>/home/[user
name]</filename>). By default the Nautilus File Manager window will
also appear so you can quickly access other areas of your system.
</para>
<para>
Once an item is on the desktop you can double-click on it to perform its
default action or right-click on it (click on it using the mouse's right
button) to see a menu of actions that can be performed on it. The default
action depends on the kind of item it is; if it's a program, that program
will start, if it's data, the appropriate program will be started with
that data loaded, and if it's a directory, a file manager window will be
opened showing that directory's contents.
</para>
<para>
To use drag and drop you need to be using either a GNOME compliant
application or a Motif application. GNOME is compliant with Motif drag and
drop so you will find it works with many applications you already have
installed.
</para>
<para>
All items that are stored on your desktop are located in the following
directory:
<programlisting>
<prompt>$</prompt>/home/[user name]/.nautilus/desktop/
</programlisting>
This is helpful to remember when you want your desktop to contain an item
for which you cannot use drag and drop.
</para>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a28">
<primary>GNOME Desktop</primary>
<secondary>Hardware Devices</secondary>
</indexterm>
Once you have started GNOME you can mount CDROM or floppy drives you have
connected to your system by right clicking on the desktop and selecting the
disks menu. This will show an icon on your desktop that you can use to
access these drives.
</para>
<important>
<title>IMPORTANT</title>
<para>
You must have permission to mount the device shown on your desktop before
you can use these icons. If you do not have mount permission someone
with root access such as your system administrator can give it as
follows. You can read more about this and other items of system knowledge
in <xref linkend="newbies">.
</para>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a29">
<primary>Mounting Drives</primary>
</indexterm>
Giving mount access to ordinary users can be done quite easily if you have
<application><emphasis>linuxconf</emphasis></application> installed on
your machine. Just select the drive you want to access in the
<guilabel>Access local drive</guilabel> section. In the
<guilabel>Options</guilabel> tab select the <guilabel>User
Mountable</guilabel> option. Your drive will now be mountable by users.
</para>
<para>
If <application><emphasis>linuxconf</emphasis></application> is not
available someone with root access must edit the
<emphasis>/etc/fstab</emphasis> file to include user access. This is done
by adding the user attribute to the drive. For example:
</para>
<para>
If your fstab file contains a line like this:
<programlisting>
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 exec,dev,ro,noauto 0 0
</programlisting>
Add "user" to the fourth column:
<programlisting>
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 user,exec,dev,ro,noauto 0 0
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
Depending on your system and work environment, there could be some
security risks in permitting users to mount disks. Please consult your
system administrator before taking this action.
</para>
</important>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="deskareas">
<title>Desktop Areas</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a30">
<primary>Desktop Areas</primary>
</indexterm>
<indexterm id="idx-a31">
<primary>Multiple Desktops</primary>
</indexterm>
Desktop areas allow you to keep a well organized system when you have many
tasks to perform at one time. Just like adding a new desk when you have too
much material to fit on one, desktop areas allow you to move to another area
to launch more programs.
</para>
<para>
GNOME is aware of desktop areas even though they are controlled by another
software program called the 'window manager'. You can set the number of
desktop areas within the configuration of the window manager you are
using. If you are using the default window manager or your window manager
has a graphical configuration tool you may be able to launch it from the
Window Manager Capplet. You may read more about this Capplet in <xref
linkend="gccwm">
</para>
<important>
<title>IMPORTANT</title>
<para>
Most window managers will give you the option of having multiple desktops,
which are different from desktop areas. Desktop areas are virtual
extensions of one desktop whereas multiple desktops are actually separate.
</para>
<para>
The default setup of GNOME is to use desktop areas with only one
desktop. The reason for this is with some applications, such as those which
use Motif, users can experience problems with some drag and drop
functionality across desktops.
</para>
</important>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="deskmenus"
<title>Other Desktop Menus</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a32">
<primary>GNOME Desktop</primary>
<secondary>Desktop menus</secondary>
</indexterm>
There are a few desktop menus you may use in GNOME. These menus are accessed
by making a right-button mouse click on any clean space on the desktop. This
will bring up a <guimenu>pop-up</guimenu> menu which contains a few items:
</para>
<ITEMIZEDLIST mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>New Window</guimenuitem> - This launches a new Nautilus
File Manager window displaying your Home directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>New Folder</guimenuitem> - This creates a new folder
on your desktop into which you can place files: a convenient way to clean
up your desktop.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>New Terminal</guimenuitem> - This launches a new GNOME
Terminal window that will automatically navigate to the
<filename>/home/[username]</filename>
directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>Clean Up by Name</guimenuitem> - This automatically arranges
your desktop icons.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>Disks</guimenuitem> - This accesses the submenu to mount
removable drives
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>Change Desktop Background</guimenuitem> - This opens the
GNOME Control-center at the Background Capplet to allow you to reconfigure
the background of your desktop.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>
</chapter>
|
