path: root/gnome2-user-guide/C/gosstartsession.xml

<chapter id="gosgetstarted-1">
  <title>GNOME Desktop Sessions</title>
  <highlights>
    <para>This chapter provides the information you need to start,
manage, and end a GNOME Desktop session.</para>
  </highlights>
  <sect1 id="gosgetstarted-69">
    <title>Starting a Session</title>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>sessions</primary>
      <secondary>starting</secondary>
    </indexterm>
    <para>A session occurs between the time that you log in to the desktop environment
and the time that you log out. The login screen is your gateway to the desktop
environment. The login screen provides fields for you to enter your username
and password. The login screen enables you to select login options, for example
you can select the language of your session. </para>
    <para>You start a session when you log in. The session manager starts after
your username and password are authenticated. The session manager enables
you to manage the session. For example, you can save the state of your most
recent session and return to that session the next time that you log in. The
session manager saves and restores the following: </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>The appearance and behavior settings, for example fonts, colors,
and mouse settings. </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>The applications that you were running, for example file manager
and text editor windows. You cannot save and restore applications that the
session manager does not manage. For example, if you start the <application>vi</application> editor from the command line in a terminal window, session
manager cannot restore your editing session. </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <sect2 id="gosstartsession-85">
      <title>To Log in to a Session</title>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>logging in</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>logging in</primary>
        <secondary>to session</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <para>To log in to a session, perform the following steps:</para>
      <orderedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>On the login screen, click on the <guilabel>Session</guilabel>
icon. Choose the GNOME Desktop from the list of available desktop environments.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>Enter your username in the <guilabel>Username</guilabel> field
on the login screen, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>Enter your password in the <guilabel>Password</guilabel> field
on the login screen, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
      <para>When you log in successfully, the session manager starts a session.
If this is the first time you log in, then the session manager starts a new
session. If you have logged in before, then the session manager restores your
previous session, if you saved your session settings when you logged out.</para>
      <para>If you want to shut down or restart the system before you log in, click
on the <guilabel>System</guilabel> icon on the login screen. A dialog is displayed.
Select the option that you require, then click <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.</para>
<!--What about failsafe gnome?-->
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="gosstartsession-86">
      <title>To Log in to a Session in a Different Language</title>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>different language, logging
in</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>language, logging in in different</primary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>logging in</primary>
        <secondary>to session in different language</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <para>To log in to
a session in a different language, perform the following actions.</para>
      <orderedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>On the login screen, click on the <guilabel>Language</guilabel>
icon. Choose the language you require from the list of available languages.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>Enter your username in the <guilabel>Username</guilabel> field
on the login screen, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>Enter your password in the <guilabel>Password</guilabel> field
on the login screen, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="gosstartsession-1">
    <title>To Lock Your Screen</title>
    <screenshot>
      <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/lockscreen_icon.png" format="PNG"/>
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <phrase>Lock screen icon.</phrase>
        </textobject>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>sessions</primary>
      <secondary>locking screen</secondary>
    </indexterm>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>locking screen</primary>
    </indexterm>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>Lock button</primary>
    </indexterm>
    <para>To lock the screen, perform
one of the following actions:</para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Actions</guimenu><guimenuitem>Lock Screen</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>If the <guibutton>Lock</guibutton> button is present on a
panel, click on the <guibutton>Lock</guibutton> button. </para>
        <para>To add the <guibutton>Lock</guibutton> button to a panel, right-click
on the panel. Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Add to Panel</guimenu><guisubmenu>Actions</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Lock</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <para>When you lock your screen, the screensaver starts. To unlock the screen,
move your mouse to display the locked screen dialog. Enter your username and
password in the locked screen dialog, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
    <para>For information on configuring your screensaver, see <citetitle>Using
the Basic Preference Tools</citetitle>.</para>
    <note>
      <para>To lock your screen correctly, you must have a screensaver enabled.</para>
    </note>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="gosstartsession-2">
    <title>Managing the Session</title>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>preference tools</primary>
      <secondary>Sessions</secondary>
    </indexterm>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>sessions</primary>
      <secondary>managing</secondary>
    </indexterm>
    <para>To configure the session management of the desktop environment,
use the <application>Sessions</application> preference tool. The <application>Sessions</application> preference tool recognizes the following types of application: </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <indexterm>
          <primary>startup applications</primary>
          <secondary>session-managed</secondary>
        </indexterm>
        <para>Applications that are session-managed. When
you save the settings for your session, the session manager saves all of the
session-managed applications. If you log out, then log in again, the session
manager automatically starts the session-managed applications. </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Applications that are not session-managed. When you save the
settings for your session, the session manager does not save any applications
that are not session-managed. If you log out, then log in again, the session
manager does not start non-session-managed applications. You must start the
application manually. Alternatively, you can use the <application>Sessions</application> preference tool to specify non-session-managed applications
that you want to automatically start. </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <sect2 id="gosstartsession-9">
      <title>Defining Session Behavior When You Log In and Log Out</title>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>login behavior</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>logout behavior</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <para>To set how a session behaves when you log in
and log out, use <application>Sessions</application> preference tool. Make
the changes you require in the <guilabel>Session Options</guilabel> tabbed
section. For example, you can select to display a splash screen when you log
in. </para>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="gosstartsession-6">
      <title>To Use Startup Applications</title>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>startup programs</primary>
        <see>startup applications</see>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>using startup
applications</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>startup applications</primary>
        <secondary>non-session-managed</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <para>You
can configure your sessions to start with applications that are not session-managed.
To configure non-session-managed startup applications, use the <application>Sessions</application> preference tool. Use the <guilabel>Startup Programs</guilabel> tabbed section to add, edit, and delete applications. If you save
your settings and log out, the next time that you log in, the startup applications
start automatically. </para>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="gosstartsession-10">
      <title>To Browse Applications in the Current Session</title>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>browsing applications</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <para>To browse the applications in the current session, use the <application>Sessions</application> preference tool. The <guilabel>Current Session</guilabel>
tabbed section lists the following:</para>
      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>All GNOME applications that are currently running, that can
connect to the session manager, and that can save the state of the application.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>All preference tools that can connect to the session manager,
and that can save the state of the tool.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
      <para>You can use the <guilabel>Current Session</guilabel> tabbed section
to perform a limited number of actions on the session properties of an application
or preference tool. For example, you can edit the startup order, and restart
style of any GNOME application or preference tool that is in the list. </para>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="gosgetstarted-74">
      <title>To Save Session Settings</title>
      <indexterm>
        <primary>sessions</primary>
        <secondary>saving settings</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      <para>To save your session settings, perform the following steps: </para>
      <orderedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>Configure your session to automatically save settings when
you end the session. To configure your session, use the <application>Sessions</application> preference tool. The <application>Sessions</application> preference
tool starts. Select the <guilabel>Automatically save changes to session</guilabel>
option on the <guilabel>Session Options</guilabel> tabbed section.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>End your session. </para>
        </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
      <para>If you do not select the <guilabel>Automatically save changes to session</guilabel> option, when you log out, a dialog asks if you want to save your
current settings. To save your settings, select the option, then continue
to log out.</para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="gosgetstarted-73">
    <title>Ending a Session</title>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>sessions</primary>
      <secondary>ending</secondary>
    </indexterm>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>sessions</primary>
      <secondary>logging out</secondary>
    </indexterm>
    <indexterm>
      <primary>logging out</primary>
    </indexterm>
    <screenshot>
      <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/logout_icon.png" format="PNG"/>
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <phrase>Log Out icon.</phrase>
        </textobject>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
    <para>To end your session, close all your currently active processes, then
perform one of the following actions:</para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>Click on a <guibutton>Log Out</guibutton> button.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Actions</guimenu><guimenuitem>Log Out</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Open the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, then choose <guimenuitem>Log Out</guimenuitem>.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <para>Before you end a session, you might want to save your current settings
so that you can restore the session later. During the logout process, a dialog
asks if you want to save your current settings. In the <application>Sessions</application> preference tool, you can select an option to automatically
save your current settings.</para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>