KDE Control Module: Appearance

The first section that shows up is the appearance tab. From here we have options that relate to the font styling of the icons on your desktop.

• Standard Font: You can change the actual font used
• Font Size: The size used for text, in case you're tired of squinting
• Normal Text Color: The color of the text ''be careful not to make it too close to the desktop color, so you can see it''
• Text Background Color: The background color, which if you ignore the last line, lets you change the back color for the text so you can see it
• Underline Filenames: just a little style

Here's an example of all the settings on my desktop changed around:

KDE Control Module: Behavior

Clicking on the "Behavior" icon will bring up this screen. From here you can change a lot of different things to give your desktop the feel you want

Misc Options:

1. Enable Desktop menu: Lets you have a menu bar at the top of your desktop, that will give you access to an array of options.

2. Enable Icons on Desktop: If you'd rather not have any icons on desktop, turn this off

   If you do turn this off, all of your icons will be gone. They will come back by simply turning this feature on again.

3. Show Hidden Files on Desktop: Desktop will shows files that are in the format ".filename" or ".directory". Not something you usually need to worry about.

4. Programs in Desktop Window: Allows programs that will draw into the desktop. Not something you should worry about much as to whether it's on or off.

Show Previews for: If you happen to put a file on the desktop, you can allow linux to generate a preview of it for an icon. It will increase the loading time unfortunately. Simply pick what types of files you want to have previews of.

Clicks on Desktop: What happens when you click the specified mouse button. It is alright to override the left mouse button, it will not affect opening files and folders on the desktop. Custom menus allow you to have menus with items you specify, such as your most used programs. It's very flexible, so try it out. (You can have two different custom menus)

Devices: By enabling "Display devices on desktop" you can select what of the listed devices will be automatically shown on your desktop. Try it out to see what options are pre-set, and play around to make it how you want. If you want to mount a drive from the desktop be sure that the "unmounted" version of that device is shown. There's another way to set up devices on the desktop that will be discussed later.

KDE Control Module: Multiple Desktops

Clicking on the "Multiple Desktops" icon will bring up this screen. From here you can customize your multiple desktops.

• Number of desktops: This allows you to have more (or less) than the standard four desktops.
• Desktop Names: Why not name your desktops? Try fun names like: "Bob", "Sue", "George", "Roger Rabbit", "Akira", "Gohan", or many others!

KDE Control Module: Paths

Clicking on the "Paths" icon will bring up this screen. These settings are where in your folders the actual desktop is stored. Adjusting these setting isn't something most of us need to worry about, and are a little advanced for the scope of this doc.

KDE Control Module: Background

Here's what you have all been waiting for, how to change your background!

There's a lot of options, so bear with me on this one.

• Desktop: By unselecting "Common Background" you can have each of your desktops have it's own unique back ground!

• Background tab: Here's the basic settings for your background if you don't use a wallpaper, or the wallpaper doesn't fill the whole screen. (this is what makes up the border areas)

  1. Mode: Here you can pick the style that will be used, try them out to find what you like!

  2. Color 1 and Color 2: The colors that will be used as the extremes for your gradients

  3. Setup: Some modes have more options you can play with!

     Wallpaper tab: Tired of color gradients? Well here's your chance to liven things up with a picture!

  4. No Wallpaper, Single Wallpaper, Multiple Wallpaper: Fairly basic concepts here. No wallpaper = no wallpaper. Single wallpaper is just one. Multiple wallpapers will rotate through a list of wallpapers you select. So if you can't stand looking at the same background for more that x minutes, this is the setting for you.

  5. Mode: This adjusts how KDE will make the picture fit onto your desktop.

     • Centered: Centers the picture onto your desktop.
     • Tiled: For smaller pictures, tiles the picture with the first tile having it's upper left corner in the upper left corner of the desktop.
     • Center Tiled: Tiles with the primary tile centered in the middle of the desktop, and tiles extending from it.
     • Centered Maxpect: Centers the picture, and extends the size, or shrinks it, so it will fill/fit the whole desktop, image ratio is maintained. (In case the picture is not pre-formatted for a desktop, and you don't want it stretched)
     • Tiled Maxpect: The basic features of "Tiled" with the size adjustments for Maxpect. Image ratio is maintained.
     • Scaled: Stretches or shrinks the picture to fill the whole desktop. If the image is square it will be stretched to fill perfectly. Image ratio is not maintained. (Some pictures you won't notice anything, but sometimes it'll make the picture look bad)
     • Centered Auto Fit: Normally will act like "Centered" unless the picture is too big, then will respond like "Centered Maxpect"

  6. Wallpaper: Pick your picture! If you don't like any of the preset options, go get some, and then "browse" to the place you've saved them. Shameless plug: [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images_index.php3 NASA's Earth Observatory] Has some cool pictures. That's what I use.

  7. Setup Multiple: Here's where you setup your multiple wallpapers if you've selected this feature.

     Advanced: Some slightly more advanced features.

  8. Blending: Blend the wallpaper with the background for some cool effects. I'll leave you to play with this feature.

  9. Limit pixmap cache: Limits the cache size that KDE will use to store "raster graphics". Saving disk space on your account is good.

KDE Control Module: Screen Saver

In case you're going to read your text-book for a while, or want everyone to "oo" and "ah" while you're away from the machine pick a cool screen saver! Or just set it to random if you like surprises. This section is fairly self-explanatory. Select a screen saver, hit "test" to watch it run, hit "Setup..." to change the options.

Icon Layout

Once again, most of the features we'll discuss will be reached through a right-click on the desktop.

Under icons we find a few options:

1. Sort Icons: This will auto-sort the icons on your desktop in a particular fashion, based on your choice. The ''directories first'' option allows that directories will have priority over other types of files, regardless of sort order.
2. Line Up Horizontally: This will put the icons in line horizontally. The first use of this command will put them in the upper-left hand corner of the desktop. If you move them, and call the command again, they will line up according to where they're at.
3. Line Up Vertically: This will put the icons in line vertically. Much like the horizontal command, the first call puts them in the upper-left hand corner of the desktop. Subsequent calls will line them up based on current location.
4. Align to Grid: If you have a special layout, but want the icons to line up in a gird-based form, use this feature. Manually set up the desktop the way you want, then hit align to grid. Here's my desktop layout, straightened with a call to ''align to grid''

Items on your Desktop

With the ''Create New'' command you can add directories, links to applications and websites, and hardware devices.

• Create New Directory: This puts a new directory (folder) on your desktop.
• Create New CD/DVD-ROM Device: This is the manual way to add devices that were discussed under ''KDE Control Module: Behavior''. This method is a little more complex, but allows some flexibility. Once you select this option, you are given a properties window [[Image:cd-romp.jpg]] the basic window allows you to rename the device. Clicking on the ''device'' tab allows you to select what device is used with this icon. The machines only have one cd-rom option: "/dev/cdrom (/mnt/cdrom)". Other choices are bad. (please set your cd-rom drive to read-only. It'll save trouble later) A little bonus, clicking on the boxes with the icons lets you change them. This can be rather fun.

• Create New Floppy Device: The method is the same as with CD/DVD-ROM device. In this case, a floppy device can be your 3.5 floppy drive, or the zip drive. the devices respectively are: "/dev/fd0 (/mnt/floppy)" and "/dev/hdb4 (mnt/zip)". Other choices are bad. Once again you can change the icons. Changing icons is only available if you use this method rather than the Control Module.
• Create New Link to Application: Unfortunately the method to set this up is more complex than the scope of this help doc, so ask your friendly linux user, or just stick with the menu bar!
• Create New Link to Location(URL): This can link to a website, or file, or folder. Just enter the appropriate location (or browse for it) and give it a name!

KDE Panel Control Module: Layout

This is the panel. It can do quite a bit more than what you'd expect. We'll start be right-clicking on the panel, and picking "Configure Panel".

Layout

• Position: This allows you to choose where to anchor the panel. The middle buttons are for the cases where the panel is not the total length of the screen
• Length: Here you can set how much of the screen you want the panel to fill. It can span the full length, or any percentage you'd prefer
• Size: How tall do you want the panel? Want more desk space, pick tiny, like it to be easy to get to, pick large.
• Hide Mode: Lets you specify if you wan to always be able to see the panel, if to disappear after ''x'' seconds, or to allow windows to be able to cover the panel.
• Panel-Hiding Buttons: Lets you manually hide the panel.
• Panel Animation: How fast to you want the panel to go away when you hide it?
• K Menu: This allows you to customize the K menu (much like the start menu in windows). The optional sub menus let you have quicker access to some things. Play around with it!
• Quickbrower Menu: The Quick browser option lets you go through you home folder from the K menu, showing hidden files does just that. You can also limit the number of files shown.
• Quickstart Menu Items: This is the section at the very top of the K menu, you can setup what programs will show up there.

KDE Panel Control Module: Appearance

• Enable Icon Zooming: The icons will zoom when your mouse is over them.
• Show tooltips: When you leave the mouse over an icon, it'll pop up a brief description of that action.
• Button Background: Set up background symbols/colors for various groups of things.
• Panel Background: Put an image in the background of the panel.

KDE Panel Control Module: Taskbar

• Show windows from all desktops: Lets you see all the windows you have open on the taskbar, regardless what desktop you're in. If you only want the windows from the desktops you're in, turn this off.
• Show window list button: This will put a button on the left side of the taskbar. Clicking it will give you a list of all the windows and their respective desktops.
• Sort tasks by virtual desktops: Will put the applications in the order of the desktop they are on (only useful with the first option on)
• Show application icons: Turns on or off the icons to the left of the application name.
• Show only iconified windows: Only list the windows that are "minimized".
• Actions: Lets you set was various mouse clicks do.

Application Buttons, Applets, and Other Fun Stuff

If you right click on the panel again, you will see that you have an add and remove option. We'll briefly look into these.

• Applet: These applets have a lot of functions. Your clipboard (the "klipper") is one, so is the system tray. There's lots of neat things you can put on the panel, so try the out!
• Application Button: You can put an icon for a program out of the K menu right on the panel. Fast and easy!
• Special Button: These buttons do more than just launch a program. The K Menu is such a button.
• Extension: These can give you more flexibility, but the use of them will not be discussed here.

The remove menu is the same, but allows you to remove something that you have added previously.