openSUSE 11.0
KDE Quick Start


Contents

1. Getting Started
2. Starting Programs
3. Customizing Your Desktop
4. Using Virtual Desktops
5. Using the File Manager
6. Browsing the Internet
7. Managing Passwords
8. E-Mailing and Calendaring
9. Instant Messaging with Kopete
10. Starting OpenOffice.org
11. Viewing PDF Files and Other Documents
12. Creating a CD or DVD
13. Managing Your Digital Image Collection
14. Managing Your Music Collection
15. Configuring Your System with YaST
16. Logging Out
17. For More Information
18. Legal Notice
19. GNU Free Documentation License

Abstract

openSUSEŽ provides the tools that Linux* users require in their daily activities. It comes with an easy-to-use graphical user interface (KDE* desktop) that communicates with the underlying Linux system to access and manage files, folders, and programs. openSUSE provides an integrated suite of applications for a wide range of purposes (office, multimedia, Internet). The OpenOffice.org suite is also included, which allows you to edit and save files in a number of formats. Because the office suite is available for several operating systems, you can use the same data across different computing platforms.

Getting Started

When you start your system, you are usually prompted to enter your username and password. If you did not install your system yourself, check with your system administrator for your username and password.

After logging in to KDE for the first time, you see the KDE desktop, which shows the following basic elements:

Desktop Icons: Click an icon on the desktop to access its associated program or application. With KDE 4, icons appear as widgets that you can tilt, enlarge or minimize. Right-click to open a context menu to access the icon properties, or to remove the icon.

Desktop Context Menu: Right-click an empty area on the desktop to access the context menu for configuring the appearance of the desktop, adding panels or widgets to the desktop, locking the widgets in their current position, or for leaving the current session or locking the screen.

Desktop Toolbox: Move your mouse pointer to the icon in the upper right corner of the desktop to access a menu that lets you configure desktop widgets. Use Show Dashboard to switch to a desktop view hiding all currently opened windows and panels. To show your windows and panels again, select Hide Dashboard.

KDE Panel: By default, the panel of your KDE desktop consists of the following areas (from left to right): quick launcher with the main menu icon on the left and further program icons, pager (desktop previewer), taskbar, and system tray. You can add or remove icons in the panel and customize the appearance of the panel as well as its location on the desktop. If you hold your mouse pointer over an icon in the panel, a short description is displayed.

Quick Launcher: The quick launcher contains the main menu button and some larger icons that are shortcuts to frequently used programs, folders, and functions.

Main Menu Button: Use the icon at the far left of the panel to open a menu which holds a search function at the top and several tabs at the bottom. The Applications tab shows all installed programs in a function-oriented menu structure which makes it easy to find the right application for your purpose even if you do not know the application names yet.

Pager (Desktop Previewer): Between the quick launcher and the taskbar, find a miniature preview that shows your virtual desktops (if not configured otherwise, they are numbered). openSUSE allows you to organize your programs and tasks on several desktops, which minimizes the number of windows to arrange on the screen (see Section 4, “Using Virtual Desktops”). To switch between desktops, click one of the symbols in the pager.

Taskbar: By default, all started applications and open windows are displayed in the taskbar, which allows you to access any application regardless of the currently active desktop. Click to open the application. Right-click to see options for moving, restoring, or minimizing the window.

System Tray: This rightmost part of the panel usually holds some smaller icons, including the system clock displaying time and date, the volume control, and several other helper applications such as the device notifier, informing you about recently plugged or inserted devices such as USB sticks, external hard disks, cameras, CDs, or DVDs.