Entering the Linux graphic environment (2)

KDE Desktop System

The KDE Desktop System was launched in October 1996 and subsequently gained rapid development. The KDE Desktop system has the following features:
◆ Environment configuration can be fully realized through the graphical user interface.
◆ A safer garbage bin for deleting files is provided on the desktop.
◆ Use the mouse to install other file systems, such as CD-ROM.
◆ Use a menu to control the scrolling, Font, color, and size of the terminal window.
◆ Achieve transparent network access. The file management program KFM provided by KDE can also be used as a WWW browser. You can view the content of the FTP site like the files on your hard disk, and open and store remote files.
◆ The Drag-and-Drop operation of the mouse is fully supported. You can Drag the file icon to the corresponding text processing program window to view the content. Remote files can be automatically downloaded.
◆ Provides a Help file browser (HelpView), which not only allows you to browse traditional user manuals, but also standard HTML documents.
◆ Provides a set of application and context-related help documents.
◆ The provided Session Manager can record the usage of the KDE Desktop System to ensure that the next access environment is consistent with the previous departure time.

The typical KDE Desktop Interface 3 is shown. The middle part of the screen is called the desktop, which contains many icons, such as "My Computer", "Network Neighbor", "Browser", and "recycle bin. A bar located at the bottom of the screen is called a panel, which can be used to start an application or switch over a virtual desktop.



Figure 3 typical desktop system

KDE Desktop Components

KDE uses Kwm (K Window Manager) as the Window Manager. In fact, KDE supports almost all Window managers. However, only in Kwm can we maximize its performance and characteristics. Kwm determines the appearance and style of the KDE Desktop.



Figure 4 KDE panel
The KDE Desktop environment consists of the control panel, desktop, and mouse.

Table 1 panel buttons and functions

Name	Merit
Start menu button	It is equivalent to the "Start" button in Windows. Click it to bring up the cascade system main menu.
Show desktop buttons	Click this button to minimize all windows on the current desktop so that you can easily access the desktop icon.
Browser button	Click this button to start the Mozilla Web browser.
Email button	Click this button to start the Kmail client program.
Chinese/English dictionary button	Start the starship English-Chinese/English dictionary program.
Virtual Desktop Manager	Using a virtual desktop, you can expand your work to multiple desktops without having to squeeze many applications onto one desktop. Different desktops can be customized. Up to 16 virtual desktops (2 by default) can be created ).
Lock screen button	Lock the screen. If screen protection is set, the program will be started.
Logout button	After you press the button, you can choose to shut down, restart, or Log On As another user.
Hotkey manager button	After you press it, you can start the system hotkey management program and configure the application hotkeys and multimedia keyboards.
Input Method icon	Click the input method menu, which includes the English input En and the default Chinese input methods provided by the system-wubi font, Ziguang pinyin, Zheng code, smart ABC, and all-input methods. Select the Input Method Used in the menu.
Clipboard	View the clipboard content and manage the system clipboard.
Clock	Display the current time. You can customize the display style as needed.
Task entry	It usually appears in the center of the panel, displaying a running program or open document. Click a program in the task bar to open or minimize the selected program. You can right-click an item to maximize, minimize, or close the window.

1. Control Panel
At the bottom of the screen is the control panel, as shown in 4, also known as the K Panel, where you can start the application and switch on the desktop. Although it looks like a Windows 95 taskbar, it is more flexible and functional. The control panel includes the Start menu button, virtual Desktop Manager, frequently used applications and desktop applets icon, and display the task bar of the currently running application.

Hover the mouse over an icon for a few seconds, and a yellow pop-up prompt box is displayed. The content is a description of the effect of the icon.

There are multiple buttons on the panel, and their names and functions are shown in table 1.

2. Desktop
The middle part of the screen is the KDE Desktop, which contains some common application and file icons. You can double-click the icon above to run the corresponding program or open the file. You can also drag them, change the desktop icon or add or delete the desktop icon.

Table 2 lists the default desktop icons provided by Linux and their functions.

Table 2 common desktop icons and their functions

Name	For use
My Documents	It contains documents, music, and images that are frequently used and collected by users.
My computer	Double-click it to view its content, including floppy disk, optical drive, Windows system partition, accessible network drive, control panel, user home directory, etc.
MP3 playing room	Start the XMMS player program
Recycle Bin	Where deleted files are temporarily stored
Multimedia Player	Start Kxine multimedia player
Dialer	Set and use dial-up connections
Browser	Start a new Mozilla Browser
Network neighbors	Convenient access to network shared resources in the LAN

3. Mouse
The mouse is the basic input device in the graphic interface. Linux supports three-Key mouse. If you use the right hand mouse, it is called the Right Hand mouse. The three keys are left, middle, and right, respectively, from left to right. In the KDE Desktop System, there are three ways to press the mouse button.
(1) Click: Click and release a button. If you click the left mouse button on the icon, select the icon. Right-click to open the shortcut menu.
(2) double-click: Quickly press a button twice in a row. Double-click the left button to open and execute the application.
(3) drag: specify a target, hold down the left mouse button, move the mouse, and release the button in the new position to place the target in the new position.
Unless otherwise specified, the left mouse button is always used.

In red-flag Linux, users can configure the mouse according to their usage habits, including general settings (set the mouse to the left or right hand habits, click or double-click to open the file or directory and the visual effect of the mouse pointer), advanced (set the moving speed of the mouse on the screen and other action attributes), mouse navigation (set the action attribute when you move the mouse with a numeric keyboard) and configuration (the system displays the detection results of the mouse interface type in the computer, such as the serial port, PS/2, or USB interface, whether it is a three-Key mouse or a scroll wheel mouse ).

Desktop and system configuration

The "Control Panel" can be used to conveniently and effectively perform system configuration and management operations, that is, the configuration of basic hardware devices of the system; view system information and execute system management tasks; customizes the desktop environment with the user's personal characteristics.

There are two methods to access the control panel: one is to select "system> Control Panel" in the main menu of the system; the other is to double-click the "my computer" icon on the desktop to open the resource manager, select Control Panel ".

As shown in Control Panel 5 of red-flag Linux Desktop panel 4.0.


Figure 5 Control Panel

In the control panel, there are two tabs: "System Configuration" and "view configuration.

◆ "System Configuration" includes various computer hardware and software configuration management tools, as shown in table 3.
Table 3 system configuration items

Name	Description
Date and Time	System date, time, and time zone settings
Font Installer	Install and preview Fonts
Display	Configure graphics card and display attributes
Energy	Display energy saving settings
Input Method Manager	Tools for creating and setting input methods
System notification	Enables, disables, or specifies the sound of a system event.
View disk space	View disk partition space usage
Keyboard	Set keyboard layout and Behavior
Shortcut Key	Set system shortcut keys
Start Manager	Set the GRUB boot manager and create a boot disk
Menu Editor	Custom system primary selection item
Volume	System volume settings
System Resources	View system resource usage and Process List
Modem	Manage built-in modem drivers
Mouse	Configure the three keys, scroll wheel and mouse, and their usage habits and actions
Network	Configure nic and related Network Connection Properties
Print Manager	Graphical integrated management tool for configuration and management system Printing
Software Package Manager	Manage Software packages installed on your computer
Sound Card	Auto detect and configure sound card
User and group	Add or delete users and groups
System	Display current system information

◆ "Visual configuration" includes configuration items related to the desktop appearance style, as shown in table 4.

Table 4 sensory configuration items

Name	Description
Background	Configure desktop wallpaper and background display
Window decoration	Set the window decoration Scheme
Color	Set the color scheme of the system
Desktop	Set other desktop options, appearance, and number of desktops