This chapter introduces a few basic concepts and skills about using your computer. You may choose to use KDE or GNOME during the login process explained above.
On your screen are displayed many elements we will now describe.
On the left of the screen are "icons", that is little drawings usually enhanced with a short text beneath it representing the icon's title or name. Each icon allows you to open a window, within which a program will run, for instance, a game or a window displaying personal data. In our example, the icon shown above gives you access to a configuration tool created by MandrakeSoft.
In the lower part of the screen is the "tool bar". Each icon symbolizes an application (or program). Just move your mouse cursor on one of them and leave it there for a few seconds. A yellow help balloon will appear. It describes the icon's function. The tool bar is retractable; click on the arrow target...
... and the tool bar will automagically shrink. This makes you gain desktop space. Click again for it to reappear.
The icons and the tool bar are not floating on the screen: they are "stuck" on something called the "desktop", also called "background" or "root window". In a sense, the desktop is where everything you see or use lives. Bring your mouse cursor on the desktop (i.e. on "nothing") and click on either one of your mouse buttons: a pull-down menu appears, giving you access to several functions.
Now we can start playing with all this stuff.
Click on the icon
You just launched a program (here, a file manager) which runs inside a window.
The window is composed of several parts. On the top is the "title bar". It shows the name or title of the program you launched and possibly, the document you are working on.
It can be in two different states:
active, which means you are currently using it, while inactive signifies the program is still running, but you are not currently interacting with it. Usually, the active title bar is full-colored, whereas the inactive title bar is shaded or grey.
Just under the title bar is the "menu bar". In our example, it says (from left to right) File, Edit, and so on. Click on File. A list of items appears, each of which gives you access to a program's function. This list of items is called a "pull-down menu".
Also under the menu bar is the "icons bar", also called the "application's tool bar". It is simply one or more rows of icons, each one equivalent to an item in a pull-down menu: you can see them as a short-hand access to program features, which you would find somewhere in the menu bar.
The "status bar" usually sits at the bottom of the window. There, the running program displays informations about what the program is doing. Not all programs offer this feature, but if the one you are using does, remember to check it if you are lost...
We introduced the word desktop. Now, look at the tool bar at the bottom of the screen. You can see a group of four "buttons":
These buttons give you access to "virtual desktops" which allow you to open several windows and to organize them as you wish. More on virtual desktop handling and usage in "The Desktop According to KDE" (for KDE) and "Using GNOME" (for GNOME).
Sometimes you may find the window you opened is not where you want on your screen. You may move it to see another window, or simply for convenience.
You can do this very simply with your mouse. Bring the mouse cursor to the window's title bar, then press and hold the left button. Just move the mouse (while still pressing the button). The window will simply follow the movement of your mouse. This is called "dragging" the window. When you reach a position that pleases you, just release the mouse button: you just fixed the window to a new position.
You can also change the virtual desktop the window is in. This may be handy to logically organize your work by desktop.
You will need to use your mouse again. With KDE, right-click on the window's title bar and a pull-down menu appears with an item named Move to. Just point to this item and a list of your virtual desktops will appear. Simply choose the virtual desktop you want your window to appear in. Easy enough n'est-ce pas?
With GNOME, right-clicking on the window's title bar gives you a pull-down menu in which is included the Send Window To item. Then, you can select to move or copy it to another desktop (previous or next).
You will often find your window is in the right place but it is too small or too big.
Click on this button in the title bar.
Now your window fits your screen! This operation is called "maximizing" a window. Click again on the same button to bring the window back to its original size.
On the contrary, if you want to hide your window but keep the program running, click on this button.
The window seems to disappear. In fact, you resized it to its minimal possible size: the icon's size. This is called "minimizing" a window. You cleared the screen-space it was using but the program is still running. You can still see it there on the "task bar":
To view the window on your desktop once more, just click on the icon associated with it.
In most cases, you do not want to maximize nor minimize the window. You just want some sort of "middle range" where you can adjust the window's size according to your needs.
You can achieve this with your mouse and the boundary borders of the window.
Bring the mouse cursor to the right edge between the desktop and the running program. Your cursor will change to a double-arrow.
We did this using the right-hand border of the window. You can do the same thing with the bottom, top or left-hand borders. You can even do it with the window's corners, in which case you can resize the window in two directions simultaneously.
Note that not all windows can resize this way and usually, minimum and maximum (although rare) sizes are defined.
As a final note about the buttons in the window's title bar, consider this:
If you click on this button, you simply stop the running program: you terminate it, you quit it. This button is called the "close button".
A lot of things can be changed under both KDE and GNOME to suit your personal taste, like the background, the windows and background colors, the "themes", the way windows and icons behave, etc.
If you are under KDE, please refer to Desktop Personalization. If you are under GNOME please refer to "Using GNOME" for more information about how to customize your desktop.
You may be wondering how to access all the software you installed during the installation process. This is rather easy. On the left of the tool bar, you can see a big icon like this:
Just click on this icon (slightly different whether you work with KDE or GNOME) and you will see a pull-up menu listing the programs you can run. They are organized by categories, so finding the program you are looking for is easy.
We explore a few more items in the next chapter.