The GNOME
holds everything you need to fully utilize your new Mandrake Linux system, such as applications, configuration tools, and more. Note that it uses a special menu configuration which ensures that all of the applications you installed will appear in both GNOME and KDE menus.![]() | You can launch by using the shortcut key Alt-F1 or the Windows key in between the Ctrl and Alt ones. |
Don't be surprised if you think you saw some of the utilities previously. In fact, we already mentioned the Panel sub-menu and Log out buttons, only to name those. So when you open your GNOME menu, the first items you should see are the , and the Panel sub-menus. The latter allows you to configure your panel (color, location, size, etc.). Surf through the different options to fully personalize them to your liking, and read the GNOME Panel Manual for more detailed information.
This item allows you to enter a command to be executed by your system. This is an efficient tool, for example, for launching applications which are not in your menu. Say you want to run Emacs, simply choose
and type emacs in the blank field and voilą, Emacs is launched.![]() | You can also launch Run Program dialog by using shortcut key Alt-F2. |
This sub-menu is split into six other menus: Amusements, Clocks, Monitors, Multimedia, Network and Utility. Choosing one of these applets will add it to your panel. This sub-menu is equivalent to -> -> .
Two default items located in this sub-menu are About Gnome and Help System (for the latter, you can also click on the applet described previously or refer to Getting Help. The About Gnome sub-menu leads you to an interface which gives you three choices: GNOME News Site, GNOME Main Site and GNOME Developer's Site. Depending on which packages you installed, you may also find s.
Guess what? Linux holds a set of fun games, such as GNOME Chess, Xgammon and KAsteroids, etc.
Wishing you could modify configuration parameters? Explore this sub-menu as you will find useful applications to better manage your Mandrake Linux system. Included are KDE (which contains utilities for configuring the KDE desktop and applications), Boot & Init, GNOME, Hardware, Printing, Packaging and Networking sub-menus. Be careful what you do in the Configuration menu, you may damage your system. In doubt, please ask a qualified system administrator.
If your main computer use is Internet-related, this is the section for you. Here you will find Chat, File transfer, Instant messaging, IRC, Mail, News, Other, Remote access and WWW sub-menus. Remember: many programs exist for all of those items. Feel free to test a few clients before using by default software such as Netscapenetscape. For example, GNOME's default Web browser, Galeon (which we document in Internet Browsers: Galeon) and e-mail client, Evolution have made tremendous progress over the last six months and are now stable and lean (although the latter is still pretty resource-intensive). Give them a try – we guarantee you will never want to use Netscape again! Or you could use KDE applications such as the Konqueror browser or KMail mail client (please refer to Internet Mail: KMail. This is one of GNU/Linux's strong points: you have a wide array of software applications to choose from.
As previously stated, this sub-menu contains many terminal emulators, giving you access to the command line. Once again, choose the one you feel most comfortable with.
This sub-menu (along with the next one, Text Tools, Communications, Editors and Publishing.
) is one you are most likely to explore in depth. The list of applications is pretty long. Let us quote a couple of interesting sub-menus such asTypical office tools are contained in this sub-menu: spreadsheet, text editor, PDF viewer clients.
MP3 aficionados and graphic artists, this is your hot corner. There you can opt for XMMS, your MP3 player par excellence, GIMP to edit your favorite images and personal graphic work and different sound mixers, etc.