Chapitre 2. KDE Quick Start

Table des matières

2.1. Démarrage rapide
2.2. Starting Programs
2.3. Handling Media
2.4. Customizing Your Desktop
2.5. Applying Desktop Effects
2.6. Using Virtual Desktops
2.7. Managing Files and Folders
2.8. Browsing the Internet
2.9. Managing Passwords
2.10. E-Mailing and Calendaring
2.11. Instant Messaging with Kopete
2.12. Starting LibreOffice
2.13. Viewing PDF Files and Other Documents
2.14. Searching for Data
2.15. Creating a CD or DVD
2.16. Managing Your Digital Image Collection
2.17. Managing Your Music Collection
2.18. Déconnexion
2.19. For More Information

Résumé

openSUSE® fournit les outils dont les utilisateurs Linux* ont besoin dans leurs activités quotidiennes. Il fournit un environnement graphique simple d'utilisation, le bureau KDE*, qui communique avec le système Linux sous-jacent pour accéder et gérer les fichiers, les dossiers et les programmes. openSUSE fournit une suite intégrée d'applications pour de nombreuses choses (office, multimedia, Internet). La suite LibreOffice est également incluse ce qui vous permet d'éditer et de sauvegarder vos fichiers dans différents formats. Étant donné que la suite bureautique est disponible pour plusieurs systèmes d'exploitation, vous pouvez utiliser les même données à travers différentes plate-formes informatiques.

2.1. Démarrage rapide

Lorsque vous démarrez votre système, un nom d'utilisateur et un mot de passe sont géénralements demandés. Si vous n'avez pas installé le système vous même, demandez avec votre administrateur système le nom d'utilisateur et le mot de passe.

Après vous être connecté à KDE la première fois, vous voyez le bureau KDE qui affiche les éléments de base suivants:

Dossier du bureau: Par défaut, le dossier du bureau affiche le contenu du dossier ~/Desktop. Lorsque vous ajoutez un fichier dans ce dossier, il apparaît également dans cette vue.

Menu contextuel du bureau: Faites un clic droit dans une zone vide du bureau pour accéder au menu contextuel pour configurer l'apparence du bureau, ajouter des panneaux ou des widgets sur le bureau, configurer les paramètres de bureau, verrouiller les widgets à leur position actuelle, quitter la session actuelle ou pour verrouiller l'écran.

Desktop Toolbox:  Move your mouse pointer to the icon in the upper right corner of the desktop to access the menu that lets you add or lock widgets.

KDE Panel:  By default, the panel of your KDE desktop consists of the Main Menu icon on the left, further widgets and program icons, and the panel settings icon on the right. If you hover the mouse pointer over an icon in the panel, a short description is displayed.

Main Menu.  Click on the left side of the bottom panel to open the main menu. The Main Menu consists of the following elements: a search function at the top and several tabs at the bottom, providing quick access to the key functions of the menu. Additionally, the menu displays your login name and the hostname of your computer.

2.2. Starting Programs

Start programs from the Main Menu or from the command line, using a shell or the Run Command. Additionally, you can start programs from the desktop or the panel by left-clicking the program icon once.

2.2.1. Using the Main Menu

To open the Main Menu, click the Main Menu icon in the panel or press Alt+F1.

Favorites shows a default selection of key programs for quick access, whereas Applications shows all applications installed on your system. To navigate through the menu structure, click an entry and use the arrow icons at the right or the left to switch back and forth. Computer and Recently Used provide quick access to some frequently used places, applications, or documents. Leave shows several options for leaving the session such as logging out, locking the screen (access can only be regained with a password), shutting down or restarting the computer. Some computers offer to suspend your session to RAM or disc.

If you often need a program and do not want to dig into the menu structure, you can integrate the icon into the Favorites tab. Right-click the icon on any of the other tabs and choose Add to Favorites.

2.2.2. Using the Run Command Dialog

KRunner is a helper application that lets you quickly start programs. Apart from that, it offers a search function for finding applications or locations.

Press Alt+F2 to open the Run Command dialog. Type a command, for example, dolphin. While you are typing, the dialog shows a list of applications or actions that match your input. Select one of the results or press Entrée to start the highlighted application or action. The command to start the application is often (but not always) the application name written in lowercase.

The Run Command dialog allows you also to use different features. Click on the question mark icon to see a list of active features. To configure or get a list of all features, click on the wrench icon. You can use so-called Web shortcuts defined in Konqueror to send search requests directly to a search engine without first opening the browser. Another interesting feature is to calculate a mathematical expression like =2+2^4-sin(2). Very useful is to convert units, for example, from miles per hour into kilometres per hour. Just insert the expression 60 mph in km/h to get the converted value.

2.2.3. Searching for Programs

Both the Main Menu and the Run Command dialog offer a search function that lets you quickly start programs even if you do not already know the exact application name or command. To search for an application, start typing a command or part of the application name in the Main Menu Search field or the input field in the Run Command dialog. Each character you enter narrows down the search.

From the list below the input field, choose the application matching your query.

2.3. Handling Media

If you insert a CD or DVD into your drive or plug in a pluggable device (for example, a USB stick or removable hard disk), the device notifier widget opens a small window alerting you to this. It also proposes possible actions, depending on the type of the device.

For example, if you plugged in a digital camera, the actions allow you to download your photos with Gwenview or digiKam. Click the device entry in the widget to access the available actions. To safely remove the device from your computer, use the icon on the right side of the device entry.

2.4. Customizing Your Desktop

You can change the way your KDE desktop looks and behaves to suit your personal preferences.

2.4.1. Locking and Unlocking Desktop Objects

Desktop elements can be locked in their current position to prevent them from being moved around on the desktop. As long as the desktop elements are locked you cannot add, move, or remove any objects to or from your desktop.

To lock or unlock the desktop elements, click the cashew icon (desktop toolbox) at the upper right corner of the desktop and select Lock Widgets or Unlock Widgets.

Alternatively, right-click an empty patch on the desktop and select Lock Widgets or Unlock Widgets.

2.4.2. Changing Individual Desktop Elements

In the following, you can find some examples of how to change individual desktops elements.

Procédure 2.1. Adding Program Icons to the Desktop

To create a link to an application and place it on the desktop or the panel, proceed as follows:

  1. Click the Main Menu button and browse to the desired application.

  2. Right-click and select Add to Desktop from the context menu that appears. If this menu item is not available, your desktop elements are probably locked. Unlock them first as described in Section 2.4.1, « Locking and Unlocking Desktop Objects ».

  3. To change the icon position on the desktop, left-click the icon and drag it to the desired position.

To delete an icon from your desktop, right-click the program icon and select Remove this Icon.

Procédure 2.2. Adding Widgets to the Desktop or to the Panel

  1. To add widgets to you desktop, right-click an empty patch on your desktop and select Add Widgets.

    To add a widget to the panel, right-click an empty patch on the panel, and select Panel Options+Add Widgets.

    If these menu items are not available, your desktop elements are probably locked. In this case, right-click and select Unlock Widgets first.

  2. In the list that appears, select a widget. Use the scrollbar to browse through the available widgets. To limit the selection of widgets, either enter a search term in the input field or choose a Category.

  3. To make the selected widget appear on the desktop or in the panel, double-click it and close the dialog box.

  4. To remove a widget from your desktop or panel, right-click the widget and select the Remove... entry.

Procédure 2.3. Configuring Desktop Widgets

  1. Hover your mouse pointer over the widget until a translucent frame appears around the widget, showing a number of symbols:

    If the frame does not appear, your widgets are probably locked. Unlock them first as described in Section 2.4.1, « Locking and Unlocking Desktop Objects ».

  2. To change the widget size, left-click the scale symbol in the frame and keep the mouse button pressed while slowly moving your cursor across the desktop.

  3. To rotate the widget in any direction, left-click the arrow symbol in the frame and keep the mouse button pressed while moving your cursor in a circle across the desktop. There is a sticky boundary in the horizontal and vertical positions where you can « clamp » the widget, if you like. Of course, you can also arrange it in any tilted position.

  4. To change the contents, settings, or properties of a widget, left-click the wrench symbol in the frame. In the configuration dialog box that appears, set the options according to your wishes.

Procédure 2.4. Adding and Removing Panels

  1. If you want multiple panels on the desktop, right-click an empty area on the desktop, select Add Panel and choose a panel type from the list.

    If these menu items are not available, your desktop objects are probably locked. In this case, right-click and select Unlock Widgets first.

  2. Click the cashew icon at the end of the new panel to access the configuration options and customize the panel as described in Procédure 2.5, « Configuring Panels ».

  3. To delete a panel, right-click a blank space in the panel you want to delete and select Panel Options+Remove this Panel. openSUSE requires that at least one panel is left on the desktop.

Procédure 2.5. Configuring Panels

You can customize all KDE panels according to your preferences. Applications and widgets can be added to the quick launch area or the system tray in the main panel or to additional panels. Panel elements and additional panels can be moved to different places or be completely removed at any time.

  1. To access any options for the current panel, right-click an empty patch in the panel (or click the cashew icon at the end of the panel) and select Panel Options+Panel Settings. The panel changes view and shows its configurations options.

    If the menu item and the icon are not available, your desktop objects are probably locked. To unlock, right-click and select Unlock Widgets first.

  2. To move panel objects to a different place within the panel, hover the mouse cursor over the respective panel object (for example, program icon, pager, task manager, system tray). The mouse cursor turns into a crosslines-like form. Click the object and move the cursor to the desired position in the panel. Click again to fix it at this place.

  3. To enlarge the distance between two widgets, use Add Spacer.... A spacer widget appears on the right side. Drag and drop it to the preferred place.

  4. To change the panel width, click and drag the small arrow icons at the left and right end of the settings panel. Use the arrow on the left side to set the panel's position and the arrows at the right side to set the maximum and minimum size.

  5. To change the panel height, click the Height button and move the mouse cursor to the desired end location.

  6. To place the panel at different sides of the screen use the Screen Edge button. Drag and drop the panel to the preferred location.

  7. If you need additional widgets on your panel, add them with the Add Widgets... button as described in Procédure 2.2, « Adding Widgets to the Desktop or to the Panel ».

  8. To remove program icons or widgets from the panel, right-click the unwanted object and select the menu item to remove the icon or widget.

    The icons in the system tray usually belong to applications running in the background. Therefore you can only remove those icons if you close those applications (right-click the icon and select Quit).

  9. To prevent the panel and widgets from being moved accidentally, use Lock Widgets.

  10. For additional configurations options like alignment and functions (like auto hide), click More Settings....

  11. If all panel changes are according to your wishes, close the panel settings with the red close button on the right side.

Procédure 2.6. Changing the Desktop Background

You can change the desktop background to display images, a slideshow, patterns or colors. It is even possible to use a map of the globe or the weather report as desktop background.

  1. Right-click an empty patch of the desktop and select Desktop Settings. A configuration dialog appears.

  2. In the View section, choose a type from the Wallpaper drop-down list. The further configuration options depend on the choice of the object to use as background.

  3. For example, to use an image wallpaper:

    1. Set Wallpaper to Image.

    2. Define the Positioning of the image.

    3. To use one of the available wallpapers, either choose a wallpaper from the list or click Get New Wallpapers to download additional wallpapers.

    4. To use a custom picture, click Open and select an image file from the file system.

  4. Set the other options in the configuration dialog according to your wishes, and click OK to save your changes and leave the configuration dialog.

2.4.3. Modifying Personal Settings

Apart from changing individual desktop elements, KDE allows you to personalize your desktop to a very high degree. Possibilities to adjust the overall appearance and behavior of your desktop can be found in the Personal Settings configuration dialog.

Start the Personal Settings from the Main Menu by selecting Favorites+Configure Desktop.

The settings are grouped into different categories. Hover over an icon to see more details. Performing tasks in some areas of the personal settings requires system administrator (root) permissions.

Change the settings as desired. No changes take effect until you click Apply. To discard changes in the recent view that you have not yet applied, click Reset. To reset all items in the recent view to the default values, click Defaults.

To get back to the start-up view (showing all categories) again, click Overview at the top left corner of the dialog. You can also enter a search string at the top of the window (for example, Screen Saver) to find the category which holds options related to the search string. Each character you enter in the Search field further narrows the search.

For easier overview of all categories, you can also switch to a tree view by clicking Configure and selecting another View Style.

2.5. Applying Desktop Effects

If your computer supports a 3D graphics card with Xgl, you can use graphical effects like turning your desktop into a rotating 3D cube, enabling translucent or transparent windows, and zooming in and out of the desktop screen. You can also use other window effects such as shadows, fading, and transformations. If you do not have a 3D graphics card, some effects may be disabled or reduce the performance of your system. If the performance of your system is too low, disable the effects for your current session with Alt+Maj+F12.

To configure effects on your desktop, proceed as follows:

  1. Start the System Settings as described in Section 2.4.3, « Modifying Personal Settings ».

  2. Select Desktop Effects from the Workspace Appearance and Behavior category and choose Enable Desktop Effects. If your graphic card does not support 3D, you will be notified.

  3. Optionally, change some options below Common Settings.

  4. On the All Effects tab, select the effects you want to activate. Click the information icon for a short explanation of the respective effect. If an effect is activated, the wrench icon on the right gives access to further configuration options like assigning keyboard shortcuts to the effect.

  5. Use Apply to enable the effects permanently.

2.6. Using Virtual Desktops

The desktop environment allows you to organize your programs and tasks on several virtual desktops. If you often run a lot of programs simultaneously, this minimizes the number of windows to arrange on your screen. You might, for example, use one desktop for e-mailing and calendaring and another for word processing and graphics applications.

Procédure 2.7. Moving an Application to Another Virtual Desktop

You can display a running application on one or all virtual desktops, or move it to other desktops.

  1. Open the application.

  2. Right-click the title bar of the application.

  3. Click To Desktop.

  4. Select the desktop on which to place the application.

  5. To switch to a certain desktop, click the desired desktop in the pager in the panel. Switch to the next or previous desktop by placing the mouse cursor on an empty patch on the desktop and move the mouse wheel.

Procédure 2.8. Configuring Virtual Desktops

You can increase the number of virtual desktops, change the default names, assign activities, configure effect animations or assign keyboard shortcuts for switching virtual desktops.

  1. To add additional desktops, right-click the pager in the panel and select Add Virtual Desktop. A new desktop is shown in the pager.

  2. For any configuration options, right-click the pager and select Pager Settings.

  3. Use the options on the General screen to configure the appearance of the pager in the panel.

  4. Desktop names, keyboard shortcuts for switching desktops and the switching type can be configured on the Virtual Desktops screen.

  5. Set the options according to your wishes and click OK to apply the changes and to close the configuration dialog.

2.7. Managing Files and Folders

With KDE 4, Dolphin has replaced Konqueror as the default file manager. Konqueror remains a Web browser (refer to Section 2.8, « Browsing the Internet »). Start Dolphin, from the Main Menu by selecting Favorites+File Manager or press Alt+F2 and enter dolphin.

2.7.1. Dolphin Main Window

The Dolphin main window consists of the following elements:

Menu Bar:  The menu bar holds menu items for actions like copying, moving, or deleting files, changing views, starting additional tools, defining your settings, and getting help.

Toolbar:  The toolbar provides quick access to frequently used functions that can also be accessed via the menu. If you hover the mouse pointer over an icon, a short description is displayed.

Location Bar:  The location bar displays the path to the current directory. It is available in two versions: one shows the path to the current directory with icons for every parent folder in a « bread crumb » view. Click any icon in the bread crumb view to change to that directory. The second version of the location bar shows the path to the current directory as a string of text you can edit.

Panels:  By default, Dolphin shows the Places panel. It allows quick access to some often-used places like your home directory, the root directory of the file system (/), the trash bin, and removable media. There are several other panels you can add to the main window by clicking View+Panels.

Display Field (Working Space):  The display field shows the contents of the selected directory or file. By default, Dolphin displays the contents of your home directory on start-up. By default, clicking a folder or file in Dolphin directly starts an action: Dolphin loads the file into an application for further processing or opens the folder.

Status Bar:  Shows the file type and size of the currently selected object and allows you to enlarge or diminish the size of the icons or entries shown in the display field.

2.7.2. Managing Files and Folders with Dolphin

To perform actions like copying, moving, creating or deleting files, you need appropriate permissions to the folders and files involved in your action.

To copy, move, or delete a file or folder, proceed as follows:

  1. In order to select one or multiple files and folders in Dolphin, move your mouse pointer over the file or folder but do not click. A green cross appears on the upper-left edge. If you click it, the object is selected. To deselect again, click the red minus icon that appears if the object is currently selected.

    Alternatively, press Ctrl and click the objects you want to select or deselect.

  2. Right-click and select Copy or Cut from the context menu.

  3. Navigate to the destination folder in which to insert the object.

  4. To create a new folder at the current location, select File+Create New+Folder or press F10. Enter a folder name in the new window and press Entrée.

  5. To insert the object you copied or cut in Étape 2, right-click the destination folder in the main display field and select Paste. The object is copied or moved there.

  6. To delete a file or folder, right-click the object in the main display field and select Move to Trash from the context menu. The object is moved to the trash bin. From there, you can restore it if necessary or delete the object permanently.

To quickly filter for certain filenames in the current directory, press Ctrl+I to add the Filter input field to the bottom of the Dolphin main window. Type any part of the filename you are searching for to see all files in the current directory containing the search string. For more detailed and advanced searches, press Ctrl+F to use the desktop search. For more information, refer to Section 2.14.2, « Using Strigi Desktop Search ».

2.7.3. Configuring Dolphin

Dolphin offers many options for adjusting the view and the overall settings according to your preferences.

Procédure 2.9. Changing the View

  1. To switch from the bread crumb view to the editable version of the location bar, press F6. Enter a path to a directory by typing it in. After typing an address, press Entrée or click on the background of the bread crumb view.

    To delete the contents of the location bar click the black X symbol on the left. To switch back to bread crumb view, press Ctrl+L.

  2. To change the view of the currently displayed folder, either click Icons, Details, or Columns in the toolbar. Dolphin remembers the selected view for each folder. Click Split or press F3 to view the contents of the current folder in two separate columns. Now you can navigate to a different directory in each column and easily drag or drop objects or compare the contents of directories. Press F3 again to leave the split view.

  3. To make Dolphin also show hidden files, select View+Show Hidden Files.

  4. To view more details about the files (like access permissions or ownership) in the working space, select View+Additional Information and enable the corresponding options.

  5. To add further directories to the Places panel, drag a folder from the working space to the Places panel and drop it there. Right-click and use the context menu to hide, edit or remove entries from Places.

  6. To add more panels to the main window, select View+Panels and select additional panels such as Folders, or Terminal.

Detach the panels from the main Dolphin window by clicking the left icon at the top of each panel. Click the panel's title bar and drag it to another place on the desktop. To reintegrate the panel into the Dolphin window, click the left symbol at the top of the panel again.

Procédure 2.10. Changing Dolphin's Overall Behavior

If you want to change Dolphin's overall behavior or view, select Settings+Configure Dolphin and explore the options offered in the Dolphin configuration dialog.

  1. To use the same view mode for all folders, click General in the left sidebar and activate Use Common View Properties for All Folders. Click View Modes in the left sidebar and adjust the options for the individual view modes. Click Apply to save the changes.

  2. If you want Dolphin to show a different directory on start-up, or if you want to permanently use the editable location bar instead of the bread crumb view, click Startup in the left sidebar and change the relevant options.

  3. To configure which entries and services to show in the Dolphin context menu, click General. On the Context Menu tab, activate the entries to show. Click Services in the left sidebar and activate or deactivate the respective services to appear in the context menu.

  4. Click OK to save the changes and to close the Dolphin configuration dialog.

2.8. Browsing the Internet

Apart from Konqueror (KDE's default Web browser), openSUSE also includes the default Firefox Web browser. To start Konqueror or Firefox, press Alt+F2 and enter konqueror or firefox.

With features like tabbed browsing, pop-up window blocking, and download and image management, both browsers combine the latest Web technologies. Their easy access to different search engines helps you find the information you need.

Enter a URL in the location bar to start browsing. To open a new, empty tab, press Ctrl+T. To open a link in a new tab, click the link with your middle mouse button. Right-click the tab itself to access more tab options. You can create a new tab, reload one or all existing tabs, or close them. You can also change the sequence of the tabs by dragging and dropping them to the desired position.

2.8.1. Finding Information

Both browsers offer different kinds of search options: you can find information on the Web or you can search the current Web page for keywords.

Procédure 2.11. Searching the Web

  1. To start a search on the Web, click the left icon in the search bar (located next to the location bar) to open a list of search engines.

  2. Select the desired engine and type your search keywords into the input field.

  3. Press Entrée to start the search.

  4. To search the current Web page with Firefox or Konqueror, press Ctrl+F to open a find bar at the bottom of the window. Enter your search keyword there and use the buttons beneath the bar to search in different directions or to configure search options such as Match Case.

Konqueror offers predefined Web shortcuts for quickly searching the Web. For example, to search the Web for yast using the Google search engine, just type gg: yast into the Konqueror location bar (or the Run Command dialog) and press Entrée.

You can also define individual Web shortcuts in Konqueror and Firefox as described in Section 2.8.3, « Configuring Preferences ».

2.8.2. Downloading Files from the Web

If you download a file with Firefox or Konqueror, a dialog window appears asking you if you want to save the file or to open it with a specific application. Also choose if to remember the action you selected for this type of file. By default, Firefox saves the file to the folder configured in the Firefox Preferences and shows your finished downloads in the Downloads dialog.

To open the downloaded files directly from there, right-click and select Open. To clean up the history of downloaded files, click Clear List.

2.8.3. Configuring Preferences

Adjust preferences in Konqueror or Firefox. In Konqueror, access the configuration dialog with Settings+Configure Konqueror. To change the behavior of Konqueror as Web browser, select one of the Web Browsing sub categories in the left sidebar to show the options for the relevant category. For example, you can « hide » Konqueror's real identity and make Konqueror identify as a different browser (for example, Internet Explorer*) for certain Web sites you visit. To do so, select Browser Identification, and click New to add a new, site-specific identification.

You might also want to configure the Web shortcuts you can use with Konqueror (and the Run Command dialog). In the Konqueror configuration dialog, click Web Shortcuts to see which shortcuts are already defined. Click New to define new shortcuts. Leave the Konqueror configuration dialog with OK to apply your changes.

In Firefox, select Edit+Preferences to open the Firefox Preferences. Click the icons in the upper display field to access the options for the relevant category. For example, change the default download folder on the General page, or adjust the pop-up blocking feature on the Content page. Click OK to apply the changes.

To configure a Web shortcut for a search in Firefox, browse to the Web page with the desired search field. Right-click the search field and choose Add a Keyword for this Search.... Enter a Keyword and leave the dialog with OK.

2.9. Managing Passwords

When you enter a password in a KDE application for the first time (in KMail or Konqueror, for example), you are asked if you want to store the password. If you click Yes, KWallet wizard starts by default. KWallet is a password management tool that can collect all passwords and store them in one or more encrypted files (called wallets).

To activate KWallet, select Basic Setup and click Next. Select Yes, I wish to use the KDE wallet to store my personal information and enter a password. This is your master password for the default wallet (named kdewallet) that is created during the next step.

[Warning]Protect Your KWallet Password

If you forget your master password for any wallet, it cannot be recovered. Furthermore, anyone who knows your master password can obtain all information contained in the respective wallet.

Click Finish to close the wizard. If you started the KWallet wizard initially from another application like Konqueror or KMail, KWallet will prompt you to enter the password once again in order to store the password for this application in the newly created wallet. After initial configuration you can open your wallet at any time to view, search, delete, or create entries. Normally you do not need to insert an entry manually. KDE recognizes if a resource requires authentication and KWallet starts automatically, prompting you for the KWallet password. However, you can add additional data if you wish. To configure any KWallet options, press Alt+F2 and enter kwalletmanager. In the KDE Wallet Manager that opens select Settings+Configure Wallet.

Whereas KWallet is designed to centrally manage passwords for several KDE applications, Firefox also offers the ability to store data when you enter a username and a password on a Web site. If you accept by clicking Remember, the password will be stored on your hard disk in an encrypted format. The next time you access this site, Firefox will automatically populate the login fields.

To review or manage your passwords in Firefox, click Edit+Preferences+Security+Saved Passwords....

2.10. E-Mailing and Calendaring

For reading and managing your mails and appointments, you can use Kontact as your personal information management tool (PIM). Kontact combines KDE applications like KMail, KOrganizer, and KAddressBook into a single interface. This gives you easy access to your e-mails, calendar, address book, and other PIM functionality. Kontact can also manage multiple e-mail accounts.

2.10.1. Starting Kontact for the First Time

To start Kontact, press Alt+F2 and enter kontact. To access one of its components like KMail, click the corresponding icon in the left sidebar.

Before you can send or receive mails, you must configure an e-mail identity and account:

  1. From the menu, select Settings+Configure Kontact....

  2. In the left side pane under Mail, click Identities and select the identity that KMail has automatically created for you. Modify it by entering your full name and e-mail address and confirming your changes.

  3. Click Accounts in the left side pane under Mail and Add at least one account on the tabs for Receiving and Sending mails. (Optionally, you can configure multiple mail accounts).

    Usually, the following information is required for both incoming and outgoing mail: Account Type, Server Name and Port. Depending on the account, you may also need to set encryption or authentication options. If you are not sure about the settings or items to select, consult your Internet Service Provider or system administrator.

  4. Confirm the setup and leave the configuration dialog with OK.

To write a new mail, click the Mail icon in the Kontact main window and press Ctrl+N to open the mail composer. After you have finished your mail, click Send to send it immediately. In case you have configured multiple e-mail accounts, keep the Send button pressed, then select the account from which you want to send the mail.

2.11. Instant Messaging with Kopete

Kopete is an online messenger application that allows multiple partners connected to the Internet to chat with each other. Kopete currently supports a number of common messenger protocols, such as AOL* Instant Messenger (AIM), Gadu-Gadu, GroupWise® Messenger, ICQ, Jabber*, SMS, and Yahoo!*. To be able to use instant messaging (IM), you must register with a provider offering IM services and configure a Kopete account.

To start Kopete, press Alt+F2 and enter kopete. If started for the first time, click the wrench icon at the bottom of the Kopete window to create an account. Kopete guides you through the setup steps like selecting the messaging service, and entering the respective account information like user name or ID, server name and port and any authentication details like passwords. If you have not registered with the provider for the selected messaging service yet, click Register New Account. In the browser window that opens, enter your user data to register. Switch back to Kopete and enter the data received on registration. Complete the configuration of your account by clicking Finish.

If you decided to go online after configuring your account, you can now add contacts in the main Kopete window. If the Kopete window shows offline , first click File+Set Status+Online and enter your password if you are prompted for it. After connecting, click File+Add Contact and select the Kopete account for which you want to add contacts. Enter the contact data or search for a contact and click OK.

To view all your contacts, even if they are offline at the moment, select Settings+Show Offline Users.

To start a chat with someone, click the desired contact and type your message in the lower part of the chat window. Press Entrée to send the message. The upper part of the window displays the messages you have sent and received.

2.12. Starting LibreOffice

The office suite LibreOffice offers a complete set of office tools, including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, vector drawing, and database components. Because LibreOffice is available for a number of operating systems, you can use the same data across different computing platforms.

To start LibreOffice press Alt+F2 and enter libreoffice. To create a new document, select File+New and choose the type of document to create. To open an existing document, select Open and choose the appropriate file from the file system.

Find more information in the LibreOffice Quick Start.

2.13. Viewing PDF Files and Other Documents

Documents that need to be shared or printed across multiple platforms can be saved as PDF (Portable Document Format) files, for example, in the LibreOffice suite. View them with Okular, the default KDE document viewer.

2.13.1. Using Okular Document Viewer

Apart from PDF files, Okular allows you to view a great number of file formats, such as PostScript, several image formats, OpenDocument format (ODF), OpenDocument text (ODT), some eBook formats (ePub), and even Microsoft* Compiled HTML Help (CHM). Okular also provides support for bookmarks, annotations, form fields and multimedia content, and the rotation of pages.

Start Okular from the Main Menu or press Alt+F2 and enter okular.

To open a document, select File+Open and choose the desired file from the file system. Navigate through the document by using the navigation icons at the top or bottom of the window. Depending on which icon you click on the navigation panel on the left, the sidebar either shows a table of Contents, a Thumbnail view of each page, the Reviews, or your Bookmarks for this file. To filter for any text listed in the sidebar or the overall document, enter a string into the input field at the top of the sidebar. If you want to select and copy text or images from the file in Okular, click the Selection icon in the toolbar and select one of the options from the context menu. Click the Browse icon to switch back to browsing the document.

Procédure 2.12. Working with Bookmarks and Annotations

With Okular, you can review a document by highlighting certain text parts or adding annotations or bookmarks that Okular then attaches to the file in the form of metadata. Note that the annotations and markers you add are not stored within the document, so you cannot print them or pass them on to other users.

  1. To add a bookmark for a page, click the page in the sidebar or in the main display field and press Ctrl+B. The page is added to the Bookmarks list on the left sidebar. Right-click the bookmark entry to access a context menu for going to this bookmark or renaming, or removing it.

  2. To create an annotation for a page, press F6 and select one of the annotation tools from the toolbar that appears. The annotation is added to the list of Reviews and is flagged with the login name of the user who created it. Use the icons at the bottom of the sidebar to group the annotations by page, by author or to show the annotations for the current page only.

  3. To open a pop-up note and add text for an annotation (or to remove an annotation), right-click the annotation entry in the Reviews list and select the corresponding menu item. The annotations or markers you added are automatically attached to the file, you do not need to save them.

2.13.2. Using Acrobat Reader

If Acrobat Reader is not installed by default, install the acroread package with YaST. To start Acrobat reader, press Alt+F2 and enter acroread. Click File+Open, locate the desired PDF file and click Open to view the file.

2.14. Searching for Data

KDE provides more than one application for finding data on your computer or in the file system. One application is KFind, which is described below.

2.14.1. Using KFind

To perform basic and advanced searches, use KFind. Start it from the Main Menu by clicking Applications+Find Files/Folders or press Alt+F2 and enter kfind.

Procédure 2.13. Searching by Name

To use a filename (or a part of it) as the search keyword, proceed as follows:

  1. Enter the filename or a part of the filename in the Named input field. Use wild cards, such as an asterisk (*), to indicate missing characters in the filename.

  2. Specify the folder in which to search for the file. Either enter a path to the folder in Look in or click Browse to locate the folder.

  3. To search subfolders, check Include Subfolders.

  4. Click Find to start the search. The results are displayed in the lower part of the dialog. To directly open the result, just click it. Right-click it to choose one of the options from the context menu.

Procédure 2.14. Searching by Contents or Properties

For a more detailed search, you can also specify further options, such as a text the file must contain or the creation or modification date of a file. To search for content or properties, proceed as follows:

  1. On the Name/Location tab, specify at least the path to search for the file. You can leave Named empty.

  2. To search for certain content in a file, click the Contents tab. In Containing Text, enter the word or phrase the file to find must contain. This option does not work for all types of files.

  3. To search for properties such as creation or modification date of the file, click the Properties tab and choose the options you want.

  4. Click Find to start the search.

2.14.2. Using Strigi Desktop Search

Strigi Desktop Search offers advanced search capabilities by additionally searching for metadata such as tags, ratings, and even source URLs for downloads. It requires the services nepomuk and strigi to run. To activate these services, press Alt+F2 and enter strigi. Choose Nepomuk/Strigi server Configuration to start the configuration dialog. Enable the two services on the tab Basic Settings and leave the dialog by clicking Apply and OK.

Once activated, you can use KRunner (Alt+F2) to search for files by just typing a keyword. A more advanced search interface is available in the Dolphin file manager. Press Ctrl+F in Dolphin to activate the desktop search. You can filter the search results for Filename, Content or location.

2.15. Creating a CD or DVD

If you possess a CD or DVD writer, you can burn files to a CD or DVD with K3b. To create a data CD or DVD, proceed as follows:

  1. Press Alt+F2 and enter k3b. K3b opens.

  2. Select File+New Project+New Data Project from the main menu.

  3. Use the tree view in the top left part of the window to search for the files or folders to burn. When they appear in the top right part of the window, drag and drop them into the Current Projects window.

  4. Insert a writable CD or DVD into the device then click the Burn icon.

  5. Check the settings on the Writing tab. Usually the defaults should work well for almost all files. If you wish, you can change more options (for example the Volume Name) on the Filesystem tab.

  6. Click Burn.

2.16. Managing Your Digital Image Collection

With digiKam, it is easy to manage your digital images: download your images from the camera, edit and improve them, organize them in albums (or flag them with tags for easy retrieval, independent of folders or albums), archive them on CD or DVD, or export them to a Web image gallery.

digiKam also contains a set of useful batch functions and plug-ins, allowing you to convert multiple images to various different formats, rename multiple images, or automatically improve them with functions such as red eye reduction, speck removal, and hot pixel removal. Various filter and effects plug-ins help create works of art from your digital images.

To start digiKam, press Alt+F2 and enter digikam. On initial start-up, the first-run wizard appears to guide you through the setup.

digiKam's main window contains a tree view on the left and shows thumbnails of the images on the right. For quick access to your images, use the sidebar on the left, which allows you to switch between different views, for example, sorting the images according to Albums, Dates, Tags or Searches. To enter digiKam's viewing and editing mode, double-click an image thumbnail.

2.17. Managing Your Music Collection

KDE's Amarok music player allows you to play various audio formats, create playlists, listen to streaming audio broadcasts of radio stations on the Internet and subscribe to podcasts. The file types supported depend on the engine used for Amarok.

To start Amarok, press Alt+F2 and enter amarok. On first start, Amarok asks for the folders where to look for your music files.

Amarok's main window shows a sidebar on the left providing different views: your local music collection, some addresses to listen to podcasts or streams from the Internet, your playlists and a file browser. The middle part, the context browser, displays information about the current track, the Wikipedia page of the artist and the song's lyrics by default. The right part of the window shows the current playlist. To play music, just drag and drop items from any of the sidebar browsers to the playlist area. Double-click an item in the playlist to start playback.

If your music files are properly tagged (containing at least information about the artist and album), you can make use of several nice Amarok features. To automatically retrieve the album cover images from Amazon, select Tools+Cover Manager and click Fetch Missing Covers. The next time you play a track from this album, the cover is displayed in the context browser and on the on-screen display. To learn more about the artist, click on the Wikipedia button in the middle area to make Amarok search for the appropriate Wikipedia article.

To configure the use of another engine (or various other Amarok features), select Settings+Configure Amarok.

2.18. Déconnexion

Log out (and leave the system running), restart or shut down the computer.

2.18.1. Logging Out or Switching Users

Click the Main Menu button on your panel and select Leave+Logout. This ends your session but leaves the system running. To start a parallel session as a different user, select Leave+Switch User instead.

2.18.2. Restarting or Shutting Down the Computer

Click Leave, then select one of the following options:

Sleep

Only available if your computer provides power management functionality. Pauses your computer without logging you out. All your data and the session data is saved to RAM.

Hiberner

Only available if your computer provides power management functionality. Pauses your computer without logging you out. All your data and the session data is saved to disk before the system is laid to rest. It is thus protected against data loss should you lose power in the meantime.

Redémarrer

Redémarre votre ordinateur.

Eteindre

Logs you out of the current session, then turns off the computer.

2.19. For More Information

To learn more about KDE and KDE applications, also refer to http://www.kde.org/ and http://www.kde-apps.org/.