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Complete Idiot's Guide to Linux
(Publisher: Macmillan Computer Publishing)
Author(s): Manuel Ricart
ISBN: 078971826x
Publication Date: 12/22/98

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Associating an Application with KFM and the Application Starter

To enable KFM to use the kdelnk file, you need to place it in a special directory. This directory will vary depending on whether you want to make the associations systemwide or just for your own personal workspace.

To install the file on your personal workspace, move it to the .kde/share/applnk directory or one of its subdirectories in your home directory. When you log out and back in, you’ll be able to see the correct icon when you browse /opt/netscape/communicator/netscape. This action also has the effect of adding the item to your personal application menu.

To make the association take effect for all users in the system, place the link file in the /opt/kde/share/applnk directory or one of its subdirectories. Note that you will have to do this as the superuser (root). This also has the effect of adding the application to the application starter menu. Make sure that the files you add have the permission mode set to 644 (readable and writable by root and readable by the group and others). See “Changing File Permissions” in Chapter 16, “Permissions: Protecting and Sharing Your Work.”

Panel Management: Adding and Removing Applications

To add an application to the panel (the icon bar at the bottom of the screen), drag a kdelnk file, as created in the preceding section, to the panel. A button will be displayed that you can click to start the application.

To remove the application, simply right-click on its panel button and choose Remove.

Other KDE Options

KDE allows you to configure other settings related to the panel and the taskbar. To configure these settings, right-click on the panel in an empty area and choose Configure. You can also use the Configure command available from the Panel menu in the application starter. The various options are contained in three tabs (see the next two figures):

  Panel provides configuration settings to the location and appearance of the panel
  Options provides settings for configuring the menu ToolTips, Clock, and Auto-hide settings for the panel and taskbar
  Desktop provides options for controlling the number of virtual desktops (see Chapter 4, “Working with Applications”)


The KPanel Configuration panel allows you to customize the location, behavior, and appearance of the panel and taskbars.


The Options tab allows you to configure settings, such as a display of ToolTips (information labels that tell you what a button or an icon does). You can also customize whether the panel and taskbar auto-hide and whether the clock displays. The Personal First button controls the order of menus in the application starter. Personal menus have a sphere icon.

The KDE Control Center

The KDE Control Center provides a unified place to change many settings related to KDE. This is where you can customize color settings, language preferences, screen savers, fonts, and so on. In addition, you can also fine-tune some hardware settings, such as mouse acceleration and keyboard repeat settings.

The KDE Control Center is available from the application starter and offers you the opportunity to customize your system to fit your preferences. Here’s what the KDE Control Center looks like:


The KDE Control Center gives centralized access to many settings you can personalize.


Check This Out:  What else can you do with KDE?
Well, let’s say you aren’t comfy-cozy with English. Guess what—KDE can be customized to the language of your choice! At last count, KDE supported about 25 different languages.

You can expect the KDE Control Center to offer more settings as the KDE environment matures.

This chapter concludes the tour through the KDE environment. In the Part 2, “Working on the Command Line,” you’ll be introduced to using Linux via the UNIX shell. Although the UNIX shell isn’t as intuitive or sexy as KDE, it is definitely powerful. The other great advantage of the shell is that it is available in all UNIX implementations. So what you learn in the next section will apply to work that you might end up doing in other versions of UNIX.


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