SUSE LINUX

U SER G UIDE
Edition 2005

Copyright ©
This publication is intellectual property of Novell Inc.
Its contents can be duplicated, either in part or in whole, provided that a copyright label is
visibly located on each copy.
All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail.
However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither SuSE Linux GmbH, the
authors, nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences
thereof.
Many of the software and hardware descriptions cited in this book are registered trade-
marks. All trade names are subject to copyright restrictions and may be registered trade
marks. SUSE LINUX GmbH essentially adheres to the manufacturer’s spelling. Names of
products and trademarks appearing in this book (with or without specific notation) are
likewise subject to trademark and trade protection laws and may thus fall under copyright
restrictions.
Please direct suggestions and comments to documentation@suse.de.

Authors: Jörg Bartsch, Marcel Hilzinger, Takashi Iwai, Stephan Kulow, Johannes
Meixner, Matthias Nagorny, Siegfried Olschner, Marcus Schäfer, Jens
Daniel Schmidt, Arvin Schnell, Adrian Schröter, Luis Villa
Editors: Jörg Arndt, Antje Faber, Berthold Gunreben, Roland Haidl, Jana Jaeger,
Edith Parzefall, Inés Pozo, Thomas Rölz, Thomas Schraitle, Rebecca Wal-
ter
Layout: Manuela Piotrowski, Thomas Schraitle
Setting: DocBook-XML, LATEX

This book has been printed on 100 % chlorine-free bleached paper.

 Welcome

The SUSE LINUX User Guide was written to introduce the Linux operating sys-
tem and its wealth of applications to Linux novices. Get to know your choices
for a Linux desktop and learn how to configure and control it. Despite its aim
towards novices, it still provides a variety of information helpful for the experi-
enced user.
The SUSE LINUX User Guide consists of six major parts featuring the following
aspects of your SUSE LINUX system:

Introducing Linux Get started with Linux. Learn how to manage your desk-
top and how to perform basic administrative tasks. A comprehensive list
comparing Windows and Linux applications helps you find the appropri-
ate Linux counterparts of your favorite Windows applications. As for the
desktop, choose from two alternatives—GNOME or KDE—and learn more
about their strengths and highlights. Finally, learn where to get more infor-
mation and help for your Linux system.
Office OpenOffice.org is a powerful substitute for any Office suite you might
have used under Windows or Mac OS. Learn how to use it and how to mi-
grate your existing data. Linux also provides two fully-fledged personal
information management suites, Evolution and Kontact. Both offer e-mail,
calendar, address management, and many other functionalities.
Internet Linux offers two great browser alternatives: Firefox and Konqueror.
Get to know how to use them and how to enjoy many smart little add-on
features. A chapter about the KDE encryption tool, KGpg, shows you how
to secure your Internet communication.
 Multimedia Linux offers many players both for video and audio media. You
can also use Linux software to create and edit your own movies or music
recordings. If digital image processing is your scene, try GIMP, which eas-
ily rivals Adobe Photoshop. Easy-to-use scanning applications and album
software for your digital photo collection are also provided.
Excursions Similar to the DOS shell, a Linux system offers a powerful shell en-
vironment that can be used to interact directly with the operating system.
Learn about the basic principles behind that functionality and get some
hands-on experience using the most important shell commands featured
in this section.
Appendix The SUSE LINUX FAQ contains some of the most frequently asked
questions regarding SUSE LINUX. Feel free to contribute and send us your
suggestions.

If looking for in-depth information about the SUSE LINUX installation process
or system administration, refer to the SUSE LINUX Administration Guide. It intro-
duces installation and configuration with YaST and gives background knowledge
for many services and applications running on your Linux machine.

Changes in the User Guide

The following is a list of the changes introduced in this guide, as compared to the
previous version (SUSE LINUX 9.2):

A new chapter about basic concepts helps new users. See Chapter 1 on
page 3.
If you are new to SUSE LINUX, coming from Windows, a list of equivalent
programs under Linux is a valuable aid. See Chapter 2 on page 31.
The GNOME and KDE chapters have been revised. See Chapter 3 on
page 47 and Chapter 4 on page 69.
The help chapter has been revised. It contains more information about
man and info pages, guides, books. and other resources. See Chapter 5 on
page 99.
The former chapters of KMail and KOrganizer have been transferred to the
new Kontact chapter. See Chapter 8 on page 129.

iv
 Konqueror has been enhanced with information about tabbed browsing
and other small improvements. See Chapter 10 on page 151.
There is a new Firefox chapter. See Chapter 11 on page 157.
The chapter about digital cameras has been updated and expanded. It con-
tains more information about Digikam. See Chapter 16 on page 215.

Typographical Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

/etc/passwd: files or directories

hplaceholderi: replace the character string hplaceholderi (including the angle
brackets) with the actual value
PATH: an environment variable
ls: commands

user: users
 
Alt 
: a key to press
‘File’: menu items, buttons or other elements from a graphical user interface

Acknowledgements
With a lot of personal commitment, the Linux developers continue to promote the
development of Linux. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for their
efforts. Without them, this distribution would not exist. Additional thanks go to
Frank Zappa and Pawar. Special thanks, of course, to Linus Torvalds.
Have a lot of fun!
Your SUSE Team

SUSE LINUX v
 Contents

I Introducing Linux 1

1 First Contact 3
1.1 Logging In and Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.1 Introducing GDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2 Introducing KDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 The User Concept of Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.1 Desktop Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.2 Configuring Desktop Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.3 Little Helpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.4 Switching Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4 File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4.1 The Concept behind a Linux File System . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4.2 Different Flavors of Your File Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.4.3 Searching Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.6.1 Managing Print Jobs in GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.6.2 Managing Print Jobs in KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.7 Basic Administrative Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
 1.7.1 Installing New Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.7.2 Retrieving and Applying Software Updates . . . . . . . . . 22
1.8 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.9 Networking and Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.9.1 Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.9.2 Mobile Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.10 Using the Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

2 Getting to Know Linux Software 31

2.1 Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2 Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3 Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4 Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.5 System and File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.6 Software Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

3 The GNOME Desktop 47

3.1 The Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.1.1 The Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.1.2 The Desktop Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.3 The Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.2 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2.1 Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2.2 Mouse Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2.3 Menus and Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2.4 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.5 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.6 Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.2.7 Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.2.8 Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.2.9 Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

viii Contents
 3.2.10 Assistive Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.11 Sound (System Alerts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.12 Default Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.13 Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3 File Management with Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.1 Navigating in Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.2 File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3.3 Editing MIME Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3.4 Configuring Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4 Important Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.4.1 Taking Notes with Tomboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.4.2 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.4.3 Messaging with Gaim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.4.4 Watching Movies with Totem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.4.5 Managing Archives with File Roller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.5 Assistive Technology Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.5.1 GNOME On-Screen Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.5.2 Gnopernicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.5.3 Dasher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4 The KDE Desktop 69

4.1 Desktop Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.1.1 The Desktop Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.1.2 The Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.2 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2.1 Using the KDE Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2.2 Appearance & Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2.3 Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.2.4 Internet & Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.2.5 KDE Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.2.6 Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

SUSE LINUX ix
 4.2.7 Power Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.2.8 Regional & Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.2.9 Security & Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2.10 Sound & Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2.11 System Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.3 Konqueror as a File Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3.1 File Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3.2 File Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3.3 The Konqueror Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.3.4 The Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.5 The Location Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.6 The Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.4 Important Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.4.1 Creating an Image Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.4.2 Managing Passwords with KWallet Manager . . . . . . . . . 83
4.4.3 The Download Manager KGet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.4.4 The Clipboard Klipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.4.5 Ark: Displaying, Decompressing, and Creating Archives . . 88
4.4.6 Screenshots with KSnapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.4.7 Viewing PDF Files with KPDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.4.8 Chatting With Friends: Kopete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.4.9 KDE Accessibility Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.4.10 Font Administration with KFontinst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

5 Help and Documentation 99

5.1 Using the SUSE Help Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.1.1 Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.1.2 The Search Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.2 Man Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.3 Info Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.4 The Linux Documentation Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

x Contents
 5.4.1 HOWTOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.4.2 Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.5 Wikipedia: the Free Online Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.6 Guides and Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.6.1 SUSE Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.6.2 Other Manuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.7 Usenet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

II Office 107

6 The OpenOffice.org Office Suite 109

6.1 Compatibility with Other Office Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.2 Word Processing with Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.2.1 Selecting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.2.2 Navigating in Large Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.2.3 Formatting with Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.3 Introducing Calc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.4 Introducing Impress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.5 Introducing Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

7 Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program 117

7.1 Importing E-Mail from Other Mail Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.2 Evolution Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.2.1 Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.2.2 Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.2.3 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.2.4 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.3 Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.3.1 Configuring Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.3.2 Creating Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

SUSE LINUX xi
 7.3.3 Encrypted E-Mail and Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
7.3.4 Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
7.3.5 Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.4 Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.4.1 Adding Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
7.4.2 Making a List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.4.3 Adding Address Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.5 Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.5.1 Adding Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.5.2 Scheduling a Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.5.3 Adding Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.6 Syncing Data with a Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

8 Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program 129

8.1 Importing E-Mail from Other Mail Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.2 Kontact Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.2.1 Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.2.2 Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
8.2.3 To-Do List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.2.4 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.2.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.3 Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.3.1 Configuring Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.3.2 Creating Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
8.3.3 Encrypted E-Mail and Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
8.3.4 Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
8.3.5 Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
8.4 Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
8.4.1 Adding Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
8.4.2 Making a List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

xii Contents
 8.4.3 Adding Address Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8.5 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8.5.1 Scheduling an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
8.5.2 Adding Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8.6 Syncing Data with a Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

9 Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with KPilot 141

9.1 Conduits Used by KPilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
9.2 Configuring the Handheld Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9.2.1 Configuring the Connection from within KPilot . . . . . . . 143
9.2.2 Creating a /dev/pilot Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
9.3 Configuring the KAddressBook Conduit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
9.4 Managing To-Do Items and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
9.5 Working with KPilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
9.5.1 Backing Up Data from the Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
9.5.2 Installing Programs on the Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
9.5.3 Synchronizing Your Address Books and Calendars . . . . . 147

III Internet 149

10 The Web Browser Konqueror 151

10.1 Tabbed Browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
10.2 Saving Web Pages and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.3 Internet Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.4 Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
10.5 Java and JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

SUSE LINUX xiii

 11 Firefox 157
11.1 Navigating Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
11.1.1 Tabbed Browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.1.2 Using the Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.2 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.2.1 Using the Search Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.2.2 Using the Find Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.3 Managing Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.3.1 Using the Bookmark Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.3.2 Migrating Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.4 Using the Download Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.5 Customizing Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
11.5.1 Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
11.5.2 Changing Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
11.5.3 Adding Smart Keywords to Your Online Searches . . . . . . 163
11.6 Printing from Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
11.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

12 Encryption with KGpg 165

12.1 Generating a New Key Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
12.2 Exporting the Public Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
12.3 Importing Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
12.3.1 Signing Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
12.3.2 Trusting Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
12.4 The Key Server Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
12.4.1 Importing a Key from a Key Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
12.4.2 Exporting Your Keys to a Key Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
12.5 Text and File Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
12.5.1 Encrypting and Decrypting the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . 172
12.5.2 Encrypting and Decrypting by Dragging and Dropping . . 172
12.5.3 The KGpg Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
12.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

xiv Contents
IV Multimedia 175

13 Sound in Linux 177

13.1 Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
13.1.1 KMix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
13.1.2 The GNOME Mixer Applet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
13.1.3 alsamixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
13.1.4 Look and Feel of Mixer Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
13.1.5 The Mixer for the Sound Chip Envy24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
13.2 Multimedia Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
13.2.1 amaroK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
13.2.2 XMMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
13.3 CDs: Playback and Ripping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
13.3.1 KsCD—Audio CD Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
13.3.2 GNOME CD Player Applet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
13.3.3 Compressing Audio Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
13.4 Hard Disk Recording with Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
13.4.1 Recording WAV Files and Importing Files . . . . . . . . . . . 192
13.4.2 Editing Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
13.4.3 Saving and Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
13.5 Direct Recording and Playback of WAV Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

14 TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam 197

14.1 Watching TV with motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
14.1.1 Video Source and Network Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
14.1.2 Retrieving Audio Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
14.1.3 Screen Proportions and Full-Screen Mode . . . . . . . . . . . 199
14.1.4 The Launcher Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
14.2 Video Text Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
14.3 Webcams and motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
14.4 nxtvepg—The TV Magazine for Your PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

SUSE LINUX xv
 14.4.1 Importing the EPG Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
14.4.2 Sorting the Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
14.5 Watching Digital Video Broadcasts with xawtv4 . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
14.6 Webcam Operation with gqcam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
14.6.1 Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
14.6.2 Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
14.6.3 Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

15 K3b—The KDE Burning Application 209

15.1 Creating a Data CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
15.2 Creating an Audio CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
15.3 Copying a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
15.4 Writing ISO Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
15.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

16 Digital Cameras and Linux 215

16.1 Connecting to the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
16.2 Accessing the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
16.3 Installing the Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
16.4 Using Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
16.5 Using gtKam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
16.6 Using Digikam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
16.6.1 Configuring Your Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
16.6.2 Downloading Pictures from Your Camera . . . . . . . . . . . 220
16.6.3 Getting Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
16.6.4 Managing Albums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
16.6.5 Managing Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
16.6.6 Useful Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
16.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

xvi Contents
17 Kooka—A Scanning Application 227
17.1 The Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
17.2 The Final Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
17.3 The Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
17.4 The Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
17.5 Optical Character Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

18 Manipulating Graphics with The GIMP 235

18.1 Graphics Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
18.2 Starting GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
18.2.1 Initial Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
18.2.2 The Default Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
18.3 Getting Started in GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
18.3.1 Creating a New Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
18.3.2 Opening an Existing Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
18.3.3 The Image Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
18.4 Saving Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
18.5 Printing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
18.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

V Excursions 243

19 Working with the Shell 245

19.1 Introduction to Bash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
19.1.1 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
19.1.2 Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
19.1.3 Bash Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
19.1.4 Specifying Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
19.1.5 Wild Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
19.1.6 Less and More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
19.1.7 Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

SUSE LINUX xvii

 19.1.8 Archives and Data Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
19.1.9 mtools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
19.1.10 Cleaning Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
19.2 Users and Access Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
19.2.1 File System Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
19.2.2 Modifying File Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
19.2.3 The setuid Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
19.2.4 The setgid Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
19.2.5 The Sticky Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
19.2.6 Access Control Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
19.3 Important Linux Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
19.3.1 File Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
19.3.2 System Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
19.4 The vi Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

A SUSE LINUX FAQ 271

xviii Contents
 Part I

Introducing Linux
 1

First Contact
First Contact

This chapter guides you through the first encounter with your freshly installed
Linux system. Learn all about the different components of your system envi-
ronment. After this crash course, you should be fit to use and enjoy your SUSE
LINUX system.

1.1 Logging In and Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2 The User Concept of Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.5 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.7 Basic Administrative Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.8 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.9 Networking and Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.10 Using the Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
 This chapter focuses on the installed system. It does not cover questions regard-
ing the installation or hardware configuration procedures under SUSE LINUX.
These procedures are covered in-depth in the Administration Guide and some of
the most frequently encountered problems are dealt with in the SUSE LINUX
FAQ at the end of this book.

1.1 Logging In and Out

If your computer is not run in a networking environment and you are the only
person using it, your system automatically boots into the desktop environment.
Once you have started your computer, there is no need for you to authenticate.
This feature, called auto login, is only provided by the KDM display manager,
however. It can be disabled at any time using the YaST user management mod-
ule described in the Administration Guide.
If more than one user account is configured on your computer, any user must
authenticate. After your SUSE LINUX system has started, you are prompted for
your username and password.
Depending on the desktop environment installed, the program managing the lo-
gin process and sessions is either GDM for GNOME desktops or KDM for KDE.
GDM and KDM differ slightly in functionality, which is why they are treated sep-
arately. See Section 1.3 on page 7 for details on the desktop environments or refer
to the separate GNOME or KDE chapters, Chapter 3 on page 47 or Chapter 4 on
page 69.

1.1.1 Introducing GDM

A GDM login screen consists of two main components, the input field for user-
name and password and a menu. See Figure 1.1 on the facing page.
The menu contains three items:

Language Select the language to use in the following GNOME session. You may
change the language temporarily for just the next session or set the choice
permanently as your default.
Session Determine the session type (GNOME, KDE, etc.). Change this set-
ting only if you want to use something other than the system default. Fu-
ture sessions will always be of the same type as the initial one, unless you

4 1.1. Logging In and Out

 1

First Contact
Figure 1.1: A GDM Login Screen

change the session type manually. If you change your session type manu-
ally, you will be asked whether the changes should be applied to the follow-
ing sessions or whether they should be made default for all future sessions.
Actions Choose some system-related actions, such as shutting down the system,
rebooting it, or configuring the login manager.

To terminate the session, choose ‘Log Out’ from the ‘System’ menu. Then deter-
mine whether you want to save the current state of your session, end your ses-
sion and leave the system running, or restart or shut down on logout. Choose to
save your session if you want to start your next one with exactly the same setup
as when you leave.

1.1.2 Introducing KDM

A KDM login screen consists of two main elements. As shown in Figure 1.2 on
the next page, it has input fields for username and password and a menu.
The menu provides the following options:

SUSE LINUX 5
 Figure 1.2: A KDM Login Screen

Session Type Determine the session type. Make changes only if you want to use
a session type other than the default (KDE). Future sessions are automati-
cally of the same type unless you change the session type manually.
Menu ‘Remote Login’ enables you to log in on a remote machine. ‘Shutdown’
either turns the computer off completely or reboots the system.

To terminate the session, choose ‘Logout’ from the main menu. Then determine
whether to end your session and leave the system running or restart or shut
down on logout. If your system provides power management, you are offered to
suspend the computer, making the next system start much faster than a complete
boot.

1.2 The User Concept of Linux

Linux distinguishes between “ordinary” users and a superuser. The superuser,
called root, takes care of all kinds of administrative tasks and has access to all

6 1.2. The User Concept of Linux

parts of the system. Normal users lack these privileges.
All users including the superuser have their own home directories where all pri-
1

First Contact
vate data, like documents, bookmarks, or e-mail, are stored. Write access to these
home directories is strictly limited to their respective owners. Folders in a home
directory holding sensitive data can also be protected against read access by other
users. System directories holding central configuration files or executable files can
only be modified by the superuser. For more information about the Linux permis-
sion and user concept, refer to Section 19.2 on page 255.
While this concept may not look very appealing at first, it adds to security. A user
without root privileges cannot damage the entire system. Any damage caused
is strictly limited to the user’s own account and data. Any operation executed
with root privileges may potentially harm the entire system. Anyone intending
to harm a running Linux system must gain root privileges first. This is why it is
much harder to create viruses for Linux systems. They have to overcome the root
barrier first.
As well as offering different user identities for administrators and normal users,
Linux supports multiple users working on one machine simultaneously. These
users can connect to the system via different terminals or network connections.

1.3 Desktop
SUSE LINUX offers several choices for your desktop. GNOME and KDE, the
most common desktops, provide features and functions similar to those of the
desktop used in Microsoft Windows or Mac OS. This section introduces their
most important features and helps you to get accustomed to your new desktop
environment.

1.3.1 Desktop Terminology

The following list introduces some terms often used in a desktop context, regard-
less of the base system. However, some of them have different meanings in differ-
ent desktop environment or are even limited to one environment.

desktop The desktop is your primary work environment. It fills the screen, but
is more than just a background. Put icons of your most frequently used ap-
plications or objects on the desktop for easy access.

SUSE LINUX 7
 Figure 1.3: An Example Desktop

panel The panel is a bar, typically located at the top or the bottom of the screen,
that holds the menus, the quick launch area, a notification area or system
tray, some little helper applications, and, in most cases, also the taskbar
(called window list in GNOME). It is designed to provide all vital informa-
tion needed about running applications or the system and to provide easy
access to some important functions or applications. Both GNOME and KDE
allow you to adjust the panel orientation (horizontal versus vertical) to your
needs. In a KDE environment, you might also see “Kicker” as another word
for the panel.
menu button Similar to the “start button” on the MS Windows desktop, Linux
desktops normally contain a menu button at the left end of the panel that
opens the main menu. This menu is a well-ordered structure for accessing
the main applications or functions, such as “Search,” “Logout,” and “Lock
Session.”

taskbar or window list The taskbar (window list in GNOME) is used to switch
between different open windows. In Linux, it also provides an overview

8 1.3. Desktop
 of all virtual desktops available and provides a means to switch between
them. The taskbar is part of the panel.
1

First Contact
quick launcher The quick launcher is part of the panel. It holds the icons for
the most important functions or applications to enable you to start them
without going through the applications menu.

notification area or system tray The rightmost part of the panel holds the sys-
tem clock, the volume control, and several other helper applications.
applet An applet is a small application that is integrated into the panel. An ap-
plication is a fully fledged computer program using its own window on
screen.
desktop icons Desktop icons reside on the desktop. They represent files, direc-
tories, applications or functions, and removable media, like CDs or DVDs.
The best known desktop icon is probably the trash bin, where you can drop
files you want to delete.

virtual desktops or workspaces The concept of virtual desktops (workspaces in

GNOME) is like having several desks at your office. You store things on all
of them, but you only work at one of them at a time. You can devote each to
different tasks or just use them as extra space. Virtual desktops enable you
to have multiple windows open at the same time, but only look at one or
some of them. Easily shift windows between virtual desktops, like shifting
papers from one physical desk to another. All desktop environments offer
a means to control the number and use of virtual desktops. A workspace
switcher is provided in both the GNOME and the KDE panel.
terminal A terminal enables you to send commands to the operating system.
There are “real” (physical) terminals basically consisting of a display screen
and a keyboard connected to the computer. Then there are terminal emu-
lations, which run in a window on your desktop and offer a prompt where
you can pass commands to the operating system.
session Once you log in to your desktop, it starts a session for you. This session
is valid until you log out again. A session includes the start-up and shut-
down of certain programs on login and logout. These settings can be config-
ured individually for each user account.

SUSE LINUX 9
 1.3.2 Configuring Desktop Components
Almost all desktop components can be configured individually. Right-clicking
the respective element opens its context menu. To illustrate the procedure, we
provide some examples.

Tip
Controlling the Desktop Configuration
Both GNOME and KDE feature a Control Center providing central ac-
cess to all key configuration options of the desktop environment. Refer
to Chapter 3 on page 47 or Chapter 4 on page 69 for details.
Tip

Configuring GNOME Desktop Components

Procedure 1.1: Adding a New Application to the Quick Launch Area

1. Right-click an empty patch of the panel where you want to add the new
application.
2. Choose ‘Add to Panel’ from the menu that appears.
3. Select ‘Application Launcher’ from the ‘Add to Panel’ menu.
4. Select the application from the ‘Applications’ menu and quit the configura-
tion.

Procedure 1.2: Changing the Desktop Background

1. Right-click the desktop.

2. Choose ‘Change Desktop Background’ from the menu that appears.

3. A dialog window appears, offering several options concerning the desktop.

Either use the mouse cursor to select one of the existing wallpapers or click
‘Add’ to open a file dialog where you can add your own image. Use ‘Style’
to determine how the image should be rendered to fit into the dimensions
of your display. Use ‘Remove’ to remove a selected background from the
menu. If you prefer no background image at all, set a desktop color.

4. Your changes are applied automatically. Leave the dialog with ‘Close’.

10 1.3. Desktop
Procedure 1.3: Creating a New Desktop Icon
1

First Contact
1. Add a new application or service icon (called “Launcher” in GNOME):

(a) Right-click the desktop to open the context menu.

(b) Select ‘Create Launcher’ to open the appropriate dialog.
(c) Enter ‘Name’, ‘Generic Name’, an optional ‘Comment’, and the ‘Com-
mand’ to execute. Determine whether the application should be run
in a terminal and check whether ‘Type’ is set to the appropriate value,
which is ‘Application’ for commands.
(d) Apply your settings and leave the dialog with ‘OK’.

2. Add a new folder or document:

(a) Right-click the desktop to open the context menu.

(b) Select ‘Create Folder’ or ‘Create Document’ to add the new item to the
desktop.
(c) Right-click the new desktop icon and select ‘Properties’.
(d) Enter the name of the new object in the ‘Basic’ tab. Select an appropri-
ate icon via the ‘Emblems’ tab. Finally, determine the file system per-
missions assigned to this object using the ‘Permissions’ tab. Read more
on file system permissions in Section 19.2 on page 255.
(e) Close the ‘Properties’ dialog to apply your changes.

Configuring KDE Desktop Components

Procedure 1.4: Adding a New Application to the Quick Launch Area

1. Right-click an empty patch of the panel where you want to add the new
application.
2. Choose ‘Add’ ➝ ‘Application Button’ from the menu that appears.
3. Select the application from one of the categories of the submenu.

Procedure 1.5: Changing the Desktop Background

1. Right-click the desktop.

SUSE LINUX 11
 2. Choose ‘Configure Desktop’. A dialog opens that allows the modification of
the desktop settings ‘Background’, ‘Behavior’, ‘Multiple Desktops’, ‘Screen
Saver’, and ‘Display’.
3. Choose ‘Background’ and determine whether your settings should be ap-
plied to one specific desktop or to all. Select a background image, disable
background images, or start a slide show. ‘Options’ offers several settings
for the positioning of the background image, the background color, and the
blending of colored backgrounds.
4. Apply your changes and leave the dialog with ‘OK’.

Procedure 1.6: Creating a New Desktop Icon

1. Add a new folder icon:

(a) Right-click the desktop to open the context menu.

(b) Select ‘Create New’ ➝ ‘Folder’.
(c) Enter the name of the new folder when prompted to do so.
(d) Right-click the new icon and select ‘Properties’ in the context menu
that appears.
(e) The ‘Properties’ dialog consists of four tabs: ‘General’, ‘Permissions’,
‘Meta Info’, and ‘Share’. Name and icon of the folder are set via the
‘General’ tab. Permissions are modified via ‘Permissions’. ‘Meta Info’
lists size and number of items of the new folder. ‘Share’ can be used to
configure file sharing via NFS or Samba. For more information about
these two protocols, refer to the Administration Guide.
(f) Apply your changes and leave the dialog with ‘OK’.

2. Add a new file icon:

(a) Right-click the desktop for the context menu to appear.

(b) Select ‘Create New’.
(c) Choose the appropriate file type from ‘HTML File’, ‘Link to Applica-
tion’, ‘Link to Location’, or ‘Text File’.
(d) Enter the name of the new file when prompted to do so.
(e) Right-click the new icon and select ‘Properties’ in the context menu
that appears.

12 1.3. Desktop
 (f) The ‘Properties’ dialog consists of three tabs: ‘General’, ‘Permissions’,
and ‘Meta Info’. Set the name and icon of the file in the ‘General’ tab.
1

First Contact
Change permissions in ‘Permissions’. ‘Meta Info’ lists line, word, and
character count and the format of the new file.
(g) Apply your changes and leave the dialog with ‘OK’.

3. Add a new device icon:

(a) Right-click the desktop to open the context menu.

(b) Select ‘Create New’ ➝ ‘Link to Device’.
(c) Choose the appropriate device type to open the ‘Properties’ dialog.
(d) The ‘Properties’ dialog consists of four tabs: ‘General’, ‘Permissions’,
‘Device’, and ‘Meta Info’. Set the name and icon of the device in the
‘General’ tab. Modify permissions in ‘Permissions’. ‘Device’ is used
to set the device path, such as /media/dvd for your DVD drive, and
several other options.
(e) Apply your changes and leave the dialog with ‘OK’.

1.3.3 Little Helpers

Both GNOME and KDE come with numerous little helper applications that can
be included in your panel. If you want to add new ones or remove existing ones,
proceed as described in Section 1.3.2 on page 10. The most prominent ones fea-
tured in both GNOME and KDE are SUSEWatcher and SUSE Hardware Tool.

SuSEWatcher SUSEWatcher is a program that is integrated into the system tray

of the panel. It checks for new software updates. To be able to find any new
updates, it requires an online connection. The status of SUSEWatcher is dis-
played in the panel by icons in different colors.
When you click the icon in the panel, a window opens, informing you about
the status of your online updates and the availability of any new updates.
You can also launch the check manually by clicking ‘Check for updates’.
Start the online update by selecting ‘Start online update’ and entering the
root password. The YaST Online Update window is displayed.
SUSE Hardware Tool The SUSE Hardware Tool keeps a list of all hardware
components of your system. Left-click the panel icon to open a dialog win-
dow with a tree view featuring the major hardware categories. Configure a

SUSE LINUX 13
 new hardware item by selecting it and clicking ‘Configure’, which starts the
appropriate YaST module after you provide the root password. Clicking
‘Details’ reveals all information present for the specific hardware item. As
soon as new hardware is connected and recognized, a pop-up announces
this new hardware.

1.3.4 Switching Users

Both GDM and KDM allow you to switch between different user accounts on
the same system. You can stay logged in while other users work on your system.
Your session is locked while you switch to another account, but your applications
continue to run and your whole session remains unchanged.

Switching Users in GNOME

To open an additional session for another user, select ‘New Login’ from the
GNOME ‘Applications’ menu. The other user enters username and password in
GDM then another GNOME session starts. Your original session is locked auto-
 
matically on the user switch. To change back into your original session, use Ctrl 
-
  
  
Alt - F7 .
Important
Switching Displays
Your original session is started on the graphical console that can be
   
reached with Ctrl 
-Alt 
-F7 
. Additional sessions are started on the
 
higher consoles, reachable via F8  and higher.
Important

Switching Users in KDE

Open an additional session in KDE via the main menu. Select ‘Switch User’ and
determine whether your original session should be locked while you switch to
another user account. KDM appears, requesting username and password for the
new account. Enter the requested data and a new KDE session starts. To switch
back to your original session, click ‘Switch User’ again. Select the session to
which to switch.
Another way to start a new session is to lock your current session via ‘Lock Ses-
sion’ then click ‘Switch User’ in the unlock dialog. This goes to the KDM login
screen, where username and password for the new session can be entered.

14 1.3. Desktop
1.4 File Management
1

First Contact
A central part of your desktop environment is a file manager application, en-
abling you easily to create, access, and manage all files on your system. Tradi-
tional file management in Linux would have been done via the command line,
requiring some deeper knowledge of several commands to list, create, delete, or
edit files and their properties. A file manager provides a graphical and more in-
tuitive way to handle these tasks. Learn more about the file managers of GNOME
and KDE in Section 3.3 on page 57 and Section 4.3 on page 78.

1.4.1 The Concept behind a Linux File System

Unlike a Windows operating system, Linux does not use drive letters. In Win-
dows, you would address the floppy drive as A:\, Windows system data is un-
der C:\, and so on. In Linux, all files and directories are located in a tree-like
structure. The topmost directory is referred to as the file system root or just /. All
other directories can be accessed from here.
The following is a short guide through the Linux file system tree, introducing the
most important directories:

/home/<username> /home holds the private data of every user who has an
account on your system. The files located here can only be modified by their
owner or the system administrator. Your e-mail directory is located here, for
example.
/media /media generally holds any type of drive except the hard drive of your
system. Your USB flash drive appears under /media once you have con-
nected it, as does your digital camera (if it uses USB) or your DVD or CD
drive. As soon as the data source is disconnected (think of an USB flash
drive or your camera), the respective directory under media is removed
as well.
/usr/share/doc Under /usr/share/doc, find any kind of documentation
on your Linux system and the installed packages. The manual subdirectory
holds a digital copy of this manual as well as the Administration Guide and
the release notes of the installed version of SUSE LINUX. The packages
directory holds the documentation included in the software packages.
/windows If you have both MS Windows and Linux installed on your ystem,
this is where you find the MS Windows data.

SUSE LINUX 15
 Learn more about the Linux file system concept and find a more comprehensive
list of directories in Section 19.1.2 on page 246.

1.4.2 Different Flavors of Your File Manager

Apart from organizing all your data and previewing almost any type of file, your
file manager can act as a “quick finder” for personal data, system information,
and network services. These modules are part of your standard desktop.

Home Directory Use the ‘Home’ desktop icon in GNOME or the icon depicting
a small house in the KDE panel to launch your file manager (Nautilus in
GNOME, Konqueror in KDE) showing all the contents of your home direc-
tory. This option allows you to quickly retrieve any personal data located in
your home directory.
Your System If you need to know which hard drives or removable media are
connected to your system, click the desktop icons ‘Computer’ (GNOME) or
‘My Computer’ (KDE). The file managers provide an overview of all drives
attached to your system, including the hard drives. As you click one of the
drives listed there, the file manager opens the files and directories located
on this drive. This option allows you to locate data on any kind of remov-
able device attached to your system. A digital camera appears in this list as
does a USB flash or hard drive.
Your Network Use the ‘Places’ menu in the top GNOME panel to access net-
work folders. In KDE, click the ‘Network Browsing’ desktop icon to gather
all services provided in your network. Use this functionality to access avail-
able network shares and Windows networks, FTP servers, or any other ser-
vice type that has been registered for your network.

1.4.3 Searching Files

If you need to search for certain file across the whole system, use the graphical
search applications provided by your desktop environment. In GNOME, select
‘Places’ ➝ ‘Search for Files’ to launch the search tool. The first dialog prompts
you for the name or at least a part of the name of the file. Specify the directory to
search for the file. If you know for sure the file should be located in your home
directory, accept the /home/<username> path that has automatically been se-
lected. To launch a search on the entire file system, select the file system root by

16 1.4. File Management

entering /. Refine your search by adding more search criteria. Click ‘Show more
options’ and select any of the criteria offered there. It is even possible to use reg-
1

First Contact
ular expressions or wild cards. As soon as you enter all data, hit ‘Find’ to launch
the search and see the result in the bottom part of the window. Depending on the
scope of your search, the whole process may take a considerable amount of time.
KDE contains the application KFind, which is launched from the main menu with
‘Find Files’. The search window is divided into the tabs ‘Name/Location’, ‘Con-
tents’, and ‘Properties’. In the ‘Name/Location’ tab, enter the name of the file
using wild cards, like asterisks or question marks, if needed. Enter the path to
search and determine whether the search should include subfolders or be case
sensitive. The ‘Contents’ tab is used to search the contents of files for certain ex-
pressions. This type of search is only supported for a limited number of file types.
such as text files and OpenOffice.org or KWord formats. You can even use regu-
lar expressions if KRegExpEditor is installed (package kdeutils3-extra). To
limit the scope of the search by providing attributes like file owner, file size, or
modification date, use the ‘Properties’ tab.
Tip
More Information about Search Patterns
For more information about search patterns and the use of wild cards
or regular expressions, refer to Section 19.1 on page 246.
Tip

1.5 Applications
SUSE LINUX comes with a wealth of applications. There is a Linux option for al-
most any purpose. Quite often, you even find more than one suitable application
for your purpose. Chapter 2 on page 31 provides a comprehensive list of applica-
tions you might look for when converting from MS Windows. There, easily find
the Linux analog of your MS Windows application.
There are three different ways to launch an application in Linux. The easiest and
most prominent one is the main menu of your desktop environment. Click at the
leftmost edge of the panel to fold out the menu. Select the appropriate category to
fold out a submenu holding the actual application names and icons.
Some applications do not appear in the main menu even though they are in-
stalled. To launch one of them, open the main menu then select ‘Run Applica-
tion’ (GNOME) or ‘Run Command’ (KDE) and enter the name of the application

SUSE LINUX 17
   
-F2 
in lowercase letters. Alternatively, start this dialog using Alt  . The third way
to launch an application is to open a shell and enter the command at the shell
prompt, also known as command line.
Tip
Missing Applications
If an application could not be started from the menu or the command
line, you need to install it from your SUSE LINUX CD or DVD. See
Section 1.7.1 on page 22 for details.
Tip

1.6 Printing
Printers can either be connected to your system locally or via a network. Either
kind of configuration is made initially using YaST. For an in-depth coverage of
printer configuration, refer to the printer chapter in the Administration Guide. As
soon as a connection has been established, start using the printer. Both desktops
provide applications enabling you to monitor and edit the print jobs queued at
the selected printer.

1.6.1 Managing Print Jobs in GNOME

Start Cups Manager from the command line with gnome-cups-manager or
from the main menu. A window opens showing any printers attached to your
system. Double-click the icon representing the printer queue to monitor to open a
window holding the list of print jobs. See Figure 1.4 on the next page.
The menu bar of the jobs window contains two menus, ‘Printer’ and ‘Edit’. Via
the ‘Printer’ menu, pause the printer, print a test page, or modify the print prop-
erties (paper size and orientation, printout mode, and resolution). The ‘Jobs’
menu allows you to pause, resume, or remove any selected job that is not yet
printing.

1.6.2 Managing Print Jobs in KDE

To control print jobs in KDE, use two different applications. Start and configure
the print job with KPrinter then control the processing of the print job with KJob-
Viewer.

18 1.6. Printing
 1

First Contact
Figure 1.4: Managing Print Jobs with GNOME Cups Manager

Start KPrinter with the command kprinter from the command line. A small
window opens in which to choose a printer and edit the ‘Properties’ of your print
job, such as page orientation, pages per sheet, and duplex printing. To specify the
file to print, the number of copies, and various other options, click ‘Expand’ at
the bottom left. The window then expands and shows four tabs: ‘Files’, ‘Copies’,
‘Advanced Options’, and ‘Additional Tags’. See Figure 1.5 on the following page.
The first tab, ‘Files’, determines the file or files to print. Either drag them from
the desktop and drop them into the list window or use the file dialog to locate
them. ‘Copies’ determines the page selection (all pages of the selected document,
the currently selected one, or a range) and the number of copies. You may also
choose to print only the even or only the odd numbered pages of the selected
document. Use ‘Advanced Options’ to specify any additional information for the
print job. Enter any ‘Billing information’ if needed or set a custom page label at
the top and bottom of the page. The ‘Job Priority’ can also be set here. The fourth
tab, ‘Additional Tags’ is hardly ever needed. Once your print job has been filed,
you can watch its progress using KJobViewer.

Tip
Printing from KDE Applications
The KPrinter dialog opens any time you print from a KDE application.
The dialog is basically the same except for the lack of the ‘Files’ tab,
which is not needed because the file to print has already been deter-
mined when you clicked the ‘Print’ button.
Tip

SUSE LINUX 19
 Figure 1.5: Filing a Print Job with KPrinter

Start KJobViewer from the main menu or with the command kjobviewer from
the command line. A window like that in Figure 1.6 on the next page opens, list-
ing all the print jobs queued on your printer. As long as your print job is not ac-
tive, you can edit it. Do this using the entries of the ‘Jobs’ menu.
If, for example, you want to check if you sent the correct document to the printer,
you can stop the job and resume it if you decide to print it. Remove your own
print jobs from the queue with ‘Remove’. To change the printer, select a different
printer with ‘Move to Printer’.
With ‘Restart’, reprint a document. To do this, select ‘Filter’ ➝ ‘Toggle Completed
Jobs’, select the desired document, and click ‘Jobs’ ➝ ‘Restart’. Clicking ‘Jobs’ ➝
‘Job IPP Report’ reveals the technical details of a job. Use ‘Jobs’ ➝ ‘Increase Prior-
ity’ and ‘Jobs’ ➝ ‘Decrease Priority’ to set the priority, depending on how quickly

20 1.6. Printing
 1

First Contact
Figure 1.6: Managing Print Jobs with KJobViewer

you need the document.

‘Filter’ enables you to switch between various printers, toggle completed jobs,
and limit the view to your own print jobs by selecting ‘Show Only User Jobs’. The
current user is then displayed in the top right field.
‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure KJobViewer’ opens a configuration dialog. Here, deter-
mine the maximum number of print jobs to display. Enter a number in the field
or use the slider to the right to determine a value. Press ‘OK’ to save the setting or
‘Cancel’ to exit the dialog without saving.
The icons in the toolbar correspond to the functions you can access by way of
the menu. A help text explaining the function is displayed when you move the
mouse pointer over one of the icons.
The job list consists of eight columns. The job ID is automatically assigned by the
print system to identify the various jobs. The next column contains the login of
the user who sent the job followed by the filename of the document. The status
column indicates whether a job is still in the queue, currently being printed, or
already completed. Next, the size of the document is displayed in kilobytes and
number of pages. The default priority of 50 can be increased or reduced if nec-
essary. Billing information can be cost centers or other company-specific infor-
mation. If you right-click a job in the list, the ‘Jobs’ menu opens under the mouse
pointer, allowing you to select an action. Only a few functions are available for
completed jobs. If you activate ‘Keep window permanent’, KJobViewer opens au-
tomatically when you log in the next time.

SUSE LINUX 21
 1.7 Basic Administrative Tasks
In SUSE LINUX, YaST handles the system installation and configuration. The fol-
lowing sections introduce some frequently needed functions of this tool. Refer to
the Administration Guide for a detailed description of YaST and background infor-
mation about system administration.

1.7.1 Installing New Applications

To install a new application, start YaST from the main menu. Provide the root
password when requested to do so. Check whether the installation source is valid
in the ‘Change Source of Installation’ module. If you intend to install from the
original SUSE LINUX CDs or DVDs, the active installation path should begin
with cd:// or dvd://. If you intend to install from a network installation path,
ask your system administrator for the full data, select ‘Add’ and the type of net-
work source, and enter the full path. Leave the dialog with ‘Finish’.
Start the YaST ‘Install and Remove Software’ module. Enter the name of the de-
sired application in the ‘Search’ bar and hit ‘Search’. Any packages matching
your search criterion are listed in the right part of the window. If you want to in-
stall one of these packages, select the check box next to the package’s name and
click ‘Accept’. YaST automatically resolves all package dependencies—if there is
any additional software component required to run the application chosen, YaST
automatically installs the missing package. To finish, YaST runs some scripts to
update the system configuration. Leave YaST and your freshly installed applica-
tion is ready to run. For a detailed description of the YaST software module, refer
to the Administration Guide.

1.7.2 Retrieving and Applying Software Updates

Make sure that your system is up-to-date and contains the recent software and
security fixes by constantly running SUSEWatcher. If configured accordingly, it
automatically informs you about the availability of any software updates (see
also Section 1.3.3 on page 13). Launch the YaST ‘Online Update’ and provide the
root password. Select an appropriate installation source and hit ‘Next’. A dialog
similar to the one in Section 1.7.1 on the current page opens, showing all patches
that are available for update. SUSE patches may fall in any of the following three
categories: security (security-sensitive patches that should always be installed
to maintain a secure system), recommended (improvements to packages already

22 1.7. Basic Administrative Tasks

installed), and other (other patches available for update not relevant to any of
your installed packages). Security updates are marked in red and are preselected
1

First Contact
along with the blue recommended patches. Accept this proposal to keep your
system consistent. Click ‘Accept’ to apply the updates. For more information
about the YaST Online Update, refer to the Administration Guide.

1.8 Security
If converting to a Linux system from a Microsoft Windows system, you proba-
bly experienced a fair share of trouble caused by multiple kinds of viruses and
worms spreading over the Internet via e-mail. Now that you have made the
switch to Linux, you can at least put that fear aside, because these cannot harm
a Linux system as easily as a Windows system.
As mentioned in Section 1.2 on page 6, Linux knows two different kinds of users,
a superuser (root) and normal users. root has access to all system resources
and is allowed to change all aspects of the system’s configuration. Switching from
your normal user account to root for administrative tasks and switching back
for your normal work sounds tedious and perhaps unnecessary because root
has ultimate power over the system. Still, switching back to the normal user ac-
count after accomplishing the administrative jobs adds to security, because any
mistake made as root can have severe consequences. The whole system might
be affected, not just the normal user account. Thus, preserve your system’s in-
tegrity by clearly distinguishing between the different roles (“normal user” and
“superuser”).
Keeping your system up to date by always applying the software updates pro-
vided by SUSE (see Section 1.7.2 on the preceding page) adds to the security of
your system. These updates fix possible exploits contained in the application
code.
Protect your system or your network against external “visitors” by running a fire-
wall. A preconfigured firewall is started on installation, providing maximum se-
curity to your network. If you need to add support for certain services and do
not maintain your system yourself, ask your system administrator to make the
necessary adjustments in the firewall settings. Otherwise read the chapter about
security in the Administration Guide and learn how to secure your network using
SuSEFirewall.

SUSE LINUX 23
 1.9 Networking and Mobility
GNOME and KDE offer several applications for working in a network environ-
ment or using a mobile computer. It is much more convenient and much easier
to click a small icon to connect to or disconnect from a network than to manually
run some script. Monitoring the power state of your mobile computer via a small
icon is easier than watching obscure system messages. The following sections in-
troduce some of these little helpers, but many more are offered by your desktop
environment.

1.9.1 Networking
Network connections, even wireless ones, can be easily configured and moni-
tored by small applications seamlessly integrating into your desktop panel. KIn-
ternet can be used to configure and monitor any kind of network connection.
Network Monitor in GNOME and Wireless Network Information in KDE can be
used to monitor the state of your wireless link.

Important
Network Configuration
The initial configuration of any network connection is made with YaST,
the SUSE LINUX configuration management tool. Find information
about this in the Administration Guide.
Important

KInternet—Connecting to the Internet

After your network device has been configured correctly, control the Internet
dial-up with KInternet. On start-up, KDE loads KInternet. The program checks
whether an Internet connection can be established. If this is possible, the appli-
cation icon, a plug, automatically appears in the right part of the KDE panel. De-
pending on the state of the network connection, the panel icon changes appear-
ance:

Currently there is no connection to the Internet.

The connection is just being established or terminated.

24 1.9. Networking and Mobility

 The connection has been established.
1

First Contact
Data is transmitted to or from the Internet.

An error has occurred. If a connection has already been configured with

YaST, use ‘View Log’ to identify the reason for the error. The menu can be
accessed by right-clicking the KInternet icon.

The connection is not yet active, but will be established as soon as a request
is made.

Right-click the KInternet panel icon to access its configuration menu. The YaST
configuration dialog can be started via ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure with YaST’. After
entering the root password, YaST starts. Depending on the access type, start the
modem, ISDN, network, or DSL configuration of YaST.
If you are using an ISDN connection and you have selected ‘Channel Bundling’
in YaST, a second ISDN channel can be added to an existing connection with
‘Add link’. This doubles the transfer rate (although at a higher price). Activate
channel bundling if you need to download large files. The activated channel
bundling is evident from the red plus symbol at the top left corner of the KIn-
ternet icon.
If your computer has more than one network device and you have configured all
of them with YaST, you can use the KInternet option ‘Interface’ to switch between
these interfaces. You must have selected ‘User Controlled’ device activation in
the appropriate YaST network dialog to do this. If you have multiple providers as
well, choose them using the ‘Provider’ switch of KInternet. Providers are also set
in YaST.
Users who want to establish Internet connections automatically can use dial on
demand (DoD). If this mode is selected, KInternet automatically connects to your
Internet service provider (ISP) as soon as a request is submitted. After a certain
time-out, the connection is terminated. A DoD connection is evident from the
blue D at the bottom right corner of the KInternet icon.

SUSE LINUX 25
 Warning
Cost Control
Note that DoD only makes sense if you have a flat rate Internet ac-
count. If that is not the case, connecting and disconnecting all the time
can become very costly.
Warning
If you intend to use a wireless network card as your connection to the Internet,
configure it using YaST as described in the Administration Guide and make sure
that the device activation in YaST is set to ‘User Controlled’. As soon as the inter-
face is configured, you can use KInternet to control your wireless network con-
nection, just as you would for normal network interfaces.
To access the WLAN functionality of KInternet, right-click the icon to open the
menu. Select ‘Wireless Connection’ and a window showing two tabs opens. First,
scan for suitable wireless networks you could connect to. Select the tab ‘Scan for
Wireless Networks’, shown in Figure 1.7 on this page.

Figure 1.7: KInternet: Scanning for Wireless Networks

Start the scan with ‘Start Scan’. For KInternet to continuously scan the network
environment, also select ‘Auto Refresh’. Acoustic feedback for each connection
found can be activated via ‘Acoustic Scan’. Any connection found is displayed in
the list window. Select one and click ‘Connect’ to connect to the selected network.
If additional configuration efforts are needed to connect to the selected network,

26 1.9. Networking and Mobility

click ‘Start YaST’ to launch the YaST network module for wireless network de-
vices.
1

First Contact
Figure 1.8: KInternet: Status of Wireless Link

The ‘Current Connection’ tab allows you to monitor the state of your current
wireless connection. The left-hand view of this tab offers a summary of all con-
nection parameters regarding network address and ESSID, signal quality, signal
and noise level, channel frequency and speed, and encryption parameters, such
as type of encryption and key length. Select any of these parameters in the tree
structure and check the details displayed in the right part of the window.

Monitoring Wireless Connections

Add Network Monitor to your GNOME panel to get visual feedback on the qual-
ity of your wireless connection. Right-click the panel icon and select ‘Preferences’
to set the monitor to the correct device if you have more than one wireless device
connected to your machine.
Add Wireless Network Information to your KDE panel to monitor the state of
your wireless connection. Clicking the panel icon reveals the details of your wire-
less connection, including network name (ESSID), link quality, signal strength,
noise level, bit rate, and encryption method. If you have more than one wire-
less device, switch between them using the drop-down menu at the top right. If
you touch the panel icon with the mouse cursor, a tool tip opens showing device
name, link quality, and current bit rate.

SUSE LINUX 27
 1.9.2 Mobile Computing
Working on a mobile computer requires a great deal of flexibility in adjusting to
changing network and system environments. SUSE LINUX offers small helpers,
like GNOME Battery Charge Monitor, KPowersave, and Profile Chooser, which
assist you in adjusting the power management scheme and the system configura-
tion of your computer.

Tip
More Information about Mobile Computing
Refer to the Administration Guide to learn more about mobile comput-
ing under SUSE LINUX. Get an introduction to the software compo-
nents involved and learn how to configure your mobile devices for
maximum flexibility.
Tip

Power Management
Successfully working on battery power requires a very sophisticated handling
of the system resources by the operating system. Mobile hardware is optimized
to allow a very flexible management of power usage by the CPU and other com-
ponents. Depending on the environment in which the system is run, the power
management can easily be adjusted in SUSE LINUX using GNOME Battery
Charge Monitor or KDE KPowersave.
Battery Charge Monitor allows you to send your machine into a hibernation state
(‘Suspend Computer’) in which the entire system state is written to disk prior to
shutdown. Once reactivated, this state is recovered. Configure the power man-
agement settings via ‘Power Management Settings’. The YaST Power Manage-
ment module is launched enabling you to configure all power management set-
tings centrally.
Using KPowersave, you can start the YaST Power Management module and is-
sue both a suspend to disk or a suspend to RAM (if configured accordingly with
YaST). You may change the CPU frequency policy, meaning your system either
lets the CPU frequency drop when the system is idle and adjusts it dynamically
if more CPU power is needed (set the CPU frequency policy to ‘Dynamic’), per-
manently keeps a low CPU frequency to save power (select ‘Powersave’ ), or per-
manently keeps a high CPU frequency for maximum CPU performance (select
‘Performance’). If you change the active power management scheme (‘Set Active

28 1.9. Networking and Mobility

Scheme’), all components of your system are part of the powersaving effort. A
power management scheme includes settings for CPU frequency scaling, throt-
1

First Contact
tling, hard disk control, and for the cooling of the system. To start this program in
a GNOME environment, enter kpowersave at the ‘Run Application’ terminal.

Profile Management
Your system needs to adapt to changing operating environments when used for
mobile computing. A lot of services depend on the environment and the under-
lying clients must be reconfigured. Use the system configuration profile manage-
ment (SCPM) framework to create different configuration profiles for all environ-
ments your machine is used in. Change the active profile using Profile Chooser.
To modify your SCPM settings, select ‘Select YaST Profile Manager Module’ and
enter the root password when prompted to do so. Start Profile Chooser in KDE
using the main menu. In GNOME, enter profile_chooser at the ‘Run Appli-
cation’ terminal.

1.10 Using the Shell

Most tasks in Linux can be conveniently handled via a graphical user interface.
Some tasks, mainly system administrator’s ones, can be handled more efficiently
on the command line from a terminal or shell. A basic understanding of how a
Linux shell works and knowledge of some basic command line tools is required
for this. Refer to Chapter 19 on page 245 to get to know the Bash shell and some
Linux command line tools.

SUSE LINUX 29
 2

Getting to Know Linux Software

Getting to Know
Linux Software

Linux comes with a wealth of applications, often offering more than one solution
to your specific problems. The difficulty is finding the one application that suits
your needs and offers a similar ease of use compared to the Windows or Mac ap-
plications you have been using so far. This chapter points out the most important
and powerful Linux applications, enabling you to change into your new working
environment smoothly.

2.1 Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2 Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3 Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4 Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.5 System and File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.6 Software Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
 The next few sections introduce some of the most powerful Linux counterparts
of common Windows software. Each section is dedicated to one particular field
of application and lists the tasks, Windows applications, and Linux equivalents.
These applications are then discussed in further detail and links to more infor-
mation are provided. This list can be by no means complete, because software
development is an evolutionary process and new applications are being created
every minute.

2.1 Office
The following section features the most popular and powerful Linux office and
business software solutions. These include office suites, databases, accounting
software, and project management software.

Table 2.1: Office Software for Windows and Linux

Task Windows Application Linux Application

Office Suite MS Office, StarOffice, OpenOffice.org, StarOffice
OpenOffice.org
Word Processor MS Word, StarOf- OpenOffice.org/StarOffice
fice/OpenOffice.org Writer
Writer, WordPerfect
Spreadsheet MS Excel, StarOf- OpenOffice.org/StarOffice
fice/OpenOffice.org Calc
Calc
Presentation MS PowerPoint, StarOffice OpenOffice.org Impress,
Presentation, OpenOf- StarOffice Presentation
fice.org Impress
Data Plotting MS Excel, MicroCall Ori- OpenOffice.org Calc,
gin Gnuplot
Local Database MS Access, OpenOf- OpenOffice.org + MySQL,
fice.org + MySQL Rekall, knoda, PostgreSQL
Financial Ac- MS Money, Quicken, GnuCash, moneyplex
counting moneyplex
Project Manage- MS Project Planner, Taskjuggler
ment

32 2.1. Office
 Mind Mapping MindManager, Free Mind VYM (View Your Mind)
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org is the Open Source answer to MS Office. It is
a very powerful office suite including a word processor (Write), a spread-
sheet and database manager (Calc), a presentation manager (Impress), and
a drawing program (Draw). Users familiar with the MS Office family of ap-
plications find a very similar application interface and all the functionality
to which they are accustomed. Because OpenOffice.org is capable of import-
ing data from MS Office applications, the transition from one office suite
to the other is very smooth. A Windows version of OpenOffice.org even
exists, enabling Windows users to switch to an Open Source alternative
while still using Windows. Find more information about OpenOffice.org
at http://www.openoffice.org/ and read Chapter 6 on page 109 for
an introduction to OpenOffice.org and a short guide to migrating your data
from one office suite to the other.
StarOffice StarOffice is a proprietary version of OpenOffice.org and is dis-
tributed by Sun Microsystems. It is available on multiple platforms includ-
ing Windows and Solaris. It includes certain advanced features not avail-
able with the free version (OpenOffice.org). Find more information about
StarOffice at http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/.
Gnuplot Gnuplot is a very powerful and portable command-line controlled
data plotting software. It is also available for MacOS and Windows plat-
forms. Plots created by Gnuplot can be exported to various formats, such as
PostScript, PDF, SVG, and others, allowing you to process these plots easily.
Find more information about Gnuplot at http://www.gnuplot.info/
index.html.
Rekall Rekall is a tool to manipulate databases. Supported databases include
MySQL, PostgreSQL, XBase with XBSQL, IBM DB2, and ODBC. Use Rekall
to generate different sorts of reports and forms, design database queries, or
import and export data to various formats. Find more information about
Rekall at http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/.
knoda knoda is a database front-end to various different types of databases. It
supports connections to MySQL, PostreSQL, SQLite, and ODBC database
servers. knoda can be used for manipulating data in tables, creating and
storing queries, and importing and exporting data in CSV format. Find
more information about knoda at http://www.knoda.org/.

SUSE LINUX 33
 PostgreSQL PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system
that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including trans-
actions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, and user-defined types and
functions. Find more information about PostgreSQL at http://www.
postgresql.org/.
GnuCash GnuCash is a software tool to control both your personal and busi-
ness finances. Keep track of income and expenses and manage your bank
accounts and stock portfolios all using one piece of software. Learn more
about GnuCash at http://www.gnucash.org.
moneyplex moneyplex is a tool to control your finances. All tasks from manag-
ing incoming resources and expenses and monitoring your stock portfolio
to online transactions via the HBCI standard are handled by moneyplex.
Keep track of your financial transactions over time using various analysis
options. Because this tool is also available for Windows, users can migrate
very easily without having to learn a whole new application interface. More
information about moneyplex can be found at http://www.matrica.de.
Planner Planner is a project management tool aiming to provide functional-
ity similar to the project management tools used under Windows. Among
its various features are Gantt charting abilities, different kinds of views on
tasks and resources, and much more. Find more information about Planner
at http://www.imendio.com/projects/planner/.

Taskjuggler Taskjuggler is a lean, but very powerful project management soft-

ware. Take control of your projects using the Gantt charting features or
by generating all kinds of reports (in XML, HTML, or CSV format). Those
users who are not comfortable with controlling applications via the com-
mand line can use a graphical front-end to Taskjuggler. Find more informa-
tion about Taskjuggler at http://www.taskjuggler.org.
VYM (View Your Mind) VYM is a software for visualizing your thoughts by
creating and manipulating mind maps. Most manipulations do not re-
quire more than one mouse click. Branches can be inserted, deleted, and
reordered very easily. VYM also offers a set of flags allowing you to mark
certain parts of the map (important, time critical, etc.). Links, notes, and im-
ages can be added to a mind map as well. VYM mind maps use an XML
format, allowing you to export your mind maps to HTML easily. Find more
information about VYM at http://www.insilmaril.de/vym.

34 2.1. Office
2.2 Network
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

The following section features various Linux applications for networking pur-
poses. Get to know the most popular Linux browsers and e-mail and chat clients.

Table 2.2: Network Software for Windows and Linux

Task Windows Application Linux Application

Web Browser Internet Explorer, Firefox, Konqueror, Firefox, Opera
Opera
E-Mail MS Outlook, Lotus Notes Evolution, Kontact
Client/Personal
Information
Management
Instant Mes- MSN, AIM, Yahoo Messen- Kopete, Gaim, XChat
saging/IRC ger, XChat, Gaim
Clients
Conferencing NetMeeting GnomeMeeting
(Video and
Audio)
Voice over IP X-Lite kphone, Skype
FTP Clients leechftp, wsftp gftp, kbear

Konqueror Konqueror is a multitalented application created by the KDE de-

velopers. It acts as file manager and document viewer, but is also a very
powerful and highly customizable Web browser. It supports the current
Web standards, such as CSS(2), Java applets, JavaScript and Netscape
plug-ins (Flash and RealVideo), DOM, and SSL, for example. It offers neat
helpers like an integrated search bar and supports tabbed browsing. Book-
marks can be imported from various other Web browsers like Internet Ex-
plorer, Mozilla, and Opera. Find more information about Konqueror at
http://www.konqueror.org/ and read our introduction to using Kon-
queror in Chapter 10 on page 151.
Firefox Firefox is the youngest member of the Mozilla browser family. It runs
on various platforms, including Linux, MacOS, and Windows. Its main fea-
tures include built-in customizable searches, pop-up blocking, RSS news-
feeds, password management, tabbed browsing, and some advanced se-

SUSE LINUX 35
 curity and privacy options. Firefox is very flexible, allowing you to cus-
tomize almost anything you want (searches, toolbars, skins, buttons, etc.).
Neat add-ons and extensions can be downloaded from the Firefox Web site
(https://addons.update.mozilla.org/?application=firefox).
Find more information about Firefox at http://www.mozilla.org/
products/firefox/ and read our introduction to using Firefox in Chap-
ter 11 on page 157.
Opera Opera is a powerful Web browser with neat add-ons like an optional e-
mail client and a chat module. Opera offers pop-up blocking, RSS feeds,
built-in and customizable searches, a password manager, and tabbed
browsing. The main functionalities are easily reached via their respective
panels. Because this tool is also available for Windows, it allows a much
easier transition to Linux for those who have been using it under Windows.
Find more information about Opera at http://www.opera.com/.
Evolution Evolution is personal information management software for the
GNOME desktop combining mail, calendar, and address book functional-
ity. It offers advanced e-mail filter and search options, provides sync func-
tionality for Palm devices, and allows you to run Evolution as an Exchange
or GroupWise client to integrate better into heterogenous environments.
Find more information about Evolution at http://www.gnome.org/
projects/evolution/ and read our introduction to using Evolution in
Chapter 7 on page 117.
Kontact Kontact is the KDE personal information management suite. It includes
e-mail, calendar, address book, and Palm sync functionalities. Like Evolu-
tion, it can act as an Exchange or GroupWise client. Kontact combines sev-
eral stand-alone KDE applications (KMail, KAddressbook, KOrganizer, and
KPilot) to form an entity providing all the PIM functionality you need. Find
more information about Kontact at http://www.kontact.org/ and read
our introduction to using Kontact in Chapter 8 on page 129.
Kopete Kopete is a very intuitive and easy-to-use instant messenger tool sup-
porting protocols including IRC, ICQ, AIM, GroupWise Messenger, Ya-
hoo, MSN, and Jabber. Find more information about Kopete at http:
//kopete.kde.org/ and read an introduction to using Kopete in Section
4.4.8 on page 91.
Gaim Gaim is a smart instant messenger program supporting multiple proto-
cols like AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jab-
ber, SILC, and GroupWise Messenger. It is possible to log in to different ac-

36 2.2. Network
 counts on different IM networks and chat on different channels simultane-
ously. Gaim also exists in a Windows version. Find more information about
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

Gaim at http://gaim.sourceforge.net/about.php.
XChat XChat is an IRC client that runs on most Linux and UNIX platforms as
well as under Windows and MacOS X. Find more information about XChat
at http://www.xchat.org/.
GnomeMeeting GnomeMeeting is the Open Source equivalent of Microsoft’s
NetMeeting. It features LDAP and ILS support for address lookup and inte-
grates with Evolution to share the address data stored there. GnomeMeet-
ing supports PC-to-phone calls, allowing you to call another party with
just your computer, sound card, and microphone without any additional
hardware. Find more information about GnomeMeeting at http://www.
gnomemeeting.org/.
KPhone KPhone is a program to initiate Voice over IP connections across the
Internet. Find more information at http://www.wirlab.net/kphone.
gftp gftp is an FTP client using the Gtk toolkit. Its features include simultaneous
downloads, resume of interrupted file transfers, file transfer queues, down-
load of entire directories, FTP proxy support, remote directory caching, pas-
sive and nonpassive file transfers, and drag and drop support. Find more
information at http://gftp.seul.org.

kbear KBear is a KDE FTP client with the ability to have concurrent connec-
tions to multiple hosts, three separate view modes, support for multi-
ple protocols (like ftp, sftp, etc.), a site manager plug-in, firewall support,
logging capabilities, and much more. Find more information at http:
//kbear.sourceforge.net.

2.3 Multimedia
The following section introduces the most popular multimedia applications for
Linux. Get to know media players, sound editing solutions, and video editing
tools.

SUSE LINUX 37
 Table 2.3: Multimedia Software for Windows and Linux

Task Windows Application Linux Application

Audio CD CD Player, Winamp, Win- KsCD, Grip
Player dows Media Player
CD Burner Nero, Roxio Easy CD Cre- K3b
ator
CD Ripper WMPlayer Grip, kaudiocreator
Audio Player Winamp, Windows Media amaroK, XMMS
Player
Video Player Winamp, Windows Media Kaffeine, MPlayer, Xine,
Player XMMS
Audio Editor SoundForge, Cooledit, Audacity
Audacity
Sound Mixer sndvol32 alsamixer, Kamix
Music Notation Finale, SmartScore, Sibelius Noteedit, LilyPond,
Rosegarden
Video Creator Windows Movie Maker, MainActor, Kino
and Editor Adobe Premiere, Media
Studio Pro, MainActor

TV Viewer AVerTV, PowerVCR 3.0, xawtv (analog), motv (ana-

CinePlayer DVR log), xawtv4, tvtime, kdetv,
zapping

KsCD KsCD is a neat little CD player application for the KDE desktop. Its
user interface very much resembles that of a normal hardware CD player,
guaranteeing ease of use. KsCD supports CDDB, enabling you to get any
track and album information either from the Internet or your local file
system. Find more information at http://docs.kde.org/en/3.3/
kdemultimedia/kscd/.
Grip Grip provides CD player and ripper functionalities for the GNOME desk-
top. It supports CDDB lookups for track and album data. Ripping can be
done using the built-in cdparanoia capabilities or via external rippers. Find
more information at http://www.nostatic.org/grip/.

38 2.3. Multimedia
K3b K3b is a multitalented media creation tool. Create data, audio, or video CD
and DVD projects by dragging and dropping. Find more information about
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

K3b at http://www.k3b.org/ or refer to Chapter 15 on page 209.
Kaffeine Kaffeine is a versatile multimedia application supporting a wide range
of audio and video formats including Ogg Vorbis, WMV, MOV, and AVI.
Import and edit playlists of various types, create screenshots, and save me-
dia streams to your local hard disk. Find more information about Kaffeine
at http://kaffeine.sourceforge.net/.
amaroK The amaroK media player handles various audio formats and plays
the streaming audio broadcasts of radio stations on the Internet. The pro-
gram handles all file types supported by the sound server acting as a back-
end—currently aRts or GStreamer. Find more information about amaroK at
http://amarok.kde.org/ or refer to Section 13.2.1 on page 182.
XMMS XMMS is the traditional choice for multimedia playback. It is focused
on music playback, offering support for CD playback and Ogg Vorbis files.
Users of Winamp should find XMMS comfortable because of its similarity.
Find more information about XMMS at http://www.xmms.org/ or refer
to Section 13.2.2 on page 186.
Audacity Audacity is a powerful, free sound editing tool. Record, edit, and play
any Ogg Vorbis or WAV file. Mix tracks at your whim and apply effects to
them and export the results to WAV or Ogg Vorbis. Find more information
about Audacity at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ or refer to
Section 13.4 on page 192.
Noteedit Noteedit is a powerful score editor for Linux. Use it to create sheets of
notes and to export and import scores to and from many formats, such as
MIDI, MusicXML and LilyPond. Find more information about Noteedit at
http://developer.berlios.de/projects/noteedit/.
LilyPond LilyPond is a free music sheet editor. Because the input format is text-
based, you can use any text editor to create note sheets. Users do not need
to tackle any formatting or notation issues, like spacing, line-breaking, or
polyphonic collisions. All these issues are automatically resolved by Lily-
Pond. It supports many special notations like chord names and tablatures.
The output can be exported to PNG, TeX, PDF, PostScript, and MIDI. Find
more information about LilyPond at http://lilypond.org/web/.

SUSE LINUX 39
 Rosegarden Rosegarden is a free music composition and editing environment. It
features an audio and MIDI sequencer and a score editor. Find more infor-
mation about Rosegarden at http://rosegardenmusic.com/.
MainActor MainActor is a fully fledged video authoring software. Because there
is a Windows version of MainActor, transition from Windows is easy. Find
more information about MainActor at http://www.mainactor.com/.
xawtv and motv xawtv is a TV viewer and recorder application supporting
analog TV. motv is basically the same as xawtv, but with a slightly differ-
ent user interface. Find more information on the xawtv project at http:
//linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/.

xawtv4 xawtv4 is a successor of the xawtv application. It supports both analog

and digital audio and video broadcasts. The xawtv4 package contains sev-
eral useful applications apart from the TV viewer: pia4 (a command-line
controlled movie player for streams recorded by xawtv4), mtt4 (a video text
browser), alexplore (a DVB channel scanner; built-in), dvbradio (a DVB ra-
dio player; needs an initial channel scan), and dvbrowse (an EPG browser).
For more information, refer to http://linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/.
tvtime tvtime is a lean TV viewer application supporting analog TV. Find more
information about tvtime, including a comprehensive usage guide, at
http://tvtime.sourceforge.net/.

kdetv A TV viewer and recorder application for the KDE desktop supporting
analog TV. Find more information about kdetv at http://www.kdetv.
org/.
zapping A TV viewer and recorder application for the GNOME desktop sup-
porting analog TV. Find more information about Zapping at http://
zapping.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/view/Main/WebHome.

2.4 Graphics
The following section presents some of the Linux software solutions for graphics
work. These include simple drawing applications as well as fully-fledged image
editing tools and powerful rendering and animation programs.

40 2.4. Graphics
 Table 2.4: Graphics Software for Windows and Linux
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

Task Windows Application Linux Application
Simple Graphic MS Paint The GIMP
Editing
Professional Adobe Photoshop, Paint The GIMP
Graphic Editing Shop Pro, Corel Pho-
toPaint, The GIMP
Creating Vector Adobe Illustrator, Corel- OpenOffice.org Draw,
Graphics Draw, OpenOffice.org Inkscape, Dia
Draw, Freehand
SVG Editing WebDraw, Freehand, Inkscape, Dia
Adobe Illustrator
Creating 3D 3D Studio MAX, Maya, POV-Ray, Blender
Graphics POV-Ray, Blender
Managing Digi- Software provided by the Digikam, gThumb
tal Photographs camera manufaturer
Scanning Vuescan Vuescan, Kooka, The GIMP
Image Viewing ACDSee gwenview

Inkscape Inkscape is a free SVG editor. Users of Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw,
and Visio can find a similar range of features and a familiar user interface
in Inkscape. Among its features, find SVG-to-PNG export, layering, trans-
forms, gradients, grouping of objects, and more. Find more information
about Inkscape at http://www.inkscape.org/.
Dia Dia is a Linux application aiming to be the Linux equivalent of Visio. It sup-
ports many types of special diagrams, such as network or UML charts. Ex-
port formats include SVG, PNG, and EPS. To support your own custom-
made diagram types, provide the new shapes in a special XML format. Find
more information about Dia at http://www.gnome.org/projects/
dia/.
The GIMP The GIMP is the Open Source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Its
feature list rivals that of Photoshop, so it is well suited for professional
image manipulation. There is even a Windows version of GIMP available.
Find more information at http://www.gimp.org/ or refer to Chapter 18
on page 235.

SUSE LINUX 41
 POV-Ray The Persistence of Vision Raytracer creates three-dimensional, photo-
realistic images using a rendering technique called ray tracing. Because
there is a Windows version of POV-Ray, it does not take much for Windows
users to switch to the Linux version of this application. Find more informa-
tion about POV-Ray at http://www.povray.org/.
Blender Blender is a powerful rendering and animation tool available on many
platforms, including Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Find more information
about Blender at http://www.blender3d.com/.
Digikam Digikam is a smart digital photo management tool for the KDE desk-
top. Importing and organizing your digital images is a matter of a few
clicks. Create albums, add tags to spare you from copying images around
different subdirectories, and eventually export your images to your own
Web site. Find more information about Digikam at http://digikam.
sourceforge.net/Digikam-SPIP/ or refer to Chapter 16 on page 215.
gThumb gThumb is an image viewer, browser, and organizer for the GNOME
desktop. It supports the import of your digital images via gphoto2, allows
you to carry out basic transformation and modifications, and lets you tag
your images to create albums matching certain categories. Find more infor-
mation about gThumb at http://gthumb.sourceforge.net/.
Kooka Kooka is a scan and OCR suite for the KDE desktop. It allows you to con-
figure the main scan parameters, choose from various export formats, and
organize the scanned data. The OCR module provided by the Kooka pack-
age adds some basic text recognition features. Find more information about
Kooka at http://www.kde.org/apps/kooka/ or refer to Chapter 17 on
page 227.
Gwenview Gwenview is a simple image viewer for KDE. It features a folder
tree window and a file list window that provides easy navigation of
your file hierarchy. Find more information at http://gwenview.
sourceforge.net/home/.

2.5 System and File Management

The following section provides an overview of Linux tools for system and file
management. Get to know text and source code editors, backup solutions, and
archiving tools.

42 2.5. System and File Management

 Table 2.5: System and File Management Software for Windows and
Linux
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

Task Windows Application Linux Application
Text Editor NotePad, WordPad, kate, gedit, (X)Emacs, vim
(X)Emacs
PDF Creator Acrobat Distiller Scribus
PDF Viewer AcrobatReader AcrobatReader, xpdf, kpdf
Text Recogni- Recognita, FineReader GOCR
tion
Command Line zip, rar, arj, lha, etc. zip, tar, gzip, bzip2, etc.
Pack Programs
Hard Disk PowerQuest, Acronis, YaST, GNU Parted
Partitioner Partition Commander
Backup Soft- ntbackup, Veritas dar, taper, dump
ware

kate Kate is part of the KDE suite. It has the ability to open several files at once
either locally or remotely. With syntax highlighting, project file creation,
and external scripts execution, it is a perfect tool for a programmer. Find
more information at http://kate.kde.org/.
gedit GEdit is the official text editor of the GNOME desktop. It provides simi-
lar features to Kate. Find more information at http://www.gnome.org/
projects/gedit/.
(X)Emacs GNU Emacs and XEmacs are very professional editors. XEmacs is
based on GNU Emacs. To quote the GNU Emacs Manual, “Emacs is the ex-
tensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor.” Both
offer nearly the same functionality with minor differences. Used by expe-
rienced developers, they are highly extensible through the Emacs Lisp lan-
guage. They support many languages, like Russian, Greek, Japanese, Chi-
nese, and Korean. Find more information at http://www.xemacs.org/
and http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html.
vim vim (vi improved) is a program similar to the text editor vi. Users may need
time to adjust to vim, because it distinguishes between command mode and
insert mode. The basic features are the same as in all text editors. vim of-
fers some unique options, like macro recording, file format detection and

SUSE LINUX 43
 conversion, multiple buffers in a screen, and much more. Find more infor-
mation at http://www.vim.org/ or in our Administration Guide.
GOCR GOCR is an OCR (optical character recognition) tool. It converts scanned
images of text into text files. It is also one part of Kooka, a KDE scanning
tool. Find more information at http://jocr.sourceforge.net/ and in
Chapter 17 on page 227.
gzip, tar, bzip2 There are plenty of packaging programs for reducing disk us-
age. In general, they differ only in their pack algorithm. Linux can also han-
dle the packaging formats used on Windows. Find more information about
gzip and tar in Section File Administration on page 261. bzip2 is a bit
more efficient than gzip, but needs more time, depending on the pack al-
gorithm.
GNU Parted GNU Parted is a command-line tool for creating, destroying, resiz-
ing, checking, and copying partitions and the file systems on them. If you
need to create space for new operating systems, use this tool to reorganize
disk usage and copy data between different hard disks. Find more informa-
tion at http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/.
dar Dar stands for disk archive and is a hardware-independent backup solu-
tion. Dar uses catalogs (unlike tar), so it is possible to extract a single file
without having to read the whole archive and it is also possible to cre-
ate incremental backups. There is also a GUI version for KDE available at
http://kdar.sourceforge.net. Find more information about dar at
http://dar.linux.free.fr/.
taper Taper is a backup and restore program that provides a friendly user in-
terface to allow backup and restoration of files to and from a tape drive.
Alternatively, files can be backed up to archive files. Recursively selected
directories are supported. Find more information at http://taper.
sourceforge.net/.
dump The dump package contains both dump and restore. dump examines
files in a file system, determines which ones need to be backed up, and
copies those files to a specified disk, tape, or other storage medium. The
restore command performs the inverse function of dump; it can restore
a full backup of a file system. Find more information at http://dump.
sourceforge.net/.

44 2.5. System and File Management

2.6 Software Development
2

Getting to Know Linux Software

This section introduces Linux IDEs, toolkits, and versioning systems for profes-
sional software development.

Table 2.6: Development Software for Windows and Linux

Task Windows Application Linux Application

Integrated Borland C++, Delphi, Visu- KDevelop, Eclipse, Mono
Development alStudio, .NET
Environments
Toolkits MFC, Qt, GTK Qt, GTK
Versioning Clearcase, Perforce, Source- CVS, Subversion
Systems Safe

KDevelop KDevelop allows you to write programs for different languages

(C/C++, Python, Perl, etc.). It includes a documentation browser, a source
code editor with syntax highlighting, a GUI for the compiler, and much
more. Find more information at http://www.kdevelop.org.
Eclipse The Eclipse Platform is designed for building integrated development
environments that can be extended with custom plug-ins. The base distri-
bution also contains a full-featured Java development environment. Find
more information at http://www.eclipse.org.
Qt Qt is a program library for developing applications with graphical user
interfaces. It allows you to develop professional programs rapidly. The
Qt library is available not only for Linux, but for a number of Unixes and
even for Windows and Macintosh. Thus it is possible to write programs
that can be easily ported to those platforms. Find more information at
http://www.trolltech.com.
GTK GTK is a multiplatform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is
used for all GNOME applications, The GIMP, and several others. GTK has
been designed to support a range of languages, not only C/C++. Originally
it was written for GIMP, hence the name “GIMP Toolkit.” Find more infor-
mation at http://www.gtk.org.

SUSE LINUX 45
 CVS CVS, the Concurrent Versions System, is one of the most important ver-
sion control systems for Open Source. It is a front-end to the Revision Con-
trol System (RCS) included in the standard Linux distributions. Read more
about CVS in our Administration Guide. Find more information at the home
page http://www.cvshome.org/.
Subversion Subversion does the same thing CVS does but has major enhance-
ments, like moving, renaming, and attaching meta information to files and
directories. Read more about Subversion in our Administration Guide or go
to the home page http://subversion.tigris.org/.
Mono The Mono Project is an open development initiative that is working to de-
velop an Open Source Unix version of the .NET development platform. Its
objective is to enable Unix developers to build and deploy cross-platform
.NET applications. The project implements various technologies that have
been submitted to the ECMA for standardization. For more information,
refer to http://www.mono-project.com/about/index.html.

46 2.6. Software Development

 3

The GNOME Desktop

The GNOME Desktop

This chapter introduces the GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment)
desktop. It provides a brief overview of the most important elements and func-
tionalities of your desktop, including an in-depth description of the file manager
Nautilus. Finally, get to know several smart and useful applications that can help
you feel at home in your new desktop environment.

3.1 The Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

3.2 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.3 File Management with Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4 Important Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.5 Assistive Technology Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
 GNOME has a very intuitive look and feel to it. However, users migrating to
Linux from a Microsoft Windows desktop might need to get accustomed to a few
things. Users migrating from a Macintosh might notice that GNOME feels very
much like home, because it aims to provide a Mac-type look and feel to a Linux
desktop.
Two issues are very important:

double-click Like a Mac desktop, a GNOME desktop is entirely ruled by the

double-click. To trigger an event by clicking a desktop icon, for example,
open your home folder, you need to double-click it. To open subdirectories
in the file manager, double-click the parent folder.
instant apply Any configuration dialog opened from a GNOME application or
as part of the GNOME desktop configuration follows the principle of “in-
stant apply.” Once you enter your preferences, just click the ‘Close’ button
to save them and leave the dialog. You will not find any ‘Apply’, ‘OK’, or
‘Cancel’ buttons in this kind of dialog.

3.1 The Desktop

The most important elements of the GNOME desktop are the icons on the desk-
top, the panels at the top and bottom border of the screen, and the panel menus.
The mouse is your most important tool, although GNOME has built-in support
for assistive technologies, such as braille, speech synthesizers, and on-screen key-
boards to support handicapped users. For details on these technologies, refer to
Section 3.5 on page 65.

3.1.1 The Icons

The default GNOME desktop features at least the following desktop icons pro-
viding basic navigation and functionalities of your system:

Trash Anything you want to delete can be dropped onto the ‘Trash’ desktop
icon. As long as you do not empty the trash can, these items are not deleted
permanently and can still be restored.

Home The ‘Home’ desktop icon provides easy access to your private data.

48 3.1. The Desktop

Computer The ‘Computer’ desktop icon can be used to quickly access any de-
vice attached to your computer. This includes hard drives, partitions, digital
3

The GNOME Desktop

cameras, and USB flash drives.

Right-clicking an icon displays a menu offering file operations, like copying, cut-
ting, or renaming. Selecting ‘Properties’ from the menu displays a configuration
dialog. The title of an icon and the icon itself can be changed with ‘Use custom
icon’. Use the ‘Permissions’ tab to view and modify the access, read, and write
permission settings for this file for the user, the group, or others. The ‘Notes’ tab
manages comments. The menu for the trash can additionally features the ‘Empty
Trashcan’ option. This deletes its contents.
To remove an icon from the desktop, simply move it into the trash can. However,
be careful with this option—if you throw folder icons or file icons into the trash
can, the actual data is deleted. If the icons only represent links to a file or direc-
tory, only the links are deleted.
To create a link on the desktop to a folder or a file, access the object in question
with Nautilus. Right-click the object and select ‘Make Link’. Drag the link from
the Nautilus window and drop it on the desktop.

3.1.2 The Desktop Context Menu

Right-clicking a free spot on the desktop displays a menu with various options.
Select ‘New Folder’ to create a new folder. Create a launcher icon for an appli-
cation with ‘New Launcher’. Provide the name of the application and the com-
mand for starting it then choose an icon to represent it. The order and alignment
of desktop icons are controlled via ‘Clean Up by Name’ and ‘Keep Aligned’. It is
also possible to change the desktop background or reset it to its default setting. If
you need a command line environment, click ‘Open Terminal’.

3.1.3 The Panels

On first login, the GNOME desktop starts with two panels located at the top and
the bottom of the screen. The upper panel holds the three panel menus (‘Applica-
tions’, ‘Places’, and ‘Desktop’), a quick launch area providing application buttons
for the most important programs, a system tray holding applet icons, and a notifi-
cation area with the system clock and the volume control.

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 The bottom panel contains the window icons of all started applications in the
taskbar. If you click the name of a window in the taskbar, it is moved to the fore-
ground. If the program is already in the foreground, a mouse click minimizes it.
Clicking a minimized application reopens the respective window.
Beside the taskbar, the ‘Workspace Switcher’ provides access to additional work
areas. These virtual desktops provide extra space in which to arrange open ap-
plications and windows. For example, put an editor on one workspace, some
shells on another, and your e-mail application and Web browser on a third.
Move a window to another workspace by just dragging its icon in the workspace
switcher from one workspace to another.
If you right-click an empty spot in the panel, a menu opens, offering help, infor-
mation, and commands for GNOME and panels. Select ‘Properties’ to open a con-
figuration dialog in which to change the position and background of the panel.
If desired, add launchers, tools, and various applets to the existing panels with
‘Add to Panel’. Remove panel elements by right-clicking their icons and selecting
‘Remove’. A new panel can be added with ‘New Panel’.

The Applications Menu

The ‘Applications’ menu provides an easily accessible hierarchy of the applica-
tions installed on your system. Most of them are grouped into smaller submenus
each dedicated to a category, like ‘System’, ‘Office’, and ‘Internet’. To start any
application, just click ‘Applications’ to unfold the complete menu. Then select a
suitable category, unfold the submenu, and click the application’s name.
Applications not in the menu can still be started via the ‘Run Application’
  
prompt (Alt 
–F2 
), if you know their command. For example, if you want to
browse your digital photographs and could not find gThumb in the menu, enter
gthumb at the ‘Run Application’ prompt.

The Places Menu

The ‘Places’ menu provides easy access to common locations, such as the user’s
home, drives, and desktop and network folders. A search function for recent doc-
uments and a file search can also be launched with this menu. For more informa-
tion about file management of local and remote folders, refer to Section 3.3.2 on
page 58.

50 3.1. The Desktop

The Desktop Menu
The ‘Desktop’ menu contains the basic controls for managing your desktop. Here,
3

The GNOME Desktop

find ‘Lock Screen’ and ‘Log Out’ as well as an easy-to-use function for taking
screenshots of your desktop. The screenshot function can alternatively be ac-
   
key (also known as PrtSc 
cessed just by pressing the Print Screen  ).

Applets
Applets are little applications that are nested in the panel by means of a small
icon. Unlike a “real” application, they do not have their own window on screen.
Some applets are already preconfigured to be in your panel on first start, but
there are many more to be discovered and added to your own custom panel.
Adding a panel applet is very simple. Just right-click the panel to open the ‘Add
to Panel’ dialog, shown in Figure 3.1 on the current page, scroll down until you
find what you need, select the item, and click ‘Add’. A new applet is then perma-
nently added to the panel.

Figure 3.1: Adding a New Icon to the Panel

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 3.2 Settings
Use the GNOME control center to customize your desktop. Access it with ‘Desk-
top’ ➝ ‘Preferences’. The most important and prominent modules of the GNOME
control center are featured in the following sections. In the individual modules,
access relevant help for the options with ‘Help’. The system immediately adopts
every change made in a configuration module.

3.2.1 Keyboard
The ‘Keyboard’ configuration module consists of four tabs. The ‘Keyboard’ tab
determines key repeats and cursor blinking. Keyboard layouts can be configured
in the second tab, specifying the keyboard model and the localized keyboard lay-
out. ‘Layout Options’ can be used to activate special keyboard features like Win
keys. Typing breaks can be configured in the fourth tab (‘Typing Break’). With
this, the screen is shut down after a certain time to force you to take breaks from
screen work. Exit the ‘Keyboard’ module with ‘Close’ or go the accessibility mod-
ule with ‘Accessibility’. The functionality of this module is described in Section
3.2.8 on page 54.

3.2.2 Mouse Configuration

The mouse configuration consists of three tabs: ‘Buttons’, ‘Cursor’, and ‘Motion’.
The configuration options of the ‘Buttons’ tab refer to the ‘Mouse Orientation’.
Left-handed users should activate ‘Left-handed mouse’ to swap the right and
left mouse buttons. Use the slider to determine the maximum delay (in seconds)
between two clicks that the system should interpret as a double-click.
The appearance and size of the cursor can be changed under the ‘Cursor’ tab.
Three different settings are available. Changes are not activated until the next lo-
gin. Under ‘Locate Pointer’, activate an option that causes the cursor to be high-
 
lighted when you press Ctrl , making it easier to find. Under ‘Motion’, set the ac-
celeration and sensitivity of the screen cursor and the drag and drop threshold.

3.2.3 Menus and Toolbars

The settings in this module affect the menus and toolbars of all GNOME-
compatible applications. Select for toolbar icons to be displayed as ‘Text Only’,

52 3.2. Settings
‘Icons Only’, ‘Text Beside Icons’, or ‘Text Below Icons’. The default setting is ‘Text
below icons’.
3

The GNOME Desktop

Activate ‘Detachable toolbars’ to allow the detachment of the toolbar from all
other window elements and allow its free positioning on the desktop. This makes
a grabbing area appear on the left side of the toolbar. Clicking and holding this
area relocates the toolbar.
Every menu entry in any application menu can be displayed with the corre-
sponding icon. Activating ‘Show icons in menus’ tests the settings with the pro-
vided example menu.

3.2.4 Windows
This module controls the behavior of application windows. Determine how the
window should react to contact with the mouse pointer or to double-clicks on its
title and define the key to hold for moving an application window.
When several application windows populate the desktop, the active one, by de-
fault, is the one last clicked. Change this behavior by activating ‘Select windows
when the mouse moves over them’. If desired, activate ‘Raise selected window
after an interval’ and adjust the latency time with the slider. This activates a win-
dow only when the cursor was placed within the window for a time exceeding
the set latency.
Application windows can be rolled up by double-clicking the title bar, leaving
only the title bar visible. This saves space on the desktop and is the default be-
havior. It is alternatively possible to set windows to maximize when the title bar
is double-clicked.
With the radio buttons, select the modifier key to press for moving a window. The
    
possible choices are Ctrl , Alt 
, and the Windows 
key.

3.2.5 Background
Determine a background for your desktop. By default, the changes made here
are applied to all virtual desktops. If you do not want any background picture,
click ‘No Wallpaper’ and define a background style. The drop-down menu offers
a horizontal gradient, a vertical gradient, or no gradient at all. Use ‘Desktop Col-
ors’ to define the desired colors in the color editor.
To use an image file as a background picture, drag it from the file manager and
drop it in the ‘Desktop Wallpaper’ window. Alternatively, click ‘Add Wallpaper’
to open a dialog in which to select the desired image.

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 ‘Style’ determines what processing steps should be applied to the selected image
to adapt it optimally to the current screen resolution. The options are ‘Centered’,
‘Fill Screen’, ‘Scaled’, and ‘Tiled’.

3.2.6 Font
This module determines the font to use for the desktop. In a second step, enable
optional effects for the improvement of the font quality. The upper part of the di-
alog window shows the fonts selected for ‘Application font’, ‘Desktop font’, ‘Win-
dow title font’, and ‘Terminal font’. Click one of the buttons to open a selection
dialog in which to set the font family, style, and size. The options for ‘Font Ren-
dering’ and the additional configuration options accessible through ‘Details’ are
set to optimal values by default.

3.2.7 Theme
The style for all control elements on the desktop and of GNOME applications
is set here. Choose from various preinstalled themes. Selecting a style in the list
overview applies it automatically. ‘Theme Details’ opens another dialog in which
to customize the style of single desktop elements, like window controls, window
borders, and icons. Making changes and leaving the dialog with ‘Close’ switches
the theme to ‘Custom theme’. Click ‘Save theme’ to save your modified theme
under a custom name. The Internet and other sources provide many additional
themes for GNOME as .tar.gz files. Install these with ‘Install theme’. New
themes can simply be dragged and dropped into the ‘Theme Preferences’ win-
dow.

3.2.8 Accessibility
The settings of this module facilitate the use of the keyboard for users with mo-
tion impairments. The module consists of the three tabs ‘Basic’, ‘Filters’, and
‘Mouse Keys’. Before modifying settings, activate ‘Enable keyboard accessibility
features’.

Features The keyboard accessibility functions can be deactivated automatically

after a certain time. Set an appropriate time limit measured in seconds with
the slider. The system can additionally provide audible feedback when the
keyboard accessibility functions are activated and deactivated.

54 3.2. Settings
Enable Sticky Keys Some keyboard shortcuts require that one key is kept
    
pressed constantly (this applies to Alt  , Ctrl 
, or Shift 
) while the rest of the
3

The GNOME Desktop

shortcut is typed. When “sticky” keys are used, the system regards those
keys as pressed after being hit once. For an audible feedback generated each
   
time a modifier key (Ctrl  or Alt 
) is pressed, activate ‘Beep when modifier
is pressed’. If ‘Disable if two keys pressed together’ is selected, the keys do
not stick anymore once two keys are pressed simultaneously. The system
then assumes that the keyboard shortcut has been completely entered.
Enable Repeat Keys Activate ‘Repeat Keys’ to make settings with sliders for
‘Delay’ and ‘Speed’. This determines how long a key must be pressed for
the automatic keyboard repeat function to be activated and at what speed
the characters are then typed.
Test the effect of the settings in the field at the bottom of the dialog window.
Choose parameters that reflect your normal typing habits.
Enable Slow Keys To prevent accidental typing, set a minimum time limit that
a key must be pressed and held before it is recognized as valid input by the
system. Also determine whether audible feedback should be provided for
keypress events, accepted keypresses, and the rejection of a keypress.
Enable Bounce Keys To prevent double typing, set a minimum time limit for ac-
cepting two subsequent keypress events of the same key as the input of two
individual characters. If desired, activate audible feedback upon rejection of
a keypress event.
Toggle Keys It is possible to request audible feedback from the system when a
keycap modifier key is pressed.
Mouse Activates the keyboard mouse—the mouse pointer is controlled with
the arrow keys of the number pad. Use the sliders to set the maximum
speed of the mouse pointer, the acceleration time until the maximum speed
is reached, and the latency between the pressing of a key and the cursor
movement.

3.2.9 Keyboard Shortcuts

Use this module to manage global keyboard combinations. It is possible to deter-
mine the keyboard combinations to use during text input and those for objects on
the desktop.

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 The list overview window displays a list of all currently available actions along
with their keyboard shortcuts. Deactivate or change a keyboard shortcut by click-
ing the corresponding shortcut entry. Then enter a new shortcut or delete the cur-
 
rent one with Backspace 
. All changes take effect immediately. Restore the current
keyboard shortcut by clicking its entry and leaving the dialog with ‘Close’.

3.2.10 Assistive Technology

Use this module to activate and configure active technology support for disabled
users. First, globally activate this support via ‘Enable assistive technologies’.
Because this affects various settings of your entire desktop, such as mouse and
keyboard behavior or font sizes, these changes do not take effect until the next
time you log in. Select the type of support you need. Choose from ‘Screenreader’,
‘Magnifier’, and ‘On-Screen keyboard’. More information about this topic can be
found in Section 3.5 on page 65.

3.2.11 Sound (System Alerts)

This module allows the association of certain system events and application
alerts with characteristic audio signals. The dialog box consists of three tabs
(‘General’, ‘Sound Events’, and ‘System Bell’). The two check boxes in the ‘Gen-
eral’ tab must be activated to use audio signals for certain desktop events.
In ‘Sound Events’, determine which events and application alerts should be asso-
ciated with which sounds. All sound associations already defined for applications
are listed. Test a sound by first selecting the corresponding notice in the ‘Event’
column then clicking ‘Play’. Change the sound by clicking ‘Event’ then ‘Browse’.
The dialog that appears provides a list of files from which to choose. Close it with
‘OK’.
In the ‘System Bell’ tab, determine whether an audible bell should be activated
for all kinds of system events and whether to have visual feedback as well. Visual
feedback could consist of a flashing window title bar or the entire screen flashing.

3.2.12 Default Applications

To improve the interoperability of your GNOME desktop, configure the default
Web browser, mail reader, and terminal applications that should be launched
whenever another GNOME application needs these functionalities. Select the ap-
plication’s name and customize its command if necessary. If you, for example, set

56 3.2. Settings
your default browser to ‘Firefox’, this application is started when you click a link
in an e-mail. These settings only apply to GNOME applications, however.
3

The GNOME Desktop

3.2.13 Sessions
The ‘Sessions’ dialog enables you to control the behavior of your desktop right
from the login. In the ‘Session Options’ tab, determine whether you want to see
the GNOME splash screen while the desktop is loading after login. If ‘Prompt
on logout’ is checked, a confirmation dialog appears at the end of a session, ask-
ing you to confirm the logout action. Check ‘Automatically save changes to ses-
sion’ if you want to have the exact state of a session restored for the subsequent
login. With ‘Startup Programs’, configure any additional programs that should be
started on login (certain applets or terminals, for example). The ‘Current Session’
tab lists all programs that are currently started once a session begins. Remove ap-
plications or change the order in which they are started as desired.

3.3 File Management with Nautilus

Nautilus is the file manager and viewer of GNOME. The following section pro-
vides an overview of the basic functions of Nautilus as well as a few tips on its
configuration. More information can be found in the help pages for Nautilus.

3.3.1 Navigating in Nautilus

The standard window of Nautilus is shown in Figure 3.2 on the following page.
The default view of a folder’s content is the icon view just featuring an icon and
the filename for each file. If configured accordingly, a preview of the file’s content
can be provided, as described in Section 3.3.4 on page 60. When you double-click
a folder icon, a new Nautilus window opens, displaying the folder’s content.
If you prefer browser-like file navigation, switch to the Nautilus browser inter-
face. Right-click the folder to browse and choose ‘Browse Folder’. A new Nautilus
window opens, providing the normal functionality, but with a browser’s look
and feel. To navigate folders and files, you can now use the ‘Back’, ‘Forward’, and
‘Up’ buttons as you would do in a Web browser. The functionalities and config-
uration options described below (Section 3.3.2 on the following page and Section
3.3.4 on page 60) also apply to the file browser interface.

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 Figure 3.2: Nautilus Standard Window

To navigate between folders, use the drop-down menu at bottom left edge of the
Nautilus window. Here, find all parent folders to the current directory up to the
file system root. Select the desired folder and it opened in a new Nautilus win-
dow on top of the old one. Alternatively, open just the immediate parent of the
current folder by choosing ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open Parent’. If you want to close these par-
ent folders, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Close Parent Folders’.

3.3.2 File Management

Nautilus supports drag and drop for file management. Any file from the desktop
can simply be dragged onto an open Nautilus window and dropped to its final
destination. To move files between directories, open the source directory contain-
ing the file to move. Select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open Location’, enter the path to the target
directory, then drag the files to move to the Nautilus window holding the target
directory. Files and folders can be moved to and from an open Nautilus window
and the desktop.
If you need to create multiple copies of a file, use ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Duplicate’. For simple
cut, copy, and paste of files, use the ‘Edit’ menu or right-click the file icon then
selecting the appropriate item from the context menu that appears. To rename a
file, right-click it and select ‘Rename’.
Nautilus supports file browsing across a network. To connect to a remote server
(FTP, SSH, HTTP, Samba, etc.), click ‘File’ ➝ ‘Connect to Server’. You are then

58 3.3. File Management with Nautilus

prompted for the type of server to which to connect and some additional infor-
mation, like the name of the folder to access, the port number, and the username
3

The GNOME Desktop

to use. When you leave this dialog with ‘Connect’, the remote folder is displayed
as part of the ‘Places’ panel menu and appears as a desktop icon. For any future
connections, just select the appropriate item from the ‘Places’ menu and provide
the necessary authentication to log in to these network folders. To close these con-
nections, right-click the desktop icon and select ‘Unmount Volume’.
Nautilus provides basic CD burning functionality. If you created a directory hold-
ing data you want to back up by just burning it to a CD, click ‘Places’ ➝ ‘CD Cre-
ator’ and drag the folder holding the relevant data onto the ‘CD/DVD Creator’
window. Select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Write to Disc’ to copy the data to CD or DVD.

3.3.3 Editing MIME Types

MIME types determine which application should open a file when clicked in a
Web or file browser. The actual file type and the MIME type of a file are closely
associated with each other. An HTML file has the file type html and would be
registered to have a MIME type text/html. Nautilus has built-in support for
most of the common MIME types and proposes the appropriate application when
you choose to open a file. In this case, it would propose a Web browser.
However, you might want to change the MIME type for certain files if you are not
quite happy with the default applications suggested by Nautilus. Changing the
default application assigned to a certain MIME type is very straightforward. See
Figure 3.3 on the following page.

Procedure 3.1: Editing the MIME Type

1. Right-click a file of the MIME type in question in a Nautilus window.

2. Select ‘Properties’ from the menu that opens.
3. Choose the ‘Open With’ tab from the ‘Properties’ dialog.
4. Click ‘Add’ and ‘Browse’ to search for a suitable application.
5. Leave the dialog with ‘Close’.

If a MIME type has not yet been properly registered, the procedure is the same as
described above. These modifications are applied globally, which means that any
file of this type is subsequently opened by the application defined.

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 Figure 3.3: Editing the MIME Type

3.3.4 Configuring Nautilus

Nautilus retrieves its default font and other preferences from the desktop config-
uration. To set Nautilus-specific preferences, select ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Preferences’ in any
Nautilus window. The configuration dialog offers five tabs: ‘Views’, ‘Behavior’,
‘Display’, ‘List Columns’, and ‘Preview’.
‘Views’ allows switching the ‘Default View’ between ‘Icon View’ and ‘List View’.
A sorting order can be set for any of these options.
In ‘Behavior’, choose between single-click and double-click response and also set
the handling of executable files. These can either be started on activation or have
the content displayed. The operating mode of the trash is also set here. Activate
a confimation dialog before deletion, if desired. ‘Include a Delete command that

60 3.3. File Management with Nautilus

bypasses trash’ can also be set. The files are immediately deleted if this option is
activated.
3

The GNOME Desktop

‘Display’ features three options for determining what information should be dis-
played for icons and how it should be displayed. In addition to that, the data for-
mat can also be set here. ‘List Columns’ determines what information should be
revealed in the list view. In ‘Preview’, select whether to activate preview thumb-
nails for certain file types.

3.4 Important Utilities

GNOME has many applets and applications. They are designed to interact with
the desktop and each other. This section introduces some of them. Learn how to
manage little notes on your desktop, use the GNOME dictionary, chat with Gaim,
and enjoy various types of multimedia applications.

3.4.1 Taking Notes with Tomboy

Tomboy is a smart little panel applet offering a note application for the GNOME
desktop. Left-click the panel icon to open the Tomboy menu and select ‘Create
New Note’. Enter the text of your note. Notes can be linked with each other by
clicking ‘Link’. These links even survive renaming and reorganizing. A ‘Search
Notes’ function located in the panel menu of Tomboy lets you search your notes.
Web links and e-mail addresses can also be dropped onto Tomboy.

3.4.2 Dictionary
Dictionary (command gnome-dictionary) is a useful applet for checking the
spelling and meaning of words. An Internet connection is required, because this
applet accesses an online dictionary.
Enter the term to look up in ‘Word’. The menu under ‘Dictionary’ gives a choice
between ‘Look Up Word’ and ‘Check Spelling’. By default, the query is sent to the
dict.org server. To use a different server, select ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Preferences’. See a sam-
ple entry in Figure 3.4 on the next page. dict.org allows you to choose between
various databases for special vocabularies, such as jargon or computer terminol-
ogy. Under ‘Default strategy’, specify what to look for the exact word, parts of
the word, or the prefix or suffix. Under ‘Help’, access the online manual of the
application with ‘Contents’ and information about the author and version of the
application with ‘About’.

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 Figure 3.4: GNOME Dictionary

3.4.3 Messaging with Gaim

Gaim (command gaim) is a powerful instant messenger client. It supports vari-
ous protocols, such as AIM, ICQ, GroupWise, IRC, Jabber, MSN, and others. Its
most popular features include the ability to log in to multiple accounts on mul-
tiple instant messaging networks at the same time, automatic text replacement,
and spell checking. Gaim has buddy pounces (known as “buddy alerts” in AOL
Messenger), meaning that you can configure Gaim to notify you whenever one
of your buddies enters or leaves a channel to which you are currently connected.
Gaim can send you a message announcing this, play a sound, or execute a com-
mand.
On first start-up, create a list of your accounts on different instant messaging net-
works by clicking ‘Add’ in the ‘Accounts’ window to open the appropriate dia-
log. Select the protocol then enter your screen name, password, and alias. Check
‘Remember password’ and ‘Auto-Login’ if you want Gaim to log in automatically
on start-up. To keep track of your e-mail while using Gaim, check ‘New mail no-
tifications’. To select a buddy icon for your account, open a file dialog and choose
one. Additional options, such as proxy settings and server addresses, can be con-
figured after clicking ‘Show more options’. Once you have completed your ac-
count settings, leave this dialog with ‘Save’.
As soon as you are done entering the account data, it is shown in the login win-
dow. To sign on, select your account from the ‘Account’ menu, enter your pass-
word, click ‘Sign on’, and start chatting.

62 3.4. Important Utilities

 3

The GNOME Desktop

Figure 3.5: Gaim

3.4.4 Watching Movies with Totem

Totem is a multimedia player for the GNOME desktop based on Xine. It supports
playback of DVDs, VCDs, and audio CDs. Start playback of a VCD or DVD via
‘Movie’ ➝ ‘Play VCD’ or ‘Movie’ ➝ ‘Play DVD’. Totem offers menu support for
DVDs under ‘Go’. Movie streams can be fetched via the network—just enter the
URL at ‘Movie’ ➝ ‘Open Location’. Take screenshots with ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Take Screen-
shot’.

3.4.5 Managing Archives with File Roller

In GNOME, manage file archives with File Roller. This application is able to han-
dle archives of the following types: .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz, .tar.bz2,
.tar.Z, .zip, .lha, .rar, .lzh, .ear, .jar, and .war. Easily view archive

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 contents from File Roller with other applications without needing to decompress
the archives. File Roller supports drag and drop, allowing you to drag file icons
from the desktop or from the file manager (Nautilus) to the File Roller window
and drop them there.
To create a new archive, select ‘Archive’ ➝ ‘New’. In the next dialog, specify the
directory in which to create the new archive in the left window. Enter the file-
name of the new archive in the input field below without the file extension. Then
determine the archive type with the drop-down menu above the name field. Exit
the dialog with ‘OK’ and return to the main view of File Roller. Now, add files to
the archive by inserting files from the desktop or the file manager with drag and
drop or by selecting ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Add Files’. In the following dialog, select one or
 
several files (keep Ctrl 
pressed to select multiple files) or directories. If necessary,
set the following advanced options for the archive:

Add only if newer If the archive already contains a file with the same name, the
file is only added if it is newer than the one existing in the archive.

Include subfolders To compress an entire directory, activate this option to in-

clude all subdirectories.
Exclude backup files (*~) Avoid unnecessary data trash by disabling the inclu-
sion of backup copies when creating an archive.
Exclude hidden files (.*) Usually, hidden files do not contain any data that is
relevant for the user. By default, they are not included in the archive to re-
duce the amount of data.
Exclude files This explicitly excludes certain files from the archive. This option
is useful if you want to compress entire directories but exclude certain files
from the archive. Instead of filenames, you can also specify search patterns.
Ignore case File Roller ignores different capitalizations of filenames and exten-
sions, like JPEG or jpeg.

After completing the selection and configuration, exit the dialog. The archive cre-
ated is available for further processing at the desired location. To decompress an
archive, load it to File Roller, click ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Extract to’, and specify the target di-
rectory.

64 3.4. Important Utilities

3.5 Assistive Technology Support
3

The GNOME Desktop

GNOME offers a number of applications to support users with disabilities. These
applications include an on-screen keyboard (GOK), a powerful screenreader
(Gnopernicus) with magnification, speech and braille support, and a text entry
interface (Dasher). Activate the support for any assistive technology via the the
GNOME control center that can be accessed by selecting ‘Desktop’ ➝ ‘Prefer-
ences’.

3.5.1 GNOME On-Screen Keyboard

Gnome On Screen Keyboard (GOK) provides a virtual keyboard on screen to
those users who cannot use standard mouse and keyboard devices to control
their computers. With appropriate hardware support, you can use a joystick or
any pointer device as the input device.

Figure 3.6: GOK in Use

The following example of using a text editor via GOK should illustrate the way
how GOK works.

Procedure 3.2: Editing a Text File via GOK

1. Click ‘Launcher’ in the main menu. See Figure 3.6 on this page
2. Select ‘Text editor’ to launch a GNOME text editor and click ‘back’ to return
to the main menu.

3. Hit ‘Compose’ to launch the actual on-screen keyboard and start entering
your text. If in need of advanced editing funtionality like selecting, copy-
ing, pasting, or skipping characters, words, sentences, or lines, hit ‘Edit’. To
return to the keyboard window, hit ‘back’.

SUSE LINUX 65
 4. To save the text you have written, click ‘back’ to return to the main win-
dow then select ‘Menus’ to launch a window containing buttons to open
any menu from the text editor’s menu bar.
5. Select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save as’ to open the file dialog of the text editor.
6. Hit ‘Compose’ to enter the filename via the virtual keyboard and hit ‘Re-
turn’ on the virtual keyboard.
7. To terminate the text editor, return to the main menu and select ‘Menus’ ➝
‘File’ ➝ ‘Quit’.

To configure the behavior of GOK, click ‘GOK’ ➝ ‘Preferences’ in the main win-
dow and adjust the ‘Appearance’, ‘Actions’, ‘Feedback’, ‘Access Methods’, and
‘Prediction’ settings.
More information about GOK can be obtained at http://www.gok.ca/, where
you also find a comprehensive online help for this tool.

3.5.2 Gnopernicus
Gnopernicus is a powerful tool collection with various types of screen reading
applications for blind and visually impaired users. It provides the following func-
tionalities:

Speech A speech synthesizer software is used to translate the actions on screen

to spoken words. If your computer has a sound card, you can configure
Gnopernicus to comment anything that happens on-screen.
Braille and Braille monitor If a braille device is connected to your system,
Gnopernicus can translate the screen directly to this device. If you activated
‘Braille Monitor’ as well, get an on-screen display of the braille output. This
option might prove useful for demonstration purposes.
Magnifier This module assists visually impaired users by magnifying the screen
using a customizable zoom factor.

Once Gnopernicus has been started, its main menu appears in the top left corner
of the screen, as shown in Figure 3.7 on the next page. Determine which func-
tionalities should be provided when your desktop starts by opening the ‘Startup
Mode’ dialog. Each active module can be configured via the ‘Preferences’ dialog.
Get more information about the Gnopernicus project at http://www.baum.ro/
gnopernicus.html.

66 3.5. Assistive Technology Support

 3

The GNOME Desktop

Figure 3.7: Configuring Gnopernicus

3.5.3 Dasher
Dasher is a small application enabling you to create texts without using a key-
board. You can use it on any computer device that comes without a keyboard
(handheld or wearable computers) or on a normal computer that is controlled
with a joystick, touchpad, head mouse, or eyetracker instead of keyboard and
mouse.
Dasher is driven by continuous pointer gestures. Start with one character then
drag the pointer to the next one until your text input is finished. Dasher supports
various languages out of the box (English and European languages, Japanese,
and some African languages) and can easily be trained to support other lan-
guages. Find more information about the Dasher project at http://www.
inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/.

SUSE LINUX 67
 Figure 3.8: Writing with Dasher

68 3.5. Assistive Technology Support

 4

The KDE Desktop

The KDE Desktop

The KDE desktop offers an intuitive graphical interface. The following sections
show you how to make efficient use of KDE’s features and how to customize the
desktop to meet your personal needs. This is followed by an introduction to the
file manager Konqueror and a brief description of some small but useful utilities.

4.1 Desktop Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4.2 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.3 Konqueror as a File Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.4 Important Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
 4.1 Desktop Components
The main components are the icons on the desktop and the panel at the bottom
of the screen. The mouse is your most important tool. Click a symbol or an icon
once to start the associated program or the file manager Konqueror. If you right-
click an icon, different menus appear, depending on the program. As well as the
icons, there are two desktop menus.

4.1.1 The Desktop Menus

If you middle-click the desktop (if your mouse only has two buttons, press both
buttons at the same time), a window and desktop management menu is dis-
played. The menu lists the various desktops and the windows opened in them.
It also offers the following items:

‘Unclutter Windows’ If you have several windows on your desktop, they are
placed next to each other and aligned with the top left corner.
‘Cascade Windows’ Starting from the top left corner, the windows on the desk-
top are placed on top of each other in such a way that only the top and left
borders of the lower windows are visible.
‘Desktop x’ Desktop 1 is your default desktop. This part of the menu lists all
the windows currently opened. You can bring them to the foreground by
clicking one of the respective items.
‘Additional Desktops’ You can use the additional (virtual) desktops provided
and switch to them with the menu or the panel. All functions are available
on all desktops. This limits the number of programs and associated win-
dows that need to be arranged on one desktop. These virtual desktops re-
semble additional desks in your office.

If you right-click the desktop, a more complex menu is displayed, allowing you
to customize your desktop.

‘Create New’ Use this menu item to create new directories, files, or devices on
the desktop. A list of possible elements is provided for selection in a sub-
menu.

70 4.1. Desktop Components

‘Bookmarks’ The bookmark editor allows you to create, group, change, or
delete bookmarks. The bookmarks are used by the browser and file man-
4

The KDE Desktop

ager Konqueror. The bookmark editor can also import bookmarks from
other browsers, such as Mozilla, Netscape, Opera, and Internet Explorer.
‘Run Command’ This menu item opens a window in which to enter a command
 
manually. Execute the command by pressing Enter 
.
‘Undo’ Use this item to undo the last action. For example, if you have just cre-
ated a new directory on the desktop, clicking this item reverts the creation
so the directory disappears.
‘Paste’ To keep a folder or document handy on the desktop, you can copy an
icon from the file manager by right-clicking and selecting ‘Copy’ then mov-
ing the mouse to the desired location on the desktop. Right-click again and
select ‘Paste’. The icon is now available on your desktop and can be moved
around by dragging it with the left mouse button pressed.
‘Icons’ This allows you to rearrange the icons on the desktop. You can also
change the order of the icons.
‘Windows’ This arranges the windows on the desktop, either on top of each
other beginning from the top left corner or next to each other.
‘Refresh Desktop’ If the desktop appears garbled in some way, use this menu
item to redraw it.
‘Configure Desktop’ This menu item starts a configuration dialog with which
to configure the appearance and behavior of the desktop. Details about the
configuration of the desktop are provided in Section 4.2 on page 73.
‘Start New Session’ This menu opens a dialog box asking if you want to start a
new user environment. After clicking ‘Start New Session’, the current ses-
sion disappears into the background and the system switches to a new lo-
 
gin screen. Each session has a function key assigned to it: F7  represents the
 
first session, F8 
the second one, and so on. To switch between different ses-
     
sions, press Ctrl 
-Alt 
-Fx 
, where Fx 
is the function key corresponding to the
desired session.

‘Lock Screen’ If you leave your workstation and do not log out, you should use
this function to prevent others from gaining access to your files. Depending
on the setting, the screen turns blank or starts displaying a screensaver. To
continue using the computer, enter your password.

SUSE LINUX 71
 ‘Logout’ Log out of your system if you are not going to use the system for some
time.

4.1.2 The Main Menu

Open the main menu by clicking the icon to the far left of the panel. Alternatively,
  
press Alt 
-F1 
. The main menu is subdivided into these sections: ‘Most Used Ap-
plications’, ‘All Applications’ (a menu with all applications sorted according to
categories), and ‘Actions’. The following section provides information about a
number of actions that can be triggered from the main menu. Detailed informa-
tion about the Control Center is available in Section 4.2 on the next page.

‘Bookmarks’ By selecting ‘Edit Bookmarks’ from this menu, start an editor in

which to organize your bookmarks. If you select one of the bookmarks
present in the menu, the Konqueror browser starts and loads the corre-
sponding URL.
‘Run Command’ This item opens a dialog in which to enter a command. You
can use it to start an application whose command you know without navi-
gating through the program submenus.
‘Switch User’ To start a second session with a graphical user interface on your
machine, select ‘Start New Session’ from the main menu. Your current ses-
sion remains active while you are taken to the login screen. Log in. You can
also start another window manager. Access the first session by pressing
       
Ctrl 
-Alt 
-F7 
. Press F8 
instead of F7 
to access the new session. Additional
     
sessions can be accessed by pressing Ctrl  -Alt 
-F9 
to F12 
.
‘Lock Session’ If you leave your workstation, you can blank your screen or start
a screensaver. Access to the session can only be regained with a password.
To unlock, enter your normal login password. Locking the screen ensures
that others cannot read or manipulate your documents or e-mail messages.
‘Log Out’ You can log out from the system by means of this menu item. How-
ever, first you are asked what should happen after the logout. If you select
‘Login as different user’, the login screen is displayed, allowing you or an-
other user to log in to the system. You can also shut down and turn off the
computer or shut it down and reboot immediately. Confirm your selection
with ‘OK’ or remain logged in by clicking ‘Cancel’.

72 4.1. Desktop Components

4.2 Settings
4

The KDE Desktop

The KDE desktop can be customized according to your preferences and needs.
‘Control Center’ in the main menu opens the configuration dialog for your KDE
desktop. The following section introduces a number of modules. You can also
start it with the command kcontrol.

Tip
Using Konqueror for Your Settings
You can also use Konqueror to view and modify your settings. Type
settings:/ in your location bar and Konqueror displays all the
modules in icon view or tree view according to your configuration.
Tip

4.2.1 Using the KDE Control Center

After starting the KDE Control Center, see the main window. It has its menus at
the top and a sidebar on the left. The configuration is displayed on the right.
You can change the appearance of the sidebar with the ‘View’ menu. Switch from
the tree view to icon view or vice versa. To configure some shortcuts, go to ‘Set-
tings’ ➝ ‘Configure Shortcuts’.
The sidebar contains three tabs. The first, ‘Index’, displays all the modules ac-
cording to the settings of the ‘View’ menu. The second, ‘Search’, enables you to
search for some keywords. With the last tab, ‘Help’, read small help texts about
the current module.

4.2.2 Appearance & Themes

This item features all fine tuning options for the appearance of your desktop.
‘Background’ lets you choose a color, picture, or slideshow for your background
desktop.
If you do not like the actual color scheme, modify it in ‘Colors’. You can change
the color of the window background, your menu, links, and others.
Fonts are also an essential part of your desktop. Set your default fonts with
‘Fonts’. This module displays a preview of the currently selected font in a text
field. With ‘Choose’, select the font, style, and size.

SUSE LINUX 73
 ‘Icons’ controls the icon style for the whole desktop. You can select the KDE Clas-
sic style, the Crystal SVG style, or others. With ‘Advanced’, fine-tune the icons’
appearance.
‘Launch Feedback’ runs a visual feedback for your mouse cursor. If an applica-
tion is started, KDE shows, for example, a busy cursor. Choose the style, like
blinking or bouncing. You can also try a passive cursor or disable this effect en-
tirely.
If you do not use your computer for a specific time, a screen saver automatically
appears. With the ‘Screen Savers’ module, configure all the necessary settings. Se-
lect from a lot of types, like banners, fractals, and illusions. To tweak the settings
for a specific screen saver, click ‘Setup’. More options can be found in ‘Advanced
Options’.
When KDE starts, it shows a small image. This image can be defined with ‘Splash
Screen’. Click ‘Test’ to display the splash screen.
With ‘Style’, modify the visual appearance of user interface elements (GUI).
Choose a style to preview it in the example below. ‘Effects’ and ‘Miscellanous’
can enable some GUI effects and transparency.
Some users created configuration sets and uploaded them to a Web page. ‘Theme
Manager’ let you choose and install different themes for your KDE desktop.
‘Window Decorations’ are another style setting. If you change the setting, the ex-
ample below changes.

4.2.3 Desktop
‘Behavior’ allows you to change some general issues about your desktop. You can
activate previews for some specific files or enable device icons.
The central place for user-defined resources is ‘KDE Resources’. Choose a re-
source, like Calendar, Contacts, or Notes. Then click ‘Add’. Depending on your
selection, it displays a window in which to select the type of the new resource.
The next step opens a new window with specific settings for this type. If you con-
firm with ‘Ok’, the resource can be used in other KDE applications, for example,
KOrganizer.
‘Multiple Desktops’ let you choose up to 20 virtual desktops with individual
names. Move the slider to change the value. Use the text fields to give your desk-
tops names.
With the ‘Panels’ module, set the position of the panel. You can put any panel on
the left, right, top, or bottom of the screen. The other tabs contain settings to hide

74 4.2. Settings
the panel or add special menus. It is also possible to modify the background or
enable transparency.
4

The KDE Desktop

The ‘Taskbar’ modules configure the taskbar, which provides the window list
in the panel. How the taskbar groups windows is determined in ‘Group similar
tasks’. You can define some actions to perform if the left, middle, or right mouse
button is pressed.
With ‘Window Behavior’, customize the default KDE window manager (KWin).
This controls what happens windows are moved, clicked, or resized.
‘Windows-Specific Settings’ let you customize settings that only apply for some
windows. It only takes effect if you use KWin as your window manager.

4.2.4 Internet & Network

The modules ‘Paried Bluetooth Devices’ and ‘Bluetooth Services’ deal with how
you manage your Bluetooth devices and services. KDE lets you change the time-
out values for different connections in ‘Connection Preferences’.
‘Desktop Sharing’ is useful if you want to invite other people to your desktops.
Only let trustworthy users take part in your session.
‘File Sharing’ can only be changed if you are an administrator. If you are root, you
can add, change, or remove folders intended to be shared with others.
Use ‘Local Network Browsing’ if you want to browse a local network. It is like
“Network Neighborhood.” Take into account that you need some additional soft-
ware, especially the LISa daemon (see package kdenetwork3-lisa).
In ‘Proxy’, customize proxy and SOCKS servers. Normally, if your administrator
does not tell you to use this, it is probably not useful for you.
The ‘Samba’ submodule should only be customized with the YaST configuration
center.
For Konqueror, try the submodule ‘Web Browser’. You can customize fonts, in-
spect cookies, and determine Web behavior.

4.2.5 KDE Components

The ‘Component Chooser’ module handles basic tasks. At the moment, you
can change the e-mail client, text editor, messenger, terminal, and Web browser.
Whenever a KDE application needs to start an application of these types, it al-
ways calls the same component.

SUSE LINUX 75
 KDE uses ‘File Associations’ to identify a file type and start appropriate applica-
tions. With this module, customize the icon, filename patterns, description, and
order of applications.
Konqueror can also behave like a file manager. The ‘File Manager’ module con-
figures which fonts and font sizes are used, what home URL is used, if previews
are allowed, and if quick copy and move actions are allowed.
An overview of all plug-ins of the KDE daemon is shown in ‘Service Manager’.
This module shows two different types: services invoked on start-up and services
called on demand. Normally do not change the settings of this module, because it
is vital for KDE.
With ‘Spell Checker’, KDE provides support for two common spell checking
utilities, ASpell and ISpell. This module sets a default configuration that can be
shared with other applications.

4.2.6 Peripherals
This setting opens the configuration dialogs for the mouse, keyboard, and printer
administration.

4.2.7 Power Control

This is only useful for laptops. ‘Laptop Battery’ monitors your batteries. Power
management software must be installed.

4.2.8 Regional & Accessibility

‘Accessibility’ configures functions that can help individuals with difficulties in
motor function or vision.
In ‘Country/Region & Language’, set your locale settings. You can add more than
one language. Numbers, money, time, and dates can be customized in the respec-
tive tabs.
‘Keyboard layout’ allows use of multiple layouts for different languages. For ex-
ample, you can activate a French and a German layout and switch between them.
Enable this with ‘Enable keyboard layouts’, select the one or more layouts from
the list, and press ‘Add’. Fine-tune them in the ‘Xkb Options’ tab.
‘Keyboard Shortcuts’ deals with key bindings. A key binding is an association
between an action (for example, delete) and one or more keys.

76 4.2. Settings
4.2.9 Security & Privacy
4

The KDE Desktop

To make KDE more secure, ‘Crypto’ allows you to configure SSL (secure socket
layer). This is used in most KDE applications as well as others. There is also a
possibility to manage your personal certificates.
The KDE password manager can be customized in the module ‘KDE Wallet’.
Apart from some general settings, you can create a new wallet. This enables you
to have different wallets, for example, for different actions.
To change your personal settings, go to ‘Password & User Account’. Here, set a
new name, organization, e-mail address, SMTP server, or password.
The ‘Privacy’ module manages personal Web browsing data. For example, use
it to clear the cache, delete the history of visited Web sites, or remove unwanted
cookies.

4.2.10 Sound & Multimedia

Here, perform all settings for the playback of audio CDs and for the sound sys-
tem. Under ‘System Bell’, switch from system notification to a system bell and
specify the volume, pitch, and duration of the bell.
By default, system notifications are used. Use this module to determine how the
system should inform you in the event of a problem, when a task is performed,
or if an event requiring your immediate attention occurs. In the upper part of the
dialog, select the application for which to configure the system notifications. As
soon as you select a program, all events the application can send to the user are
listed in the lower window. Determine the notification type for each notification
in the ‘Actions’ dialog.
The default view of the system notification dialog only offers ‘Play a sound’ for
audible notification. Click ‘More Options’ to access other action modes. You can
log the notification to a file, execute a program, or show the message in a pop-up
window. In the lower part of the dialog under ‘Quick Controls’, globally activate
or deactivate the actions for all programs.

4.2.11 System Administration

If you want to install new fonts, the ‘Font Installer’ is the right tool. This mod-
ule shows a list of your personal fonts. Clicking a font displays a sentence in the

SUSE LINUX 77
 respective face. Easily add new fonts with ‘Add Fonts’. To change system fonts,
click ‘Administrator Mode’.
The module ‘Linux Kernel’ only takes effect if you have installed the source of
your kernel. It is only useful if you are a developer compiling a new kernel and
want to customize some options.
With ‘Login Manager’, change the appearance, the fonts used, the background
shown, the shutdown behavior, what users are displayed, and some convenience
issues for the login screen.
To change the default paths of KDE, go to ‘Paths’. You can customize three differ-
ent paths: desktop, autostart, and documents.

4.3 Konqueror as a File Manager

Konqueror is a unified Web browser, file manager, document viewer, and image
viewer. This section covers the use of Konqueror for file management. If you are
interested in Konqueror as a Web browser, see Chapter 10 on page 151.
  
Start Konqueror by clicking the house icon in the panel or by pressing Alt -F2 
and entering konqueror $HOME. The contents of your home directory are then
displayed. The file manager window consists of the menu bar at the top, the tool-
bar, and the location bar. The lower part of the window is split vertically into the
navigation panel and the main window, which displays the contents.

4.3.1 File Preview

Konqueror can show you a preview of certain files. Normally this is switched on
if you browse in a directory. It only works if your icon view is activated (look into
‘View’ ➝ ‘View Mode’). The preview function can simplify your daily work. In
big directories, it gives a rough overview of what is inside the files. Sometimes
this is not useful, for example, for packed files. But if you point to the respective
file, Konqueror opens a tool tip with additional information, like name, owner,
and size.
You can change which files have a preview. Go to ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure Kon-
queror’ and open the section ‘Previews & Meta-Data’. Konqueror differentiates
between Internet and local protocols. Each protocol can be activated. Approve
with ‘Ok’.

78 4.3. Konqueror as a File Manager

 4

The KDE Desktop

Figure 4.1: The File Manager Konqueror

4.3.2 File Associations

A modern desktop system should know how to handle its file types. With Kon-
queror, decide which application can be used to process a file. Go to ‘Settings’ ➝
‘Configure Konqueror’ and open the section ‘File Associations’. If you are search-
ing for an extension, use ‘Find filename pattern’. Only file types with a matching
file pattern appear in the list.
For example, to modify the application for MP3 files, enter mp3 and see an en-
try x-mp3. After a left-click, the setting dialog opens on the right side for this file
type. You can change the icon, the filename patterns, a description, and the order
of the applications. If your tool is not listed, press ‘Add’ and enter its command.
Sometimes the order of the list entries is inappropriate. To change it, click the pro-
gram to move then give it a higher or lower priority with ‘Move Up’ or ‘Move
Down’. The application listed at the top is used by default if you click a file of this
type.
Sometimes you need a file type that is not in the list. With ‘Add’, open a dialog
box in which to select a group and enter a type name. The group determines the
main type, for example, audio, image, text, or video. Usually your file type can be

SUSE LINUX 79
 assigned to one of those. In ‘Type name’, name your file type. After clicking ‘Ok’,
determine the extensions of the filename. Put a description in the text field and
decide which application to use. Approve with ‘Ok’.

4.3.3 The Konqueror Menu

‘Location’ Using ‘Location’, open additional Konqueror windows. If you click
‘New Window’, your home directory is displayed in a new window. ‘Dupli-
cate Window’ produces a second window with the same content. You can
also send a file or a link (using the browser function) by e-mail. If you click
one of these menu items, the KMail composer opens. Specify the recipient
and compose a text. Depending on the selected item, the file is already at-
tached or the link is displayed in the e-mail body. You can also print directly
from this menu.
‘Edit’ Most items under ‘Edit’ only become active if you select an object in the
main window. Apart from the standard editing functions, like cutting,
copying, pasting, renaming, moving to the trash, and deleting, there is also
the ‘Create New’ item, which can be used to create directories, files, and de-
vices. Another item in the ‘Edit’ menu lets you view and change the prop-
erties of files and directories and their permissions. With it, grant or deny
the owner, a group, or all users read, write, and execute permissions. In the
main window, select one or several files by moving the mouse pointer over
them while keeping the left mouse button pressed or using ‘Selection’ ➝
‘Select’.
‘View’ Use the ‘View’ menu to change views. If a directory has many objects
in it, the text view or the tree view may be more efficient. To view HTML
pages, activate ‘Use index.html’. If a directory contains a file with this
name, Konqueror loads and displays it.
To influence the way in which the main window displays directory con-
tents, use the items ‘Icon Size’, ‘Show Hidden Files’, ‘Sort’, and ‘Preview’. In
addition, use ‘Configure Background’ to set the main window’s background
to a certain color or use an image for it.
‘Go’ The ‘Go’ menu contains the navigation functions ‘Up’, ‘Back’, ‘Forward’,
and ‘Home Page’. However, the same functions can be accessed more
quickly and conveniently through the toolbar. You can also call applications
from this menu and open all folders that have an icon on the desktop. In
the lower part of the menu, find a list of the recently-viewed directories or
links.

80 4.3. Konqueror as a File Manager

‘Bookmarks’ Bookmarks can be made for Internet addresses (URLs) and paths
to specific files or directories on your host. If you select ‘Add Bookmark’,
4

The KDE Desktop

the current content of the location bar is saved as a bookmark. To access this
location, simply click this bookmark. For practical reasons, arrange book-
marks in folders. The SUSE folder already exists. This folder contains book-
marks of important SUSE Web pages. ‘Edit Bookmarks’ opens the book-
mark editor in which to perform tasks like deleting obsolete bookmarks,
renaming bookmarks, and moving bookmarks from one folder to another.
‘Tools’ This menu includes entries for a variety of items, such as ‘Run Com-
mand’, ‘Open Terminal Window’, and ‘Find Files’. You can use ‘View Filter’
to limit the view to certain types of files. For example, one of your directo-
ries may hold graphics files of different formats, but you only want to see
those in PNG format. You could then use this submenu item to hide all files
that are not in PNG format.
Selecting ‘Create Image Gallery’ causes Konqueror to search the directory
for any image files. The program then creates thumbnail pictures of them
and combines these into an HTML page. A dialog box prompts you to set
the options for the HTML page, such as the font and the number of thumb-
nails per line.
‘Settings’ Use the ‘Settings’ menu to configure the look and feel of Konqueror. If
  
-M 
you do not want a menu, select ‘Hide Menubar’. Press Ctrl  to display it
again. The ‘Toolbars’ submenu allows you to hide or display other elements
of the file manager.
View profiles can be used to change the view according to predefined us-
age patterns. To switch between the available profiles, select ‘Load View
Profile’. One of the profiles is the Web browser profile, which is used auto-
matically when you click the Konqueror icon in the panel. Add your own
profiles by selecting ‘Configure View Profiles’. In addition, you can specify
individual keyboard shortcuts with ‘Configure Shortcuts’, customize the
toolbar with ‘Configure Toolbars’, and configure global settings for the file
manager with ‘Configure Konqueror’.
‘Window’ The ‘Window’ menu allows you to split the main window horizon-
tally and vertically. It also allows you to manage the tabbed subwindows
within the main window by opening or closing a tab, duplicating an exist-
ing tab, or detaching a tab into a separate window.
‘Help’ Under the ‘Help’ menu, access the Konqueror handbook or the ‘What’s
This’ function. Normally this function can also be accessed with the ques-

SUSE LINUX 81
 tion mark symbol at the top right in the title bar. The mouse pointer is then
displayed with a question mark. If you click an icon, a brief help text is dis-
played, if available. The ‘Help’ menu also provides a short introduction to
Konqueror and the possibility to report bugs and other concerns to the de-
velopers. ‘About Konqueror’ and ‘About KDE’ provide information about
the version, license, authors, and translators of the project.

4.3.4 The Toolbar

The toolbar provides quick access to frequently-used functions that can also be
accessed via the menu. If you let the mouse pointer rest above an icon, a short de-
scription is displayed. Right-click a free space in the toolbar to open a menu with
which to change the position of the toolbar, switch from icons to text, change the
icon size, and display or hide the individual bars. Start the configuration dialog
with ‘Configure Toolbars’. To the right, the toolbar features the Konqueror icon,
which is animated while a directory or Web page is loaded.

4.3.5 The Location Bar

The location bar is preceded by a black symbol with a white X. If you click this
icon, the contents of the line are deleted, allowing entry of a new location. Valid
locations can be path specifications, like the one that appears when the home di-
 
rectory is displayed, or Web page URLs. After entering an address, press Enter 
or click ‘Go’ to the right of the input line. Access directories or Web pages visited
recently via the black arrow to the right of the location bar. This function saves
some typing if you need to access certain contents repeatedly. If there are loca-
tions that you need to view again and again, it is more convenient to create book-
marks for them.

4.3.6 The Main Window

The main window displays the content of the selected directory. If you click an
icon, the respective file is displayed in Konqueror or loaded into the appropriate
application for further processing. Clicking an RPM package lists the contents
of the file. Selecting ‘Install package with YaST’ prompts for the root password
entry, after which the package is installed.
If you right-click an icon, a menu opens. The kind of menu displayed depends
on the file type and offers common actions, such as ‘Cut’, ‘Copy’, ‘Paste’, and

82 4.3. Konqueror as a File Manager

‘Delete’. Use ‘Open with’ to select the application with which to open the file
from a list of suitable programs.
4

The KDE Desktop

The quickest way to perform many actions is the drag and drop method. For
example, easily move files from one Konqueror window to another by simply
dragging them there while pressing the left mouse button. Subsequently, you are
asked whether the objects should be moved or copied.

4.4 Important Utilities

The following pages introduce a number of small KDE utilities intended to as-
sist in daily work. These applications perform various tasks, such as managing
your keys for encrypting and signing files and e-mail messages, managing your
clipboard, formatting floppy disks, compressing and decompressing diverse file
archive types, and sharing your desktop with other users.

4.4.1 Creating an Image Gallery

If you have a large collection of images in a directory, you may find it difficult to
manage them. Konqueror can help you by creating an HTML file with thumb-
nails. Open the respective directory in Konqueror and select ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Create
Image Gallery’. A dialog opens in which to specify the page title, the number of
thumbnails per line, the background and foreground colors, and some other de-
tails. When you are finished, select ‘Create’ to start the action. By default, Kon-
queror creates a file named images.html. It can be opened with Konqueror and
presents a well-arranged thumbnail index of your image collection. To view an
image in full size, simply click the corresponding thumbnail.

4.4.2 Managing Passwords with KWallet Manager

To remember all the passwords for protected resources to which you need to log
in can be problematic. KWallet remembers them for you. It collects all passwords
and stores them in an encrypted file. With a single password, open your wallet to
view, search, delete, or create new entries. Normally you do not need to insert an
entry manually. KDE recognizes if a resource requires authentication and KWallet
starts automatically.

SUSE LINUX 83
 Important
Protect Your KWallet Password
If you forget your KWallet password, it cannot be recovered. Further-
more, anyone who knows your password can obtain all information
contained in the wallet.
Important

Configuring KWallet
When start KWallet for the first time, a dialog window appears with the welcome
screen. Choose between ‘Basic setup’ and ‘Advanced setup’. ‘Basic setup’ is rec-
ommended. If you choose it, select in the next screen whether you want to store
personal information. Some KDE applications, like Konqueror or KMail, can use
the wallet system to store Web form data and cookies. Select ‘Yes, I wish to use
the KDE wallet to store my personal information’ for this purpose and leave with
‘Finish’.
If you choose ‘Advanced setup’, you have an additional security level screen. The
default settings are generally acceptable for most users, but others may wish to
change them. ‘Automatically close idle wallets’ closes wallets after a period of
inactivity. To separate network passwords and local passwords, activate ‘Store
network passwords and local passwords in separate wallet files’. Close with ‘Fin-
ish’.
Once configured, KWallet appears in the panel. Right-click the KWallet icon and
select ‘Configure Wallet’ if you want to modify the configured. A dialog window
opens. Configure different settings, like how KWallet closes a wallet, which wal-
let is automatically selected, and two options about the wallet manager itself.

The KWallet Manager Window

To store data in your wallet or view its contents, open the manager window by
right-clicking the KWallet icon in the panel and selecting ‘Configure Wallet’. The
kdewallet folder is the default folder for your passwords. Click kdewallet
and a window prompts for your password. After a successful login, you can see
the main window. It is divided into four different parts: the top left part displays
a summary, the top right part displays subfolders, the lower left part shows a list
with folder entries, and the lower right part shows the contents of a selected en-
try. The window is shown in Figure 4.2 on the next page.

84 4.4. Important Utilities

 4

The KDE Desktop

Figure 4.2: The KWallet Manager Window

To insert a new item, proceed as follows:

Procedure 4.1: Inserting New Entries in Your Wallet

1. You can add a new entry to ‘Maps’ or ‘Passwords’ only. Use ‘Maps’ if you
have key and value pairs. ‘Passwords’ can contain multiline entries.
2. Right-click the respective folder entry.
3. A dialog box appears and prompts for a name of the new entry. Name your
entry and approve it with ‘Ok’.
4. Your new entry is sorted under your folder entry. Click the new entry to
display it on the right side. Initially it is empty.
5. Insert a new key and value pair with a right-click and choose ‘New Entry’.
All entries are shown in a table view.
6. Name your key. Activate ‘Show values’ to view the value row. Click to
write into the cell.
7. Store your modifications with ‘Save’.

SUSE LINUX 85
 You can always change your password with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Change Password’.

Advanced Features
You probably do not need to pay very much attention to KWallet. It resides
silently in the panel and is automatically activated if needed. One nice feature of
KWallet is that you can move your wallet files to another computer, for example,
to your laptop. To simplify this task, wallets can be dragged from the manager
window to a file browser window. For example, save it on a USB stick and carry
your passwords with you.

4.4.3 The Download Manager KGet

KGet is the download manager for KDE. It manages your transfers in a window.
Stop, resume, delete, queue, and add transfers.

Adding Transfers
  
Start KGet by pressing Alt -F2 
and entering the command kget. When the pro-
gram starts for the first time, a dialog is displayed. Confirm this dialog to inte-
grate KGet in Konqueror. When you close the dialog, KGet is integrated in the
system tray of the panel as an icon with a downward arrow.
Click this arrow to open the dialog displaying your transfers. To add a transfer
to the list, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Paste’. A dialog opens. Enter a URL in the input field
and confirm with ‘OK’. Then specify the location for saving the downloaded file.
After all information has been entered, the entry for the transfer is added to the
main window of KGet and started.
Another way to add a transfer is by means of drag and drop. Simply drag a file,
for example, from an FTP server, from Konqueror and drop it in the main win-
dow.

Timer-Controlled Transfers
You can also instruct KGet to perform your transfers at a specific time. Activate
‘Options’ ➝ ‘Offline Mode’. All transfers inserted from this point are not started
immediately but queued. To start the clock, double-click the respective entry. A
dialog opens. Select ‘Advanced’. The dialog is expanded by the settings needed
for starting the transfer at a certain time. Enter the day, month, year, time and ac-
tivate the ‘Timer’ icon. Then close the window.

86 4.4. Important Utilities

After making the desired settings for all your transfers, set KGet back to the on-
line mode by deactivating ‘Options’ ➝ ‘Offline Mode’. The transfers should start
4

The KDE Desktop

at the specified times.

Settings
In ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure KGet’, set preferences for the connection, determine
directories for specific file extensions, and specify other settings.

4.4.4 The Clipboard Klipper

The KDE program Klipper serves as a clipboard for selected text, normally
marked by keeping the left mouse button pressed. This text can be transferred
to another application by moving the mouse pointer to the target location then
pressing the middle mouse button (on a two-button mouse, press both buttons
simultaneously). The text is copied to the selected location from the clipboard.
By default, Klipper is started when KDE is loaded and appears as a clipboard
icon in the panel. View the contents of the clipboard by clicking this icon. The
Klipper context menu and the last seven entries, also referred to as the history, are
displayed. See Figure 4.3 on this page. If an extensive text was copied to Klipper,
only the first line of the text is displayed. The most recent entry is listed on top
and is marked as active with a black check mark. To copy an older text fragment
from Klipper to an application, select it by clicking it, move the mouse pointer to
the target application, then middle-click.

Figure 4.3: The Clipboard Klipper

As well as the contents of the clipboard, the context menu features the following
menu items:

SUSE LINUX 87
 Enable Actions If you click this, a black check mark is displayed in front of it.
For example, if you mark a URL with the mouse when actions are enabled,
a window opens, enabling you to select a browser for displaying this URL.
Click ‘Enable Actions’ to disable this function.
Clear Clipboard History Deletes all entries from the clipboard.

Configure Klipper This opens the Klipper configuration dialog. Control the pro-
gram with keyboard shortcuts or use regular expressions. Check the Klip-
per handbook for details. Former Windows users may appreciate the op-
     
tion for activating the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl 
-C 
and Ctrl 
-X 
for cutting
  
and Ctrl 
-V 
for pasting under the ‘General’ tab. To use this feature, activate
the entry ‘Synchronize contents of the clipboard and the selection’ in ‘Clip-
board/Selection Behavior’. Subsequently, use the mouse or the keyboard
shortcuts to which you are accustomed.
Help This item opens a submenu from which to open the Klipper handbook,
send a bug report to the developers, and view information about Klipper
and KDE.
Quit If you click ‘Quit’, a dialog is displayed asking whether Klipper should be
started automatically the next time you log in. If you click ‘No’, start the
program from the main menu the next time you want to use it. If you click
‘Cancel’, the program is not terminated.

4.4.5 Ark: Displaying, Decompressing, and Creating Archives

To save space on the hard disk, use a packer that compresses files and directo-
ries to a fraction of their original size. The application Ark can be used to man-
age such archives. It supports common formats, such as zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2,
lha, and rar.
Start Ark from the main menu or from the command line with ark. If you al-
ready have some compressed files, move these from an open Konqueror window
to the Ark window to view the contents of the archive. To view an integrated pre-
view of the archive in Konqueror, right-click the archive in Konqueror and select
‘Preview in Archiver’. Alternatively, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open’ in Ark to open the file
directly. See Figure 4.4 on the next page.
Once you have opened an archive, perform various actions. ‘Action’ offers op-
tions such as ‘Add File’, ‘Add Folder’, ‘Delete’, ‘Extract’, ‘View’, ‘Edit With’, and
‘Open With’.

88 4.4. Important Utilities

 4

The KDE Desktop

Figure 4.4: Ark: File Archive Preview

To create a new archive, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’. Enter the name of the new archive
in the dialog that opens and specify the format using ‘Filter’. After confirming
 
with ‘Save’ or by pressing Enter 
, Ark opens an empty window. You can drag
and drop files and directories from the file manager into this window. As the fi-
nal step, Ark compresses everything into the previously selected archive format.
For more information about Ark, select ‘Help’ ➝ ‘Ark Handbook’.

4.4.6 Screenshots with KSnapshot

With KSnapshot, create snapshots of your screen or individual application win-
dows. Start the program from the main menu or from the command line with the
command ksnapshot. The dialog window of KSnapshot, shown in Figure 4.5
on the following page, consists of two parts. The upper area contains a preview
of the current screen and three buttons for creating and saving the screenshots.
In the lower part of the window, set some options to decide how the screenshot
should be created.
To take a screenshot, use ‘Snapshot delay’ to determine the period in seconds
to wait between when ‘New Snapshot’ is clicked and the actual creation of the
screenshot. If ‘Only grab the window containing the pointer’ is active, only the
window currently under the pointer is “photographed.” By default, the pro-
gram creates a shot of the entire screen. To change this, select an item from ‘Cap-
ture Mode’. To save the screenshot to a file, select ‘Save as’ and set the directory

SUSE LINUX 89
 Figure 4.5: KSnapshot

and filename in the dialog that opens. To print the screenshot right away, select
‘Print’.

4.4.7 Viewing PDF Files with KPDF

PDF is probably one of more important formats. KPDF is a KDE program that can
view and print them.
  
Start KPDF by pressing Alt 
-F2 
and entering the command kpdf. Load a PDF file
with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open’. KPDF displays it in its main window. On the left side, there
is a sidebar with thumbnails and a contents view. Thumbnails give an overview
of the page. The contents view contains bookmarks to navigate in your docu-
ment. Sometimes it is empty, meaning bookmarks are not supported by this PDF.
To view two pages in the main window, select ‘View’ ➝ ‘Two Pages’. The view
depends on what last two options you activate in the ‘View’ menu.
Another nice option is to select the area in which you are interested with the se-
lect tool from the toolbar. Draw a rectangle and choose from the pop-up menu
whether you need the selected area as text or as a graphic. It is copied to the clip-
board. You can even save the area to a file.

90 4.4. Important Utilities

4.4.8 Chatting With Friends: Kopete
4

The KDE Desktop

Kopete is an online messenger application allowing multiple partners connected
to the Internet to chat with each other. Kopete currently supports all common
messenger protocols, such as ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, SMS, Jabber, and IRC.

Configuring Kopete
Configure Kopete by entering your personal user data. Click ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Con-
figure Kopete’. ‘Connections’ shows all currently available protocols. Check the
desired connection type to activate it.
With ‘Accounts’, enter your user data. You must register with a provider offer-
ing instant messaging services before using such service. Click ‘New’ to open a
configuration assistant that can assist you in completing your user profile.
The next step lists the available messaging services. Select the service with which
you have registered and click ‘Continue’. Then enter the user data received upon
registration with the messaging service. This usually consists of the nickname
or e-mail address and a password. Complete the configuration of the messenger
account by clicking ‘Finish’.

Figure 4.6: Kopete Configuration Panels

The next item in the configuration dialog is ‘Appearance’. It influences how

Kopete is displayed. ‘Emoticons’ provides a selection of various types of smileys.
Use ‘Chat window’ and ‘Colors & Fonts’ to adjust the appearance of the chat win-
dows for communication with other participants. Choose from the classic themes

SUSE LINUX 91
 of the corresponding providers or create a custom theme by adjusting the font or
color to personal preference.

Adding Contacts
Add contacts to chat with them. If you have already created an account on an-
other PC, this data is imported and automatically added to your contact list. To
create a contact entry manually, click ‘File’ ➝ ‘Add contact’. A new assistant ap-
pears to help with creation. However, you must be online to add a contact to your
list.

Adding Groups
Access this with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Create New Group’. Name the group and confirm this
with ‘OK’. A new folder appears in the contact list that can be used to store the
desired contacts. Drag and drop contacts into the desired folder. Grouping con-
tacts can give a better overview.

Figure 4.7: The Main Kopete Window

Using Kopete
It is necessary to establish a connection to the Internet to be able to chat with
other participants. When this is done, clicking ‘File’ ➝ ‘Connection’ ➝ ‘Connect

92 4.4. Important Utilities

All’ then establishes a connection between Kopete and the selected messaging
service.
4

The KDE Desktop

The main application windows features a list of contacts. When you right-click a
contact marked as online, a menu opens with various options. Send that person a
message or start a chatting session. A chat allows invitation of additional partic-
ipants for real-time discussion. Connection to all participants is closed when the
creator of the chat session closes it.
Transfer files by right-clicking a username. Many options, such as ‘Delete Con-
tact’, ‘Show User Information’, ‘Block User’, and ‘Send File’, can be found in the
menu that opens. Clicking ‘Send File’ opens a dialog for selecting the desired file.
Confirming with ‘OK’ sends a dialog to the recipient asking whether he wants to
accept the file. If he accepts, the file transfer starts.

4.4.9 KDE Accessibility Tools

KDE offers handicap support for daily computer work. There are a number of
options in KDE, especially ‘Regional & Accessibility’ ➝ ‘Accessibility’ in the KDE
Control Center. Some additional programs also help meet particular needs.

KMag—Magnify Your Desktop

People with low vision have limited possibilities for improve the visibility of
their desktop. The font size can be increased, but that is not always a good so-
lution. The tool KMag solves this problem. It is a tool to magnify your desktop.
Start it with the command kmag then see a part of the screen in the KMag win-
dow.
With the toolbar, choose some important options, such as the zoom factor, the
refresh rate, and how KMag should behave. You can magnify around the mouse
cursor, show a window for selecting the magnified area, or magnify the entire
 
screen. With F5 
, halt the process. Press it again to restart it.

KTTS—The KDE Text-to-Speech Manager

KTTS is an implementation of a system for producing speech from text. This en-
ables other applications to use this subsystem in a consistent manner. The ca-
pabilities of KTTS include speaking the content of a text file, KDE notification
events, and all or part of the text of a Web page in Konqueror. Before configure
KTTS, make sure that you have festival and the KDE accessibility package in-
stalled.

SUSE LINUX 93
 Note
Additional Languages
Due to incompatible licenses, only the English may be included in
our distribution. For more information about festival, see http:
//festvox.org/.
Note
  
To start KTTS, press Alt 
-F2 
and type kttsmgr. If you have not configured KTTS
yet, the talkers screen appears with an empty list. Click ‘Add’ to add a talker to
the list. This opens a new dialog box. Select a speech synthesis plug-in by name
or by language. When the synthesizer method is chosen, the synthesizer box
and the language box are updated. For example, check the synthesizer box and
choose ‘Festival Interactive’. If you leave with ‘OK’, the synthesizer automatically
configures itself.
In this example, the ‘Festival Interactive’ talker is added to the list. To config-
ure it, select it and go to ‘Edit’. A dialog box like that in Figure 4.8 on the current
page appears. In it, select the voice (if more than one is available), set the volume,
speed, and pitch, and test it. Approve with ‘OK’.

Figure 4.8: Configuring Talkers

KTTS has some additional tabs. With ‘General’, enable or disable the text-to-
speech service. Notifications are messages routed from application to the KDE
notification system. You can configure it with ‘Speak notifications (KNotify)’. To
embed KTTS in the system tray, check the respective option.

94 4.4. Important Utilities

The ‘Talker’ tab was already explained above. In ‘Audio’, choose between aRts
and GStreamer, two sound systems. ‘Jobs’ gives an overview of your current
4

The KDE Desktop

speech jobs. You can pause, resume, restart, remove, or change the order of the
jobs.

KMouth—Speak Text with KDE

KMouth is a program designed to speak for those who cannot. You must have
installed and configured a speech synthesizer as described in Section KTTS—The
KDE Text-to-Speech Manager on page 93.
When you start KMouth for the first time, a wizard opens. This enables you to
specify the command to use to speak the text. If you already configured your text
to speech system with KTTS, this is not necessary.
The second page lets you select some phrase books. A phrase book is a collection
of frequently-used phrases. This has the advantage that the user does not need to
type them in. KMouth supports different languages and different topics (courte-
ousness, greetings, “How are you?,” and personal). You can select all or only one
of them.
With the third page, define a dictionary. It is used for word completion. You can
define either the KDE documentation of the respective language or the OpenOf-
fice.org dictionary as a text basis. After leaving with ‘Finish’, KMouth generates
the dictionary and opens the main dialog.
The main dialog, shown in Figure 4.9 on the current page, displays the topics of
the phrase books, a history of spoken sentences, and an edit field. To speak, type
the sentence in the text field or choose it from the list. Click ‘Speak’.

Figure 4.9: Using KMouth

SUSE LINUX 95
 Improve the application by entering your own sentences in your phrase book.
Choose ‘Phrase Books’ ➝ ‘Edit’ and a window appears like that in Figure 4.10
on this page. You can see the phrase and the assigned shortcut. By right-clicking
the phrase book or a phrase itself, open pop-up menu in which to select ‘New
Phrase’. Insert your phrase in the text field. You can assign a shortcut with the
keycap button. When satisfied with your settings, choose ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save’. Your
added phrase book is shown in your toolbar.

Figure 4.10: Using Phrase Books in KMouth

4.4.10 Font Administration with KFontinst

By default, SUSE LINUX provides various fonts commonly available in different
file formats (Bitmap, TrueType, etc.). These are known as system fonts. Users can
additionally install their own fonts from various collections on CD-ROM. Such
user-installed fonts are, however, only visible and available to the corresponding
user.
The KDE control center provides a comfortable tool for administering system and
user fonts. It is shown in Figure 4.11 on the next page.

96 4.4. Important Utilities

 4

The KDE Desktop

Figure 4.11: Font Administration from the Control Center

To check which fonts are currently available, type the URL fonts:/ into the ad-
dress field of a Konqueror session. This displays two windows: Personal and
System. User-installed fonts are installed to the folder Personal. Only root can
install to the System folder.
To install fonts as a user, follow these steps:

1. Start the Control Center and access the appropriate module with ‘System
Administration’ ➝ ‘Font Installer’.
2. Choose ‘Add Fonts’ from the toolbar or from the menu available when
right-clicking the list.
3. In the dialog that opens, select one or more fonts for installation.
4. The marked fonts are then installed to your personal font folder. Selecting a
font shows a preview.

To update system fonts, first select ‘Administrator mode’ and enter your root
password. Then proceed as described for user font installation.

SUSE LINUX 97
 5

Help and Documentation

Help and Documentation

SUSE LINUX comes with various sources of information and documentation. The
SUSE Help Center provides central access to the most important documentation
resources on your system in searchable form. These resources include online help
for the installed applications, manual pages, info pages, databases on hardware
and software topics, and all manuals delivered with your product.

5.1 Using the SUSE Help Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

5.2 Man Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.3 Info Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.4 The Linux Documentation Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.5 Wikipedia: the Free Online Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . 105
5.6 Guides and Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.7 Usenet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
 5.1 Using the SUSE Help Center
When you start the SUSE Help Center for the first time from the main menu
(‘SuSE help-center’) or with the command susehelp in the shell, the view as
shown in Figure 5.1 on the facing page is displayed. The dialog window consists
of three main areas:

Menu Bar and Toolbar The menu bar provides the main editing, navigation,
and configuration options. ‘File’ contains the option for printing the cur-
rently displayed content. Under ‘Edit’, access the search function. ‘Go’ con-
tains all navigation possibilities: ‘Table of Contents’ (home page of the Help
Center), ‘Back’, ‘Forward’, and ‘Last Search Result’. With ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Build
Search Index’, generate a search index for all selected information sources.
The toolbar contains three navigation icons (forward, back, home) and a
printer icon for printing the current contents.

Navigation Area with Tabs The navigation area in the left part of the window
provides an input field for a quick search in selected information sources.
Details regarding the search and the configuration of the search function in
the ‘Search’ tab are presented in Section 5.1.2 on the next page. The ‘Con-
tents’ tab presents a tree view of all available and currently installed infor-
mation sources. Click the book icons to open and browse the individual cat-
egories.
View Window The view window always displays the currently selected con-
tents, such as online manuals, search results, or Web pages.

5.1.1 Contents
The SUSE Help Center provides access to useful information from various
sources. It contains special documentation for SUSE LINUX (User Guide and
Administration Guide), all available information sources for your workstation
environment, online help for the installed programs, and help texts for other ap-
plications. Furthermore, the SUSE Help Center provides access to SUSE’s online
databases that cover special hardware and software issues for SUSE LINUX. All
these sources can be searched comfortably once a search index has been gener-
ated.

100 5.1. Using the SUSE Help Center

 5

Help and Documentation

Figure 5.1: The Main Window of the SUSE Help Center

5.1.2 The Search Function

To search all installed information sources of SUSE LINUX, generate a search in-
dex and set a number of search parameters. To do this, open the ‘Search’ tab. See
Figure 5.2 on the following page.
If no search index has been generated, the system automatically prompts you to
do so when you click the ‘Search’ tab or enter a search string and click ‘Search’.
In the dialog window for generating the search index, shown in Figure 5.3 on
page 104, use the check boxes to determine the information sources to index. The
index is generated when you exit the dialog with ‘Build Index’.
To limit the search base and the hit list as precisely as possible, use the three
drop-down menus to determine the number of displayed hits and the selection
area of sources to search. The following options are available for determining the
selection area:

Default A predefined selection of sources is searched.

All All sources are searched.
None No sources selected for the search.

SUSE LINUX 101

 Figure 5.2: Configuring the Search Function

Custom Determine the sources to search by activating the respective check

boxes in the overview.

When you have completed the search configuration, click ‘Search’. The relevant
items are then displayed in the view window and can easily be navigated with
mouse clicks.

5.2 Man Pages

Man pages are an essential part of any Linux system. They explain the usage of
a command and all available options and parameters. Man pages are sorted in
categories as shown in Table 5.1 on this page (taken from the man page for man
itself).

Table 5.1: Man Pages—Categories and Descriptions

Number Description
1 Executable programs or shell commands

102 5.2. Man Pages

 2 System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
5

Help and Documentation

3 Library calls (functions within program libraries)
4 Special files (usually found in /dev)
5 File formats and conventions (/etc/fstab)
6 Games
7 Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions),
e.g., man(7), groff(7)
8 System administration commands (usually only for root)
9 Kernel routines (nonstandard)

Generally, man pages are delivered with the associated command. They can be
browsed in the help center or directly in a shell. To display a man page in a shell,
use the man command. For example, to display the man page for ls enter man
ls. Each man page consists of several parts labeled NAME, SYNOPSIS, DE-
SCRIPTION, SEE ALSO, LICENSING, and AUTHOR. There may be additional
 
sections available depending on the type of command. With Q  , exit the man
page viewer.
Another possibility to display a man page is to use Konqueror. Start Konqueror
and type, for example, man:/ls. If there are different categories for a command,
Konqueror displays them as links.

5.3 Info Pages

Info pages are another important source of information on your system. Usually
they are more verbose than man pages. You can browse an info page with an info
viewer and display the different sections, called “nodes.” Use the command info
for this task. For example, to view the info page of info itself, type info info in
the shell.
For more convenience, use the Help Center or Konqueror. Start Konqueror
and type info:/ to view the top level. To display the info page for grep, type
info:/grep.

SUSE LINUX 103

 Figure 5.3: Generating a Search Index

5.4 The Linux Documentation Project

The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP) is run by a team of volunteers who
write Linux and Linux-related documentation (see http://www.tldp.org).
The set of documents contains tutorials for beginners, but is mainly focused
on experienced users like professional system administrators. TLDP publishes
HOWTOs, FAQs, and guides (handbooks) under a free license.

5.4.1 HOWTOs
HOWTOs are usually a short, informal step-by-step guide to accomplish a spe-
cific task. It is written by experts for nonexperts in a procedural manner. For ex-
ample, how to configure a DHCP server. HOWTOs can be found in the package
howto and are installed under /usr/share/doc/howto

104 5.4. The Linux Documentation Project

5.4.2 Frequently Asked Questions
5

Help and Documentation

FAQs (frequently asked questions) are a series of questions and answers. They
originate from Usenet newsgroups where the purpose was to reduce continuous
reposting of the same basic questions.

5.5 Wikipedia: the Free Online

Encyclopedia
Wikipedia is a “a multilingual encyclopedia designed to be read and edited by
anyone” (see http://en.wikipedia.org). The content of Wikipedia is cre-
ated by its users and is published under a free license (GDFL). Any visitors can
edit articles, which gives the danger of vandalism, but this does not repel visitors.
With over four hundred thousand articles, find an answer for nearly every topic.

5.6 Guides and Books

Linux offers a broad range of guides and books.

5.6.1 SUSE Books

SUSE provides detailed and informative books—the User Guide and Administra-
tion Guide. We provide HTML and PDF versions of our books in different lan-
guages.
If you need some basics, install the User Guide from the packages
suselinux-userguide_XX and suselinux-userguide_XX-pdf (replace
hXXi with your preferred language). For the Administration Guide, the package
names are suselinux-adminguide_XX and suselinux-adminguide_-
XX-pdf.

5.6.2 Other Manuals

The SUSE help center offers additional manuals and guides for various topics
or programs. More can be found at http://www.tldp.org/guides.html.

SUSE LINUX 105

 They range from Bash Guide for Beginners to Linux Filesystem Hierarchy to
Linux Administrator’s Security Guide. Generally, guides are more detailed and
exhaustive than a HOWTO or FAQ. They are usually written by experts for ex-
perts. Some of these books are old but still valid. Install books and guides with
YaST.

5.7 Usenet
Created in 1979 before the rise of the Internet, Usenet is one of the oldest com-
puter networks and still in active use. The format and transmission of Usenet
articles is very similar to e-mail, but is developed for a many-to-many commu-
nication.
Usenet is organized into seven topical categories: comp.* for computer related
discussions, misc.* for miscellaneous topics, news.* for newsgroup-related mat-
ters, rec.* for recreation and entertainment, sci.* for science-related discussions,
soc.* for social discussions, and talk.* for various controversial topics. The top
levels are split in subgroups. For instance, comp.os.linux.hardware is a news-
group for Linux-specific hardware issues.
Before you can post an article, have your client connect to a news server and sub-
scribe to a specific newsgroup. News clients include Knode or Evolution. Each
news server communicates to other news servers and exchanges articles with
them. Not all newsgroups may be available on your news server.
Interesting newsgroups for Linux users are comp.os.linux.apps,
comp.os.linux.questions, and comp.os.linux.hardware. If you cannot find a spe-
cific newsgroup, go to http://www.linux.org/docs/usenetlinux.html.
Follow the general Usenet rules available online at http://www.faqs.org/
faqs/usenet/posting-rules/part1/.

106 5.7. Usenet

Part II

Office
 6

The OpenOffice.org Office Suite

The OpenOffice.org
Office Suite

OpenOffice.org is a powerful office suite that offers tools for all types of office
tasks, such as writing texts, working with spreadsheets, or creating graphics and
presentations. With OpenOffice.org, use the same data across different comput-
ing platforms. You can also open and edit files in Microsoft Office formats then
save them back to this format, if needed. This chapter only covers the basic skills
needed to get started with OpenOffice.org. Start the application from the SUSE
menu or using the command ooffice.

6.1 Compatibility with Other Office Applications . . . . . . 110

6.2 Word Processing with Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.3 Introducing Calc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.4 Introducing Impress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.5 Introducing Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
 OpenOffice.org consists of several application modules (subprograms), which are
designed to interact with each other. They are listed in Table 6.1 on the current
page. The discussion in this chapter is focused on Writer. A full description of
each module is available in the online help, described in Section 6.6 on page 115.

Table 6.1: The OpenOffice.org Application Modules

Writer Powerful word processor application

Calc Spreadsheet application that includes a chart
utility
Draw Drawing application for creating vector
graphics
Math Application for generating mathematical
formulas
Impress Application for creating presentations
Base Database application

The appearance of the application varies depending on which desktop or win-

dow manager is used. Additionally, the open and save dialog formats for your
desktop are used. Regardless of the appearance, the basic layout and functions
are the same.

6.1 Compatibility with Other Office

Applications
OpenOffice.org is able to work with Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets,
presentations, and databases. They can be seamlessly opened like other files
and saved back to that format. Because the Microsoft formats are closed and the
specifics are not available to other applications, there are occasionally formatting
issues. If you have problems with your documents, consider opening them in the
original application and resaving in an open format, such as RTF for text docu-
ments or CSV for spreadsheets.
To convert a number of documents, such as when first switching to the appli-
cation, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Wizard’ ➝ ‘Document Converter’. Choose the file format

110 6.1. Compatibility with Other Office Applications

from which to convert. There are several StarOffice and Microsoft Office formats
available. After selecting a format, click ‘Next’ then specify where OpenOffice.org
6

The OpenOffice.org Office Suite

should look for templates and documents to convert and in which directory the
converted files should be placed. Before continuing, make sure that all other set-
tings are appropriate. Click ‘Next’ to see a summary of the actions to perform,
which gives another opportunity to check whether all settings are correct. Finally,
start the conversion by clicking ‘Convert’.
Important
Finding Windows Files
Documents from a Windows partition are usually in a subdirectory of
/windows.
Important
When sharing documents with others, you have several options. If the recipient
only needs to read the document, export it to a PDF file with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Export as
PDF’. PDF files can be read on any platform using a viewer like Adobe Acrobat
Reader. To share a document for editing, use one of the regular document for-
mats. The default formats comply with the OASIS standard XML format, making
them compatible with a number of applications. TXT and RTF formats, although
limited in formatting, might be a good option for text documents. CSV is useful
for spreadsheets. OpenOffice.org might also offer your recipient’s preferred for-
mat, especially Microsoft formats.
OpenOffice.org is available for a number of operating systems. This makes it an
excellent tool when a group of users frequently need to share files and do not use
the same system on their computers.

6.2 Word Processing with Writer

There are two ways to create a new document. To create a document from
scratch, use ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Text Document’. To use a standard format and pre-
defined elements for your own documents, try a wizard. Wizards are small utili-
ties that let you make some basic decisions then produce a ready-made document
from a template. For example, to create a business letter, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Wizards’
➝ ‘Letter’. Using the wizard’s dialogs, easily create a basic document using a
standard format. A sample wizard dialog is shown in Figure 6.2 on page 113.
Enter text in the document window as desired. Use the ‘Formatting’ toolbar or
the ‘Format’ menu to adjust the appearance of the document. Use the ‘File’ menu

SUSE LINUX 111

 Figure 6.1: The OpenOffice.org Writer

or the relevant buttons in the toolbar to print and save your document. With the
options under ‘Insert’, add extra items to your document, such as a table, picture,
or chart.

6.2.1 Selecting Text

To select text, click the desired beginning of the selection and, keeping the mouse
button pressed, move the cursor towards the end of the range (which can be char-
acters, lines, or entire paragraphs). Release the button when all desired text is se-
lected. While selected, text is displayed in inverted colors. Open a context menu
by right-clicking the selection. Use the context menu to change the font, the font
style, and other text properties.
Selected text can be cut or copied to the clipboard. Cut or copied text can be
pasted back into the document at another location. Use the context menu, ‘Edit’,
or the relevant toolbar icons to access these functions.

112 6.2. Word Processing with Writer

 6

The OpenOffice.org Office Suite

Figure 6.2: An OpenOffice.org Wizard

6.2.2 Navigating in Large Documents

The Navigator displays information about the contents of a document. It also en-
ables you to jump quickly to the different elements included. For example, use
the Navigator to get a quick overview of all the chapters or to see a list of the im-
ages included in the document. Open it by selecting ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Navigator’. Figure
6.3 on the following page shows the Navigator in action. The elements listed in
the Navigator vary according to the document loaded in Writer.

6.2.3 Formatting with Styles

The dialog opened with ‘Format’ ➝ ‘Styles and Formatting’ can help you format
text in a number of ways. If you set the drop-down list at the bottom of this di-
alog to ‘Automatic’, OpenOffice.org tries to offer a selection of styles adapted to
the task at hand. If you select ‘All Styles’, the Stylist offers all styles from the cur-
rently active group. Select groups with the buttons at the top.

SUSE LINUX 113

 Figure 6.3: The Navigator in Writer

By formatting your text with this method, called soft formatting, text is not format-
ted directly. Instead, a style is applied to it. The style can be modified easily, auto-
matically resulting in a formatting change of all the text to which it is assigned.
To assign a style to a paragraph, select the style to use then click the paint bucket
icon in ‘Styles and Formatting’. Click the paragraphs to which to assign the style.
 
Stop assigning the style by pressing Esc or clicking the paint bucket icon again.
Easily create your own styles by formatting a paragraph or a character as desired
using the ‘Format’ menu or toolbar. Select the formatted item from which to copy
the style. Then click and hold the button to the right of the bucket in ‘Styles and
Formatting’ and select ‘New Style from Selection’ from the menu that opens. En-
ter a name for your style and click ‘OK’. This style can then be applied to other
texts.
Change details of a style by selecting it in the list, right-clicking, and selecting
‘Modify’ from the menu. This opens a dialog in which all the possible formatting
properties are available for modification.

114 6.2. Word Processing with Writer

6.3 Introducing Calc
6

The OpenOffice.org Office Suite

Calc is OpenOffice.org’s spreadsheet application. Create a new spreadsheet with
‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Spreadsheet’ or open one with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open’. Calc can read
and save in Microsoft Excel’s format.
In the spreadsheet cells, enter fixed data or formulas. A formula can manipulate
data from other cells to generate a value for the cell in which it is inserted. You
can also create charts from cell values.

6.4 Introducing Impress

Impress is designed for creating presentations for screen display or printing, such
as on transparencies. Create a presentation from scratch with ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝
‘Presentation’. To create one with the assistance of a wizard, use ‘File’ ➝ ‘Wiz-
ards’ ➝ ‘Presentation’. Open an existing presentation with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open’. Im-
press can open and save Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

6.5 Introducing Base

OpenOffice 2.0 introduces a new database module. Create a database with ‘File’
➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Database’. A wizard opens to assist in creating the database. Base
can also work with Microsoft Access databases.
Tables, forms, queries, and reports can be created manually or using convenient
wizards. For example, the table wizard contains a number of common fields for
business and personal use. Databases created in Base can be used as data sources,
such as when creating form letters.

6.6 For More Information

OpenOffice.org includes a number of information options that provide different
levels of information. To get thoroughly acquainted with a topic, select ‘Help’
➝ ‘OpenOffice.org Help’. The help system provides in-depth information about
each of the modules of OpenOffice.org (Writer, Calc, Impress, etc.).

SUSE LINUX 115

 Figure 6.4: Base-–Databases in OpenOffice.org

When the application is first started, it provides ‘Tips’, short information about
buttons when the mouse hovers over them, and the ‘Help Agent’, information
based on actions performed. To get more extensive information about buttons
than the ‘Tips’ provide, use ‘Help’ ➝ ‘What’s This’ then hover over the desired
buttons. To end ‘What’s This’ mode, click. If you frequently need this function,
consider enabling the ‘Extended Tips’ in ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Options’ ➝ ‘OpenOffice.org’
➝ ‘General’. The ‘Help Agent’ and ‘Tips’ can also be enabled and disabled here.
The OpenOffice.org Web site is http://www.openoffice.org. There, find
mailing lists, articles, and bug information. This site provides the versions for
various operating systems for download.

116 6.6. For More Information

 7

Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Evolution: An E-Mail
and Calendar Program

Evolution is a groupware suite that offers regular e-mail features along with ex-
tended features, like task lists and a calendar. The application also provides a
complete address book, including the ability to send contact information to oth-
ers in vCard format.

7.1 Importing E-Mail from Other Mail Programs . . . . . . 118

7.2 Evolution Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.3 Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.4 Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.5 Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.6 Syncing Data with a Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
 Start Evolution from the main menu or with evolution. When started for the
first time, Evolution offers a configuration assistant. Its use is described in Section
7.3.1 on page 120.

Important
Microsoft Exchange Accounts
Using Evolution with Microsoft Exchange requires installation of the
ximian-connector package. Install it with YaST.
Important

7.1 Importing E-Mail from Other Mail

Programs
Evolution can import e-mail from other e-mail programs, such as Netscape. To
do so, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Import’. For mbox formats, select ‘Import a single file’. For
Netscape, select ‘Import data and settings from older programs’. To work with
data from programs using the maildir format, such as KMail, configure an ac-
count that accesses the mail directory.

7.2 Evolution Overview

The default window view is shown in Figure 7.1 on the facing page. The avail-
able menus, menu items, and the icons in the toolbar vary depending on the com-
ponent open. Use the left frame to select the information to display in the right
frame. Adjust the size of the frames by dragging the dividing bars.

7.2.1 Mail
In this view, the upper half of the window shows the contents of the current
folder. The lower half is a preview pane used to display the selected mail mes-
sage. To change the folder displayed, select one from the folder list in the left
frame.
Use the search bar to search the messages in a folder. If desired, click a table
header for the message list to sort the messages by that header. The sort can be

118 7.1. Importing E-Mail from Other Mail Programs

 7

Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Figure 7.1: The Evolution Window with Mail

either ascending or descending as shown by the arrow to the right. Click the
header until the correct direction is displayed.

7.2.2 Contacts
This view shows all the addresses in your address book. To locate a particular ad-
dress, use the search bar or click the button to the right displaying the first letter
of the contact’s last name. Add contacts or lists with the toolbar.

7.2.3 Calendar
The initial display shows a day view of the current day with the month and a
task list shown in an additional pane to the right. Week, work week, and month
views are also available from the toolbar or the ‘View’ menu. Use the search bar
to find an entered appointment. Add appointments and tasks using the buttons
in the toolbar. Also use the toolbar to page through the calendar or jump to a spe-
cific date.

SUSE LINUX 119

 7.2.4 Tasks
‘Tasks’ provides a list of tasks. Details of the selected task are shown in the lower
part of the window. Use ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Task’ to add a new task. Search the
tasks with the search bar. Assign tasks to others by right-clicking the task and
selecting ‘Assign Task’. ‘Open’ the task to add more details, such as due date and
completion status.

7.3 Mail
The Evolution mail component can work with multiple accounts in a variety of
formats. It offers useful features, such as virtual folders for showing search re-
sults and filtering for junk mail. Configure the application in ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Prefer-
ences’.

7.3.1 Configuring Accounts

Evolution is capable of fetching e-mail from multiple mail accounts. The account
from which to send e-mail can be selected when composing a message. Configure
mail accounts in ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Preferences’ ➝ ‘Mail Accounts’. To modify an existing
configuration, select it and click ‘Edit’. To delete an account, select it and click
‘Delete’.
To add a new account, click ‘Add’. This opens the configuration assistant. Click
‘Forward’ to use it. Enter your name and your e-mail address in the respective
fields. Enter the optional information if desired. Check ‘Make this my default ac-
count’ to use this account by default when writing mails. Click ‘Forward’.
Select the appropriate incoming e-mail format for this address in ‘Server Type’.
‘POP’ is the most common format for downloading mail from a remote server.
‘IMAP’ works with mail folders on a special server. Obtain this information from
your ISP or server administrator. Complete the other relevant fields displayed
when the server type is selected. Click ‘Forward’ when finished. Select the de-
sired ‘Receiving Options’, if available. Click ‘Forward’.
The next set of information to enter is about mail delivery. To submit outgoing e-
mail to the local system, select ‘Sendmail’. For a remote server, select ‘SMTP’. Get
the details from your ISP or server administrator. For SMTP, complete the other
fields displayed after selection. Click ‘Forward’ when finished.

120 7.3. Mail

By default, the e-mail address is used as the name to identify the account. Enter
another name if desired. Click ‘Forward’. Click ‘Apply’ to save your account con-
7

Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

figuration.
To make an account the default account for sending e-mail, select the desired ac-
count then press ‘Default’. To disable fetching e-mail from an account, select the
account then click ‘Disable’. A disabled account can still be used as the address
for sending, but that account is not checked for incoming e-mail. If necessary, re-
activate the account with ‘Enable’.

7.3.2 Creating Messages

To compose a new message, click ‘New’ ➝ ‘Mail Message’. Replying to or for-
warding a message opens the same message editor. Next to ‘From’, select from
which account to send the message. In the recipient fields, enter an e-mail ad-
dress or part of a name or address in your address book. If Evolution can match
what you enter to something in the address book, a selection list is displayed.
Click the desired contact or complete your input if none match. To select directly
from the address book, click ‘To’ or ‘CC’.
Evolution can send e-mail as plain text or HTML. To format HTML mail, select
‘Format’ in the toolbar. To send attachments, select ‘Attach’ or ‘Insert’ ➝ ‘Attach-
ment’.
To send your message, click ‘Send’. If not ready to send it immediately, make an-
other selection under ‘File’. For example, save the message as a draft or send it
later.

7.3.3 Encrypted E-Mail and Signatures

Evolution supports e-mail encryption with PGP. It can sign e-mail and check
signed e-mail messages. To use these features, generate and manage keys with
an external application, such as gpg or KGpg.
To sign an e-mail message before sending it, select ‘Security’ ➝ ‘PGP sign’. When
you click ‘Send’, a dialog prompts for the password of your secret key. Enter the
password and exit the dialog with ‘OK’ to send the signed e-mail. To sign other
e-mail messages in the course of this session without needing to “unlock” the
secret key repeatedly, activate ‘Remember this password for the remainder of this
session’.
When you receive signed e-mail from other users, a small padlock icon appears
at the end of the message. If you click this symbol, Evolution starts an external

SUSE LINUX 121

 program (gpg) to check the signature. If the signature is valid, a green check mark
appears next to the padlock symbol. If the signature is invalid, a broken padlock
appears.
The encryption and decryption of e-mail is just as easy. After composing the e-
mail message, go to ‘Security’ ➝ ‘PGP encrypt’ and send the e-mail message.
When you receive encrypted messages, a dialog opens to ask for the password
of your secret key. Enter the passphrase to decrypt the e-mail message.

7.3.4 Folders
It is often convenient to sort e-mail messages into a variety of folders. Your folder
tree is shown in the left frame. If accessing mail over IMAP, the IMAP folders are
also shown in this folder bar. For POP and most other formats, your folders are
stored locally, sorted under ‘Local Folders’.
Several folders are included by default. ‘Inbox’ is where new messages fetched
from a server are initially placed. ‘Sent’ is used for saving copies of sent e-mail
messages. ‘Outbox’ is temporary storage for e-mail that has not yet been sent. It
is useful if working offline or if the outgoing mail server is temporarily unreach-
able. ‘Drafts’ is used for saving unfinished e-mail messages. The ‘Trash’ folder
is intended for temporary storage of deleted items. ‘Junk’ is for Evolution’s junk
sorting feature.
New folders can be created under ‘On This Computer’ or as subfolders of ex-
isting folders. Create as complex a folder hierarchy as desired. To create a new
folder, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Mail Folder’. In the following dialog, enter a name
for the new folder. Use the mouse to determine the parent folder under which to
place the new folder. Exit the dialog with ‘OK’.
To move a message into a folder, select the message to move. Right-click to open
the context menu. Select ‘Move to Folder’ and, in the dialog that opens, the des-
tination folder. Click ‘OK’ to move the message. The message header in the orig-
inal folder is shown with a line through it, meaning it is marked for deletion in
that folder. The message is stored in the new folder. Messages can be copied in a
similar manner.
Manually moving a number of messages into different folders can be time-
consuming. Filters can be used to automate this procedure.

122 7.3. Mail

7.3.5 Filters
7

Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Evolution offers a number of options for filtering e-mail. Filters can be used to
move a message into a specific folder or to delete a message. Messages can also
be moved directly to the trash with a filter. There are two options for creating a
new filter: creating a filter from scratch or creating a filter based on a message to
filter. The latter is extremely useful for filtering messages sent to a mailing list.

Setting Up a Filter
Select ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Filters’. This dialog lists your existing filters, which can be edited
or deleted. Click ‘Add’ to create a new filter. To create a filter based on a message,
instead select the message then ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Create Filter from Message’.
Enter a name for the new filter in ‘Rule Name’. Select the criteria to use for the
filter. Options include sender, recipients, source account, subject, date, and status.
The drop-box showing ‘Contains’ provides a variety of options, such as contains,
is, and is not. Select the appropriate condition. Enter the text for which to search.
Click ‘Add’ to add more filter criteria. Use ‘Execute actions’ to determine if all or
only some of the criteria must be met to apply the filter.
In the lower part of the window, determine the action to take when the filter cri-
teria are met. Messages can, for example, be moved or copied to a folder or as-
signed a special color. When moving or copying, select the destination folder
by clicking. In the folder list that appears, select the folder. Use ‘New’ to create a
new folder. Click ‘OK’ when the correct folder is selected. When finished creating
the filter, click ‘OK’.

Applying Filters
Filters are applied in the order listed in the dialog accessed with ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Fil-
ters’. Change the order by highlighting a filter and clicking ‘Up’ or ‘Down’. Click
‘OK’ to close the filter dialog when finished.
Filters are applied to all new mail messages. They are not applied to mail already
in your folders. To apply filters to messages already received, select the desired
messages then select ‘Actions’ ➝ ‘Apply Filters’.

7.4 Contacts
Evolution can use several different address books. Available books are listed in
the left frame. Search for a particular contact using the search bar. Add contacts

SUSE LINUX 123

 in several formats to the Evolution address book using ‘File’ ➝ ‘Import’. Right-
click a contact to open a menu in which to select from a variety of options, such
as forwarding the contact or saving it as a vCard. Double-click a contact to edit it.

Figure 7.2: The Evolution Address Book

7.4.1 Adding Contacts

Along with the name and e-mail address, Evolution can store other address and
contact information about a person. The e-mail address of a sender can quickly
be added by right-clicking the marked address in the message preview. To enter a
completely new contact, click ‘New Contact’ in the ‘Contacts’ view. Both methods
open a dialog in which to enter contact information.
In the ‘Contact’ tab, enter the contact’s name, e-mail addresses, telephone num-
bers, and instant messaging identities. ‘Personal Information’ is for Web ad-
dresses and other detailed information. Enter the contact’s other address informa-
tion in ‘Mailing Address’. After entering all desired details for the contact, click
‘OK’ to add it to the address book.

124 7.4. Contacts

7.4.2 Making a List
7

Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

If you frequently send e-mail messages to a group of people, make this easier by
creating a list. Click ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Contact List’. The contact list editor opens.
Enter a name for the list. Add addresses by typing the address in the box and
clicking ‘Add’ or by dragging contacts from the ‘Contacts’ view and dropping
them in the box. Toggle ‘Hide addresses’ to select whether the recipients can see
who else has received the mail. Click ‘OK’ when finished. The list is now one of
your contacts and appears in the composition window after the first few letters
are typed.

7.4.3 Adding Address Books

Configure additional GroupWise and Exchange address books in the account
configuration for that account. To add additional local or LDAP books, select
‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Address Book’. In the dialog that opens, select the type and
enter the required information.

7.5 Calendars
Evolution can work with multiple calendars. With ‘File’ ➝ ‘Import’, import cal-
endars in iCalendar format. Use the calendar to enter appointments and schedule
meetings with others. If desired, be reminded of your plans.

7.5.1 Adding Appointments

To add a new appointment to your calendar, click ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Appoint-
ment’. Under the ‘Appointment’ tab, enter the details for the appointment. Se-
lect a category, if desired, to ease searching and sorting later. Optionally set for
Evolution to provide a reminder before your appointment under ‘Alarm’. If the
appointment occurs regularly, set that under ‘Recurrence’. Click ‘OK’ after all set-
tings are made. The new appointment is then shown in your calendar.

7.5.2 Scheduling a Meeting

To schedule a meeting with other people, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Meeting’.
Enter information as for an appointment. Add the attendees in ‘Invitations’ or

SUSE LINUX 125

 Figure 7.3: The Evolution Calendar

‘Scheduling’. To enter attendees from your address book, use ‘Contacts’ to open a
dialog in which to select them. ‘Scheduling’ can also be used to schedule a time
that fits all attendees. Press ‘Autopick’ after configuring participants to find a
time.

7.5.3 Adding Calendars

GroupWise and Exchange calendars should be configured in the account config-
uration. To add additional local or Web calendars, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ ➝ ‘Calen-
dar’. Select the desired type and enter the required information.

7.6 Syncing Data with a Handheld

Evolution is designed so its data can be synced with handheld devices, such as a
Palm. The synchronization uses GNOME Pilot. Select ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Pilot Settings’ to
open the configuration wizard. Refer to the help for more information.

126 7.6. Syncing Data with a Handheld

7.7 For More Information
7

Evolution: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Evolution offers extensive internal help pages. Use the ‘Help’ menu to access this
information. For more information about Evolution, refer to the project’s Web site
at http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/.

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 8

Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Kontact: An E-Mail and
Calendar Program

Kontact combines the functionality of a number of KDE applications into a con-

venient single interface for personal information management. These applications
include KMail for e-mail, KOrganizer for the calendar, KAddressbook for con-
tacts, and KNotes for notes. It is also possible to sync data with external devices,
such as a handheld. Kontact integrates easily with the rest of the KDE desktop
and connects to a variety of groupware servers. It includes extra features, such as
spam and virus filtering and an RSS reader.

8.1 Importing E-Mail from Other Mail Programs . . . . . . 130

8.2 Kontact Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.3 Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.4 Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
8.5 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8.6 Syncing Data with a Handheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
 Start Kontact from the main menu with ‘Office’ ➝ ‘Personal Information Man-
ager’. Alternatively, enter kontact & in a command line. For only part of the
functionality, it is possible to open the individual components instead of the com-
bined application.

8.1 Importing E-Mail from Other Mail

Programs
To import e-mail from other applications, select ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Import messages’ from
the mail view in Kontact. It currently features import filters for Outlook Express,
the mbox format, e-mail text format, Pegasus Mail, and Evolution. The import
utility can also be started separately with the command kmailcvt.
Select the corresponding application and confirm with ‘Continue’. A file or a
folder must be provided, depending on the selected type. Kontact then completes
the process.

8.2 Kontact Overview

The default window view, which shows the ‘Summary’, is shown in Figure 8.1
on the next page. Use the buttons in the left section to access the different compo-
nents.
The ‘Summary’ provides some basic information about upcoming birthdays and
to-dos, weather, and the status of KPilot. The news section can access RSS feeds
to provide updated news of interest to you. Use ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure Sum-
mary View’ to configure the information displayed.

8.2.1 Mail
The folder area to the left contains a list of your mail folders (mail boxes) indi-
cating the total number of messages and how many are still unread. To select a
folder, simply click it. The messages it contains appear in the top right frame. The
number of messages is also displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the appli-
cation window.

130 8.1. Importing E-Mail from Other Mail Programs

 8

Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Figure 8.1: The Kontact Window Showing the Summary

The subject, sender, and time of receipt of each message are listed in header area
to the right. Click a message to select it and display it in the message window.
Sort the messages by clicking one of the column headers (subject, sender, date,
etc.). The contents of the currently selected message are displayed in the message
frame of the window. Attachments are depicted as icons at the end of the mes-
sage, based on the MIME type of the attachment.
Messages can be marked with different status flags. Change the status with ‘Mes-
sage’ ➝ ‘Mark Message’. You can use this feature to highlight important mes-
sages that you do not want to forget. Display only messages with a certain status
using ‘Status’ in the search bar.

8.2.2 Contacts
The upper left frame of this component shows all addresses in the currently acti-
vated address books. The lower left frame lists your address books and shows the

SUSE LINUX 131

 activation status for each. The right frame shows the currently selected contact.
Use the search bar at the top to find a particular contact.

8.2.3 To-Do List

‘To-do List’ shows your list of tasks. Click the field at the top to add a new item to
the list. Right-click in a column of an existing item to make changes to the value
in that column. An item can be broken into several subitems. Right-click and se-
lect ‘New Sub-to-do’ to create a subitem.

8.2.4 Calendar
The calendar view is divided into a number of frames. By default, view a small
calendar of this month and a week view of the current week. Also find a list of to-
dos, a detailed view of the current event or to-do, and a list of calendars with the
status of each. Select a different view from the toolbar or the ‘View’ menu.

8.2.5 Notes
Use this component to keep notes to yourself. If you are using KDE, use the
KNote icon in the panel to make them visible on the desktop.

8.3 Mail
Kontact uses KMail as its e-mail component. To configure it, open the mail com-
ponent then select ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure KMail’. It is a fully-featured e-mail
client that supports a number of protocols. ‘Tools’ contains several useful tools.
Use ‘Find’ to perform a detailed search for messages. ‘Anti-Spam Wizard’ can
help manage unwanted commercial e-mails. ‘Anti-Virus Wizard’ helps manage
virus e-mails. These two wizards work with external spam and virus software. If
the options are disabled, install additional packages.

8.3.1 Configuring Accounts

Kontact can manage several e-mail addresses, such as your private e-mail ad-
dress and your business address. When writing an e-mail, select one of the iden-
tities previously defined by clicking ‘View’ ➝ ‘Identity’. To create a new identity

132 8.3. Mail

 8

Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Figure 8.2: The Kontact Mail Component

profile, select ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure KMail’ then ‘Identities’ ➝ ‘New’. In the di-
alog that opens, give the new identity a name, such as “private” or “office.” Click
‘OK’ to proceed to a dialog in which to enter some additional information.
Under the ‘General’ tab, enter your name, organization, and e-mail address.
Under ‘Cryptography’, select your keys to send digitally signed or encrypted
messages. For the encryption features to work, first create a key with KGpg, de-
scribed in Chapter 12 on page 165.
Under ‘Advanced’, you can enter a reply-to and a blind carbon-copy address,
choose a dictionary, select the folders for drafts and sent messages, and define
how messages should be sent. Under ‘Signature’, decide if and how each of your
messages should be signed with an extra piece of text at the end. To activate this,
select ‘Enable Signature’ and decide whether the signature should be taken from
a file, from an input field, or from the output of a command. When you are fin-
ished with all your identity settings, confirm with ‘OK’.
The settings under ‘Network’ decide how Kontact receives and sends e-mail.
There are two tabs, one each for sending and for receiving mail. Many of these

SUSE LINUX 133

 settings vary depending on the system and network in which your mail server is
located. If you are not sure about the settings or items to select, consult your ISP
or system administrator.
Create outgoing mail boxes under the ‘Sending’ tab by clicking ‘Add’. Choose
between the server types SMTP and sendmail. SMTP is the right choice in most
cases. After making this selection, a window appears in which to enter SMTP
server data. Provide a name and enter the server address (as given to you by your
ISP). If the server wants you to authenticate yourself, enable ‘Server requires au-
thentication’. Security settings are under the ‘Security’ tab. Specify your preferred
encryption method here.
Make settings for receiving e-mail under the ‘Receiving’ tab. Use ‘Add’ to create
a new account. Choose between different methods for fetching mail, such as local
(Mbox or Maildir format), POP3, or IMAP. Make the settings appropriate for your
server.

8.3.2 Creating Messages

To compose new messages, select ‘Message’ ➝ ‘New Message’ or click the corre-
sponding icon in the toolbar. To send messages from different e-mail accounts, se-
lect one of the identities as described in Section 8.3.1 on page 132. In the recipient
fields, enter an e-mail address or part of a name or address in your address book.
If Kontact can match what you enter to something in the address book, a selection
list opens. Click the desired contact or complete your input if none matches. To
select directly from the address book, click ‘...’.
To attach files to your message, click the paper clip icon and select the file to at-
tach. Alternatively, drag a file from the desktop or another folder to the ‘New
Message’ window or select one of the options in the ‘Attach’ menu. Normally, the
format of a file is recognized correctly. If this is not the case, right-click the icon.
From the menu that appears, select ‘Properties’. This opens a dialog in which to
set the format and the name of the file and add a description. In addition, decide
whether the attached file should be signed or encrypted.
When you are finished composing your message, send it immediately with ‘Mes-
sage’ ➝ ‘Send’ or move it to the outbox with ‘Message’ ➝ ‘Queue’. If you do the
former, the message is copied to sent-mail after having been sent successfully.
If you do the latter, it is moved to the outbox. Messages in the outbox can still
be edited or deleted.

134 8.3. Mail

8.3.3 Encrypted E-Mail and Signatures
8

Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

To encrypt your e-mail, first generate a key pair as described in Chapter 12 on
page 165. To configure the details of the encryption procedure, select ‘Settings’ ➝
‘Configure KMail’ ➝ ‘Identities’ to specify the identity under which to send en-
crypted and signed messages. Then press ‘Modify’ . After confirming with ‘OK’,
the key should be displayed in the corresponding field. Close the configuration
dialog with ‘OK’.

8.3.4 Folders
Message folders help to organize your messages. By default, they are located in
the directory ~/Mail. When starting KMail for the first time, the program creates
several folders. inbox is where new messages fetched from a server are initially
placed. outbox is used for temporary storage of messages queued for sending.
sent-mail is for copies of messages sent. trash contains copies of all e-mails
 
deleted with Del or ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Delete’. Use drafts to save unfinished messages.
If you are using IMAP, the IMAP folders are listed below the local folders.
If you want additional folders to organize your messages, create them by select-
ing ‘Folder’ ➝ ‘New Folder’. This opens a window in which to specify name and
format of the newly created folder.
Right-click the folder for a context menu offering several folder operations. Click
‘Expiry’ to specify the expiration date for read and unread messages and what
should happen with them after expiration. If you intend to use the folder to store
messages from a mailing list, set the necessary options under ‘Folder’ ➝ ‘Mailing
List Management’.
To move one or several messages from one folder to another, highlight the mes-
 
sages to move then press M  or select ‘Message’ ➝ ‘Move to’. In the list of folders
that appears, select the folder to which to move your messages. Messages can
also be moved by dragging them from the upper window and dropping them
into the appropriate folder in the left window.

8.3.5 Filters
Filters are a convenient method of automatically processing incoming mail. They
use aspects of the mail, such as sender or size, to move mail to certain folders,
delete unwanted mails, bounce mails back to the sender, or perform a number of
other actions.

SUSE LINUX 135

 Setting Up a Filter
To create a filter from scratch, select ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure Filters’. To create a
filter based on an existing message, select the desired message then select ‘Tools’
➝ ‘Create Filter’ and the desired filter criteria.
Select the match method for filter criteria (all or any). Then select criteria that ap-
plies only to the desired messages. In ‘Filter Actions’, set what the filter should do
to the messages that meet the criteria. ‘Advanced Options’ provides control over
when the filter is applied and whether additional filters should be considered for
these messages.

Applying Filters
Filter are applied in the order listed in the dialog accessed with ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Con-
figure Filters’. Change the order by selecting a filter and clicking the arrow but-
tons. Filters are only applied to new incoming messages or sent messages as spec-
ified in the filter’s advanced options. To apply filters to existing messages, select
the desired messages then ‘Message’ ➝ ‘Apply Filters’.
If your filters do not act as expected, monitor them with ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Filter Log
Viewer’. When logging is enabled in this dialog, it shows how messages are pro-
cessed by your filters and can help locate the problem.

8.4 Contacts
The contacts component uses KAddressBook. Configure it with ‘Settings’ ➝
‘Configure KAddressBook’. To search for a particular contact, use the search bar.
With ‘Filter’, select to display only contacts in a certain category. Right-click a
contact to open a menu in which to select from a variety of options, such as send-
ing the contact information in an e-mail.

8.4.1 Adding Contacts

To add a contact with the name and e-mail address from an e-mail, right-click
the address in the mail component and select ‘Open in Address Book’. To add a
completely new contact, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New Contact’ in the address component.
Both methods open a dialog in which to enter information about the contact.

136 8.4. Contacts

 8

Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Figure 8.3: The Kontact Address Book

In the ‘General’ tab, enter basic contact information, such as name, e-mail ad-
dresses, and telephone numbers. Categories can be used to sort addresses. ‘De-
tails’ contains more specific information, such as birthday and spouse’s name.
If your contact uses an instant messenger, you can add these identities in ‘IM Ad-
dresses’. If you do this and have Kopete or another KDE chat program running at
the same time as Kontact, view status information about these identities in Kon-
tact. In ‘Crypto Settings’, enter the contact’s encryption data, such as public key.
‘Misc’ has additional information, such as a photograph and the location of the
user’s Free/Busy information. Use ‘Custom Fields’ to add your own information
to the contact or address book.
Contacts can also be imported in a variety of formats. Use ‘File’ ➝ ‘Import’ and
select the desired format. Then select the file to import.

SUSE LINUX 137

 8.4.2 Making a List
If you frequently send e-mail messages to a group of people, make this easier by
creating a list. First, click ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Show Extension Bar’ ➝ ‘Distribution List
Editor’. In the new section that appears, click ‘New List’. Enter a name for the
list then click ‘OK’. Add contacts to the list by dragging them from the address
list and dropping them in the distribution list window. Use this list like regular
contacts when creating a mail.

8.4.3 Adding Address Books

Important
Groupware Address Books
The best way to add groupware resources is with a separate tool. To
use it, close Kontact then run groupwarewizard in a command line.
Select the server type, such as SLOX, Groupwise, or Exchange, from
the list offered then enter the address and authentication data. The
wizard then adds the available resources to Kontact.
Important
Kontact can access multiple address books, such as shared ones offered by Nov-
ell GroupWise or an LDAP server. Select ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Show Extension Bar’ ➝
‘Address Books’ to view the current address books. Press ‘Add’ to add one then
select the type and enter the required information.
The check boxes in front of the books show the activation status of each. To stop
display of a book without deleting it, uncheck it. ‘Remove’ deletes the selected
book from the list.

8.5 Calendar
Kontact uses KOrganizer as its calendar component. To configure it, use ‘Settings’
➝ ‘Configure KOrganizer’. With the calendar, enter appointments and schedule
meetings with others. If desired, be reminded of upcoming events. You can also
import, export, and archive calendars with the options in ‘File’.

138 8.5. Calendar

 8

Kontact: An E-Mail and Calendar Program

Figure 8.4: The Kontact Calendar

8.5.1 Scheduling an Event

Add a new event or meeting with ‘Actions’ ➝ ‘New Event’. Enter the desired de-
tails. Under ‘Reminder’, specify the exact time (minutes, hours, or days in ad-
vance) at which the attendees should be reminded of the event. If an event recurs,
specify the interval. Another way to create an event at a specific point in the cal-
endar is to double-click the corresponding field in one of the program’s calendar
views. This opens the same dialog window as that available from the menu.
Specify the attendees of an event by entering their data manually in the dialog
or by inserting data from the address book. To enter such data manually, select
‘New’. To import data from the address book, click ‘Select Addressee’ then select
the corresponding entries from the dialog. To schedule the event based on the
participants’ availability, go to ‘Free/Busy’ and click ‘Pick Date’.
Use the ‘Recurrence’ tab to configure an event that happens on a regular basis.
‘Attachments’ can be convenient for linking other information with the event,
such as an agenda for a meeting.

SUSE LINUX 139

 8.5.2 Adding Calendars

Important
Groupware Calendars
The best way to add groupware resources is with a separate tool. To
use it, close Kontact then run groupwarewizard in a command line.
Select the server type, such as SLOX, Groupwise, or Exchange, from
the list offered then enter the address and authentication data. The
wizard then adds the available resources to Kontact.
Important
The calendar module can connect to multiple calendars simultaneously. This is
useful, for example, to combine a personal calendar with an organizational one.
To add a new calendar, click ‘Add’ then select the calendar type. Complete the
necessary fields.
The check boxes in front of the calendars show the activation status of each. To
stop display of a calendar without deleting it, uncheck it. ‘Remove’ deletes the
selected calendar from the list.

8.6 Syncing Data with a Handheld

Kontact is designed so its data can be synced with handheld devices, such as a
Palm. View information about the status of KPilot in the summary. Refer to Chap-
ter 9 on the next page for information about configuring and using KPilot.

8.7 For More Information

Kontact includes help for itself and its various components. Access it with ‘Help’
➝ ‘Kontact Handbook’. The project’s Web page, http://www.kontact.org, is
also informative.

140 8.6. Syncing Data with a Handheld

 9

Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with KPilot

Synchronizing a Handheld
Computer with KPilot

Handheld computers are in widespread use among users who need to have their
schedules, to-do lists, and notes with them everywhere they go. Often users want
the same data to be available both on the desktop and on the portable device.
This is where KPilot comes in—it is a tool to synchronize data on a handheld
with that used by the KDE applications KAddressBook, KOrganizer, and KNotes,
which are part of Kontact.

9.1 Conduits Used by KPilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

9.2 Configuring the Handheld Connection . . . . . . . . . . 143
9.3 Configuring the KAddressBook Conduit . . . . . . . . . 144
9.4 Managing To-Do Items and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
9.5 Working with KPilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
 The main purpose of KPilot is to allow sharing of data between the applications
of a handheld computer and their KDE counterparts. KPilot does come with its
own built-in memo viewer, address viewer, and file installer, but these cannot be
used outside the KPilot environment. Independent KDE applications are avail-
able for all these functions except the file installer.
For communication between the handheld and the different desktop programs,
KPilot relies on conduits. KPilot itself is the program that oversees any data ex-
change between the two computer devices. Using a particular function of the
handheld on your desktop computer requires that the corresponding conduit is
enabled and configured. For the most part, these conduits are designed to interact
with specific KDE programs, so in general they cannot be used with other desk-
top applications.
The time synchronization conduit is special in that there is no user-visible pro-
gram for it. It is activated in the background with each sync operation, but should
only be enabled on computers that use a network time server to correct their own
time drift.
When a synchronization is started, the conduits are activated one after another to
carry out the data transfer. There are two different sync methods: a HotSync oper-
ation only synchronizes the data for which any conduits have been enabled while
a backup operation performs a full backup of all data stored on the handheld.
Some conduits open a file during a sync operation, which means the correspond-
ing program should not be running at the given time. Specifically, KOrganizer
should not be running during a sync operation.

9.1 Conduits Used by KPilot

The conduits used by KPilot can be enabled and configured after selecting ‘Set-
tings’ ➝ ‘Configure KPilot’. The following is a list of some important conduits:

Address Book This conduit handles the data exchange with the handheld’s ad-
dress book. The KDE counterpart for managing these contacts is KAddress-
Book. Start it from the main menu or with the command kaddressbook.
KNotes/Memos This conduit allows you to transfer notes created with KNotes
to the handheld’s memo application. Start the KDE application from the
main menu or with the command knotes.

142 9.1. Conduits Used by KPilot

Calendar (KOrganizer) This conduit is responsible for syncing the appoint-
ments (events) of the hendheld. The desktop equivalent is KOrganizer.
9

Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with KPilot

ToDos (KOrganizer) This conduit is responsible for syncing to-do items. The
desktop counterpart is KOrganizer.
Time Synchronization Conduit Enabling this conduit adjusts the handheld’s
clock to that of the desktop computer during each sync operation. This is
only a good idea if the clock of the desktop computer itself is corrected by a
time server at fairly frequent intervals.

Figure 9.1: Configuration Dialog with the Available Conduits

9.2 Configuring the Handheld Connection

To be able to use KPilot, first set up the connection with the handheld computer.
The configuration depends on the type of cradle (docking unit) used with the
handheld. There are two types of these: USB cradles or cables and serial cradles
or cables.

9.2.1 Configuring the Connection from within KPilot

The easiest way to set up the connection is by using the configuration assistant.
Select ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configuration Assistant’ to start the assistant. In the first

SUSE LINUX 143

 step, enter your username and the name of the device to which the handheld is
connected. The assistant attempts to detect them itself if you select ‘Autodetect
Handheld & Username’. If the autodetection fails, refer to Section 9.2.2 on this
page.
After confirming with ‘Next’, the assistant prompts you to specify the applica-
tions that should be used for synchronization. You can choose among the KDE
application suite (default), Evolution, and none. After selecting, close the window
with ‘Finish’.

9.2.2 Creating a /dev/pilot Link

The setup of the connection with a serial handheld cradle is different from that of
a USB cradle. Depending on which cradle is used, you may or may not need to
create a symbolic link named /dev/pilot.

USB Normally, a USB cradle is autodetected and there should be no need to cre-
ate the symbolic link mentioned.
Serial With a serial cradle, you need to know to which serial port it is actually
connected. Serial devices are named /dev/ttyS?, starting from /dev/
ttyS0 for the first port. To set up a cradle connected to the first serial port,
enter the command:

ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/pilot

9.3 Configuring the KAddressBook

Conduit
Initially, it should be sufficient to enable the KAddressBook conduit without
changing any of the defaults. After the data has been synchronized for the first
time, configure the details: what to do in case of conflicts, the way in which
backup databases are saved, and how certain fields as stored on the handheld
should be assigned to the fields expected by KAddressBook.

144 9.3. Configuring the KAddressBook Conduit

9.4 Managing To-Do Items and Events
9

Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with KPilot

On the KDE desktop, to-dos (tasks) and events (appointments) are managed
with KOrganizer. Start the application from the main menu, with the command
korganizer, or as part of Kontact. After enabling the calendar and the to-do
conduit of KPilot, set some configuration options before using them.

Figure 9.2: KPilot Configuration

KOrganizer stores its files in the directory ~/.kde/share/apps/korganizer.

However, given that the directory .kde/ begins with a dot, it may not be shown
by the file selection dialog. In this case, enter the complete path manually or ex-
plicitly toggle the display of hidden files (dot files) in the file selection dialog. The
 
default shortcut for this is F8 
.
After opening the directory ~/.kde/share/apps/korganizer, select a file
that can be used as a calendar file by KOrganizer. In this example, this is the
file palm.ics. In the case of a user called tux, the complete path and filename
would be /home/tux/.kde/share/apps/korganizer/palm.ics, as shown
in Figure 9.3 on the next page.
KOrganizer should not be running when data is being exchanged with the hand-
held. Otherwise KPilot fails to carry out the sync operation.

SUSE LINUX 145

 Figure 9.3: Dialog Showing the Path to a KOrganizer Calendar File

9.5 Working with KPilot

Synchronizing the data of KDE applications with those of the handheld computer
is quite easy. Simply start KPilot then press the HotSync button on the cradle or
cable to initiate the sync operation.

9.5.1 Backing Up Data from the Handheld

To do a full backup, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Backup’. The backup is performed during the
next sync operation. After that, switch back by selecting ‘File’ ➝ ‘HotSync’ from
the menu. Otherwise, the time-consuming full backup will be performed again
during the next sync operation.
After a full backup, all copies of the handheld’s programs and databases are
found in ~/.kde/share/apps/kpilot/DBBackup/USERNAME, where
hUSERNAMEi is the name of the user registered on the handheld.
The two built-in KPilot viewers can be used for a quick lookup of addresses or
memos, but they are not designed to actually manage this data. The KDE applica-
tions mentioned above are much more suited for these tasks.

146 9.5. Working with KPilot

 9

Synchronizing a Handheld Computer with KPilot

Figure 9.4: The Main Window of KPilot

9.5.2 Installing Programs on the Handheld

The ‘File Installer’ module is an interesting and useful tool for the installation
of handheld programs. These programs normally have the extension .prc and
they are ready to start immediately after uploading them to the handheld. Be-
fore using such add-on programs, read their licenses as well as the instructions
included.

9.5.3 Synchronizing Your Address Books and Calendars

To synchronize your calendars and addresses, use the KDE tools MultiSynK. Start
the tool with the command multisynk. Create a Konnector pair before you syn-
chronize your data. Go to ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ and select your Konnectors. Leave it
with ‘Ok’.
The name is listed in the main window. To synchronize with your handheld com-
puter go to ‘File’ ➝ ‘Sync’.

SUSE LINUX 147

Part III

Internet
 10

The Web Browser Konqueror

The Web Browser Konqueror

Konqueror is not only a versatile file manager. It is also a modern Web browser. If
you start the browser with the icon in the panel, Konqueror opens with the Web
browser profile. As a browser, Konqueror offers tabbed browsing, the possibility
of saving Web pages with graphics, Internet keywords, bookmarks, and support
for Java and JavaScript.

10.1 Tabbed Browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

10.2 Saving Web Pages and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.3 Internet Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.4 Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
10.5 Java and JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
 Start Konqueror from the main menu or by entering the command konqueror.
To load a Web page, enter its address in the location bar, for example, http:
//www.suse.com. Konqueror now tries to reach the address and display the
page. Entering the protocol at the beginning of the address (http:// in this case)
is not strictly required. The program is able to complete the address automati-
cally, but this only works reliably with Web addresses. For an FTP address, al-
ways enter ftp:// at the beginning of the input field.

Figure 10.1: The Browser Window of Konqueror

10.1 Tabbed Browsing

If you often use more than one Web page at a time, tabbed browsing may make
it easier to switch between them. Load Web sites in separate tabs within one win-
dow. The advantage is that you keep more control over your desktop because
you only have one main window. After logout, the KDE session management

152 10.1. Tabbed Browsing

allows for saving your Web session in Konqueror. The next time you log in, Kon-
queror loads the exact URLs visited last time.
10

The Web Browser Konqueror

   
To open a new tab, select ‘Window’ ➝ ‘New Tab’ or press Ctrl  -N 
-Shift  . To
change the behavior of tabs, go to ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure Konqueror’. In the dia-
log box that opens, select ‘Web Behavior’ ➝ ‘Tabbed Browsing’. To open new tabs
instead of windows, enable ‘Open links in new tab instead of in new window’.
You can also hide the tab bar with ‘Hide the tab bar when only one tab is open’.
To see more options, press ‘Advanced Options’.
You can save your tabs with URLs and the position of the window in a profile.
This is a bit different from the session managment mentioned above. With pro-
files, you have your saved tabs at hand and without intensive start-up time like
with session management.
In Konqueror, go to ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure View Profiles’ and give your profile
a name. You can save the window size in the profile, too, with the respective op-
tion. Make sure that ‘Save URLs in profile’ is selected. Approve with ‘Save’. Next
time you need your “tab collection,” go to ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Load View Profile’ and
see the name listed in the menu. After selecting the name, Konqueror restores
your tabs.

10.2 Saving Web Pages and Graphics

As in other browsers, you can save Web pages. To do this, select ‘Location’ ➝
‘Save as’ and specify a name for your HTML file. However, images are not saved.
To archive an entire Web page including the images, select ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Archive
Web Page’. Konqueror suggests a filename that you can usually accept. The file-
name ends with .war, the extension for Web archives. To view the saved Web
archive later, simply click the respective file and the Web page is displayed in
Konqueror along with its images.

10.3 Internet Keywords

Searching the Web using Konqueror is very easy. Konqueror defines over 70
search filters for you, all with a specific shortcut. To search for a certain topic on
the Internet, enter the shortcut and the keyword separated by a colon. The rele-
vant page containing the search results is then displayed.

SUSE LINUX 153

 To see the already definied shortcuts, go to ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configure Konqueror’. In
the dialog box that appears, select ‘Web Shortcuts’. Now you can see the names
of the search providers and the shortcuts. Konqueror definies lots of search filters:
the “classical” search engines, like Google, Yahoo, and Lycos, and a number of
filters for less common purposes, like an acronym database, the Internet movie
database, or KDE application searches.
If you do not find your preferred search engine here, easily define a new one. For
example, to search our support database for some interesting articles, normally
go to http://portal.suse.com/, find the search page, and enter your query.
This can be simplified by using shortcuts. In the above dialog box, select ‘New’
and give your shortcut a name in ‘Search provider name’. Enter your abbrevia-
tions in ‘URI shortcuts’. There can more than one, separated by commas. The im-
  
portant text field is ‘Search URI’. Pressing Shift 
-F1 
and clicking in the field opens
a small help. The search query is specified as \{@}. The challenge is inserting this
at the correct position. In this case, the settings for the SUSE support database
looks like this: ‘Search provider name’ is SUSE Support Database, ‘Search
URI’ is (one line) https://portal.suse.com/PM/page/search.pm?
q=\{@}&t=optionSdbKeywords&m=25&l=en&x=true, and ‘URI shortcuts’
is sdb_en.
After approving with ‘Ok’ two times, enter your query in Konqueror’s location
bar, for example, sdb_en:kernel. The result is displayed in the current win-
dow.

10.4 Bookmarks
Instead of remembering and reentering addresses for sites visited often, you can
bookmark these URLs using the ‘Bookmark’ menu. Apart from Web page ad-
dresses, you can also bookmark any directories of your local disk in this way.
To create a new bookmark in Konqueror, click ‘Bookmarks’ ➝ ‘Add Bookmark’.
Any bookmarks added previously are included as items in the menu. It is a good
idea to arrange the bookmark collection by subjects in a hierarchical structure,
so that you do not lose track of the different items. Create a new subgroup for
your bookmarks with ‘New Bookmark Folder’. Selecting ‘Bookmarks’ ➝ ‘Edit
Bookmarks’ opens the bookmark editor. Use this program to organize, rearrange,
add, and delete bookmarks.
If you are using Netscape, Mozilla, or Firefox as additional browsers, it is not
necessary to recreate your bookmarks. ‘File’ ➝ ‘Import Netscape Bookmarks’ in

154 10.4. Bookmarks

the bookmark editor enables you to integrate your Netscape and Mozilla book-
marks into your most current collection. The reverse is also possible via ‘Export
10

The Web Browser Konqueror

as Netscape Bookmarks’.
Change your bookmarks by right-clicking the entry. A pop-up menu appears in
which to select the desired action (cut, copy, delete, etc.). When you are satis-
fied with the result, save the bookmarks with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save’. If you only want
to change the name or link, just right-click the entry in the bookmark toolbar and
select ‘Properties’. Change the name and location and confirm with ‘Update’.
To save your bookmark list and have instant access to it, make your bookmarks
visible in Konqueror. Select ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Toolbars’ ➝ ‘Bookmark Toolbar (Kon-
queror)’. A bookmark panel is automatically displayed in the current Konqueror
window.

10.5 Java and JavaScript

Do not confuse these two languages. Java is an object-oriented, platform-
independent programming language from Sun Microsystems. It is frequently
used for small programs (applets), which are executed over the Internet for
things like online banking, chatting, and shopping. JavaScript is an interpreted
scripting language mainly used for the dynamic structuring of Web pages, for
example, for menus and other effects.
Konqueror allows you to enable or disable these two languages. This can even
be done in a domain-specific way, which means that you can permit access for
some hosts and block access for others. Java and JavaScript are often disabled for
security reasons. Unfortunately, some Web pages require JavaScript for correct
display.

10.6 For More Information

For any questions or problems that arise when working with Konqueror, refer to
the application’s handbook, which is available from the ‘Help’ menu. Konqueror
also has a Web page, located at http://www.konqueror.org.

SUSE LINUX 155

 11

Firefox
Firefox

Included with your SUSE LINUX is the Mozilla Firefox Web browser. With fea-
tures like tabs, pop-up window blocking, and download and image management,
Firefox combines the latest Web technologies. View more than one Web page in a
single window. Suppress annoying advertisements and disable images that only
slow you down. Its easy access to different search engines helps you find the in-
formation you need. Start the program from the main menu or by entering the
command firefox. The main program features are described in the following
sections.

11.1 Navigating Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

11.2 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.3 Managing Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.4 Using the Download Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.5 Customizing Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
11.6 Printing from Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
11.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
 11.1 Navigating Web Sites
Firefox has much the same look and feel as other browsers. It is shown in Figure
11.1 on this page. The navigation toolbar includes ‘Forward’ and ‘Back’ and a lo-
cation bar for a Web address. Bookmarks are also available for quick access. For
more information about the various Firefox features, use the ‘Help’ menu.

Figure 11.1: The Browser Window of Firefox

158 11.1. Navigating Web Sites

11.1.1 Tabbed Browsing
11

Firefox
If you often use more than one Web page at a time, tabbed browsing may make
it easier to switch between them. Load Web sites in separate tabs within one win-
dow.
To open a new tab, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New Tab’. This opens an empty tab in the Fire-
fox window. Alternatively, right-click a link and select ‘Open link in new tab’.
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.

11.1.2 Using the Sidebar

Use the left side of your browser window for viewing bookmarks or the brows-
ing history. Extensions may add new ways to use the sidebar as well. To display
the Sidebar, select ‘View’ ➝ ‘Sidebar’ and select the desired contents.

11.2 Finding Information

There are two ways to find information in Firefox: the search bar and the find bar.

11.2.1 Using the Search Bar

Firefox has a search bar that can access different engines, like Google, Yahoo, or
Amazon. For example, if you want to find information about SUSE using the cur-
 
rent engine, click in the search bar, type SUSE, and hit Enter 
. The results appear
in your window. To choose your search engine, click the icon in the search bar. A
menu opens with a list of available search engines.

11.2.2 Using the Find Bar

  
To search inside a Web page, click ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Find in This Page’ or press Ctrl 
-F 
and the find bar opens. Usually, it is displayed at the bottom of a window. Type
your query in the input field. Firefox highlights all occurrences of this phrase.
With ‘Highlight’, enable and disable the highlighting.

SUSE LINUX 159

 11.3 Managing Bookmarks
Bookmarks offer a convenient way of saving links to your favorite Web sites. To
add the current Web site to your list of bookmarks, click ‘Bookmarks’ ➝ ‘Book-
mark This Page’. If your browser currently displays multiple Web sites on tabs,
only the URL on the currently selected tab is added to your list of bookmarks.
When adding a bookmark, you can specify an alternative name for the bookmark
and select a folder where Firefox should store it.
To remove a Web site from the bookmarks list, click ‘Bookmarks’, right-click the
bookmark in the list, then click ‘Delete’.

11.3.1 Using the Bookmark Manager

The bookmark manager can be used to manage the properties (name and address
location) for each bookmark and organize the bookmarks into folders and sec-
tions. It resembles Figure 11.2 on the next page.
To open the bookmark manager, click ‘Bookmark’ ➝ ‘Manage Bookmarks’. A
window opens and displays your bookmarks. With ‘New Folder’, create a new
folder with a name and a description. If you need a new bookmark, click ‘New
Bookmark’. This let you insert the name, location, keywords, and also a descrip-
tion. The keyword is a shortcut to your bookmark. If you need your newly cre-
ated bookmark in the sidebar, check ‘Load this bookmark in the sidebar’.

11.3.2 Migrating Bookmarks

If you used a different browser in the past, you probably want to use your pref-
erences and bookmarks in Firefox, too. At the moment, you can import from
Netscape 4.x, 6, 7, Mozilla 1.x, and Opera.
To import your settings, click ‘File’ ➝ ‘Import’. Select the browser from which
to import settings. After you click ‘Next’, your settings are imported. Find your
imported bookmarks in a newly created folder, beginning with From.

11.4 Using the Download Manager

With the help of the download manager, keep track of your current and past
downloads. To open the download manager, click ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Downloads’. Firefox

160 11.3. Managing Bookmarks

 11

Firefox
Figure 11.2: Using the Firefox Bookmark Manager

opens a window with your downloads. While downloading a file, see a progress
bar and the current file. Pause the download and resume it later, if necessary. To
open a downloaded file, click ‘Open’. With ‘Remove’, erase it from the medium. If
you need information about the file, right-click the filename and choose ‘Proper-
ties’.
If you need further control of the Download Manager, open the configuration
window from ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Preferences’ and go to the ‘Downloads’ tab. Here, deter-
mine the download folder, how the manager behaves, and some configuration of
file types.

11.5 Customizing Firefox

With the ability to install extensions, change themes, and add smart keywords for
your online searches, Firefox can be customized extensively.

SUSE LINUX 161

 11.5.1 Extensions
Mozilla Firefox is a multifunctional application, which means you can down-
load and install add-ons, known as extensions. For example, add a new down-
load manager and mouse gestures. This has the advantage that Firefox itself stays
small and unbloated.
To add an extension, click ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Extensions’. In the bottom-right corner, click
‘Get More Extensions’ to launch the Mozilla extensions update Web page where
you can choose from a variety of available extensions. Click the extension to in-
stall then click the install link to download and install it. When you restart Fire-
fox, the new extension is functional. You can also look at the various extensions at
http://update.mozilla.org/.

Figure 11.3: Installing Firefox Extensions

11.5.2 Changing Themes

If you do not like the standard look and feel of Firefox, install a new theme.
Themes do not change the functionality, only the appearance of the browser.
When installing a theme, Firefox asks for confirmation first. Allow the installa-
tion or to cancel it. After a successful installation, you can enable the new theme.

1. Click ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Theme’.

162 11.5. Customizing Firefox

 2. A new dialog appears. Click ‘Get More Themes’. If you already installed a
theme, find it in the list, as in Figure 11.4 on this page.
11

Firefox
Figure 11.4: Installing Firefox Themes

3. A new window appears with the Web site https://update.mozilla.

org.
4. Choose a theme and click ‘Install Now’.
5. Confirm the download and installation.
6. After downloading the theme, a dialog appears and informs you about
your list of themes. Activate the new theme with ‘Use Theme’.
7. Close the window and restart Firefox.
If a theme is installed, you can always switch to a different theme without restart-
ing by clicking ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Themes’ then ‘Use Theme’. If you do not use a theme
anymore, you can delete it in the same dialog with ‘Uninstall’.

11.5.3 Adding Smart Keywords to Your Online Searches

Searching the Internet is one of the main tasks a browser can perform for you.
Firefox lets you define your own smart keywords: abbreviations to use as a “com-
mand” for searching the Web. For example, if you use Wikipedia often, use a
smart keyword to simplify this task:

SUSE LINUX 163

 1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org.
2. After Firefox displays the Web page, see the search text field. Right-click it
then choose ‘Add a Keyword for this Search’ from the menu that opens.
3. The ‘Add Bookmark’ dialog appears. In ‘Name’, name this Web page, for
example, ‘Wikipedia (en)’.
4. For ‘Keyword’, enter your abbreviation of this Web page, for example,
‘wiki’.
5. With ‘Create in’, choose the location of the entry in your bookmarks section.
You can put it into ‘Quick Searches’, but any other level is also appropriate.
6. Finalize with ‘Add’.

You have successfully generated a new keyword. Whenever you need to look
into Wikipedia, you do not have to use the entire URL. Just type wiki Linux to
view an entry about Linux.

11.6 Printing from Firefox

Configure the way Firefox prints the content it displays using the ‘Page Setup’
dialog. Click ‘File’ ➝ ‘Page Setup’ then go to the ‘Format & Options’ tab to select
the orientation of your print jobs. You can scale or make it auto-adjust. To print
a background, select ‘Print Background (colors & images)’. Click the ‘Margins &
Header/Footer’ tab to adjust margins and select what to include in the headers
and footers.
After you configured your settings, print a Web page with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Print’. Select
the printer or a file in which to save the output. With ‘Properties’, set the paper
size, specify the print command, choose grayscale or color, and determine the
margins. When satisfied with your settings, approve with ‘Print’.

11.7 For More Information

Get more information about Firefox from the official home page at http://www.
mozilla.org/products/firefox/. Refer to the integrated help to find out
more about certain options or features.

164 11.6. Printing from Firefox

 12

Encryption with KGpg

Encryption with KGpg

KGpg is an important component of the encryption infrastructure on your sys-

tem. With the help of this program, generate and manage all needed keys, use
its editor function for the quick creation and encryption of files, or use the applet
in your panel to encrypt or decrypt by dragging and dropping. Other programs,
such as your mail program (Kontact or Evolution), access the key data to process
signed or encrypted contents. This chapter covers the basic functions needed for
daily work with encrypted files.

12.1 Generating a New Key Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

12.2 Exporting the Public Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
12.3 Importing Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
12.4 The Key Server Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
12.5 Text and File Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
12.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
 12.1 Generating a New Key Pair
To be able to exchange encrypted messages with other users, first generate your
own key pair. One part of it—the public key—is distributed to your communica-
tion partners, who can use it to encrypt the files or e-mail messages they send.
The other part of the key pair—the private key—is used to decrypt the encrypted
contents.

Important
Private Key versus Public Key
The public key is intended for the public and should be distributed
to all your communication partners. However, only you should have
access to the private key. Do not grant other users access to this data.
Important
Start KGpg from the main menu by selecting ‘Utilities’ ➝ ‘KGpg’ or enter kgpg
on the command line. When you start the program for the first time, an assistant
appears to guide you through the configuration. Follow the instructions up to the
point where you are prompted to create a key. Enter a name, an e-mail address,
and, optionally, a comment. If you do not like the default settings provided, also
set the expiration time for the key, the key size, and the encryption algorithm
used. See Figure 12.1 on the next page.
Confirm your settings with ‘OK’. The next dialog prompts you to enter a pass-
word twice. The program then generates the key pair and displays a summary.
It is a good idea to save or print a revocation certificate right away. Such a certifi-
cate will be needed if you forget the password for your private key so need to re-
voke it. After you confirm with ‘OK’, KGpg displays its main window. See Figure
12.2 on page 168.

12.2 Exporting the Public Key

After generating your key pair, make the public key available to other users. This
enables them to use it to encrypt or sign the messages or files they send you. To
make the public key available for others, select ‘Keys’ ➝ ‘Export Public Key(s)’.
The dialog that opens offers four options:

166 12.1. Generating a New Key Pair

 12

Encryption with KGpg

Figure 12.1: KGpg: Creating a Key

‘Email’ Your public key is sent to a recipient of your choice by e-mail. If you ac-
tivate this option and confirm with ‘OK’, the dialog for creating a new e-
mail message with KMail appears. Enter the recipient and click ‘Send’. The
recipient receives your key and can then send you encrypted contents.
‘Clipboard’ You can place your public key here before continuing to process it.
‘Default Key Server’ To make your public key available to a wide audience, ex-
port it to one of the key servers on the Internet. For more information, refer
to Section 12.4 on page 170.
‘File’ If you prefer to distribute your key as a file on a data medium instead of

SUSE LINUX 167

 Figure 12.2: The Key Manager

sending it by e-mail, click this option, confirm or change the file path and
name, and click ‘OK’.

12.3 Importing Keys

If you receive a key in a file (for example, as an e-mail attachment), integrate it
in your key ring with ‘Import Key’ and use it for encrypted communication with
the sender. The procedure is similar to the procedure for exporting keys already
described.

12.3.1 Signing Keys

Keys can be signed like every other file to guarantee their authenticity and in-
tegrity. If you are absolutely sure an imported key belongs to the individual spec-
ified as the owner, express your trust in the authenticity of the key with your sig-
nature.

168 12.3. Importing Keys

 Important
12

Encryption with KGpg

Establishing a Web of Trust
Encrypted communication is only secure to the extent that you can
positively associate public keys in circulation with the specified user.
By cross-checking and signing these keys, you contribute to the estab-
lishment of a web of trust.
Important
Select the key to sign in the key list. Select ‘Keys’ ➝ ‘Sign Keys’. In the following
dialog, designate the private key to use for the signature. An alert reminds you
to check the authenticity of this key before signing it. If you have performed this
check, click ‘Continue’ and enter the password for the selected private key in the
next step. Other users can now check the signature by means of your public key.

12.3.2 Trusting Keys

Normally, you are asked by the corresponding program whether you trust the
key (whether you assume it is really used by its authorized owner). This happens
each time a message needs to be decrypted or a signature must be checked. To
avoid this, edit the trust level of the newly imported key.
Right-click the newly imported key to access a small context menu for key man-
agement. Select ‘Edit Key in Terminal’ from it. KGpg opens a text console in
which to set the trust level with a few commands.
At the prompt of the text console (Command >), enter trust. On a scale between
1 (unsure) and 5 (complete trust) make an estimate of how much you trust that
the signers of the imported key have checked the true identity of the key owner.
Enter the selected value at the prompt (Your decision?). If you are really sure
about the signers’ trustworthiness, enter 5. Answer the following question by
entering y. Finally, enter quit to exit the console and return to the list of keys.
The key now has the trust level Ultimate.
The trust level of the keys in your key ring is indicated by a colored bar next to
the key name. The lower the trust level is, the less you trust the signer of the key
to have checked the true identity of the keys signed. You may be entirely sure
about the signer’s identity, but he may still be lazy in regard to checking other
people’s identities before signing their keys. Therefore, you could still trust him
and his own key, but assign lower trust levels to the keys of others that have been
signed by him. The trust level’s purpose is solely one of a reminder. It does not
trigger any automatic actions by KGpg.

SUSE LINUX 169

 12.4 The Key Server Dialog
Several Internet-based key servers offer the public keys of many users. To engage
in encrypted communication with a large number of users, use these servers to
distribute your public key. For this purpose, export your public key to one of
these servers. Similarly, KGpg enables you to search one of these servers for the
keys of certain people and import their public keys from the server. Open the key
server dialog with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Key Server Dialog’.

12.4.1 Importing a Key from a Key Server

By means of the ‘Import’ tab in the key server dialog, import public keys from
one of the Internet-based key servers. Use the drop-down menu to select one of
the preconfigured key servers and enter a search string (e-mail address of the
communication partner) or the ID of the key to find. When you click ‘Search’,
your system connects to the Internet and searches the specified key server for a
key that matches your specifications. Refer to Figure 12.3 on this page.

Figure 12.3: Search Screen for Importing a Key

If your search on the key server is successful, a list of all retrieved server entries
is displayed in a new window. Select the key to include in your key ring and click
‘Import’. See Figure 12.4 on the next page. Confirm the following message with

170 12.4. The Key Server Dialog

‘OK’ then exit the key server dialog with ‘Close’. The imported key then appears
in the main overview of the key manager and is ready for use.
12

Encryption with KGpg

Figure 12.4: Hits and Import

12.4.2 Exporting Your Keys to a Key Server

To export your key to one of the freely accessible key servers on the Internet, se-
lect the ‘Export’ tab in the key server dialog. Designate the target server and the
key to export by means of two drop-down menus. Then start the export with ‘Ex-
port’.

12.5 Text and File Encryption

KGpg also offers the possibility to encrypt text or clipboard contents. Click the
padlock icon and find the options ‘Encrypt clipboard’ and ‘Decrypt clipboard’ as
well as the option for opening the integrated editor.

SUSE LINUX 171

 Figure 12.5: Exporting a Key to a Key Server

12.5.1 Encrypting and Decrypting the Clipboard

Files copied to the clipboard can easily be encrypted with a few clicks. Open the
function overview by clicking the KGpg icon. Select ‘Encrypt Clipboard’ and des-
ignate the key to use. A status message about the encryption procedure is dis-
played on the desktop. The encrypted contents can now be processed from the
clipboard as needed. The decryption of clipboard contents is just as easy. Simply
open the menu on the panel, select ‘Decrypt Clipboard’, and enter the password
associated with your private key. The decrypted version is now available for pro-
cessing in the clipboard and in the KGpg editor.

12.5.2 Encrypting and Decrypting by Dragging and Dropping

To encrypt or decrypt files, click the icons on the desktop or in the file manager,
drag them to the padlock in the panel, and drop them there. If the file is not en-
crypted, KGpg asks for the key to use. As soon as you select a key, the file is en-
crypted without any further messages. In the file manager, encrypted files are
designated with the suffix .asc and the padlock icon. These files can be de-
crypted by clicking the file icon, dragging it to the KGpg symbol in the panel, and
dropping it there. Then select whether the file should be decrypted and saved or
displayed in the editor.

172 12.5. Text and File Encryption

12.5.3 The KGpg Editor
12

Encryption with KGpg

Instead of creating contents for encryption in an external editor then encrypting
the file with one of the methods described above, you can use the integrated ed-
itor of KGpg to create the file. Open the editor (‘Open Editor’ from the context
menu), enter the desired text, and click ‘Encrypt’. Then select the key to use and
complete the encryption procedure. To decrypt files, use ‘Decrypt’ and enter the
password associated with the key.
Generating and checking signatures is just as easy as encrypting directly from the
editor. Go to ‘Signature’ ➝ ‘Generate Signature’ and select the file to sign from
the file dialog. Then designate the private key to use and enter the associated
password. KGpg informs about the successful generation of the signature. Files
can also be signed from the editor by simply clicking ‘Sign/Verify’. To check a
signed file, go to ‘Signature’ ➝ ‘Verify Signature’ and select the file to check in the
following dialog. After you confirm the selection, KGpg checks the signature and
reports the result of the operation. Another possibility is to load the signed file
into the editor and click ‘Sign/Verify’.

12.6 For More Information

For theoretical background information about the encryption method, refer to
the brief and clear introduction on the GnuPG project pages at http://www.
gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html.en. This document also provides
a list of further information sources.

SUSE LINUX 173

 Part IV

Multimedia
 13

Sound in Linux
Sound in Linux

Linux includes a wide range of sound and multimedia applications. Some of

these applications are part of one of the main desktop environments. With the ap-
plications described here, control the volume and balance of playback, play CDs
and music files, and record and compress your own audio data.

13.1 Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

13.2 Multimedia Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
13.3 CDs: Playback and Ripping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
13.4 Hard Disk Recording with Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . 192
13.5 Direct Recording and Playback of WAV Files . . . . . . . 195
 13.1 Mixers
Mixers provide a convenient means of controlling the volume and balance of the
sound output and input of computers. The main difference between the various
mixers is the outer appearance of the user interface. However, there are a number
of mixers that are designed for specific hardware. One example is envy24control,
a mixer for the Envy 24 sound chip. Another one is hdspmixer, which is for RME
Hammerfall cards. From the mixers available, select the one that best suits your
needs.
Generally, it is advisable to open a mixer application before opening other sound
applications. Use the mixer to test and adjust the control settings for the input
and output of the sound card.

13.1.1 KMix
KMix is the KDE mixer application. It is integrated into the KDE panel as a small
panel applet located in the system tray. Click the panel icon to control the vol-
ume of your speakers with a control slider. If you right-click the icon, the context
menu of KMix appears. Select ‘Mute’ to switch off the sound output. The panel
icon then changes its appearance. Clicking ‘Mute’ again unmutes the volume. To
fine-tune your sound settings, select ‘Show Mixer Window’ and configure ‘Out-
put’, ‘Input’, and ‘Switches’. Each of the devices featured there has its own con-
text menu that is opened by a right-clicking the device icon. You can mute or hide
each one of them separately.

13.1.2 The GNOME Mixer Applet

GMix, the volume control applet for the GNOME desktop, is integrated into the
GNOME panel. Click the panel icon to control the volume of your speakers with
a simple control slider. To switch off the sound output, right-click the icon and
select ‘Mute’. The volume control icon then changes its appearance. To unmute
the sound output, right-click the icon again and select ‘Mute’ from the menu. Se-
lect ‘Open Volume Control’ to access the more advanced mixer features, shown in
Figure 13.2 on page 180. Each sound device has its own mixer tab.

178 13.1. Mixers

 13

Sound in Linux
Figure 13.1: The Mixer KMix

13.1.3 alsamixer
alsamixer can be run from the command line without the X environment, so is
entirely controlled via keyboard shortcuts. An alsamixer window always con-
sists of the following elements: a top row holding basic information on card and
chip type, the selected view type, and the mixer item then the volume bars below
   
the information area. Use ←  and →  to scroll left or right if the controls cannot
be displayed in one screen. The names of the controls appear below the controls
and the currently selected control is colored in red. Toggle between muted and
 
unmuted state of any mixer control using M  . A muted control has ‘MM’ written
below its name. Any control that has capture (recording) capabilities has a red
capture flag.
alsamixer has three different view modes: ‘Playback’, ‘Capture’, and ‘All’. By de-
fault, alsamixer is started in ‘playback’ mode, displaying only those mixer con-
trols relevant for playback (Master Volume, PCM, CD, etc.). ‘Capture’ displays
only those controls used for recording. ‘All’ displays all controls available. Switch
    
the view modes using F3  , F4 
, and F5 
.
             
Select channels with →  and ←  or N and P 
. Use ↑ 
and ↓ 
or + 
and - 
to in-

SUSE LINUX 179

 Figure 13.2: The GNOME Mixer Applet

crease and decrease the volume. Stereo channels can be controlled independently,
        
using Q 
, W 
, and E 
for increasing the volume and Z 
, X 
, and C 
for decreasing
 
the volume. The number keys between 0  and 9 
can be used to change the abso-
lute volume quickly. These correspond to zero to ninety percent of full volume.

13.1.4 Look and Feel of Mixer Applications

The look and feel of mixer applications depends on the type of sound card used.
Some drivers, like SB Live!, have many controllable (tunable) mixer elements
while the drivers for professional sound cards may have elements with totally
different names.

On-Board Sound Chip

Most of the PCI on-board sound chips are based on AC97 codec. ‘Master’ controls
the main volume from the front speakers. ‘Surround’, ‘Center’, and ‘LFE’ con-
trol the rear, center, and bass-boost speakers. Each of them has a mute switch. In
addition to that, some boards have individual ‘Headphone’ and ‘Master Mono’
volumes. The latter is used for the built-in speaker on some laptops.

180 13.1. Mixers

‘PCM’ controls the internal volume level of digital WAVE playback. PCM is an
acronym for Pulse Code Modulation, one of the digital signal formats. This con-
13

Sound in Linux
trol has also an individual mute switch.
Other volumes, like ‘CD’, ‘Line’, ‘Mic’, and ‘Aux’, control the loopback volume
from the corresponding input to the main output. They do not influence the
recording level, only the playback volumes.
For recording, turn on the ‘Capture’ switch. This is the master recording switch.
The ‘Capture’ volume is the input gain for recording. By default, this switch is
set to zero. Choose a recording source like ‘Line’ or ‘Mic’. The recording source is
exclusive, so you cannot choose two of them at the same time. ‘Mix’ is a special
recording source. You can record the currently played signal from this source.
Depending on the AC97 codec chip, special effects, like 3D or bass/treble, are
available, too.

SoundBlaster Live! and Audigy Family

SoundBlaster Live! and SB Audigy1 have numerous mixer controls for their
AC97 codec chip and DSP engine. In addition to the controls already described,
they have ‘Wave’, ‘Music’, and ‘AC97’ volumes to control the internal signal rout-
ing and attenuation for PCM, WaveTable MIDI, and AC97 mixing. Keep the vol-
ume at 100% to hear all of them. SB Audigy2 (depending on the model) has less
controls than SB Live, but still has ‘Wave’ and ‘Music’ controls.
The recording on SB Live is similar to on-board chip. You can choose ‘Wave’
and ‘Music’ as the additional recording source to record the played PCM and
WaveTable signals.

USB Audio Devices

USB audio devices usually have a small number of mixer controls. Sometimes
they even have none at all. Most devices either have a ‘Master’ or ‘PCM’ control
switch to control the playback volume.

13.1.5 The Mixer for the Sound Chip Envy24

envy24control is a mixer application for sound cards using the Envy24 (ice1712)
chip. The flexibility of the Envy24 chip can result in varying functionalities
in different sound cards. The latest details on this sound chip are available in
/usr/share/doc/packages/alsa-tools/envy24control.

SUSE LINUX 181

 Figure 13.3: Monitor and Digital Mixer of envy24control

The ‘Monitor Mixer’ of envy24control shows the signal levels that can be mixed
digitally in the sound card. The signals designated as ‘PCM Out’ are generated
by applications that send PCM data to the sound card. The signals of the analog
inputs are shown under ‘H/W In’. The ‘S/PDIF’ inputs are shown to the right.
Set the input and output levels of the analog channels under ‘Analog Volume’.
Use the ‘Monitor Mixer’ sliders for digital mixing. The respective levels are dis-
played in the ‘Digital Mixer’. For each output channel, the ‘Patchbay’ contains a
row of radio buttons for selecting the desired channel source.
Adjust the amplification for the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters
under ‘Analog Volume’. Use the ‘DAC’ sliders for the output channels and the
‘ADC’ sliders for the input channels.
The S/PDIF channel settings are made under ‘Hardware Settings’. The Envy24
chip reacts to volume changes with a delay that can be configured with ‘Volume
Change’.

13.2 Multimedia Players

13.2.1 amaroK
The amaroK media player handles various audio formats and plays the stream-
ing audio broadcasts of radio stations on the Internet. The program handles all

182 13.2. Multimedia Players

file types supported by the sound server acting as a back-end—currently aRts or
GStreamer.
13

Sound in Linux
On first start, amaroK launches a ‘First-Run Wizard’, which helps set up amaroK.
In the first step, configure your preferred look and feel for amaroK. Choose to
display player and playlist in separate windows (see Figure 13.4 on the current
page) or combine their functionality in one single window. In the second step,
determine where amaroK should look for your music collection. amaroK scans
these folders for playable media. By default, amaroK is configured to scan the se-
lected folders recursively (to include all their subdirectories in the scan), monitor
changes to the content of the selected directories, and import any playlists located
there. All the settings made with the wizard can be modified later by starting the
wizard again with ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘First-Run Wizard’.

Figure 13.4: The amaroK Media Player

SUSE LINUX 183

 Managing Playlists
On start-up, amaroK scans the file system for multimedia files according to
the settings made in the wizard. The right part of the playlist window lists any
playlists found. Play titles listed in it in the order of your choice. If no playlist is
found, create one. The best way to do this is by using the sidebar to the left of the
window. To the far left, there are a number of tabs that can be used to open dif-
ferent views. From each of these views, drag individual titles or entire directories
and drop them into the playlist to include them in the list. The following is a de-
scription of the function of each tab.

Context With this tab, view information about your collection and the current
artist. For example, the view informs you about your favorite titles, the
newest titles added to the collection, and other details. The ‘Home’ view
provides statistics on your listening habits, listing your favorite, newest,
and least-played tracks. ‘Current Track’ provides data related to the track
currently being played, such as the album cover (see Section The Cover
Manager on the facing page), the listening statistics related to this track,
and much more. If you are interested in the lyrics of the track, display them
using the ‘Lyrics’ tab.
Collection Browser Use this view to manage and display your personal collec-
tion of titles. The collection view may include files from different locations.
The wrench icon in the toolbar lets you determine what locations should be
scanned for music files. Once you select the directories, the scan starts au-
tomatically. The result is displayed as a tree structure. Using ‘Primary’ and
‘Secondary’, organize the two top branches of the tree according to the cri-
teria ‘Album’, ‘Artist’, ‘Genre’, and ‘Year’. Once the tree view is ready, find
titles simply by typing them into the input field. The selection in the tree
view jumps to the first matching entry automatically as you type. To update
your collection data, initiate a rescan of the file system using ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Res-
can Collection’.
Playlist Browser The playlist browser is divided into two parts. The upper part
lists all your custom playlists created by dragging tracks into the playlist
window and clicking ‘Save Playlist As’. View the contents of them by click-
ing the ‘+’ next to the playlist’s name. Modify these playlists using drag and
drop. To load one of them, double-click the playlist.

184 13.2. Multimedia Players

 Important
13

Sound in Linux
Sharing Playlists with Other Players
Save playlists in m3u or pls format, so you can share them with
any other players using these formats.
Important
amaroK can compile useful playlists (“Smart Playlists”) on the fly. Use the
bottom part of the playlist browser to select one of the smart playlists or
click ‘Create Smart Playlist’ to define a custom smart playlist. Enter a name,
search criteria, order, and optional track limit.

File Browser This tab opens a file browser. It corresponds to the standard KDE
file selector dialog with the usual controls for navigating the file system. En-
ter a URL or directory directly into the text input field. From the contents
displayed, drag elements to the playlist to include them. You can also per-
form a recursive search for a file in a given directory. To do so, enter a text
string for the title and the location at which to start the search. Then select
‘Search’ and wait for the results to appear in the lower section of the win-
dow.

The Cover Manager

amaroK features a cover manager to enable you to keep matching music and im-
age data on the albums you play. Start the ‘Cover Manager’ with ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Cover
Manager’. A tree view in the left part of the window lists all the albums of your
collection. The covers retrieved from Amazon are displayed in the right part of
the window. With ‘View’, choose what is displayed in the cover list view. ‘All al-
bums’ lists all albums of your collection, regardless of whether they have a cover
image. ‘Albums with cover’ lists only those with a cover and ‘Albums without
cover’ lists those lacking a cover. To retrieve cover data, choose your ‘Amazon
Locale’ then click ‘Fetch Missing Covers’. amaroK then tries to get covers for all
albums contained in your collection.

Effects
Select the ‘FX’ button in the player window or use the amaroK application menu
to open a dialog in which to enable and configure several sound effects, such as
an equalizer, the stereo balance, and a hall effect. Select the desired effects and
adjust the settings, if available, for each of them.

SUSE LINUX 185

 Visualizations
amaroK comes with a number of visualizations that display a graphical effect
for the music played. Native amaroK visualizations are displayed in the player
window. Cycle through the various available display modes by clicking the ani-
mation.
In addition to the above, amaroK also supports the visualization plug-ins of the
XMMS media player. To use these, first install the xmms-plugins package then
select ‘Visualizations’ from the amaroK menu. This opens a window listing the
available plug-ins. XMMS plug-ins are always displayed in an extra window.
In some cases, there is an option to display them in fullscreen mode. For some
plug-ins, you may not get a smooth visual effect unless you use a 3D-accelerated
graphics card.

13.2.2 XMMS
XMMS is another full-featured media player with robust audio support, so that
pops or breaks during playback should be very rare. The application is easy to
use. The button for displaying the menu is located in the upper left corner of the
program window. For those preferring a GNOME-like look and feel, there is a
GTK2 version of XMMS available, the Beep Media Player. Just install the package
bmp. However, not all XMMS plug-ins are supported by this port of XMMS.
Select the output plug-in module with ‘Options’ ➝ ‘Preferences’ ➝ ‘Audio I/O
Plugins’. If the xmms-kde package is installed, the aRts sound server can be con-
figured here.

Important
Using the Disk Writer Plug-In
XMMS automatically redirects its output to the ‘Disk Writer Plugin’ if
it is not able to find a configured sound card. In this case, the played
files are written to the hard disk as WAV files. The time display then
runs faster than when playing the output through a sound card.
Important
Start various visualization plug-ins with ‘Options’ ➝ ‘Preferences’ ➝ ‘Visualiza-
tion Plugins’. If you have a graphics card with 3D acceleration, select an appli-
cation such as the OpenGL spectrum analyzer. If the xmms-plugins package is
installed, try the Infinity plug-in.

186 13.2. Multimedia Players

 13

Sound in Linux
Figure 13.5: XMMS with Equalizer, OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, and Infinity Plug-Ins

To the left under the menu button, there are five buttons with different letters on
them. These buttons allow quick access to additional menus, dialog, and configu-
rations. Open the playlist with ‘PL’ and the equalizer with ‘EQ’.

13.3 CDs: Playback and Ripping

There are many ways to listen to your favorite music tracks. Either play a CD or
play digitalized versions of them. The following section features some CD player
applications as well as some applications that can be used for the ripping and
encoding of audio CDs.

SUSE LINUX 187

 Important
CDDA and Analog CD Playback
There are two different ways of playing back audio CDs. CD and DVD
drives capable of analog CD playback read out the audio data and
send it to the sound output device. Some external drives connected via
PCMCIA, FireWire, or USB need to use CDDA (Compact Disk Digital
Audio) to extract the audio data first then play it as digital PCM. The
players featured in the following sections do not support CDDA. Use
XMMS if you need CDDA support.
Important

13.3.1 KsCD—Audio CD Player

KsCD is an easy-to-use audio CD player. It integrates into the KDE taskbar and
can be configured to start playing automatically after a CD has been inserted. To
access the configuration menu, select ‘Extras’ ➝ ‘Configure KsCD’. Fetch album
and track information from a CDDB server on the Internet if KsCD is configured
accordingly. You can also upload CDDB information to share it with others. Use
the ‘CDDB’ dialog for information retrieval and upload.

Figure 13.6: The KsCD User Interface

13.3.2 GNOME CD Player Applet

This is a simple applet that integrates into a GNOME panel. Using the tools icon,
configure its behavior and select a theme. Control the playback with the buttons

188 13.3. CDs: Playback and Ripping

at the bottom of the player window or using the context menu opened by right-
clicking the panel icon or player window.
13

Sound in Linux
13.3.3 Compressing Audio Data
Audio compression can be handled by various tools. The following sections fea-
ture a command-line approach to encoding and playing audio data as well as
some graphical applications capable of audio compression.

Command Line Tools for Encoding and Playback of Audio Data

Ogg Vorbis (package vorbis-tools) is a free audio compression format that is
now supported by the majority of audio players. The Web page of the project is
http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis.
SUSE LINUX comes with several tools supporting Ogg Vorbis. oggenc is a
command line tool used for encoding WAV files to Ogg. Just run oggenc
hmyfile.wavi to transform a given .wav file into Ogg Vorbis. The option -h
displays an overview of the other parameters. Oggenc supports encoding with
a variable bit rate. In this way, an even higher degree of compression can be
achieved. Instead of the bit rate, specify the desired quality with the parameter
-q. -b determines the average bit rate. -m and -M specify the minimum and max-
imum bit rate.
ogg123 is a command-line Ogg player. Start it with a command like ogg123
mysong.ogg.

Compressing Audio Data Using Grip

Grip is a GNOME CD player and ripper (see Figure 13.7 on the next page). The
CD player functionality is entirely controlled by the buttons in the bottom part
of the window. Control the ripping and encoding functionality using the tabs at
the top of the window. To view and edit the track and album information or to se-
lect the tracks to rip, open the ‘Tracks’ tab. Select a track by clicking the check box
next to the track title. To edit the track information, click ‘Toggle disc editor’ and
submit your modifications. The ‘Rip’ tab selects the preferred rip mode and con-
trols the ripping process. Access the entire Grip configuration under the ‘Config’
tab. Use ‘Status’ to check the status of the application.

SUSE LINUX 189

 Figure 13.7: Ripping Audio CDs with Grip

Compressing Audio Data Using KAudioCreator

KAudioCreator is a lean CD ripper application (see Figure 13.8 on the facing
page). Once started, it lists all the tracks of your CD in the ‘CD Tracks’ tab. Select
the tracks to rip and encode. To edit the track information, use the ‘Album Edi-
tor’ under ‘File’ ➝ ‘Edit Album’. Otherwise just start the ripping and encoding
with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Rip Selection’. Watch the progress of these jobs using the ‘Jobs’ tab.
If configured accordingly, KAudioCreator also generates playlist files for your
selection that can be used by players, like amaroK or XMMS.

Compressing Audio CDs Using Konqueror

Before you start the actual ripping process with Konqueror, configure the han-
dling of audio CDs and the Ogg Vorbis encoder in the KDE Control Center. Select
‘Sound & Multimedia’ ➝ ‘Audio CDs’. The configuration module is divided into

190 13.3. CDs: Playback and Ripping

 13

Sound in Linux
Figure 13.8: Ripping Audio CDs with KAudioCreator

three tabs: ‘General’, ‘Names’, and ‘Ogg Vorbis Encoder’. Normally, a suitable CD
device is detected automatically. Do not change this default setting unless the au-
todetection failed and you need to set the CD device manually. Error correction
and encoder priority can also be set here. The tab ‘Ogg Vorbis Encoder’ deter-
mines the quality of the encoding. To configure online lookup of album, track,
and artist information for your ripped audio data, select ‘Add Track Information’.
Start the ripping process by inserting the CD into the CD-ROM drive and enter
audiocd:/ at the ‘Location’ bar. Konqueror then lists the tracks of the CD and
some folders (see Figure 13.9 on the next page).
To keep uncompressed audio data on your disk, just select the .wav files and
drag them into another Konqueror window to copy them over to their final desti-
nation. To start the Ogg Vorbis encoding, drag the OggVorbis folder to another
Konqueror window. The encoding starts as soon as you drop the Ogg Vorbis
folder to its destination.

SUSE LINUX 191

 Figure 13.9: Ripping Audio Data with Konqueror

13.4 Hard Disk Recording with Audacity

With audacity (package audacity), record and edit audio files. This is called
hard disk recording. When you start the program for the first time, select a lan-
guage. At other times, change the language setting under ‘File’ ➝ ‘Preferences’
➝ ‘Interface’. The language change is then effective the next time you start the
program.

13.4.1 Recording WAV Files and Importing Files

Click the red recording button to create an empty stereo track and start the
recording. To change the standard parameters, make the desired settings under
‘File’ ➝ ‘Preferences’. ‘Audio I/O’ and ‘Quality’ are important for the recording.
Even if tracks already exist, pressing the recording button creates new tracks. Ini-
tially, this may be confusing, because these tracks cannot be seen in the standard-
size program window.

192 13.4. Hard Disk Recording with Audacity

 13

Sound in Linux
Figure 13.10: Spectral View of the Audio Data

To import audio files, select ‘Project’ ➝ ‘Import Audio’. The program supports
the WAV format and the compressed Ogg Vorbis format. See Section 13.3.3 on
page 189 for more information about this format.

13.4.2 Editing Audio Files

Open the ‘AudioTrack’ menu to the left of the track. This menu offers various op-
tions for different views and basic editing operations. To rename the track, select
‘Name’ and enter a new name. The different view modes offered by Audacity
include ‘Waveform’, ‘Waveform (dB)’, ‘Spectrum’, and ‘Pitch’. Choose the one
suiting your needs. If you want to edit each channel of a stereo track separately,
select ‘Split Track’. Each channel can then be treated as a separate track. Set ‘Sam-
ple Format’ (in bit) and ‘Sample Rate’ (in Hz) for each track.
Before you can use most of the tools offered in the ‘Edit’ menu, first select the
channel and the segment of the track to edit. After making your selection, you
can apply all kinds of modifications and effects to it.

SUSE LINUX 193

 Depending on the chosen file type, various view formats for segment selections
are offered under ‘View’ ➝ ‘Set Selection Format’. With ‘Set Snap-To Mode’, the
segment boundaries can automatically be adapted to the selected view format.
For example, if you select ‘PAL frames’ as the view format and activate ‘Snap-To’,
the segment boundaries are always selected in multiples of frames.
All editing tools come with tool tips, so should be easy to use. The ‘Undo History’
function, accessed with ‘View’ ➝ ‘History’, is a useful feature for viewing recent
editing steps and undoing them by clicking in the list. Use ‘Discard’ with caution,
because it deletes editing steps from the list. Once discarded, these steps can no
longer be undone.

Figure 13.11: The Spectrum

The built-in spectrum analyzer assists in quickly tracking down any noises. View
the spectrum of the selected segment with ‘View’ ➝ ‘Plot Spectrum’. Select a log-
arithmic frequency scale in octaves with ‘Log frequency’. If you move the mouse
pointer within the spectrum, the frequencies of the peaks are automatically dis-
played together with the respective notes.
Remove unwanted frequencies with ‘Effect’ ➝ ‘FFT Filter’. In connection with the
filtering process, it may be necessary to readjust the signal amplitude with ‘Am-
plify’. Additionally, use ‘Amplify’ to check the amplitude. By default, the ‘New

194 13.4. Hard Disk Recording with Audacity

Peak Amplitude’ is set to 0.0 dB. This value represents the highest possible am-
plitude in the selected audio format. ‘Amplification’ shows the value needed to
13

Sound in Linux
amplify the selected segment to this peak amplitude. A negative value indicates
overamplification.

13.4.3 Saving and Exporting

To save the entire project, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save Project’ or ‘Save Project As’. This
generates an XML file with the extension .aup, which describes the project. The
actual audio data is saved in a directory named after the project with _data ap-
pended.
The entire project or the currently selected segment can also be exported as a
stereo WAV file. To export the project in Ogg Vorbis format, refer to the informa-
tion in Section 13.3.3 on page 189.

13.5 Direct Recording and Playback of

WAV Files
arecord and aplay from the alsa package provide a simple and flexible in-
terface to the PCM devices. arecord and aplay can be used to record and play
audio data in the WAV format and other formats. The command arecord -d
10 -f cd -t wav mysong.wav records a WAV file of 10 seconds in CD qual-
ity (16 bit, 44.1 kHz). List all options of arecord and aplay by running them
with the --help option.
qaRecord (package kalsatools) is a simple recording program with a graph-
ical interface and level display. Because this program uses an internal buffer of
about 1 MB (configurable with --buffersize), it enables uninterrupted record-
ings even on slow hardware, especially if it is run with real-time priority. During
the recording, the currently-used buffer size is displayed in the status line un-
der ‘Buffer’ and the maximum buffer size required so far for this recording is dis-
played under ‘Peak’.

SUSE LINUX 195

 Figure 13.12: QARecord-–A Simple Hard Disk Recording Application

196 13.5. Direct Recording and Playback of WAV Files

 14

TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam

TV, Video, Radio,
and Webcam

This chapter introduces some basic Linux video, radio, and webcam applications.
Learn how to configure and use motv for watching analog TV, using a webcam,
and browsing video text. Use xawtv4 for digital video broadcasts. Webcams can
be run using gqcam. EPG information can be accessed using nxtvepg or xawtv4.

14.1 Watching TV with motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

14.2 Video Text Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
14.3 Webcams and motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
14.4 nxtvepg—The TV Magazine for Your PC . . . . . . . . . 201
14.5 Watching Digital Video Broadcasts with xawtv4 . . . . . 203
14.6 Webcam Operation with gqcam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
 14.1 Watching TV with motv
motv is an improved successor to xawtv. It incorporates all essential functions
into the user interface. Start the application with ‘Multimedia’ ➝ ‘Video’ ➝
‘motv’. Start it at the command line with motv. Initially, only a TV window ap-
pears after the application starts. Open a menu window by right-clicking it.

Figure 14.1: The TV Application motv

14.1.1 Video Source and Network Search

In ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Input’, select the video source. If you select ‘Television’ here, set
up the broadcasting network before starting the application. This automatically
takes place with the network search, also found under the ‘Settings’ menu. If you
click ‘Save settings’, the network found is entered into the .xawtv file in your
home directory and will be available the next time you start the application.

198 14.1. Watching TV with motv

 Tip
14

TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam

Selecting Channels
If you do not want to browse for all available channels, find the next
  
channel with Ctrl 
 
-↑
. If needed, subsequently adjust the broadcast
  
frequency with ←  or → .
Tip

14.1.2 Retrieving Audio Data

The audio output of the TV card is connected to the line input of your sound
card, to the speakers, or to an amplifier. Some TV cards can change the volume
of the audio output. The volume can then be set with the sliders that appear after
selecting ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Slider’. This window also provides the sliders for bright-
ness, contrast, and color.
To use your sound card for audio playback, check the mixer settings using gamix,
described in Section 13.1 on page 178. For sound cards meeting the AC97 spec-
ifications, set ‘Input-MUX’ to ‘Line’. The volume can then be adjusted with the
‘Master’ and ‘Line’ sliders.

14.1.3 Screen Proportions and Full-Screen Mode

Most television images have a height and width ratio of 4:3. These proportions
can be set with ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Screen Dimensions’. If ‘4:3’ is selected here (this is the
default setting), the screen dimensions are retained automatically, even when the
display size is changed.

With F or ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Fullscreen’, switch to full-screen mode. If the TV image in
full-screen mode is not scaled to the full monitor size, some fine-tuning is re-
quired. Many graphics cards can scale the full-screen mode television image to
the full monitor size without changing the graphical mode. If your card does not
support this function, the graphics mode must be switched to 640x480 for the
full-screen mode. Create the related configuration in ‘Settings’ ➝ ‘Configuration’.
After restarting motv, the monitor mode is also changed if you have switched to
full-screen mode.

SUSE LINUX 199

 Tip
Storing the Configuration in .xawtv
The .xawtv file is created automatically and updated by clicking ‘Set-
tings’ ➝ ‘Save settings’. Here, the broadcasters are saved along with
the configuration. More information about the configuration file can be
found in the man page for xawtvrc.
Tip

14.1.4 The Launcher Menu

Use the launcher menu to start other applications to use with motv. Start the au-
dio mixer gamix and the video text application alevt, for example, using a key-
board shortcut. Applications to launch from motv must be entered in the .xawtv
file. The entries should look like this:

[launch] Gamix = Ctrl+G, gamix AleVT = Ctrl+A, alevt

The shortcut then the command used to start the application should follow the
application name itself. Start the applications entered under [launch] via the
‘Tool’ menu.

14.2 Video Text Support

Use alevt to browse video text pages. Start the application with ‘Multimedia’ ➝
‘Video’ ➝ ‘alevt’ or at the command line with alevt.
The application saves all the pages of the selected station just activated with
motv. Browse pages by entering the desired page number or by clicking a page
number. Move forward or backward through the pages by clicking ‘«’ or ‘»’, lo-
cated in the lower window margin.
Recent versions of motv and its successor xawtv4 include their own video text
viewer applications: mtt (motv) and mtt4 (xawtv4). mtt4 even supports DVB
cards.

200 14.2. Video Text Support

14.3 Webcams and motv
14

TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam

If your webcam is already supported by Linux, access it with motv. Find a sum-
mary of the supported USB devices at http://www.linux-usb.org. If you
have already used motv to access the TV card prior to accessing the webcam, the
bttv driver is loaded. The webcam driver is loaded automatically when your we-
bcam is connected to the USB. Start motv at the command line with the parame-
ter -c /dev/video1 to access the webcam. Access the TV card with motv -c
/dev/video0.
When connecting the webcam to the USB before the bttv driver has been auto-
matically loaded (for example, by starting a TV application), /dev/video0 is re-
served for the webcam. In this case, if you start motv with the -c /dev/video1
parameter to access the TV card, you might get an error message, because the
bttv driver was not automatically loaded. Solve this problem by loading the
driver separately with modprobe bttv as the user root. Access an overview
of the configurable video devices on your system with motv -hwscan.

14.4 nxtvepg—The TV Magazine for Your

PC
From some broadcasters, an EPG signal (Electronic Program Guide) is transmit-
ted along with the video text signal. Easily view this electronic guide using the
program nxtvepg. To do this, however, you must have a TV card supported by
the bttv driver and be able to receive one of the channels broadcast with an EPG.
With nxtvepg, the broadcasts are sorted according to channel and topic, such as
‘movie’ and ‘sport’, and filtered according to criteria, such as Live, Stereo, or Sub-
title. Start the application with ‘Multimedia’ ➝ ‘Video’ ➝ ‘nxtvepg’ or at the com-
mand line with nxtvepg.

14.4.1 Importing the EPG Database

To set up and update the program database via the EPG signal, set the tuner of
your TV card to a station that broadcasts EPG. This can be done using a TV ap-
plication, such as motv or nxtvepg. Only one application at a time can access the
tuner.

SUSE LINUX 201

 If you set an EPG broadcaster in motv, nxtvepg immediately begins importing the
current list of TV programs. The progress is displayed.

Figure 14.2: The Electronic TV Magazine nxtvepg

If you have not started a TV application, let nxtvepg search for EPG broadcasters.
To do this, use ‘Configure’ ➝ ‘Provider scan’. ‘Use .xatv’ is activated by default.
This indicates that nxtvepg is accessing the broadcasters saved in this file.
Tip
Troubleshooting
If there are problems, check to see if the proper video source has been
chosen under ‘TV card input’.
Tip
Select from the EPG providers found in ‘Configure’ ➝ ‘Select Provider’. ‘Config-
ure’ ➝ ‘Merge Providers’ even creates flexible associations between the various
provider databases.

14.4.2 Sorting the Programs

nxtvepg provides a convenient filter function for managing even the most ex-
tensive program offerings. Activate a network selection list with ‘Configure’ ➝

202 14.4. nxtvepg—The TV Magazine for Your PC

‘Show networks’. The ‘Filter’ menu offers plenty of filter functions. Right-click
the program list to open a special filter menu in which to activate contextual filter
14

TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam

functions.
Of particular interest is the ‘Navigate’ menu. This is built directly from the EPG
data. It appears in the language provided by the network.

14.5 Watching Digital Video Broadcasts

with xawtv4
As your hardware has been properly configured with YaST, start xawtv4 from the
main menu (‘Multimedia’ ➝ ‘Video’ ➝ ‘xawtv4’ ). Before you can actually start
watching your favorite broadcasts, build a database of DVB stations.

Figure 14.3: Running xawtv4

Right-click the start window to open the control window (see Figure 14.3 on the
current page). Start a scan for available DVB stations with ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Scan DVB’. A
channel scanner and browser window open. Select a bouquet to prepare the scan.

SUSE LINUX 203

 This can be done manually with ‘Commands’ ➝ ‘Tune manually’ if you already
know the tuning parameters of the bouquet or by requesting them from a built-in
database of xawtv4 via ‘Database’ ➝ ‘_country_’ ➝ ‘_channel number_’ (replace
_country_ and _channel_number_) by the actual values for your location.
As soon as the scanner is tuned-in, the first data is displayed in the browser win-
dow. Launch a full scan of all available stations with ‘Command’ ➝ ‘Full Scan’.
While the scanner is running, you can select your favorite stations and add them
to the station list by simply dragging them into the control window. Leave the
channel scanner and select one of the channels to start watching the broadcast.

Tip
Editing the Station List
Using keyboard shortcuts, control the channel selection using your
keyboard. To set a shortcut for any station contained in your station
list, select the station, click ‘Edit’ ➝ ‘Edit Station’. A dialog called ‘TV
Station Properties’ opens. Enter the shortcut and leave the dialog with
‘OK’. This dialog also allows you to define submenus holding groups
of stations (such as “news” or “private”).
Tip
The xawtv4 software package contains several more useful stand-alone multime-
dia applications:

pia4 A lean command-line–controlled movie player that can be used to play any
movie streams recorded by xawtv4.
mtt4 A video text browser (see Figure 14.4 on the facing page).
alexplore A stand-alone DVB channel scanner application. Its functionality is
integrated into xawtv4.
dvbradio A DVB radio player. Use it to listen to DVB-S radio streams after you
have completed the initial station scan (see Figure 14.5 on page 206).
dvbrowse An EPG browser application. Use it to get EPG information after you
have completed the initial station scan.

204 14.5. Watching Digital Video Broadcasts with xawtv4

 14

TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam

Figure 14.4: The mtt4 Video Text Browser

14.6 Webcam Operation with gqcam

gqcam is a webcam application that assists in taking snapshots or automatic pic-
ture series with webcams. To use gqcam, your webcam must be supported by
Video4Linux. Many USB webcams, like the Logitech Quickcam Express, are au-
tomatically recognized. Grayscale and color cameras can be used. TV cards that
support Video4Linux can also be used as an image source. An overview of the
supported USB devices is maintained at http://www.linux-usb.org. A
graphical user interface is not compulsory because gqcam can also run from the
command line.

SUSE LINUX 205

 Figure 14.5: DVB Radio

14.6.1 Operation
Connect your camera to the USB port of your computer before starting gqcam.
Then run gqcam. The current picture of your webcam is automatically shown in
the upper part of the application window. The lower part has sliders for adjusting
the brightness, white balance, contrast, tint, and color saturation as needed. The
brightness is automatically preset. This feature can be set in ‘General’ in ‘File’ ➝
‘Preferences’. ‘Filters’ features false color correction switches because some cam-
eras swap the red and blue channels in transmission.
If you operate more than one webcam, use ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open New Camera’ to
switch to another camera. Select the new device from the dialog that opens. The
first camera is attached to the device /dev/video0, the second is attached to
/dev/video1, and so on.

14.6.2 Snapshots
To take a snapshot with a camera, click ‘Snap Picture’. Select a filename and pic-
ture format in the dialog that opens. Create a picture series with ‘Camera’ ➝ ‘Set
Timer’. Set the capturing frequency in seconds or minutes along with the proper-
ties of the images in ‘Set image information’. An optional script to run after every
capture event can be chosen with ‘Run command after snap’. This could, for ex-
ample, be used to upload the captured image onto an FTP server.

14.6.3 Command Line

gqcam can also be run without its graphical user interface. This may be interest-
ing, for instance, for automatic surveillance controlled by a cron job. This requires

206 14.6. Webcam Operation with gqcam

that all the necessary settings be passed to the application as parameters. Run-
ning gqcam -t JPEG -s -d webcam.jpg saves the current image captured by
14

TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam

the camera with the filename webcam.jpg. The option -t defines the file format.
Possible values are JPEG, PNG, and PPM. The command line switch -s activates
the color correction. The filename for saving is passed with the option -d. If more
than one webcam is operated, the name of the device must be passed. If no de-
vice is given, the default device /dev/video0 is used. To capture an image from
the second camera, the option -v /dev/video1 must be added. List all options
with gqcam --help.

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 15

K3b—The KDE Burning Application

K3b—The KDE
Burning Application

K3b is a comprehensive program for writing data and audio CDs and DVDs.
Start the program from the main menu or by entering the command k3b. The
following sections brief you on how to start a basic burning process to get your
first Linux-made CD or DVD.

15.1 Creating a Data CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

15.2 Creating an Audio CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
15.3 Copying a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
15.4 Writing ISO Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
15.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
 15.1 Creating a Data CD
To create a data CD, go to ‘File’ ➝ ‘New Project’ ➝ ‘New Data Project’. The
project view appears in the lower part of the window, as shown in Figure 15.1
on this page. Drag the desired directories or individual files from your home di-
rectory to the project folder and drop them there. Save the project under a name
of your choice with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save as’.

Figure 15.1: Creating a New Data CD

Then select ‘Burn’ from the toolbar. A dialog with five tabs offering various op-
tions for writing the CD opens. See Figure 15.2 on the next page.
The ‘Writing’ tab has various settings for the burning device, the speed, and the
burning options. The detected writer is displayed under ‘Burning Device’ in the
burning dialog. Set the burning speed in ‘Speed’. The following options are of-
fered here:

‘Writing Mode’ This option determines how the laser writes a CD. In DAO
(disk at once) mode, the laser is not deactivated while the CD is written.
This mode is recommended for the creation of audio CDs. However, it is
not supported by all CD writers. In the TAO mode (track at one), a separate

210 15.1. Creating a Data CD

 15

K3b—The KDE Burning Application

Figure 15.2: Customizing the Burning Process

write process is used for each individual track. The RAW mode is not used
very often, because the writer does not perform any data corrections. The
best setting is ‘Auto’, because it allows K3b to use the most suitable settings.
‘Simulate’ This function can be used to check if your system supports the se-
lected writing speed. The writing is performed with the laser deactivated to
test the system.
‘On the fly’ Burns the desired data without first creating an image file (do not
use this feature on low-performance machines). An image file—also known
as an ISO image—is a file containing the entire CD content that is subse-
quently written to the CD exactly as it is.
‘Burnfree’ This option was formerly known as burn-proof. It helps to avoid
buffer underruns of a CD writer. If burnfree is selected, the CD writer
marks the current position and can return here in the event of a buffer un-
derrun. However, this causes small data gaps that are audible in audio CDs.

SUSE LINUX 211

 It is preferable to select a suitable burning speed that avoids buffer under-
runs.
‘Only create image’ This option creates an image file. Set the path for this file
under ‘Temporary File’. The image file can be written to CD at a later time.
To do this, use ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘CD’ ➝ ‘Burn CD Image’. If this option is used, all
other options in this section are deactivated.
‘Remove image’ Remove the temporary image file from hard disk when fin-
ished.
‘Verify written data’ Check the integrity of the written data by comparing the
MD5 sums of the original and the burned data.

The ‘Settings’ tab features options needed for the creation of CDs with multiple
data or audio tracks (multisession CDs). In the ‘Volume Desc’ tab, enter some
general information that can be used to identify this particular data project, its
publisher and preparer, and the application and operating system used in the cre-
ation of this project. Under ‘File system’, specify settings for the file system on
the CD (RockRidge, Joliet, UDF). Also determine how symbolic links, file per-
missions, and blanks are treated. In the ‘Advanced’ tab, experienced users can
specify additional settings.
After adjusting all settings to your needs, start the actual burning process us-
ing ‘Burn’. Alternatively, save these settings for future use and adjustment with
‘Save’.

15.2 Creating an Audio CD

Basically, there are no significant differences between creating an audio CD and
creating a data CD. Select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New Audio Project’. Drag and drop the indi-
vidual audio tracks to the project folder. The audio data must be in WAV or Ogg
Vorbis format. Determine the sequence of the tracks by moving them up or down
in the project folder.
The dialog for burning an audio CD is not very different from the dialog for
burning a data CD. However, the ‘Disc at once’ and the ‘Track at once’ modes
have greater importance. The ‘Track at once’ mode inserts an intermission of two
seconds after each track.

212 15.2. Creating an Audio CD

 Tip
15

K3b—The KDE Burning Application

Preserving Data Integrity
When burning audio CDs, choose a lower burning speed to reduce the
risk of burning errors.
Tip

15.3 Copying a CD
Select ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘CD’ ➝ ‘Copy CD’ or the copy CD button from the toolbar. In the
dialog that opens, make the settings for the reading and writing device as shown
in Figure 15.3 on the following page. The writing options discussed are also avail-
able here. An additional function enables the creation of several copies of the CD.
Check ‘On the fly’ to burn the CD as soon as it has been read or select ‘Only cre-
ate image’ to create an image in the path specified in ‘Temp Directory’ ➝ ‘Write
image file to’ and burn the image later.

15.4 Writing ISO Images

If you already have an ISO image, go to ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘CD’ ➝ ‘Burn CD image’. A
window opens in which to enter the location of the ‘Image to Burn’. K3b calcu-
lates a check sum and displays it in ‘MD5 Sum’. If the ISO file was downloaded
from the Internet, this sum shows if the download was successful.
Use the ‘Options’ and ‘Advanced’ tabs to set your preferences. To burn the CD,
click ‘Start’.

15.5 For More Information

Apart from the two main functions described above, K3b offers other functions,
such as the creation of DVD copies, reading audio data in WAV format, rewrit-
ing CDs, and the integrated audio player. A detailed description of all available
program features is available at http://k3b.sourceforge.net.

SUSE LINUX 213

 Figure 15.3: Copying a CD

214 15.5. For More Information

 16

Digital Cameras and Linux

Digital Cameras and Linux

Managing photos from your camera can be fun, if you have the right tools. Linux
offers several handy utilities to sort and organize your photographs. This chapter
covers the use of gphoto, gtkam, Konqueror, and Digikam.

16.1 Connecting to the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

16.2 Accessing the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
16.3 Installing the Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
16.4 Using Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
16.5 Using gtKam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
16.6 Using Digikam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
16.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
 A comprehensive list of supported cameras is available at http://www.
gphoto.org/. If gphoto2 is installed, retrieve the list with the command
gphoto2 --list-cameras. Get information about the available commands
with gphoto2 --help.

Tip
Unsupported Cameras
If you do not find your camera in the list from gphoto, do not despair.
It is likely that your camera is supported as a USB mass storage device.
Find more information in Section 16.2 on the current page.
Tip

16.1 Connecting to the Camera

The fastest and most convenient way to connect digital cameras to the computer
is USB, provided the kernel, the camera, and the computer support it. The stan-
dard SUSE kernel provides this support. A suitable cable is also required.
Simply connect the camera to the USB port and turn on the camera. You may
need to switch your camera to a special data transfer mode. For this procedure,
consult the manual of your digital camera.

16.2 Accessing the Camera

There are three possibilities for accessing the pictures on the camera. It depends
on your camera and which protocol it supports. Usually it is USB mass storage,
which is handled by the hotplug system, PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol), and
some proprietary protocols by gphoto2.
The easiest way is if your camera supports USB mass storage. Read the documen-
tation of your camera if you are unsure if this is possible. Some support two pro-
tocols, like both PTP and USB mass storage. Unfortunately, there are also some
that communicate with a proprietary protocol, which can complicate the tasks. If
your camera does not support USB mass storage or PTP, the following descrip-
tions will not work. Try gphoto2 --list-cameras and the information at
http://www.gphoto.org/.

216 16.1. Connecting to the Camera

If your camera can be switched to a USB mass storage device, select this option.
After you connect it with the USB port of your computer and turn it on, it is de-
16

Digital Cameras and Linux

tected by the hotplug system. This takes care of mounting the device automati-
cally, so it is easily accessible. The KDE desktop shows a camera icon after a suc-
cessful mount.
After the camera is successfully mounted, see a new directory under /media, be-
ginning with usb and lots of numbers. Each vendor and product has a number,
so when you connect a device on your computer it has always the same name.
Depending on what you have connected to the USB bus, find different entries.
The only problem left is to find the correct entry for your camera. Try to list one
of these directories and see what happens. Each camera has a different tree struc-
ture, so there is no general rule. If you can see JPEG files in a directory, you prob-
ably found it.
After you find your correct directory, you can copy, move, or delete the files of
your camera with a file manager like Konqueror or simple shell commands (see
Section 19.3 on page 260 and the Administration Guide).

16.3 Installing the Programs

Use YaST to install the gtkam package. The other required packages are selected
automatically. Digikam is included in the default installation. If it is not installed,
use YaST to install it, if desired.

16.4 Using Konqueror

KDE users can easily access digital cameras by means of the familiar Konqueror
interface. Connect your camera to the USB port. A camera icon should appear
on the desktop. Click this icon to open the camera in Konqueror. The camera can
also be accessed by entering the URL camera:/ in Konqueror. Navigate through
the camera’s directory structure until the files are shown. Use the usual Kon-
queror file management features to copy the files as desired. More information
about using Konqueror is available in Chapter 10 on page 151.

SUSE LINUX 217

 16.5 Using gtKam
gtKam is a graphical interface for downloading and deleting pictures from a dig-
ital camera. To adjust or edit your pictures, use GIMP as described in Chapter 18
on page 235.
Connect your camera to the appropriate port and turn on the camera. Start
gtKam with the command gtkam &. From the menu, select ‘Camera’ ➝ ‘Select
Camera’. In the dialog that opens, select the camera model or use ‘Detect’. Select
the appropriate port if the detection fails.
The main gtKam window is divided into three sections—the menu and toolbars,
the left pane with index settings and camera and directory selection, and the right
pane for displaying an index listing with or without thumbnails. The icons in the
toolbar provide the main functions needed. The disk icon saves the selected im-
ages. The trash icon deletes them. The icon with the arrows loads the image index
displayed in the right pane. The icon with the paper and pencil opens the camera
configuration options. The door icon exits the program.
Your camera should be listed in the left pane. Use the plus sign (+) to the left to
expand the tree display of the directory structure. Your exact directory structure
depends on the camera type and model. Continue expanding until you reach
the entries that cannot be expanded. These are the index listings of the pictures.
Click an item to select it. If ‘View Thumbnails’ is activated, the picture names and
thumbnails are displayed in the right window pane. Otherwise, the names and
an icon are displayed.
Images in the right pane can be selected or deselected by clicking them. Select
  
all images with ‘Select’ ➝ ‘All’ or Shift 
-A 
. To save the selected images, use the
disk icon in the toolbar, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save Selected Photos’, or use the shortcut
  
Ctrl 
-S 
. The ‘Save’ dialog has a number of options. Under ‘What to Save’, select
whether to save the thumbnails, the images, or both. With ‘Open image(s) with’,
save the image and open it in another program. To open the images in GIMP im-
mediately, enter gimp. Using the filenames suggested by the camera is recom-
mended.
If you need more features, try gThumb. With this application, you can organize
and sort your photographs.

218 16.5. Using gtKam

16.6 Using Digikam
16

Digital Cameras and Linux

Digikam by Renchi Raju is a KDE program for downloading photographs from
digital cameras. The first time it is run, Digikam asks where to store your photo
album. If you enter a directory that already contains a collection of photographs,
Digikam treats each subfolder of the folder as an Album.
On start-up, Digikam presents a window with two sections: your albums are dis-
played to the left and the respective photographs available are displayed to the
right. See Figure 16.1 on the current page.

Figure 16.1: The Main Window of Digikam

16.6.1 Configuring Your Camera

To set up a camera in Digikam, select ‘Camera’ ➝ ‘Add Camera’. First, try to au-
todetect the camera with ‘Auto-Detect’. If this fails, browse the list for your model
with ‘Add’. If your camera model is not included in the list, try an older model or
use ‘USB Mass Storage’ or ‘USB PTP Class Camera’. Normally, this should work.
Confirm with ‘Ok’.

SUSE LINUX 219

 16.6.2 Downloading Pictures from Your Camera
After your camera has been configured correctly, connect to your camera with the
‘Camera’ menu and the name that you gave in the dialog from Section 16.6.1 on
the preceding page. Digikam opens a window and begins to download thumb-
nails and displays them as in Figure 16.2 on the current page. Right-click an im-
age to open a pop-up menu with the options to ‘View’, display some ‘Properties’
and ‘EXIF Information’, ‘Download’, or ‘Delete’ the image. With ‘Advanced »’,
select renaming options and how the camera-provided information (EXIF) should
be handled.

Figure 16.2: Downloading Pictures from Camera

The renaming options can be very convenient if your camera does not use mean-
ingful filenames. You can let Digikam rename your photographs automatically.
Give a unique prefix, and optionally give a date, time, or sequence number. The
rest is done by Digikam.
Select all photographs to download from the camera by pressing the left mouse
 
button or clicking individual photographs with Ctrl 
pressed. Selected pho-
tographs appear with inverted colors. Click ‘Download’. Select the destination
from the list or by creating a new album with ‘New Album’. This automatically
suggests a filename with the current date. Confirm with ‘Ok’ to start the down-
load process.

220 16.6. Using Digikam

16.6.3 Getting Information
16

Digital Cameras and Linux

Getting information about the photograph is not difficult. A short summary is
displayed as a tool tip if you point with the mouse cursor at the thumbnail. For
longer information, right-click the photograph and choose ‘Properties’ from the
menu. A dialog box opens with three tabs, ‘General’, ‘EXIF’, and ‘Histogram’.
‘General’ lists the name, type, owner, and some other basic information. The
more interesting part is the ‘EXIF’ tab. The camera stores some metadata for each
photograph. Digikam reads these properties and displays them in this list. Find
the exposure time, pixel dimensions, and others. To get more information for the
  
selected list entry, press Shift 
-F1 
. This shows a small tool tip. The last tab, ‘His-
togram’, shows some statistical information.

16.6.4 Managing Albums

Digikam inserts a ‘My Albums’ folder by default, which collects all your pho-
tographs. You can store these into subfolders later. The albums can be sorted
by their directory layout, by the collection name that has been set in the album
properties or by the date that the albums were first created (this date can also be
changed in the properties of each album).
To create a new album, you have some possibilities:

Uploading new photographs from the camera

Creating a new album by clicking the ‘New Album’ button in the toolbar
Importing an existing folder of photographs from your hard disk (select
‘Album’ ➝ ‘Import’ ➝ ‘Import Folders’)
Right-clicking ‘My Albums’ and selecting ‘New Album’

After selecting to create and album in your preferred way, a dialog box appears.
Give your album a title. Optionally, choose a collection, insert some comments,
and select an album date. The collection is a way of organizing your albums by a
common label. This label is used when you select ‘View’ ➝ ‘Sort Albums’ ➝ ‘By
Collection’. The comment is shown in the banner at the top of the main window.
The album date is used when you select ‘View’ ➝ ‘Albums’ ➝ ‘By Date’.
Digikam uses the first photograph in the album as the preview icon in the ‘My
Albums’ list. To select a different one, right-click the respective photograph and
select ‘Set as Album Thumbnail’ from the context menu.

SUSE LINUX 221

 16.6.5 Managing Tags
Managing lots of different photographs with different albums can sometimes be
complex. To organize individual photographs, Digikam provides the ‘My Tag’
system.
For example, you have photographed your friend John at different times and
you want to collect all images, independent of your album. This let you find all
photographs very easily. First, create a new tag by clicking ‘My Tags’ ➝ ‘People’.
From the context menu, choose ‘New Tag’. In the dialog box that appears, enter
‘John’ as title and optionally set an icon. Confirm with ‘Ok’.
After creating your tag, assign it to the desired pictures. Go to each album and
select the respective photographs. Right-click and choose ‘Assign Tag’ ➝ ‘People’
➝ ‘John’ from the menu that appears. Alternativly, drag the photographs to the
tag name under ‘My Tags’ and drop them there. Repeat as necessary with other
albums. View all the images by clicking ‘My Tags’ ➝ ‘People’ ➝ ‘John’. You can
assign more than one tag to each photograph.
Editing tags and comments can be tedious. To simplify this task, right-click a
photograph and select ‘Edit Comments & Tags’. This opens a dialog box with a
preview, a comment field, and a tag list. Now you can insert all the needed tags
and add a comment. With ‘Forward’ and ‘Back’, navigate in your album. Store
your changes with ‘Apply’ and leave with ‘Ok’.

16.6.6 Useful Tools

Digikam provides several tools to simplify some tasks. Find them in the ‘Tools’
menu. The following is a small selection of the available tools.

Creating a Calendar
If you want to please someone, a custom calendar can be a nice gift. Go to ‘Tools’
➝ ‘Create Calendar’, which opens a wizard dialog like that in Figure 16.3 on the
facing page.
Customize the settings (paper size, image position, font, etc.) and confirm with
‘Next’. Now you can enter the year and select the images to use. After clicking
‘Next’ again, see a summary. The final ‘Next’ opens the KDE Printer dialog. Here,
decide if you want to see a preview, save as PDF, or just print directly.

222 16.6. Using Digikam

 16

Digital Cameras and Linux

Figure 16.3: Creating a Template for a Calendar

Finding Duplicate Photographs

Sometimes you photograph similar scenes repeatedly and want to keep only the
best shots. This is the perfect task for the ‘Find Duplicate’ plug-in.
Go to ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Find Duplicate Images’, which opens a window similar to Fig-
ure 16.4 on the next page. Select the albums or tags to handle. Under ‘Method &
Cache’, choose the search method: a more accurate or a faster method. After you
confirm with ‘Ok’, Digikam proceeds with the investigation.
If it finds some duplicates, it shows the result in a window like Figure 16.5 on
page 225. Decide which images to delete by activating the desired check boxes
then clicking ‘Delete’. Leave the window with ‘Close’.

SUSE LINUX 223

 Figure 16.4: Finding Similar Pictures

Batch Processes
Digikam also provides some batch processes that perform a specific task on lots
of files. This can be renaming, converting, resizing, and much more. Find them
under ‘Tools’ ➝ ‘Batch Processes’.

16.7 For More Information

For more information about using digital cameras with Linux, refer to the follow-
ing Web sites:

http://digikam.sourceforge.net/ Information about Digikam

http://gphoto.sourceforge.net Information about gPhoto, gPhoto2,
and gPhoto2-compatible GUIs

224 16.7. For More Information

 16

Digital Cameras and Linux

Figure 16.5: Results of Find

http://www.thekompany.com/projects/gphoto/ Information about

Kamera, a KDE front-end for gPhoto2

SUSE LINUX 225

 17

Kooka—A Scanning Application

Kooka—A Scanning
Application

Kooka is a KDE application for scanning. This chapter explains the user interface
and the functionality of the application. In addition to creating image files from
printed media, like photographs or magazines, Kooka has character recognition
capabilities. This means it can help convert written text to a text file that can be
edited.

17.1 The Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

17.2 The Final Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
17.3 The Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
17.4 The Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
17.5 Optical Character Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
 Start Kooka from the main menu or enter the command kooka. When started,
Kooka opens a three-frame window with a menu bar to the upper left and a tool-
bar directly below it. All windows can be freely readjusted or rearranged with
the mouse. It is also possible to completely detach single frames from the Kooka
window for deliberate placement on the desktop. To move the frames, click and
drag the thin double line right above the frame. Any frame, except the main win-
dow, can be placed within any other frame aligned to the left, right, top, bottom,
or center. Centered windows have the same size, are stacked, and can be brought
to the foreground with tabs.
The ‘Image Viewer’ and the ‘Scan Preview’ frames share a window by default.
Tabs allow switching between them. The left frame provides the gallery. This is a
small file browser for accessing the scanned images. The frame to the lower right
is shared by OCR (optical character recognition) and the thumbnails, which can
be loaded into the image viewer with a simple click of the mouse. See Figure 17.1
on the current page.

Figure 17.1: The Kooka Main Window

228
17.1 The Preview
17

Kooka—A Scanning Application

A preview should always be created when the object to scan is smaller than the
total scanning area. Set a few parameters to the left of the preview frame. Select
the scanning size with ‘Custom’ or one of the standard formats. See Figure 17.2
on this page. The ‘Custom’ setting is the most flexible, because it allows selection
of the desired area with the mouse. Once the settings have been made, request
the preview of the image to scan by clicking ‘Preview Scan’ in ‘Scan Parameters’.

Figure 17.2: The Kooka Preview Window

17.2 The Final Scan

If you selected ‘Custom’ for the scanning size, use the mouse to select the rectan-
gular area to scan. The selected area is confined by a dotted border.

SUSE LINUX 229

 Choose between color and black-and-white scanning and set the resolution with
the slider. See Figure 17.3 on the current page. The higher the resolution, the bet-
ter the quality of the scanned image is. However, this also results in a correspond-
ingly larger file and the scanning process can take a very long time at high reso-
lutions. Activate ‘Use custom gamma table’ and click ‘Edit’ to change the settings
for brightness, contrast, and gamma.

Figure 17.3: The Kooka Scanning Parameters

Once all settings have been made, click ‘Final Scan’ to scan the image. The
scanned image is then displayed in the image viewer and as a thumbnail. When
prompted, select the format in which to save the image. To save all the future im-
ages in that same format, check the corresponding box. Confirm with ‘OK’.

230 17.2. The Final Scan

17.3 The Menus
17

Kooka—A Scanning Application

Some of the functions of the toolbar are also available in the ‘File’ and ‘Image’
menus. Modify preference settings for Kooka in ‘Settings’.
File Use this menu to start the KPrinter printing assistant, create a new folder
for your images, and save, delete, and close files. The OCR results of a
scanned text document can be saved here. Also use this menu to close
Kooka.
Image The ‘Image’ menu allows starting a graphics application for postprocess-
ing or optical character recognition of an image. The recognized text from
an OCR operation is displayed in its own frame. Various tools for scaling,
rotating, and flipping an image are available. These functions can also be
accessed from the toolbar. ‘Create From Selection’ allows saving an area of
an image previously marked with the mouse.
Settings ‘Settings’ adjusts of the look and feel of Kooka. The toolbar and status
bar can be switched on and off and keyboard shortcuts for menu entries can
be defined. ‘Configure Toolbars’ provides a list of all the functions avail-
able to the toolbar. ‘Configure Kooka’ opens a configuration dialog in which
to modify the look and feel of Kooka. Normally, however, the defaults are
sufficient. In ‘Tool Views’, enable and disable the thumbnail viewer, the pre-
view, the gallery, the scanning parameters, and the OCR result window.
Help The ‘Help’ menu provides access to the online help manual for Kooka.
Also use it to access a feedback channel for problems and wishes. It also
provides information about the version, authors, and license of Kooka and
KDE.

17.4 The Gallery

The gallery window shows the default folder where Kooka stores all its image
files. An example is shown in Figure 17.4 on the following page. To save an im-
age to your personal home directory, click the thumbnail to select it then select
‘File’ ➝ ‘Save Image’. Then enter your personal home directory and give the file a
descriptive name.
To add images to the gallery, simply drag and drop them from Konqueror. Start
Konqueror, navigate to the directory containing the images to add to the gallery,
and drag them with the mouse to a folder of the Kooka gallery.

SUSE LINUX 231

 Figure 17.4: The Kooka Gallery

17.5 Optical Character Recognition

If the character recognition module is installed, documents can be scanned in
‘lineart’ mode, saved in the proposed format, then processed for text recogni-
tion from the ‘Image’ menu. Process the entire document or only a previously
selected area. A configuration dialog tells the module whether the original text is
in printed type, handwriting, or standardized type. Also set the language so the
module can process the document correctly. See Figure 17.5 on the next page.
Switch to the ‘OCR Result Text’ window and check the text, which may need to
be proofread. To do this, save the text with ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save OCR Result Text’. The
text can then be processed with OpenOffice.org or KWrite.

232 17.5. Optical Character Recognition

 17

Kooka—A Scanning Application

Figure 17.5: OCR with Kooka

SUSE LINUX 233

 18

Manipulating Graphics with The GIMP

Manipulating Graphics
with The GIMP

The GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a program for creating and
editing pixel graphics. In most aspects, its features are comparable to those of
Adobe Photoshop and other commercial programs. Use it to resize and retouch
photographs, design graphics for Web pages, make covers for your custom CDs,
or almost any other graphics project. It meets the needs of both amateurs and
professionals.

18.1 Graphics Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

18.2 Starting GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
18.3 Getting Started in GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
18.4 Saving Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
18.5 Printing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
18.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
 Like many other Linux programs, The GIMP is developed as a cooperative effort
of developers worldwide who volunteer their time and code to the project. The
program is under constant development, so the version included in your SUSE
LINUX may vary slightly from the version discussed here. The layout of the indi-
vidual windows and window sections is especially likely to vary.
The GIMP is an extremely complex program. Only a small range of features,
tools, and menu items are discussed in this chapter. See Section 18.6 on page 241
for ideas of where to find more information about the program.

18.1 Graphics Formats

There are two main formats for graphics—pixel and vector. The GIMP works
only with pixel graphics, which is the normal format for photographs and
scanned images. Pixel graphics consist of small blocks of color that together cre-
ate the entire image. The files can easily become quite large because of this. It is
also not possible to increase the size of a pixel image without losing quality.
Unlike pixel graphics, vector graphics do not store information for all individual
pixels. Instead, they store information about how image points, lines, or areas
are grouped together. Vector images can also be scaled very easily. The drawing
application of OpenOffice.org, for example, uses this format.

18.2 Starting GIMP

Start GIMP from the main menu. Alternatively, enter gimp & in a command line.

18.2.1 Initial Configuration

When starting GIMP for the first time, a configuration wizard opens for prepara-
tory configuration. The default settings are acceptable for most purposes. Press
‘Continue’ in each dialog unless you are familiar with the settings and prefer an-
other setup.

236 18.1. Graphics Formats

18.2.2 The Default Windows
18

Manipulating Graphics with The GIMP

Three windows appear by default. They can be arranged on the screen and, ex-
cept the toolbox, closed if no longer needed. Closing the toolbox closes the appli-
cation. In the default configuration, GIMP saves your window layout when you
exit. Dialogs left open reappear when you next start the program.

The Toolbox
The main window of GIMP, shown in Figure 18.1 on the current page, contains
the main controls of the application. Closing it exits the application. At the very
top, the menu bar offers access to file functions, extensions, and help. Below that,
find icons for the various tools. Hover the mouse over an icon to display informa-
tion about it.

Figure 18.1: The Main Window

SUSE LINUX 237

 The current foreground and background color are shown in two overlapping
boxes. The default colors are black for the foreground and white for the back-
ground. Click the box to open a color selection dialog. Swap the foreground and
background color with the bent arrow symbol to the upper right of the boxes. Use
the black and white symbol to the lower left to reset the colors to the default.
To the right, the current brush, pattern, and gradient are shown. Click the dis-
played one to access the selection dialog. The lower portion of the window con-
tains allows configuration of various options for the current tool.

Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo

In the first section, use the drop-down box to select the image to which the tabs
refer. By clicking ‘Auto’, control whether the active image is chosen automatically.
By default, ‘Auto’ is enabled.
‘Layers’ shows the different layers in the current images and can be used to ma-
nipulate the layers. ‘Channels’ shows and can manipulate the color channels of
the image.
Paths are an advanced method of selecting parts of an image. They can also be
used for drawing. ‘Paths’ shows the paths available for an image and provides
access to path functions. ‘Undo’ shows a limited history of modifications made to
the current image.
The bottom portion of the window contains three tabs. With them, select the cur-
rent brush, gradient, and pattern.

18.3 Getting Started in GIMP

Although GIMP can be a bit overwhelming for new users, most quickly find it
easy to use once they work out a few basics. Crucial basic functions are creating,
opening, and saving images.

18.3.1 Creating a New Image

  
To create a new image, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘New’ or press Ctrl 
-N 
. This opens a dialog
in which to make settings for the new image. If desired, use ‘Template’ to select a
template on which to base the new image. The GIMP includes a number of tem-
plates, ranging from an A4 sheet of paper to a CD cover, from which to choose.

238 18.3. Getting Started in GIMP

To create a custom template, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Dialogs’ ➝ ‘Templates’ and use the
controls offered by the window that opens.
18

Manipulating Graphics with The GIMP

In the ‘Image Size’ section, set the size of the image to create in pixels or another
unit. Click the unit to select another unit from the list of available units. The ra-
tio between pixels and a unit is set in ‘Resolution’, which appears when the ‘Ad-
vanced Options’ section is open. A resolution of 72 pixels per inch corresponds to
screen display. It is sufficient for Web page graphics. A higher resolution should
be used for images to print. For most printers, a resolution of 300 pixels per inch
results in an acceptable quality.
In ‘Colorspace’, select whether the image should be in color (‘RGB’) or
‘Grayscale’. Select the ‘Fill Type’ for the new image. ‘Foreground Color’ and
‘Background Color’ use the colors selected in the toolbox. ‘White’ uses a white
background in the image. ‘Transparent’ creates a clear image. ‘Transparency’ is
represented by a gray checkerboard pattern. Enter a comment for the new image
in ‘Comment’.
When the settings meet your needs, press ‘OK’. To restore the default settings,
press ‘Reset’. Pressing ‘Cancel’ aborts creation of a new image.

18.3.2 Opening an Existing Image

  
To open an existing image, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Open’ or press Ctrl -O 
. In the dialog
that opens, select the desired file. Click ‘OK’ to open the selected image. Press
‘Cancel’ to skip opening an image.

18.3.3 The Image Window

The new or opened image appears in its own window. The menu bar in the top of
the window provides access to all image functions. Alternatively, access the menu
by right-clicking the image or clicking the small arrow button in the left corner of
the rulers.
‘File’ offers the standard file options, such as ‘Save’ and ‘Print’. ‘Close’ closes the
current image. ‘Quit’ closes the entire application.
With the items in the ‘View’ menu, control the display of the image and the im-
age window. ‘New View’ opens a second display window of the current image.
Changes made in one view are reflected in all other views of that image. Alter-
nate views are useful for magnifying a part of an image for manipulation while
seeing the complete image in another view. Adjust the magnification level of the

SUSE LINUX 239

 current window with ‘Zoom’. When ‘Shrink Wrap’ is selected, the image window
is resized to fit the current image display exactly.

18.4 Saving Images

No image function is as important as ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save’. It is better to save too often
than too rarely. Use ‘File’ ➝ ‘Save as’ to save the image with a new filename. It
is a good idea to save image stages under different names or make backups in
another directory so you can easily restore a previous state.
When saving for the first time or using ‘Save as’, a dialog opens in which to spec-
ify the filename and type. Enter the filename in the field at the top. For ‘Save
in folder’, select the directory in which to save the file from a list of commonly
used directories. To use a different directory or create a new one, open ‘Browse
for other folders’. It is recommended to leave ‘Select File Type’ set to ‘By Exten-
sion’. With that setting, GIMP determines the file type based on the extension ap-
pended to the filename. The following file types are frequently useful:

XCF This is the native format of the application. It saves all layer and path infor-
mation along with the image itself. Even if you need an image in another
format, it is usually a good idea to save a copy as XCF to simplify future
modifications.

PAT This is the format used for GIMP patterns. Saving an image in this format
enables using the image as a fill pattern in GIMP.
JPG JPG or JPEG is a common format for photographs and Web page graph-
ics without transparency. Its compression method enables reduction of file
sizes, but information is lost when compressing. It may be a good idea to
use the preview option when adjusting the compression level. Levels of
85% to 75% often result in an acceptable image quality with reasonable
compression. Saving a backup in a lossless format, like XCF, is also recom-
mended. If editing an image, save only the finished image as JPG. Repeat-
edly loading a JPG then saving can quickly result in poor image quality.
GIF Although very popular in the past for graphics with transparency, GIF is
less often used now because of license issues. GIF is also used for animated
images. The format can only save indexed images. The file size can often be
quite small if only a few colors are used.

240 18.4. Saving Images

PNG With its support for transparency, lossless compression, free availability,
and increasing browser support, PNG is replacing GIF as the preferred
18

Manipulating Graphics with The GIMP

format for Web graphics with transparency. An added advantage is that
PNG offers partial transparency, which is not offered by GIF. This enables
smoother transitions from colored areas to transparent areas (antialiasing).

To save the image in the chosen format, press ‘Save’. To abort, press ‘Cancel’. If
the image has features that cannot be saved in the chosen format, a dialog ap-
pears with choices for resolving the situation. Choosing ‘Export’, if offered, nor-
mally gives the desired results. A window then opens with the options of the for-
mat. Reasonable default values are provided.

18.5 Printing Images

To print an image, select ‘File’ ➝ ‘Print’ from the image menu. If your printer is
configured in SUSE, it should appear in the list. In some cases, it may be nec-
essary to select an appropriate driver with ‘Setup Printer’. Select the appropri-
ate paper size with ‘Media Size’ and the type in ‘Media Type’. Other settings are
available in the ‘Image / Output Settings’ tab.
In the bottom portion of the window, adjust the image size. Press ‘Use Original
Image Size’ to take these settings from the image itself. This is recommended if
you set an appropriate print size and resolution in the image. Adjust the image’s
position on the page with the fields in ‘Position’ or by dragging the image in ‘Pre-
view’.
When satisfied with the settings, press ‘Print’. To save the settings for future use,
instead use ‘Print and Save Settings’. ‘Cancel’ aborts printing.

18.6 For More Information

The following are some resources that may be useful for a GIMP user. Unfortu-
nately, many resources apply to older versions.

‘Help’ provides access to the internal help system. This documentation is

also available in HTML and PDF formats at http://docs.gimp.org.
The GIMP User Group offers an informative and interesting Web site at
http://gug.sunsite.dk.

SUSE LINUX 241

 Figure 18.2: The Print Dialog

http://www.gimp.org is the official home page of The GIMP.

Grokking the GIMP by Carey Bunks is an excellent book based on an older
GIMP version. Although some aspects of the program have changed, it can
provide excellent guidance for image manipulation. An online version is
available at http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/.
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net is the Web page for the GIMP
print plug-in. The user manual available from the site provides detailed
information about configuring and using the program.

242 18.6. For More Information

 Part V

Excursions
 19

Working with the Shell

Working with the Shell

Graphical user interfaces are increasingly becoming important for Linux, but us-
ing the mouse is not always the best way to perform daily tasks. The command
line provides high flexibility and efficiency. The first part of this chapter provides
an introduction to the Bash shell. It is followed by an explanation of the user per-
mission concept in Linux and a list of the most important commands. The chapter
closes with a description of the vi text editor.

19.1 Introduction to Bash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

19.2 Users and Access Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
19.3 Important Linux Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
19.4 The vi Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
 Text-based applications are especially important for controlling older Linux com-
puters that do not have the resources for demanding display systems. Virtual
 
consoles are used in this case. Six of them are available in text mode. Press Alt 
-
    
 
F1 through   
Alt - F6 . The seventh console is reserved for X.

19.1 Introduction to Bash

In the KDE taskbar, there is an icon depicting a monitor with a seashell. When
you click this icon, a console window opens in which to enter commands. The
console normally runs Bash (Bourne again shell), a program developed as part
of the GNU project. Once you have opened the shell, see the prompt on the first
line. The prompt usually consists of the username, hostname, and current path,
but it can be customized. When the cursor is after this prompt, you can send com-
mands directly to your computer system.

19.1.1 Commands
A command consists of several elements. The first element is always the actual
command, followed by parameters or options. Commands are executed when
 
you press Enter 
. Before doing so, easily edit the command line, add options, or
correct typing errors. One of the most frequently used commands is ls, which
can be used with or without arguments. Entering the plain ls command in the
console shows the contents of the current directory.
Options are prefixed with a hyphen. The command ls -l, for instance, shows
the contents of the same directory in full detail. Next to each filename, see the
date when the file was created, the file size in bytes, and further details, which
are covered later. One very important option that exists for many commands is
--help. By entering ls --help, display all the options for the ls command.
Also use the ls command to view the contents of other directories. To do so, the
directory must be specified as a parameter. For example, to see the contents of
Desktop, enter ls -l Desktop.

19.1.2 Files and Directories

To use the shell efficiently, it is really useful to have some knowledge of the file
and directory structures of a Linux system. You can think of directories as elec-
tronic folders in which files, programs, and subdirectories are stored. The top

246 19.1. Introduction to Bash

level directory in the hierarchy is the root directory, referred to as /. This is the
place from which all other directories can be accessed.
19

Working with the Shell

The /home directory contains the directories in which the individual users can
store their personal files. Figure 19.1 on this page shows the standard directory
tree in Linux, with the home directories of the example users xyz, linux, and
tux. The directory tree of a Linux system has a functional structure that follows
the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. The following list provides a brief description of
the standard directories in Linux.

Figure 19.1: Excerpt from a Standard Directory Tree

/ root directory, starting point of the directory tree

/home (private) directories of users
/dev device files that represent hardware components
/etc important files for system configuration
/etc/init.d boot scripts
/usr/bin generally accessible programs

SUSE LINUX 247

 /bin programs needed early in the boot process
/usr/sbin programs reserved for the system administrator
/sbin programs reserved for the system administrator and needed for booting
/usr/include header files for the C compiler

/usr/include/g++ header files for the C++ compiler

/usr/share/doc various documentation files
/usr/share/man system manual pages (man pages)
/usr/src source code of system software
/usr/src/linux kernel source code
/tmp, /var/tmp temporary files
/usr all application programs
/var configuration files (such as those linked from /usr)
/var/log system log files
/var/adm system administration data

/lib shared libraries (for dynamically linked programs)

/proc process file system
/sys “system” file system where all device information for the kernel is gath-
ered
/usr/local local, distribution-independent extensions
/opt optional software, larger add-on program packages (such as KDE,
GNOME, Netscape)

248 19.1. Introduction to Bash

19.1.3 Bash Functions
19

Working with the Shell

There are two important functions of the shell that can make your work a lot eas-
ier:

History To repeat a command that has been entered before, press ↑  until the
previous command appears at the prompt. Move forward through the list

of previously entered commands by pressing ↓  . To edit the command line,
just move the cursor to the desired position using the arrow keys and start
  
typing. Use Ctrl 
-R 
to search in the history.
Expansion Expand a filename to its full length after typing its first letters until
 
it can be uniquely identified. To do so, type the first letters then hit Tab 
.
If there are several filenames starting with the same letters, obtain a list of
 
them by hitting Tab  twice.

First Example: Managing Files

Now that you know what a command looks like, which directories exist in SUSE
LINUX, and how to speed up things when using Bash, put this knowledge into
practice with a small exercise.

1. Open a console from the KDE desktop by clicking the shell icon.
2. Enter the ls command to see the contents of your home directory.

3. Use the command mkdir (which stands for make directory) to create a new
subdirectory called test by entering mkdir test.
  
4. Now launch the Kate editor by pressing Alt  -F2 
and entering kate in the
input field. Type a few letters in the editor then save the file as Testfile
in your home directory. Linux distinguishes between uppercase and lower-
case. For this example, use an uppercase T.
5. View the contents of your home directory again. Instead of typing ls again,

just press ↑ 
twice and the ls command should reappear at the prompt. To
 
execute the command, hit Enter  . The newly created directory test should
appear in blue letters and Testfile in black. This is how directories and
files can be distinguished in a console.

SUSE LINUX 249

 6. Move Testfile into the subdirectory test with the command mv. To
 
speed this up, use the expansion function: just enter mv T and press Tab  .
As long as there is no other file beginning with this letter in the directory,
the shell expands the filename and adds the string estfile. Otherwise, add a
 
letter or two yourself and test Tab 
each time to see whether the shell can
now expand the name. Finally, type a space then test after the expanded
 
filename and press Enter to execute the command.
7. At this point, Testfile should no longer be in the directory. Check this by
entering ls again.
8. To see whether the file has been successfully moved, change into the direc-
tory test with the command cd test. Now enter ls again. You should
see Testfile in the listing. Change back to your home directory at any
point by entering only cd.
9. To make a copy of a file, use cp. For instance, enter cp Testfile
Testbackup to copy Testfile to Testbackup. Once again, the com-
mand ls can be used to see whether both files are in the directory.

19.1.4 Specifying Paths

When working with files or directories, it is important specify the correct path.
However, you do not need to enter the entire (absolute) path from the root direc-
tory to the respective file. You can start from the current directory. Address your
home directory directly with ~. This means that there are two ways to list the file
Testfile in the directory test: by entering the relative path with ls test or
by specifying the absolute path with ls ~/test.
To list the contents of home directories of other users, enter ls ~username. In
the above-mentioned directory tree, one of the sample users is tux. In this case,
ls ~tux would list the contents of the home directory of tux.
Refer to the current directory with a dot. The next higher level in the tree is repre-
sented by two dots. By entering ls .., see the contents of the parent directory of
the current directory. The command ls ../.. shows the contents of the direc-
tory two levels higher in the hierarchy.

Second Example: Working with Paths

Here is another example to illustrate how to move around in the directories of
your SUSE LINUX system.

250 19.1. Introduction to Bash

 1. Change into your home directory with the command cd. Then create a di-
rectory in it with the name test2 by entering mkdir test2.
19

Working with the Shell

2. Change into the new directory with cd test2 and create a subdirectory
in it with the name subdirectory. To change into it, use the expansion
 
function: enter cd su then press Tab 
. The shell expands the rest of the di-
rectory name.
3. Now try to move the previously created file Testbackup into the
current directory (subdirectory) without changing the direc-
tory again. To achieve this, specify the relative path to that file: mv
../../test/Testbackup .. The dot at the end of this command is re-
quired to tell the shell that the current directory is the destination to which
to move the file. ../../, in this example, refers to your home directory.

19.1.5 Wild Cards

Another convenience offered by the shell is wild cards. There are four different
types of these in Bash:

? Matches exactly one arbitrary character

* Matches any number of characters
[set] Matches one of the characters from the group specified inside the square
brackets, which is represented here by the string set
[!set] Matches one character other than those identified by set

Assuming that your test directory contains the files Testfile, Testfile1,
Testfile2, and datafile, the command ls Testfile? lists the files
Testfile1 and Testfile2. With ls Test*, the list also includes Testfile.
ls *fil* shows all the sample files. Finally, you can use the set wild card to
address all sample files whose last character is a number: ls Testfile[1-9].
Of the four types of wild cards, the most inclusive one is the asterisk. It could be
used to copy all files contained in one directory to another one or to delete all files
with one command. The command rm *fil*, for instance, would delete all files
in the current directory whose name includes the string fil.

SUSE LINUX 251

 19.1.6 Less and More
Linux includes two small programs for viewing text files directly in the shell.
Rather than starting an editor to read a file like Readme.txt, simply enter less
 
Readme.txt to display the text in the console window. Use Space  to scroll
   
down one page. Use Page Up  and Page Down 
to move forward or backward in
 
the text. To exit less, press Q 
.
Instead of less, you can also use the older program more. However, it is less con-
venient because it does not allow you to scroll backwards.
The program less got its name from the the precept that less is more and can also
be used to view the output of commands in a convenient way. To see how this
works, read Section 19.1.7 on the current page.

19.1.7 Pipes
Normally, the standard output in the shell is your screen or the console window
and the standard input is the keyboard. To forward the output of a command to
an application like less, use a pipeline.
To view the files in the test directory, enter the command ls test | less.
The contents of the test directory are then displayed with less. This only makes
sense if the normal output with ls would be too lengthy. For instance, if you
view the contents of the dev directory with ls /dev, you only see a small por-
tion in the window. View the entire list with ls /dev | less.
It is also possible to save the output of commands to a file. For example, ls
test > Content generates a new file called Content that contains a list of the
files and directories in test. View the file with less Content.
You can also use a file as the input for a command. For example, sort the text lines
in Testfile with sort < Testfile. The output of the command sort is sent
to the screen. The text is sorted by the first letters of the individual lines.
If you need a new file containing the sorted list, pipe the output of the command
sort to a file. To test this, create an unsorted name list in an editor and save it
under list in the test directory. Then change into test and enter the com-
mand sort < unsortedlist > sortedlist. Finally, view the sorted list
with less.
Just like the standard output, the standard error output is sent to the console as
well. However, to redirect the standard error output to a file named errors,
append 2> errors to the corresponding command. Both standard output

252 19.1. Introduction to Bash

and standard error are saved to one file named alloutput if you append >&
alloutput. Finally, to append the output of a command to an already existing
19

Working with the Shell

file, the command must be followed by >> instead of a single >.

19.1.8 Archives and Data Compression

Now that you have already created a number of files and directories, consider the
subject of archives and data compression. Suppose you want to have the entire
test directory packed in one file that you can save on a floppy disk as a backup
copy or send by e-mail. To do so, use the command tar (for tape archiver). With
tar --help, view all the options for the tar command. The most important of
these options are explained here:

-c (for create) Create a new archive.

-t (for table) Display the contents of an archive.
-x (for extract) Unpack the archive.
-v (for verbose) Show all files on screen while creating the archive.
-f (for file) Choose a filename for the archive file. When creating an archive,
this option must always be given as the last one.

To pack the test directory with all its files and subdirectories into an archive
named testarchive.tar, use the options -c and -f. For testing purposes,
also add -v to follow the progress of the archiving, although this option is not
mandatory. After using cd to change to your home directory where the test di-
rectory is located, enter tar -cvf testarchive.tar test. After that, view
the contents of the archive file with tar -tf testarchive.tar. The test
directory with all its files and directories has remained unchanged on your hard
disk. To unpack the archive, enter tar -xvf testarchive.tar, but do not
try this yet.
For file compression, the obvious choice on Linux is the popular gzip pro-
gram. Just enter gzip testarchive.tar. With ls, now see that the file
testarchive.tar is no longer there and that the file testarchive.tar.gz
has been created instead. This file is much smaller and therefore much better
suited for transfer via e-mail or storage on a floppy.
Now, unpack this file in the test2 directory created earlier. To do so, en-
ter cp testarchive.tar.gz test2 to copy the file to that directory.

SUSE LINUX 253

 Change to the directory with cd test2. A compressed archive with the
.tar.gz extension can be unzipped with the gunzip command. Enter gunzip
testarchive.tar.gz, which results in the file testarchive.tar, which
then needs to be extracted or untarred with tar -xvf testarchive.tar. You
can also unzip and extract a compressed archive in one step by adding the -z op-
tion. The complete command would be tar -xzvf testarchive.tar.gz.
With ls, you can see that a new test directory has been created with the same
contents as your test directory in your home directory.

19.1.9 mtools
mtools are a set of commands for working with MS-DOS file systems. The com-
mands included in mtools allow you to address the first floppy drive as a:, just
like under MS-DOS, and the commands are like MS-DOS commands except they
are prefixed with an m:

mdir a: displays the contents of the floppy disk in drive a:

mcopy Testfile a: copies the file Testfile to the floppy disk
mdel a:Testfile deletes Testfile in a:
mformat a: formats the floppy disk in MS-DOS format (using the fdformat
command)
mcd a: makes a: your current directory
mmd a:test creates the subdirectory test on the floppy disk
mrd a:test deletes the subdirectory test from the floppy disk

19.1.10 Cleaning Up
After this crash course, you should be familiar with the basics of the Linux shell
or command line. You may want to clean up your home directory by deleting the
various test files and directories using the rm and rmdir commands. At the end
of this chapter, find a list of the most important commands and a brief descrip-
tion of their functions.

254 19.1. Introduction to Bash

19.2 Users and Access Permissions
19

Working with the Shell

Since its inception in the early 1990s, Linux has been developed as a multiuser
system. Any number of users can work on it simultaneously. Users need to log in
to the system before starting a session at their workstations. Each user has a user-
name with a corresponding password. This differentiation of users guarantees
that unauthorized users cannot see files for which they do not have permission.
Larger changes to the system, such as installing new programs, are also usually
impossible or restricted for normal users. Only the root user, or super user, has the
unrestricted capacity to make changes to the system and has unlimited access to
all files. Those who use this concept wisely, only logging in with full root access
when necessary, can cut back the risk of unintentional loss of data. Because under
normal circumstances only root can delete system files or format hard disks, the
threat from the Trojan horse effect or from accidentally entering destructive com-
mands can be significantly reduced.

19.2.1 File System Permissions

Basically, every file in a Linux file system belongs to a user and a group. Both of
these proprietary groups and all others can be authorized to write, read, or exe-
cute these files.
A group, in this case, can be defined as a set of connected users with certain col-
lective rights. For example, call a group working on a certain project project3.
Every user in a Linux system is a member of at least one proprietary group, nor-
mally users. There can be as many groups in a system as needed, but only root
is able to add groups. Every user can find out, with the command groups, of
which groups he is a member.

File Access The organization of permissions in the file system differs for files
and directories. File permission information can be displayed with the com-
mand ls -l. The output could appear as in Example 19.1 on this page.

Example 19.1: Sample Output Showing File Permissions

-rw-r----- 1 tux project3 14197 Jun 21 15:03 Roadmap

As shown in the third column, this file belongs to user tux. It is assigned to
the group project3. To discover the user permissions of the Roadmap file,
the first column must be examined more closely.

SUSE LINUX 255

 - rw- r-- -–
Type Users Permissions Group Permissions Permissions for Other Users

This column is comprised of one leading character followed by nine charac-

ters grouped in threes. The first of the ten letters stands for the type of file
system component. The hyphen (-) shows that this is a file. A directory (d),
a link (l), a block device (b), or a character device could also be indicated.
The next three blocks follow a standard pattern. The first three characters
refer to whether the file is readable (r) or not (-). A w in the middle portion
symbolizes that the corresponding object can be edited and a hyphen (-)
means it is not possible to write to the file. An x in the third position de-
notes that the object can be executed. Because the file in this example is a
text file and not one that is executable, executable access for this particular
file is not needed.
In this example, tux has, as owner of the file Roadmap, read (r) and
write access (w) to it, but cannot execute it (x). The members of the group
project3 can read the file, but they cannot modify it or execute it. Other
users do not have any access to this file. Other permissions can be assigned
by means of ACLs (access control lists). See Section 19.2.6 on page 259 for
details and refer to the chapter in the Administration Guide for further back-
ground information.
Directory Permissions Access permissions for directories have the type d. For
directories, the individual permissions have a slightly different meaning.

Example 19.2: Sample Output Showing Directory Permissions

drwxrwxr-x 1 tux project3 35 Jun 21 15:15 ProjectData

In Example 19.2 on this page, the owner (tux) and the owning group
(project3) of the directory ProjectData are easy to recognize. In con-
trast to the file access permissions from on the page before, the set reading
permission (r) means that the contents of the directory can be shown. The
write permission (w) means new files can be created. The executable permis-
sion (x) means the user can change to this directory. In the above example,
this means the user tux as well as the members of the group project3 can

256 19.2. Users and Access Permissions

 change to the ProjectData directory (x), view the contents (r), and add
or delete files (w). The rest of the users, on the other hand, are given less ac-
19

Working with the Shell

cess. They may enter the directory (x) and browse through it (r), but not
insert any new files (w).

19.2.2 Modifying File Permissions

Changing Access Permissions The access permissions of a file or directory
can be changed by the owner and, of course, by root with the command
chmod followed by the parameters changing the permissions and one or
more filenames. The parameters form different categories:

1. users concerned
u (user)—owner of the file
g (group)—group that owns the file
o (others)—additional users (if no parameter is given, the changes
apply to all categories)
2. a character for deletion (-), setting (=), or insertion (+)
3. the abbreviations
r—read
w—write
x—execute
4. filename or filenames separated by spaces

If, for example, the user tux in Example 19.2 on the facing page also wants
to grant other users write (w) access to the directory ProjectData, he can
do this using the command chmod o+w ProjectData.
If, however, he wants to deny all users other than himself write per-
missions, he can do this by entering the command chmod go-w
ProjectData. To prohibit all users from adding a new file to the folder
ProjectData, enter chmod -w ProjectData. Now, not even the owner
can write to the file without first reestablishing write permissions.
Changing Ownership Permissions Other important commands to control
the ownership and permissions of the file system components are chown
(change owner) and chgrp (change group). The command chown can be
used to transfer ownership of a file to another user. However, only root is
permitted to perform this change.

SUSE LINUX 257

 Suppose the file Roadmap from Example 19.2 on page 256 should no longer
belong to tux, but to the user geeko. root should then enter chown
geeko Roadmap.
chgrp changes the group ownership of the file. However, the owner of the
file must be a member of the new group. In this way, the user tux from Ex-
ample 19.1 on page 255 can switch the group owning the file ProjectData
to project4 with the command chgrp project4 ProjectData, as
long as he is a member of this new group.

19.2.3 The setuid Bit

In certain situations, the access permissions may be too restrictive. Therefore,
Linux has additional settings that enable the temporary change of the current
user and group identity for a specific action. For example, the passwd program
normally requires root permissions to access /etc/passwd. This file contains
some important information, like the home directories of users and user and
group IDs. Thus, a normal user would not be able to change passwd, because
it would be too dangerous to grant all users direct access to this file. A possible
solution to this problem is the setuid mechanism. setuid (set user ID) is a special
file attribute that instructs the system to execute programs marked accordingly
under a specific user ID. Consider the passwd command:

-rwsr-xr-x 1 root shadow 80036 2004-10-02 11:08 /usr/bin/passwd

You can see the s bit set for the user permission. By means of the setuid bit, all
users starting the passwd command execute it as root.

19.2.4 The setgid Bit

The setuid attribute applies to users. However, there is also an equivalent prop-
erty for groups: the setgid attribute. A program for which this attribute was set
runs under the group ID under which it was saved, no matter which user starts
it. Therefore, in a directory with the setgid bit, all newly created files and subdi-
rectories are assigned to the group to which the directory belongs. Consider the
following example directory:

drwxrws--- 2 tux archive 48 Nov 19 17:12 backup

258 19.2. Users and Access Permissions

You can see the s bit set for the group permission. The owner of the directory
and members of the group archive may access this directory. Users that are
19

Working with the Shell

not members of this group are “mapped” to the respective group. The effective
group ID of all written files will be archive. For example, a backup program
that runs with the group ID archive is able to access this directory even without
root privileges.

19.2.5 The Sticky Bit

There is also the sticky bit. It makes a difference whether it belongs to an exe-
cutable program or a directory. If it belongs to a program, a file marked in this
way is loaded to RAM to avoid needing to get it from the hard disk each time it is
used. This attribute is used rarely, because modern hard disks are fast enough.
If this attribute is assigned to a directory, it prevents users from deleting each
other’s files. Typical examples include the /tmp and /var/tmp directories:

drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 1160 2002-11-19 17:15 /tmp

19.2.6 Access Control Lists

The traditional permission concept for Linux file system objects, such as files or
directories, can be expanded by means of ACLs (access control lists). They allow
the assignment of permissions to individual users or groups other than the origi-
nal owner or owning group of a file system object.
Files or directories bearing extended access permissions can be detected with a
simple ls -l command:

-rw-r--r--+ 1 tux project3 14197 Jun 21 15:03 Roadmap

The output of ls does not reveal much of a change compared to an ls on a

file without an ACL. Roadmap is owned by tux who belongs to the group
project3. tux holds both write and read access to this file and his group as well
as all other users have read access. The only difference that distinguishes this file
from a file without an ACL is the additional + in the first column holding the per-
mission bits.
Get details about the ACL by executing getfacl Roadmap:

SUSE LINUX 259

 1 # file: Roadmap
2 # owner: tux
3 # group: project3
4 user::rw-
5 user:jane:rw- effective: r--
6 group::r--
7 group:djungle:rw- effective: r--
8 mask::r--
9 other::---

The first three lines of the output do not hold any information not available with
ls -l. These lines only state filename, owner, and owning group. Lines 4 to
9 hold the ACL entries. Conventional access permissions represent a subset of
those possible when using ACLs. The example ACL grants read and write ac-
cess to the owner of the file as well as to user jane (lines 4 and 5). The conven-
tional concept has been expanded allowing access to an extra user. The same ap-
plies to the handling of group access. The owning group holds read permissions
(line 6) and the group djungle holds read and write permissions. The mask en-
try in line 8 reduces the effective permissions for the user jane and the group
djungle to read access. Other users and groups do not get any kind of access to
the file (line 9).
Only very basic information has been provided here. Find more detailed informa-
tion about ACLs in the Administration Guide.

19.3 Important Linux Commands

This section gives insight into the most important commands of your SUSE
LINUX system. Along with the individual commands, parameters are listed and,
where appropriate, a typical sample application is introduced. To learn more
about the various commands, use the manual pages, accessed with man followed
by the name of the command, for example, man ls.
   
In the man pages, move up and down with PgUp 
 
and PgDn  . Move between the
  
beginning and the end of a document with Home  and End 
. End this viewing
 
mode by pressing Q  . Learn more about the man command itself with man man.
There are many more commands than listed in this chapter. For information
about other commands or more detailed information, the O’Reilly publication
Linux in a Nutshell is recommended. In the following overview, the individual
command elements are written in different typefaces.

260 19.3. Important Linux Commands

The actual command and its mandatory options are always printed as command
option. Specifications or parameters that are not required are placed in
19

Working with the Shell

[square brackets].
Adjust the settings to your needs. It makes no sense to write ls file(s), if no
file named file(s) actually exists. You can usually combine several parameters,
for example, by writing ls -la instead of ls -l -a.

19.3.1 File Commands

The following section lists the most important commands for file management. It
covers anything from general file administration to manipulation of file system
ACLs.

File Administration
ls [option(s)] [file(s)] If you run ls without any additional parame-
ters, the program lists the contents of the current directory in short form.

-l Detailed list
-a Displays hidden files

cp [option(s)] source target Copies source to target.

-i Waits for confirmation, if necessary, before an existing target is over-

written
-r Copies recursively (includes subdirectories)

mv [option(s)] source target Copies source to target then deletes the

original source.

-b Creates a backup copy of the source before moving

-i Waits for confirmation, if necessary, before an existing targetfile is
overwritten

rm [option(s)] file(s) Removes the specified files from the file system.
Directories are not removed by rm unless the option -r is used.

-r Deletes any existing subdirectories

-i Waits for confirmation before deleting each file.

SUSE LINUX 261

 ln [option(s)] source target Creates an internal link from source to
target. Normally, such a link points directly to source on the same file
system. However, if ln is executed with the -s option, it creates a symbolic
link that only points to the directory in which source is located, enabling
linking across file systems.

-s Creates a symbolic link

cd [options(s)] [directory] Changes the current directory. cd without

any parameters changes to the user’s home directory.
mkdir [option(s)] directoryname
Creates a new directory.
rmdir [option(s)] directoryname
Deletes the specified directory, if it is already empty.
chown [option(s)] username[:[group]] file(s)
Transfers ownership of a file to the user with the specified username.

-R Changes files and directories in all subdirectories

chgrp [option(s)] groupname file(s)

Transfers the group ownership of a given file to the group with the spec-
ified group name. The file owner can only change group ownership if a
member of both the current and the new group.
chmod [options] mode file(s) Changes the access permissions.
The mode parameter has three parts: group, access, and access type.
group accepts the following characters:

u user
g group
o others

For access, grant access with + and deny it with -.

The access type is controlled by the following options:

r read
w write
x execute—executing files or changing to the directory

262 19.3. Important Linux Commands

 s Set uid bit—the application or program is started as if it were started
by the owner of the file
19

Working with the Shell

As an alternative, a numeric code can be used. The four digits of this code
are composed of the sum of the values 4, 2, and 1—the decimal result of
a binary mask. The first digit sets the set user ID (SUID) (4), the set group
ID (2), and the sticky (1) flags. The second digit defines the permissions of
the owner of the file. The third digit defines the permissions of the group
members and the last digit sets the permissions for all other users. The read
permission is set with 4, the write permission with 2, and the permission for
executing a file is set with 1. The owner of a file would usually receive a 6 or
a 7 for executable files.
gzip [parameters] file(s) This program compresses the contents of files
using complex mathematical algorithms. Files compressed in this way are
given the extension .gz and need to be uncompressed before they can be
used. To compress several files or even entire directories, use the tar com-
mand.

-d Decompresses the packed gzip files so they return to their original size
and can be processed normally (like the command gunzip)

tar options archive file(s) tar puts one or more files into an archive.
Compression is optional. tar is a quite complex command with a number
of options available. The most frequently used options are:

-f Writes the output to a file and not to the screen as is usually the case
-c Creates a new tar archive
-r Adds files to an existing archive
-t Outputs the contents of an archive
-u Adds files, but only if they are newer than the files already contained
in the archive
-x Unpacks files from an archive (extraction)
-z Packs the resulting archive with gzip
-j Compresses the resulting archive with bzip2
-v Lists files processed

SUSE LINUX 263

 The archive files created by tar end with .tar. If the tar archive was also
compressed using gzip, the ending is .tgz or .tar.gz. If it was com-
pressed using bzip2, the ending is .tar.bz2. Application examples can
be found in Section 19.1.8 on page 253.
locate pattern(s) This command is only available if you have installed the
findutils-locate package. The locate command can find in which
directory a specified file is located. If desired, use wild cards to specify file-
names. The program is very speedy, because it uses a database specifically
created for the purpose (rather than searching through the entire file sys-
tem). This very fact, however, also results in a major drawback: locate is
unable to find any files created after the latest update of its database. The
database can be generated by root with updatedb.
updatedb [options(s)] This command performs an update of the database
used by locate. To include files in all existing directories, run the program
as root. It also makes sense to place it in the background by appending
an ampersand (&), so you can immediately continue working on the same
command line (updatedb &). This command usually runs as a daily cron
job (see cron.daily).
find [option(s)] With find, search for a file in a given directory. The first
argument specifies the directory in which to start the search. The option
-name must be followed by a search string, which may also include wild
cards. Unlike locate, which uses a database, find scans the actual direc-
tory.

Commands to Access File Contents

cat [option(s)] file(s) The cat command displays the contents of a file,
printing the entire contents to the screen without interruption.

-n Numbers the output on the left margin

less [option(s)] file(s) This command can be used to browse the con-
 
tents of the specified file. Scroll half a screen page up or down with PgUp 
   
and PgDn  or a full screen page down with Space  . Jump to the beginning
     
or end of a file using Home  and End . Press Q 
to exit the program.
grep [option(s)] searchstring filenames
The grep command finds a specific search string in the specified file(s).
If the search string is found, the command displays the line in which the
searchstring was found along with the filename.

264 19.3. Important Linux Commands

 -i
-H
Ignores case
Only displays the names of the respective files, but not the text lines
19

Working with the Shell

-n Additionally displays the numbers of the lines in which it found a hit
-l Only lists the files in which searchstring does not occur
diff [option(s)] file1 file2 The diff command compares the contents
of any two files. The output produced by the program lists all lines that do
not match. This is frequently used by programmers who need only send
their program alterations and not the entire source code.
-q Only reports whether the two files differ
-u Produces a “unified” diff, which makes the output more readable

File Systems
mount [option(s)] [device] mountpoint
This command can be used to mount any data media, such as hard disks,
CD-ROM drives, and other drives, to a directory of the Linux file system.
-r mount read-only
-t filesystem Specifies the file system, commonly ext2 for Linux hard
disks, msdos for MS-DOS media, vfat for the Windows file system,
and iso9660 for CDs
For hard disks not defined in the file /etc/fstab, the device type must
also be specified. In this case, only root can mount it. If the file system
should also be mounted by other users, enter the option user in the ap-
propriate line in the /etc/fstab file (separated by commas) and save this
change. Further information is available in mount(1).
umount [option(s)] mountpoint This command unmounts a mounted
drive from the file system. To prevent data loss, run this command before
taking a removable data medium from its drive. Normally, only root is al-
lowed to run the commands mount and umount. To enable other users to
run these commands, edit the /etc/fstab file to specify the option user
for the respective drive.

19.3.2 System Commands

The following section lists a few of the most important commands needed for
retrieving system information and process and network control.

SUSE LINUX 265

 System Information
df [option(s)] [directory] The df (disk free) command, when used
without any options, displays information about the total disk space, the
disk space currently in use, and the free space on all the mounted drives. If
a directory is specified, the information is limited to the drive on which that
directory is located.

-h Shows the number of occupied blocks in gigabytes, megabytes, or

kilobytes—in human-readable format
-T Type of file system (ext2, nfs, etc.)

du [option(s)] [path] This command, when executed without any param-

eters, shows the total disk space occupied by files and subdirectories in the
current directory.

-a Displays the size of each individual file

-h Output in human-readable form
-s Displays only the calculated total size

free [option(s)] The command free displays information about RAM

and swap space usage, showing the total and the used amount in both cate-
gories.

-b Output in bytes
-k Output in kilobytes
-m Output in megabytes

date [option(s)] This simple program displays the current system time. If
run as root, it can also be used to change the system time. Details about
the program are available in man date(1).

Processes
top [options(s)] top provides a quick overview of the currently running

processes. Press H 
to access a page that briefly explains the main options to
customize the program.
ps [option(s)] [process ID] If run without any options, this command
displays a table of all your own programs or processes—those you started.
The options for this command are not preceded by hyphen.

266 19.3. Important Linux Commands

 aux Displays a detailed list of all processes, independent of the owner
19

Working with the Shell

kill [option(s)] process ID Unfortunately, sometimes a program cannot
be terminated in the normal way. In most cases, you should still be able to
stop such a runaway program by executing the kill command, specifying
the respective process ID (see top and ps). kill sends a TERM signal that
instructs the program to shut itself down. If this does not help, the follow-
ing parameter can be used:

-9 Sends a KILL signal instead of a TERM signal, bringing the specified

process to an end in almost all cases

killall [option(s)] processname

This command is similar to kill, but uses the process name (instead of the
process ID) as an argument, killing all processes with that name.

Network
ping [option(s)] hostname|IP address
The ping command is the standard tool for testing the basic functionality
of TCP/IP networks. It sends a small data packet to the destination host,
requesting an immediate reply. If this works, ping displays a message to
that effect, which indicates that the network link is basically functioning.

-c number Determines the total number of packages to send and ends

after they have been dispatched (by default, there is no limitation set)
-f flood ping: sends as many data packages as possible; a popular means,
reserved for root, to test networks
-i value Specifies the interval between two data packages in seconds
(default: one second)

nslookup The domain name system resolves domain names to IP addresses.

With this tool, send queries to information servers (DNS servers).
telnet [option(s)] hostname or IP address [Port]
Telnet is actually an Internet protocol that enables you to work on remote
hosts across a network. telnet is also the name of a Linux program that uses
this protocol to enable operations on remote computers.

SUSE LINUX 267

 Warning
Do not use telnet over a network on which third parties can eaves-
drop. Particularly on the Internet, use encrypted transfer methods,
such as ssh, to avoid the risk of malicious misuse of a password
(see the man page for ssh).
Warning

Miscellaneous
passwd [option(s)] [username] Users may change their own passwords
at any time using this command. The administrator root can use the com-
mand to change the password of any user on the system.
su [option(s)] [username] The su command makes it possible to log in
under a different username from a running session. Specify a username and
the corresponding password to use the environment of the respective user.
The password is not required from root, because root is authorized to as-
sume the identity of any user. When using the command without specifying
a username, you are prompted for the root password and change to the
superuser (root).
halt [option(s)] To avoid loss of data, you should always use this program
to shut down your system.
reboot [option(s)] Does the same as halt except the system performs an
immediate reboot.
clear This command cleans up the visible area of the console. It has no options.

19.4 The vi Editor

Operating the vi editor takes some practice. For many, it is the preferred editor,
partly because it is available on any UNIX-like operating system and is included
in default Linux installations. Also, if nothing else works, vi will. The short in-
structions that follow should enable you to edit various configuration files and
other types of files with vi.
vi provides three operating modes. In command mode keys are interpreted as
command elements. Insert mode interprets all keys as text entries. Last line mode
is used for more complex commands, which are entered in the last line.

268 19.4. The vi Editor

 Table 19.2: Simple Commands of the vi Editor
19

Working with the Shell

 
ESC  Changes to last line mode.
i Changes to insert mode (characters appear at the current
cursor position).
a Changes to insert mode (characters appear after the
current cursor position).
A Changes to insert mode (characters are added at the end
of the line).
R Changes to command mode (overwrites the old text).
r Changes to insert mode and overwrites each character.
s Changes to insert mode (the character where the cursor
is positioned is replaced by the next entry you make).
C Changes to insert mode (the rest of the line is replaced
by the new text).
o Changes to insert mode (a new line is inserted after the
current one).
O Changes to insert mode (a new line is inserted before the
current one).
x Deletes the current character.
dd Deletes the current line.
dw Deletes up to the end of the current word.
cw Changes to insert mode (the rest of the current word is
overwritten by the next entries you make).
u Undoes the last command.
J Joins the following line with the current one.
. Repeats the last command.
: Changes to last line mode.

The most important commands in command mode are shown in Table 19.2 on
this page. Each command can be preceded by a number specifying on how many
objects the following command should operate. Delete three words at once by

SUSE LINUX 269

 entering 3dw. The command 10x deletes ten characters after the cursor position
and 20dd deletes twenty lines.
The most important commands in last line mode are shown in Table 19.3 on the
current page.

Table 19.3: Complex Commands of the vi Editor

:q! exits vi without saving any changes

:w hfilenamei saves as hfilenamei
:x saves the modified file and exits the editor
:e hfilenamei edits (loads) hfilenamei
:u undoes the last edit command

270 19.4. The vi Editor

 A

SUSE LINUX FAQ

SUSE LINUX FAQ

Additional Information
Where do I find general and up-to-date information for SUSE LINUX?
In addition to this FAQ chapter, SUSE provides a comprehensive FAQ Web
site at http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/
faq/index.html.
Are the SUSE manuals also available as PDF or HTML files?
Our manuals are included on the CDs and are also available
 
through the SUSE help center. To start the help center, press Alt 
-
 
 
F2 and enter the command susehelp. The HTML versions are
available in the packages suselinux-adminguide_en and
suselinux-userguide_en. In the installed system, go to the di-
rectory /usr/share/doc/manual/suselinux-adminguide_en
or /usr/share/doc/manual/suselinux-userguide_en. The
PDF versions can be found in suselinux-adminguide_en-pdf and
suselinux-userguide_en-pdf.
Where can I get more information about SUSE LINUX?
Most of the information about the installation and features of SUSE LINUX
is provided in the manuals. Documentation for applications is avail-
able in /usr/share/doc/packages and the HowTos are located in
/usr/share/doc/howto/en. Read these files with a command like
less /usr/share/doc/howto/en/DOS-to-Linux-HOWTO.txt.gz.
 
Terminate the command by pressing Q  .
 Hardware
Is my hardware supported? It is best to refer to the component database at
http://cdb.suse.de/index.php?LANG=en_EN or http://cdb.
suse.de. less /usr/share/doc/howto/en/Hardware-HOWTO.gz
can also provide some information. Also check the hardware section
of the SUSE LINUX FAQ at http://www.novell.com/products/
linuxprofessional/faq/index.html.

Installation
Where do I find the current system requirements for an installation of SUSE
LINUX?
Refer to http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/
sysreqs.html for the system requirements of the most recent SUSE
LINUX distribution.
How much disk space do I need for Linux?
This depends on how many and which packages you want to install. A
standard installation with office applications requires about 2 GB. 2.5 GB is
recommended if you want space for your own data as well. To install just
about everything, you need 3–6 GB, depending on the version.
What is meant by partitioning? Partitioning is dividing the hard disk into
smaller sections. For the default configuration, SUSE LINUX requires at
least two partitions (one for Linux itself and one swap partition for the vir-
tual main memory).
Which file system do you recommend?
The file system best suited for you highly depends on the scenario in which
your system will be run. ReiserFS tends to be best suited for home users,
but if you intend to run a high performance server, you might want to use
another file system. Refer to File Systems in Linux in the Administration Guide
for more information about the file systems supported by SUSE LINUX.
How can I get a short information on all software packages contained in SUSE
LINUX?
SUSE maintains a list of all packages contained in the current version un-
der http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpackages/
professional/index.html. Either enter a package name or use one of

272
 the sort methods available. Then view a short description of the package
similar to the one you would get in YaST.
A

SUSE LINUX FAQ

I want to remove Linux. How does this work?
With fdisk, delete the Linux partitions. You might need to run fdisk in
Linux. Afterwards, boot from the MS-DOS disk and run fdisk /MBR in
DOS or Windows.

System Configuration and Administration

Do I need to be afraid of a virus in Linux?
In Linux, there have been no serious viruses found. Also, viruses cannot
cause any serious damage if they are not activated by root. The only virus
scanners available in Linux search e-mails for Windows viruses (if Linux
is used as a router or server). Nevertheless, you should back up important
data and configurations.
I cannot find any .exe files. Where are all the applications?
In Linux, executable files normally do not have file extensions. Most pro-
grams are located in /usr/bin and /usr/X11R6/bin.
How can I recognize executable files?
The command ls -l returns all executable files in the directory /usr/bin
in green. Also recognize them by the x in the first column.
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 64412 Jul 23 15:23 /usr/bin/ftp

How do I start a service or an application at boot?

To start certain services at boot, use the YaST module ‘System Services
(Runlevel)’. Find a detailed description of this module and some back-
ground information about the boot and runlevel concept of Linux in the
Administration Guide.
To configure GNOME to start any application automatically when it starts,
open the GNOME Control Center and choose ‘System’ ➝ ‘Sessions’. Open
the tab named ‘Startup Programs’ and enter the application you want
started.
In KDE, start Konqueror and open the folder .kde/Autostart in your
home directory. Drag the application icon from the main menu into the
Konqueror window and choose ‘Link Here’. The application will be started
the next time you log in to KDE.

SUSE LINUX 273

 I only have an application in source code. How can I install it?
Before trying to compile an application on your own check
whether it already exist as installable RPM. Try Web sites like
http://packman.links2linux.org/ or http://rpmfind.net.
Decompress the archive with tar xvzf name.tar.gz, read the
INSTALL or README files, and follow the instructions. If compiling on your
own, note that neither the compilation nor the resulting application are cov-
ered by the installation support.
Do I need to compile a kernel myself?
No, it is usually unnecessary and strongly discouraged for inexperienced
users to recompile the kernel. Do so only at your own risk. In cases of
custom compiled kernels, SUSE cannot provide any installation support.
How can I defragment my hard disk?
Linux file systems prevent fragmentation. However, make sure that you
do not use more than 80% of each partition. The fuller your hard disk,
the more “fragmentation” you get, even under Linux. Use df -h to view
information about used and available hard disk space.
I need more space for Linux. How can I add another hard disk?
To make more space available, integrate a new hard disk or parts of it (par-
titions) into your Linux system at any time. For example, if it turns out that
you need more space in /opt, mount an additional hard disk partition to
this directory. To do so, follow this procedure:

1. Install your hard disk following the instructions of the manufacturer

then start Linux.
2. Log in as the root user.
3. Partition the new hard disk with fdisk. For further information, refer
to the manual page of fdisk with man fdisk.
4. Format the partition with mke2fs /dev/hdb1.
5. Enter the following commands:
cd /opt
mkdir /opt2
mount /dev/hdb1 /opt2
cp -axv . /opt2
Check thoroughly to see whether all the data has been copied. After-
wards, move the old directory and add a new one—an empty mount
point:

274
 mv /opt /opt.old
mkdir /opt
A

SUSE LINUX FAQ

Use an editor to add the new partitions in /etc/fstab. This could
resemble the line in Example A.1 on this page.

Example A.1: Sample Line in /etc/fstab for an Additional Partition

/dev/hdb1 /opt ext2 defaults 1 2

Now, shut down the computer and reboot.

6. After rebooting, check that /dev/hdb1 has actually been mounted to
/opt using the command mount. If everything is working as desired,
remove the old data from /opt.old:
cd /
rm -fr opt.old

How can I find out how much space is available in Linux?

Use the df -hT command. -h converts the byte sizes into human readable
format (such as 1K, 234M, or 2G) and -T prints the type of file system.

Applications
How can I install applications? Applications included in the SUSE LINUX CDs
are best installed with YaST.
How can I enter commands in GNOME or KDE?
In KDE, click the screen with shell icon in the panel to start the Bash shell.
Alternative terminals can be started via the main menu. In GNOME,
select a terminal from the main menu. To run a single command in KDE or
  
GNOME, press Alt  -F2 
then enter the command.
I cannot find many programs in GNOME or KDE.
You can start all programs from a terminal window by entering the pro-
 
gram name and pressing Enter .
How do I connect to the Internet in Linux?
Section KInternet—Connecting to the Internet on page 24 provides informa-
tion about this. Alternatively, use QInternet.

SUSE LINUX 275

 Can I copy and paste in Linux? Yes, this is possible. Highlight the text block
by clicking and dragging with the left mouse button then insert by clicking
with the middle mouse button. The right mouse button has a special func-
tion in most programs and applications.
How can I switch from a virtual text console to the graphical user interface?
 
By default, there are six virtual text consoles that can be accessed with Ctrl 
-
       
Alt 
-F1 
to F6 
. Press Alt 
-F7 
to go to the graphical user interface.
Why isn’t there a movie player that supports encoded DVDs?
Movie player applications on SUSE LINUX are unable to play a number
of movie file formats, especially movie DVDs. Due to patented codecs and
copy protection, SUSE is not allowed to deliver full-featured movie players
with the distribution.

Troubleshooting
Where can I see the system messages?
System messages are logged under /var/log/. To access this directory
and all information stored there, log in as root. The most important mes-
sages are logged in messages. To view the most recent entries, enter tail
-f /var/log/messages in the terminal window. To view messages
relating to the boot process, apply this command to the file boot.msg.
To monitor the processes running on your system, enter top in a termi-
nal window. If you need to access information located under /proc, use
procinfo. xosview monitors the status of CPU usage, load average,
memory usage, and more.
How can I find a specific file on my system?
There are two possibilities. One is to use the KDE or GNOME search tool.
Find them in the main menu. Alternatively, use the command find,
described in man find(1).
I am searching for a specific file (libfoo.so.2). How do I find out what
package this file is in?
Use the command pin (Package Information) to locate a file:
pin libfoo.so.2

The above command tries to find a package or filenames and paths. Use
man pin(1) for more information.

276
My computer crashed. Can I just press the reset button without risking any-
thing?
A

SUSE LINUX FAQ

If your computer no longer reacts to your mouse or keyboard, this does
not necessarily mean that your entire system has crashed. Possibly one
program is blocking the mouse or the keyboard, but all other programs are
still running. If your machine can be accessed remotely (serial terminal,
network), log in elsewhere, identify the crashed application by ps or top,
and abort the respective program with killall hprogram namei. If this
does not work, try killall -9 hprogram namei.
   
If this is not possible, try switching to another console using Ctrl 
-Alt 
-F2 
to
kill the faulty process from there. If the computer does not respond to any
of the keys and network intervention is not possible, wait at least ten sec-
onds before pressing reset to make sure that there is no hard disk activity.
To avoid possible damage to your file system, make sure that all data is
safely written to disk before resetting the system. This can be done using
the SysReq option of the Linux kernel. The kernel support for this feature
must be enabled first. Open the file /etc/sysconfig/sysctl as root
   
and set ENABLE_SYSRQ to yes. Use the key combination Alt  -SysRQ 
-U 
to empty all data buffers safely by writing the data to disk and unmount
   
the file system. SysRQ 
may also be labeled Print Screen 
on some keyboards.
After the file system is unmounted, press the reset button to reboot your
system.
I cannot log in to my computer with telnet. I always get the answer Login
incorrect.
You are probably trying to log in as root. For security reasons, this is not
possible via telnet by default. With YaST, set up a normal user account. Log
in with this username. Then change to the user root with su. It is much
better and safer, however, to use the program ssh instead of telnet. The
ssh program uses encrypted, secure connections.

Contacting SUSE
I found a bug in SUSE LINUX. Where should I report it?
First, ascertain whether it is actually a bug in the program or just an error
in operation or faulty configuration settings. Also read the documenta-
tion in /usr/share/doc/packages and /usr/share/doc/howto.
The bug may already have been discovered. Check in the support

SUSE LINUX 277

 database at http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/index.html.
Enter a keyword or work your way forward or backward via
the History link. If it really is a bug, send a description of it us-
ing http://www.suse.de/feedback and read the article at
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2001/10/bugreport.html.
What is a mirror? Why shouldn’t I get these things from ftp.suse.com?
As there are many users who need to retrieve things from the server at the
same time, its capacity limit would be reached very quickly. For this reason,
there are a number of other FTP servers that contain a duplicate of the
SUSE server. These servers are referred to as mirrors. Select a mirror in your
vicinity (same country) to speed up the download. A list of mirrors is avail-
able at http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/
downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html.
I might have a problem or question that isn’t referenced here. Is there a way
to submit this information so others can benefit from it?
Submit your questions by contacting the writers of this book via an e-mail
to mailto:documentation@suse.de?subject=FAQ. Future editions
of this FAQ will benefit from your feedback. Note that the editors will not
provide support of any kind in answer to your mail. Refer to the support
team if in need of help.

278
 Index

A · K3b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 209

access permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . see permissions · Kaffeine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
accessibility · kdetv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
- GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65–67 · KMix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
- KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93–96 · KsCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 188
alevt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 · LilyPond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
alsamixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 · MainActor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
amaroK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 · motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31–46 · Noteedit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
- development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 · Rosegarden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
· CVS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 · Totem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
· Eclipse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 · tvtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
· GTK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 · xawtv4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
· KDevelop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 · XMMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39, 186
· Mono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 · zapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
· Qt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 - network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35–37
· Subversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 · Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 117
- graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 · Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 157
· Blender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 · Gaim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 62
· Dia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 · gftp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
· Digikam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 219 · GnomeMeeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
· GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41, 235 · kbear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
· gThumb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 · Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 151
· Gwenview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 · Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 129
· Inkscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 · Kopete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 91
· Kooka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 227 · KPhone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
· POV-Ray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 · Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
- installing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 · XChat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
- multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 - office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32–34
· amaroK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39, 182 · Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 117
· Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 · GnuCash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
· audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 · Gnuplot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
· Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 189 · knoda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
 · Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 129 - cp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
· moneyplex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - dar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
· OpenOffice.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 109 - date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
· Planner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - df . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
· PostgreSQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - diff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
· Rekall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 - du . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
· StarOffice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 - dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
· Taskjuggler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
· VYM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
- starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 50 - grep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
arecord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 - gzip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44, 253, 263
Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 - halt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 - help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
- kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
B - killall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Bash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246–254 - less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
- commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 - ln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
- functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 - locate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
- pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 - ls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
- wild cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 - man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Web browsers - mkdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 - mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
- mv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
C - nslookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
calendars - passwd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
- Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119, 125 - ping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
- Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132, 138 - ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 - reboot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
cd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 - rm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
CDs - rmdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
- copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 - su . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
- creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209–213 - taper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
· audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 - tar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44, 253, 263
· data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59, 210 - telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
- ISO images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 - top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
- players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 - umount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
- playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187–191 - updatedb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
- ripping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187–191 configuration files
chgrp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262 - /etc/fstab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265, 275
chmod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262 - /etc/sysconfig/sysctl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
chown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262 cp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260–268
- bzip2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 D
- cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
- cd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- chgrp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262 - configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10–13
- chmod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262 · GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
- chown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262 · KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
- clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 - switching users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

280 Index
 - terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 - folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
df . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 - Groupwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125, 126
diff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 - importing mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Digikam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 219–224 - PDAs and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
digital cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215–225 - signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
- accessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 - starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
- connecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 - tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
- Digikam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219–224
- gtKam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 F
- Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
- PTP protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 file managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
directories - Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78–83
- changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 - Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57–61
- creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 files
- deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 - archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63, 88, 253, 263
- navigating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 - associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59, 75, 79
- paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 - comparing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
- structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 - compressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253, 263
download managers - converting from Microsoft formats . . 110
- Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 - copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
- KGet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 - deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
drives - encrypting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
- mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 - .exe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
- unmounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 - finding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
du . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 - formats
· GIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
E · JPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
e-mail applications · PAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
- Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117–127 · PNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
- Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129–140 · XCF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
editors - managing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
- GEdit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
- Kate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - searching contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
- vi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 - searching for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 264
- vim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
- XEmacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - uncompressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165–173 - viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252, 264
- Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 - Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
- Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 117–127 Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 157–164
- accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 - bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
- address books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 · managing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
- attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 · migrating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
- calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119, 125 - configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
- contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119, 123 - download manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
- creating messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 - extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
- encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 - finding on page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
- Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118, 125, 126 - navigating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
- filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 - printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

SUSE LINUX 281

 - searching with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159, 163 - tomboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
- sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 - utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61–64
- starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 GNU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
- tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 gphoto2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215, 217
- themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 graphics
fonts - albums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
- installing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 - digital cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 - editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235–242
- file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
G - galleries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 83, 231
GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41, 235–242 - pixel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
- configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 - vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
- creating images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 grep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
- opening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
- printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 gtKam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
- saving images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 - camera selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
- starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 - installing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
- templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 gunzip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
- views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 gzip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253, 263
GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47–67
- accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56, 65–67 H
halt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
· Dasher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
hard disks
· Gnopernicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
- adding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
· GOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
- defragmenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
- applets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
hardware
- applications, default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
- supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
- CD player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99–102
- commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
- FAQs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105, 271
- configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 52–57
- HOWTOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
· accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54, 56
- info pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
· background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
- Linux documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
· fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
- man pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102, 260
· keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
- manuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105, 271
· keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
- OpenOffice.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
· menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
- SUSE Help Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
· mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
- Usenet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
· system alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
- Wikipedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
· themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
· toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 I
· windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Internet
- desktop menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 - chatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62, 91
- dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 - connecting to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24–27
- File Roller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 - wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
- icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
- Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57–61 J
- notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
- panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
- printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 K
- sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 K3b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 209–213

282 Index
 - audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 killall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
- configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 KInternet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24–27
- copying CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 KMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Kontact
- data CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 KMix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
KAddressbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Kontact KNotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Kontact
KAudioCreator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 152–155
KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70–83, 93–96 - bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 154
- accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93–96 - digital cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
· KMag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 - file associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
· KMouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 - file manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78–83
· KTTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 - image galleries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 83
- Ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 - Java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
- clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 - JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
- commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 - keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
- configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73–78 - previewing files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
· appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 - profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
· applications, default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 - saving Web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
· control center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 - starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78, 152
· desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 - tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
· keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 129–140
· networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 - address books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
· security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 - attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
· sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 - calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132, 138
· themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 - contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131, 136
- fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 - creating messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
- KGet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 - encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
- Klipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 - Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138, 140
- Kopete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 - filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
- KPDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 - folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
- KSnapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 - Groupwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138, 140
- KWallet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 - identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
- menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70, 72 - importing mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
- printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 - notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
- shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 - PDAs and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
- utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83–90 - signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
KGpg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165–173 - starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
- clipboard encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 - summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
- creating keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 - to-do lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
- editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Kooka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 227–232
- exporting public keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 - character recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
- file encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 - configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
- importing keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 - gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
- key servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 - previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
· exporting keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 - scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229–230
· importing keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 - starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
- signing keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 KOrganizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Kontact
- starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 KPilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141–147
- text encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 - /dev/pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
- trusting keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 - backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 - configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

SUSE LINUX 283

 - installing programs with . . . . . . . . . . . 147 - importing database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
- KAddressBook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
- KOrganizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 O
- syncing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Ogg Vorbis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
KsCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 oggenc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
OpenOffice.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109–116
L - application modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252, 264 - Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Linux - Calc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
- removing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 - help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
ln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 - Impress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
locate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 - Microsoft document formats . . . . . . . . 110
login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–6 - Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
- GDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - selecting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
- KDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 - styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
- sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 6 - wizards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
ls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246, 261 - Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111–114

M P
man pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 partitioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 - GNU Parted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
mkdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249, 262 passwd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 passwords
motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198–201 - changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
- audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
- launchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 - absolute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
- proportions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 - relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
- seeking channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 - working with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
- video source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 PDAs
mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 - Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Mozilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Firefox - Kontact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
MS-DOS - KPilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141–147
- commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 PDF viewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
- file systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255–259
mtools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 - access control lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
mv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 - changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257, 262
- directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
N - file systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57–61 - files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
- CD creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 - viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
- configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 ping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
- MIME types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 power management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28–29, 76
- navigating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18–21
networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24–27 - Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
- configuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 - GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
- Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 - GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27 - KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
nslookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
nxtvepg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 - killing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
- filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 - overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

284 Index
profile management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 - recording
programs . . . . . . see applications, see commands · arecord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 · audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
PTP protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 · qaRecord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
ssh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Q su . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
qaRecord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 SuSEWatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
system
R - messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
reboot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 - rebooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
rm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 - requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
rmdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 - security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
- services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
S - shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
scanning system administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- character recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 - installing applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- GOCR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 - updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- Kooka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227–232
screenshots T
- KSnapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 tar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253, 263
security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 273 telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267, 277
shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 TLDP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
- Bash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
- commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260–268 TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197–204
- paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 - alevt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
- pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 - EPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
- wild cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 - motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198–200
sound - nxtvepg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
- chips - teletext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
· Audigy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 - xawtv4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
· envy24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
· on-board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 U
· Soundblaster Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 umount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
- data compression updatedb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
· Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 USB
· KAudioCreator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 - digital cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
· Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 users
· Ogg Vorbis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 - concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
· oggenc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 - root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- editing files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 - superuser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 - switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
· alsamixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
· envy24control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 V
· GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 vi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
· KMix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 virtual consoles
- players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182–189 - navigating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
· amaroK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
· GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 W
· KsCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Web browsers
· XMMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 - Firefox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 157–164

SUSE LINUX 285

 - Konqueror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 152–155 - motv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
- Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 wild cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Web pages
- archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
webcams X
- gqcam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 XMMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186