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List:       kde-i18n-doc
Subject:    Oops
From:       Eric Bischoff <ebisch () cybercable ! tm ! fr>
Date:       1999-07-13 16:02:16
[Download RAW message or body]

Sorry for the confusion.

Here is the right one. The quickstart.

Eric
--
> __________________________________________________
>     .~.      Trust the Penguin
>     /V\      >---------^
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>  /(     )\ 
>    ^^-^^
> __________________________________________________
Eric Bischoff - mailto:ebisch@cybercable.tm.fr

["index.sgml" (text/english)]

<!doctype linuxdoc system>

<!-- KDE Essentials

 -->

<article>

<!-- Title information -->

<title>An Invitation to KDE

<author>The KDE Team
<date>Version 1.1, 24 Feb 1999
<abstract>An introduction to the K Desktop Environment

<!-- Table of contents -->
<toc>

<!-- Begin the document -->


<sect>Introduction
<p>
This document is a brief introduction to the K Desktop Environment.
It will familiarize you with some of the basic features of KDE.

This guide is far from covering all aspects of the K Desktop or even most of
them. It will only describe some of the most basic ways to accomplish a
few of the most common tasks.

We assume that you are already familiar with
at least one graphical user interface, for example CDE(tm), Geos(tm),
GEM(tm), NeXT(tm), MacOS(tm), OS/2(tm) or
MS-Windows(tm). So we will not explain the usage of the mouse or the
keyboard but concentrate on hopefully more interesting things. 

<sect>An Overview of KDE
<p>
This section is for users who prefer to learn by exploring and want only a
brief orientation to get started. Later sections provide a more thorough
introduction to the environment, with helpful hints and shortcuts. If you are
impatient to get started, skim this section, go play for a bit, then come back
and peruse the other sections of this guide as needed.

Note: KDE provides a highly configurable desktop environment. This overview
assumes that you are using the default environment.

<sect1>The KDE Desktop
<p>
A typical KDE desktop consists of three areas:
<itemize>
<item>A <em/panel/ at the bottom of the screen, used to start
applications and switch between desktops.
Among other things, it contains
the Application Starter, a large "K" icon which displays a menu of
applications to start when clicked.
<p>
<item>A <em/taskbar/ at the upper-left corner of the screen, used to
switch between and manage currently running applications. Click on an
application on the taskbar to zip to the application.
<p>
<item>The <em/desktop/ itself, on which frequently used files and folders
may be placed. KDE provides multiple desktops, each of which has
its own windows. Click on the numbered buttons on the panel to switch
between desktops.
</itemize>

<sect1>Ready, Set, Go!
<p>
Here are a few quick tips to get you up and running.
<itemize>
<item>To start an application, click on the "K" button on the panel
(called the <ref id="starter" name="Application Starter">) and
choose an item from the menu.
<item>Click the icon that looks like a folder with a picture of a house
on the taskbar to access the files in your home directory using 
<em/kfm/, KDE's File Manager utility.
<item>Choose <bf>Application Starter >
Utilities > Terminal</bf> to get a
Unix command prompt, or press <tt/Alt-F2/ to get a mini 
command prompt window to execute a single command.
<item>Choose the KDE Control Center item on Application Starter to 
configure KDE.
<item>Press <tt/Alt-Tab/ to switch between apps and <tt/Ctrl-Tab/ to
switch between desktops using the keyboard.
<item>Use the right mouse button to access context menus for the panel,
desktop, and many KDE applications.
</itemize>

<sect>Launching Applications
<p>
<sect1>Using the Application Starter and the Panel<label id="starter">
<p>
On the bottom of the screen you find the desktop panel. 
You use the panel to
launch applications. Have a look at the button on the left with a large K. This
button is called the <bf/Application Starter/. It has a small arrow on the top
to indicate that it will pop up a menu if you click on it. Just do it! The
popup offers you easy access to all KDE
applications installed on your computer system.

<bf/Shortcut:/ <tt/Alt-F1/ opens the Application Starter menu.

<sect2>Customizing the Panel
<p>
If you use one application or tool very often, then you may want to
have even faster access to it, of course. In this case, you can add a
single application or an entire sub-menu of the 
Application Starter menu as a special
quick-launch button onto the panel. If you want to reach the "Find
Files" directly via a launch button, simply choose
<bf>application starter > Panel > Add Application > Find Files</bf>
(By this we mean that you should first click the Application Starter,
then select "Panel" where the small arrow to the right indicates that another
menu will pop up. In this menu, choose "Add application" and in the next
sub-menu, "Find Utility".). Note that you can move all items of the panel
around with the "move" command of the context menu. Just click with the third
mouse button (the third mouse button is normally the right button, but if you
have configured your mouse for left-handers e.g., it might also be the left
one). A menu will pop up where you can choose "Move". Now move the mouse and
see how the icon follows while still staying on the panel. When you are done,
simply hit the first mouse button (by default the left one). As you have may
have noticed, there is also a menu entry "Remove" in case you are
tired of a certain launch button on your desktop.

<sect2>Using Context menus
<p>
This leads us to another interesting topic: in many places, you can click
the right mouse button to display a <em/context menu/ with choices that
are applicable to the item you clicked. It is
therefore always a good idea to try out the third mouse button on
something, if you do not know what to do with it. Even the background
of the desktops has such a menu!

<sect2>Other Panel features
<p>
There are other interesting things possible with the panel. One
may be important if you have a low resolution on your monitor: it is
the "hide-and-show"-function, activated by clicking on the textured bar on the
left edge of the panel. By the way, if you are not sure what a certain
button does in KDE, just move the mouse pointer over it and wait for a short
while: KDE has a built-in mini context help, called "tooltips",
which explains the functionality of such controls in a few words.

<sect1>But I want my command line back!
<p>
Just calm down, there is nothing to fear. KDE does not want to take your
beloved (and sometimes very effective) command line away from you. You
can move your files with the desktop, but you can also use the Unix
commands you are accustomed to. KDE provides a very sophisticated
command line window called <em/konsole/.  Choose <bf>application starter >
Utilities > Terminal</bf> to start it. This may be something you want on your
panel!

Sometimes, you only want to enter one command on the command
line. In these cases, you do not need a full-blown terminal. Just hit
<tt/Alt-F2/ and you get a small command line where you can enter one
command. The command line window will disappear afterwards, but it
remembers your command. When you pop up this window (which we call
"minicli" by the way) and hit the <tt/Up-arrow/, you can browse through
all the commands you have previously entered.  Also, you can enter URL's
in <em/minicli/ to open a <em/kfm/ window with the specified URL.
A final tip: to display a Unix man page, enter <tt>man:<em/command/</tt>
in <em/minicli/, where <em/command/ is the name of a Unix command.

<sect>Working with Windows
<p>
If you have not already done so, start an application using the
<ref id="starter" name="Application Starter">, like "Find Files".

<sect1>A window! What now?
<p>
Well, usually people work <em>inside</em> windows, but sometimes you may
want to manipulate windows. Here's a quick overview of some of the most
common window-related functions:

<itemize>
<item><bf/Move a window:/ Drag the window's titlebar, or hold the <tt/Alt/
key down and drag anywhere in the window.
<p>
<item><bf/Resize a window:/ Drag the window's border, or hold the
<tt/Alt/ key down and drag with the right mouse button anywhere in the
window.
<p>
<item><bf/Maximize a window:/ Click the maximize button in the titlebar
(the square next to the X) to make the window fill the screen, or to shrink
the window back to its original size if maximized.
Clicking with the middle mouse button maximizes
the window vertically; the right button, horizontally.
<p>
<item><bf/Iconify a window:/ Click the iconify
button in the titlebar (next to Maximize) to hide the window.
Get it back by clicking on the window's icon in the taskbar.
<p>
<item><bf/Switch between windows:/ Aside from the usual mouse click
to switch to another window, you can use <tt/Alt-Tab/ to switch windows.
See below for more techniques.
</itemize>

<sect2>Titlebar buttons
<p>
KDE windows have some pretty standard buttons on their titlebars which
give you fast access to some common operations. The default button
layout looks like this:

On the left side:

<itemize>
<item>a menu button. This usually shows a mini icon
for the application. Click on it to get a window operations menu. <newline>
Shortcut: <tt/Alt-F3/ opens the window menu.
<p>
<item>a sticky button, with a picture of a tack. What the heck is this? Stay
tuned! </itemize>

On the right side:

<itemize>
<item>an iconify button. 
<item>a maximize button. 
<item>a close button. This closes the window.<newline>
Shortcut: <tt/Alt-F4/. 
</itemize>

<sect2>Switching between windows
<p>
Now that we know how to deal with windows we encourage you to open
some other windows with the panel since we will now discuss how to
switch between different windows. Since this is such a common activity,
KDE offers several ways to do it; pick your favorite!

Many window systems require you to click the mouse in another window to
begin using it. This is KDE's default behavior, termed "ClickToFocus" focus
policy. But you can also configure your desktop
in a way that moving the mouse pointer onto a window will 
activate it. This is called FocusFollowMouse. If you select this
policy using the <ref id="configure" name="KDE Control Center">, the window
under the mouse pointer is always the active one. It doesn't necessarily
come to the front automatically, but you can still click
onto the titlebar or the border of a window or -- a KDE special -- you
can use the <tt/Alt/ key and click the middle mouse button anywhere on
the window to raise it.

Here are some other methods to switch windows:
<itemize>
<item>Pick a window from the <em/window list/ menu. To open the menu, click the
middle mouse button on an empty area of the desktop; click the icon with
several windows on the panel; or press <tt/Ctrl-Esc/.
<p>
<item>Hold down the <tt/Alt/ key and press <tt/Tab/ to cycle through
the windows.
<p>
<item>Use the taskbar (see below).
</itemize>

<sect1>Using the Taskbar
<p>
The <em/taskbar/ displays a list of small icons, one for each window on the
desktop. In the default KDE setup the taskbar is located in the top left
corner, but it can also be located at the top or the bottom of the screen.

The taskbar is very powerful: A simple click with the left mouse
button on the appropriate taskbar button will bring you to the selected
application immediately. Click an entry with the middle mouse button 
to iconify/deiconify a window. Last but not least, the right mouse
button will pop up a context menu, with window operations for the
selected window.

<sect1>Using Virtual Desktops
<p>
Now, what was that "sticky" thing?

It may happen that you have more windows open than space on your
desktop. In this case you have three possibilities:

<enum> 
<item> Leave all windows open (cluttered desktop)
<item> Iconify those windows which you do not need at present and use
the taskbar or <tt/Alt-Tab/ to switch between them (still a bit confusing
and much work!) 
<item> Recommended: Do what a real operating system does if there is not
enough physical memory: Use virtual memory, in this case virtual
desktops. 
</enum>

Item 3 is the way to go! KDE can handle several different
desktops, each with its own windows. The default configuration
provides four desktops.  You can switch between the
virtual desktops easily with a click on one of the desktop
buttons on the panel. Also <tt/Ctrl-F1...F8/ will send you to the corresponding
desktop immediately, or <tt/Ctrl-Tab/ will cycle through the desktops. Finally,
if you move the mouse to a corner of the screen and hold it there briefly, KDE
will switch to the desktop in the direction you indicated.

Virtual desktops are very nice. But sometimes you want a window to
be present on <em/every/ desktop. This could be for example a small chat
window or a alarm clock or whatever. In this case you can use the
above mentioned "sticky"-button which will pin the window on the
background so that it will appear on every virtual desktop.

The sticky button can also be used to move a window from one virtual desktop
to another one: push the sticky pin on the window, switch to a different
desktop, and release the pin by pushing it again.
But it is easier if you use the context popup menu of the window's entry
in the taskbar (menu item "Onto current desktop") or the "Send to" option
on the window operations menu.

<sect>Managing your files
<p>

A common metaphor of graphical desktops is the use of folders to
represent directories on your hard disk. Folders contain files and other
folders. A KDE application called <em/kfm/, the K File Manager, uses this
metaphor to help you manage your files.

<sect1>Using kfm
<p>
The first time you start KDE, a window with lots of icons in it appears. 
This is a <em/kfm/ window displaying the files in your home
directory (the area where your personal files are stored). The pathname
of the folder is displayed under the window's toolbar.
If you don't see such a window now,
click the icon on the panel that looks like a folder with a picture of
a house.

To open a file or folder, simply click it once with the left mouse button.
Clicking on the folder with two dots (..) takes you back one directory level.
You can also choose <bf>View > Show Tree</bf> from the menu to 
display the folder hierarchy for more direct navigation. Or you can
edit the path displayed under the toolbar, using the tab key to complete
directory names, to get to a specific directory quickly.

<sect2>Opening Files
<p>
KDE comes with a set of applications to view and edit many common kinds
of files, and when you click a file containing, say, a document or image, 
<em/kfm/ will start the appropriate application to display the file. If it doesn't know
what application to start to open a file you clicked, <em/kfm/ will prompt you
for the name of the application to run.

Technical Note: <em/kfm/ uses <ref id="mime" name="MIME types"> to associate
files with applications. 

<sect2>Dragging and Dropping Icons
<p>
To copy or move a file, simply drag its icon to the desktop, to another
<em/kfm/ window, or to a folder icon.
When you release the button, <em/kfm/ displays a menu to
allow you to choose to copy, move, or create a link to the file.
Note that if you choose to create a link, KDE creates a Unix "symbolic link"
(not a "hard link"), so if you move or delete the original file, the link will
be broken.

Many KDE applications also support drag and drop operations: you can drag an
icon onto a window of running application, or onto an icon of an application
that is not started, to have the application open the file. Try it!

<sect2>Setting File Properties
<p>
To change file properties, such as its name and permissions, right-click
the icon and choose Properties from the menu.

<sect1>Working with Archives and Networks
<p>

In the near past, you needed special software to access files 
on the Internet. Not any more!
KDE supports a technology called "Network Transparent
Access" (NTA) which allows you to work with files 
on the other side of the earth as easily as those on your local hard disk.

For example, to access files on an FTP server, just choose
<bf>File > Open Location</bf> from a <em/kfm/ menu, and enter the URL
of an FTP server.  You can drag and drop
files to and from the folders on the server just as if they were on your
local disk. You'll even be able to open files on the FTP server without having
to copy them to your local disk (KDE does it for you when necessary).

Note that <em/kfm/ uses anonymous FTP access, which may restrict your
access to files on the FTP server.  If you have an account on the
server, you can supply your user ID as part of the URL,
like this:<newline>
<newline>
<tt>ftp://<em/userid/@<em/server//<em/directory/</tt><newline>
<newline>
<em/kfm/ will prompt you for your password, and if the login succeeds,
you will have full access to your files on the server.

If you are used to the WinZip(tm) utility
on MS-Windows(tm), then you will be happy to hear that KDE can look
into tar archives, too. It treats such archives just like a normal
folder -- you can browse into the archive, open files, etc.
In general, accessing files on the Internet and in archives should look and
feel just like accessing files on your local disk, except for delays
imposed by the network.

<sect1>Using Templates to access Applications and Devices
<p>
One of the folders KDE places on your desktop when you 
log in the first time is called <em/Templates/. It holds a number of
files with a .kdelnk extension (not shown). These <em/kdelnk/ files
are used to represent the following in KDE:
<itemize>
<item>Applications
<item>Printers
<item>Mountable Devices (e.g. floppy drives)
<item>Internet resources (e.g. WWW documents, FTP directories)
</itemize>

Nearly every item in the Application Starter and on the panel
refers to a <em/kdelnk/ file on disk. The <em/kdelnk/ file
specifies what icon to display, as well as specific information about what
the icon represents (an application, device, or URL).
You can drag any <em/kdelnk/ file to the panel to create a quick-launch button.

<sect2>Setting up printers
<p>
You can create icons for your printers so that you can print a file by
dragging it to a printer icon. Here's how:
<enum>
<item>Open the Templates folder located on the desktop. 
<item>Drag the Program icon in the folder to the desktop. Choose <em/Copy/
from the menu that appears when you drop the icon.
<item>Right-click the new icon, and choose <em/Properties/ from the context
menu.
<item>On the <em/General/ tab, change the name to <tt/Printer.kdelnk/.
<item>On the <em/Execute/ tab, enter the following in the first
<em/Execute/ field:<newline>
<tt/lpr/ %f<newline>
<newline>
<bf/Note:/ This example assumes that you print using the <em/lpr/
command. If you use a different command, enter the one you use.
<item>Still in the Execute tab, click the icon that looks like a cog,
and select the Printer icon from the list that appears.
</enum>

Now you should be able to drag a file to the Printer icon and have it
printed on your default printer.

<sect2>Mounting devices
<p>
Unix provides access to storage devices other than the primary hard disk
through a process called <em/mounting/. KDE uses <em/kdelnk/ files to 
allow you to easily mount, unmount, and access
files on secondary storage devices such as floppy drives and CD-ROM drives.

As an example, here are the steps needed to create an icon to access
files on a floppy disk:

<bf/Note:/ Many systems require you to be logged in as <em/root/ to mount and
unmount devices.

<enum>
<item>Open the Templates folder located on the desktop. 
<item>Drag the Device icon in the folder to the desktop. Choose <em/Copy/
from the menu that appears when you drop the icon.
<item>Right-click the new icon, and choose <em/Properties/ from the context
menu.
<item>On the <em/General/ tab, change the name to <tt/Floppy.kdelnk/.
<item>On the <em/Device/ tab, enter <tt>/dev/fd0</tt> as the <em/Device/.
Click the <em/Mounted Icon/, and select the picture of a floppy disk with a
green light. Then click the <em/Unmounted Icon/ and select the picture of
a floppy disk without the green light.
</enum>

Now, place a properly formatted floppy in the drive and click the Floppy icon
to have KDE mount the floppy drive and display the files on the disk. Before
removing the disk from the drive, right-click the Floppy icon and choose
<em/Unmount/ from the menu.

<sect>Configuring your desktop<label id="configure">
<p>
If you do not like something about the way the desktop looks or operates,
you can probably change it.
KDE is very configurable and you can change almost every aspect of the
appearance and the behavior of your desktop. Unlike many other Unix desktop
environments, you do not have to edit cryptic configuration files, either (but
you can if you really want to)!  You use the KDE Control Center, a special
program for configuring your desktop.

<sect1>Using the KDE Control Center
<p>
Launch the Control Center from the <ref id="starter" name="Application
Starter">. A window with two panes appears, displaying a list of modules in
the left pane. Open a module by clicking the "plus" sign next to the
module or by double-clicking the module name. Then, click one of the module
category names to edit its configuration in the right pane.

Changing the configuration is fairly straightforward. A help button
is available on each configuration panel to explain settings that are
not obvious. Each panel has buttons labeled <em/Ok/, <em/Apply/, and
<em/Cancel/, which work as follows:
<itemize>
<item><bf/Ok/ applies configuration changes and closes the 
configuration panel.
<item><bf/Apply/ applies configuration changes and leaves the
current panel open so you can make other changes.
<item><bf/Cancel/ closes the current panel without applying changes.
</itemize>

<bf/Note:/ If you make changes on one configuration panel and move to
a different module without clicking <em/Ok/ or <em/Apply/ first, your
changes will be lost.

<sect1>Configuration Modules
<p>
Here is a brief overview of the configuration modules:
<itemize>
<item><bf/Applications/ - contains settings for the Desktop Manager
and the Panel (which includes virtual desktop configuration).
<p>
<item><bf/Desktop/ - contains settings related to the appearance
of the desktop, such as background color/image, window colors,
screen saver, fonts, and language.
<p>
<item><bf/Information/ - displays information about memory usage
and the system CPU.
<p>
<item><bf/Input Devices/ - contains settings for the keyboard and mouse.
<p>
<item><bf/Network/ - contains network-related settings.
<p>
<item><bf/Sound/ - contains system sound settings.
<p>
<item><bf/Windows/ - contains settings governing window appearance
and behavior, such as the focus policy, titlebar buttons, and window
animation.
</itemize>


Go ahead!  Explore the configuration possibilities and discover the flexibility
of KDE.

<sect>Logging out
<p>

We sincerely hope that using the KDE gives you so much fun and
pleasure that you never want to log out. But if you do, simply click
the small X-like button on the panel, just above the padlock button. 

<sect1>Session Management
<p>
When you log out, KDE remembers which applications you had open,
as well as where all the windows were located, so that it can
open them for you the next time you log in. This feature is termed
<em/Session Management/. KDE-aware applications will restore themselves to the
state they were in when you logged out: for example, kedit remembers which file
you were editing. Non-KDE applications do not memorize their state on logout,
and KDE will warn you to make sure that you have saved any important
data in them when you start to log out.

To illustrate session management, choose 
<bf><ref id="starter" name="application starter"> > Applications >
Editor</bf> to start KEdit. Open a text document to edit. Now log out and back
in. You will observe that KEdit will be restored to the exact same position on
the screen, including the right virtual desktop and the document we left
open in KEdit before we logged out is opened again automatically. 
KEdit will even remember whether you had unsaved changes to your
document before you logged out and will save them to the file 
you were working on if you choose 'Save' from the 'File menu'.

<sect>KDE an exciting Journey
<p>
We hope you enjoyed this brief tour of the K Desktop environment and
that this unique desktop environment will help you get
your work done faster and more comfortably than ever.

Please remember that the KDE project is not a commercial venture, but
rather a project run by volunteers from all over the world. We would 
like to invite you to join the KDE project and become part of this
unique network of people. If you are a programmer
you might consider helping us write KDE applications. If you are an artist or
have experience with graphic design, consider creating icons sets, color
schemes,  sound schemes and logos for KDE. If you enjoy writing we would love
for  you to join our documentation project, KDP.

As you can see there are many
ways in which you can help. You are cordially invited to 
join this world-wide network of people dedicated to making KDE
the best desktop environment for any computer. Please visit 
<htmlurl url="http://www.kde.org" name="www.kde.org"> for more 
information.

<bf>Welcome aboard on this exciting journey, </bf>

<tt>Your KDE Team</tt>

<sect>Advanced Topics
<p>
<sect1>Mime Types<label id="mime">
<p>
KDE comes with a number of MIME types predefined, but you
can add your own MIME types by choosing <bf>Edit > Mime Types</bf> in
a <em/kfm/ window. Then choose <bf>File > New > Mime Type</bf>, give
a name to the type, right-click the new icon, choose Properties, and
edit the entries on the Binding tab.

<sect>Credits
<p>
<sect1>Authors
<p>
<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:ettrich@kde.org"
name="Matthias Ettrich"></tt><p>

<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:kalle@kde.org"
name="Kalle Dahlheimer"></tt><p>

<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:weis@kde.org"
name="Torben Weis"></tt><p>

<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:wuebben@kde.org"
name="Bernd Wuebben"></tt><p>

<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:sschaub@csmail.bju.edu"
name="Stephen Schaub"></tt> - Editor<p>

<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:rwilliams@kde.org"
name="Robert Williams"></tt> - Editor<p>

</article>


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