The K Desktop Environment

K Desktop Environment

Version 1.01.00
Last updated: 24/02/1999

The KDE Team

This is the KDE User's Guide, a complete documentation of the K Desktop Environment from the user perspective. The programming issues will be covered in a separate book, coming soon. The K Desktop Environment is a collection of tools that will make your UNIX life easier and more enjoyable.


Table of Contents
1. About This Preview
1.1. Status of This Book
1.2. What is Missing
1.3. What I Urgently Need
2. Introduction
2.1. What KDE Can Do For You
2.2. Background of KDE
2.3. Legal Notices
2.4. How to Get New Components
2.5. Contacting the Authors
3. Installation
3.1. Requirements
3.2. Linux: Installing RPMs for RedHat, Caldera and SuSE.
3.3. Linux: Installing on Top of a Debian/GNU Linux Distribution
3.4. Using TGZ to Install on Top of Other Systems
3.4.1. Platform Specific Building Notes
3.5. Required Changes To Your Configuration Files
4. First Impressions
4.1. Starting KDE
4.2. Desktop Components
4.2.1. Panel
4.2.2. Using Windows
4.2.3. Getting Help
5. Getting Started
5.1. Editing Files
5.1.1. Opening a Window Containing Your Home Directory
5.1.2. The File Manager Screen
5.1.3. Navigating Through Directories
5.1.4. Editing a File
5.1.5. The Editor Screen
5.1.6. Using the Editor
5.1.7. Saving Your Work
5.2. Moving Files With Drag and Drop
5.2.1. Opening Two File Manager Windows
5.2.2. Dragging a File From One Window To Another
5.3. Using Command Line And Terminals
5.3.1. Quick Command Line
5.3.2. The UNIX Terminal Emulator
5.4. Finding Your Lost Files
5.4.1. Starting KFind
5.4.2. Finding a File by Knowing Parts of Its Name
5.4.3. Finding a File by More Complex Criteria
5.5. Using Multiple Desktops
5.6. Quitting KDE
6. All About Your Desktop
6.1. The Autostart Folder
6.2. Adding Programs and Shortcut Icons to Your Panel
6.2.1. Programs
6.2.2. Shortcut Icons
6.3. Creating New Files On Your Desktop
6.4. Placing Links on Your Desktop
6.4.1. Using Templates
6.4.2. Using MIME Types
6.4.3. Defining Your Own Templates
6.5. Using the Font Manager
6.5.1. Understanding the Raw X11 Font List
6.6. Using the Trashcan
7. Customizing KDE: The K Control Center
7.1. Desktop
7.1.1. Background
7.1.2. Colors
7.1.3. Screensaver
7.1.4. Style
7.1.5. Titlebar
7.1.6. Windows
7.2. Sound System
7.2.1. Bell
7.3. Input Devices
7.3.1. Keyboard
7.3.2. Mouse
7.4. Panel Settings
7.4.1. Panel and Taskbar
7.4.2. Options
7.4.3. Desktops
7.5. System Information
7.6. Network
7.6.1. Samba Network Status
8. Tips & Tricks for Your Daily Work
8.1. Shortcut Table
8.2. Mouse Techniques
8.3. Activating the Screen Saver by Moving Your Mouse to a Corner
9. Entertainment Applications
9.1. Kmines
9.2. Kpoker
9.3. Ktetris
10. Graphical Applications
10.1. Kfract - Fractal Generator
10.2. Kview - Image Viewer
10.2.1. Display Manager
10.2.2. Image Window(s)
11. Multimedia Applications
11.1. Kmix - Sound Mixer Panel
11.2. Kmedia - Media Player
12. Network Applications
12.1. Kmail - Mail Client
12.2. Knu - Network Utilities
12.3. Krn - News Client
13. Utility Applications
14. Frequently Asked Questions About KDE
14.1. What Does "KDE" Stand For?
14.2. I Cannot Compile Package xxx
14.3. KDE is Not Stable
14.4. Other Sources for Help
15. Epilogue
15.1. The K Documentation Staff
15.2. We still need people!
15.3. Legal notices
15.4. Sources of information used during the creation of this book
15.5. Greetings
15.6. GNU General Public License