Chapter 2. Customizing Your Settings

Chapter 2. Customizing Your Settings¶

Contents

2.1. The KDE Control Center
2.2. Configuring Desktop Objects
2.3. Configuring 3D Desktop Effects
2.4. Configuring the Panel
2.5. Configuring System and Security Aspects

You can change the way your KDE desktop looks and behaves to suit your own personal tastes and needs. There are several ways to influence the look and feel of the KDE desktop depending on the scope of changes to make. For users, the following options are available:

To change the appearance or behavior of individual desktop objects only, you can usually access a configuration dialog by right-clicking the object.
To change the overall appearance and behavior of your KDE desktop, use the KDE control center. It offers access to numerous configuration modules and dialogs, some of which can also be accessed from the context menu of individual desktop objects.

2.1. The KDE Control Center¶

The KDE control center is the central place for users to change the overall appearance and behavior of nearly any component of the KDE desktop. Start the control center from the main menu by selecting Favorites+Personal Settings or press Alt+F2 and enter kcontrol.

Figure 2.1. KDE Control Center¶

Starting Individual Modules

	Starting Individual Modules
You can also start individual modules of the KDE control center from a terminal or by adding a special applet to your panel. To start modules from a shell, enter kcmshell `--list` to get a list of all modules available. Then enter kcmshell `module name` to start the desired module. Alternatively, add the Settings applet to your panel according to the description in Procedure 2.5, “Adding and Removing Panel Elements”.

You can also start individual modules of the KDE control center from a terminal or by adding a special applet to your panel.

To start modules from a shell, enter kcmshell --list to get a list of all modules available. Then enter kcmshell module name to start the desired module.

Alternatively, add the Settings applet to your panel according to the description in Procedure 2.5, “Adding and Removing Panel Elements”.

The sidebar provides different categories each with a subset of settings. Click a category icon to explore the possibilities provided there. You can always return to the higher-level category by clicking Back. For an overview of all categories, switch to a tree view. Change the view by selecting View +Mode+Tree View.

Clicking an item displays the corresponding settings on the right. Change the settings as desired. No changes take effect until you click Apply. If you have changed an option then decide that you want to leave the settings as they were, click Reset to discard the changes. Reset all items on the page to the default values by clicking Default. Changing some settings may require root permissions. Log in as root if prompted to do so.

The following list introduces the major categories and highlights the most important settings you can change there. Detailed information about the settings of each category is provided by the Help button on each page of settings or in the help center.

Appearance & Themes

Holds settings for the desktop background, the screen saver, and the fonts appearing on the desktop. You can modify themes, window decorations, and styles of desktop elements, such as buttons, menus, and scroll bars. Cursor behavior and the splash screen that appears on KDE start-up can also be influenced here.

Desktop

Holds settings that allow you to increase or decrease the number of virtual desktops and to control panel options such as size, position, length, and appearance of the panel. You can also change the main menu here. In the taskbar section, configure taskbar options such as whether to show windows from all desktops on the taskbar. Two further sections allow you to control the behavior of windows.

Internet & Network

Lets you define Bluetooth options and preferences such as time-out values for certain connections. You can also share your desktop, enable or disable file sharing, and set options for local network browsing and proxy servers. The behavior of Konqueror as a Web browser can be modified here.

KDE Components

With the Component Chooser, change the default e-mail client, text editor, messenger, terminal, and Web browser. Whenever a KDE application needs to start an application of these types, it always calls the default component set here. Configure options for your desktop search with Kerry Beagle® here, for example, which directories to index. If needed, change the default file associations to identify a file type and start an appropriate application. Set options for Konqueror as a file manager. Define how KDE handles sessions on login or shutdown and modify your spell checking options here.

Peripherals

Holds options for devices such as digital cameras, displays, joysticks, keyboards, mouses, OBEX devices, printers, remote controls, and removable media like CD-ROMs or USB sticks. For example, you can add your camera model and define the type of port with which it is connected to your computer or modify keyboard and mouse settings, such as repeat delay, single or double clicking options, and double-click intervals. You can assign default actions to certain types of removable media (for example, always start KsCD when detecting an audio CD) and configure printers.

Regional & Accessibility

Define country and language–specific options here, such as currency, number and date format, and keyboard layouts for different languages between which you can switch. You can also view and modify the predefined KDE shortcuts (for example, Alt+Ctrl+L to lock the screen). This category also offers accessibility options for handicapped users, such as sound and keyboard options and mouse gestures.

Security & Privacy

Go here to change your password, set options for KWallet (the KDE password management tool), configure encryption for KDE, or manage private data such as recently opened documents, recently visited Web sites, cookies, and the contents of the clipboard.

Sound & Multimedia

Holds options for configuring the system bell and system notifications and the encoding and device settings for audio CDs.

System Administration

Use this category to configure the appearance and behavior of the KDE login manager (KDM) or to change the default paths to some important directories for your data: Desktop, Autostart, and Documents. You can also install personal or systemwide fonts here.

In the following sections, find examples of how to configure some aspects of your KDE desktop that you might want to customize.

2.2. Configuring Desktop Objects¶

Your KDE desktop comes with a predefined set of desktop icons. By adding various objects such as folders, files, or links, you can create additional icons on your desktop and arrange them as you like.

Procedure 2.1. Creating and Arranging Desktop Icons¶

To add a new desktop object, for example, from the main menu or the Konqueror file manager, select an entry and drag it onto the desktop. A context menu appears from which to choose whether to copy, move, or create a link to the object.
To add a new desktop object, you can also right-click an empty space on the desktop and select Create New. From the submenu, choose the type of object to create on the desktop: a folder, one of several types of files, or a link to an application, a file, a Web site, or a device like your CD-ROM drive.
To arrange the icons on your desktop, right-click an empty space on the desktop and select one of the options under Icons.

SUSE Linux Enterprise® comes with predefined screen saver settings that you can adjust.

Procedure 2.2. Configuring the Screen Saver¶

Right-click an empty space on the desktop and select Configure Desktop.
In the dialog that opens, click Screen Saver.
In the list of screen savers, click a screen saver to see a preview in the right side of the dialog.
Click Setup to adjust options like speed or shapes.
You can also choose to view a blank screen instead or to let KDE start a random screen saver. Find these options at the end of the screen saver list.
Under Settings, determine after how long a time of inactivity the screen saver should start and whether a password is required to unlock the screen after the screen saver has started.
Click OK to apply the changes and close the configuration dialog.

You can change the background colors of your desktop or select a picture to use as the background. Because KDE offers virtual desktops, you can apply these changes to one or all of your virtual desktops.

Procedure 2.3. Changing the Desktop Background¶

Right-click an empty patch of the desktop and select Configure Desktop. A configuration dialog appears.
In Settings for Desktop select the virtual desktops to which the changes should apply.
To change the picture on the background, click Picture and select one of the pictures in the list. To use a custom picture, click the folder button beneath the list and select an image file from the file system.
Click Slide Show to have multiple images appear in a slide show mode.
If you do not want a picture on the background, click No picture.
From the Options group, click the left button below Colors to select the color for your background. For a multicolor background, set Colors to an option other than Single Color and click the right button below to select a second color.
Click Apply then OK to close the configuration dialog.

Some users might need more desktops than provided by default.

Procedure 2.4. Adding Additional Virtual Desktops¶

Right-click the desktop previewer in the panel and select Configure Desktops. A configuration dialog appears where you can increase or reduce the number of virtual desktops. You can also change the default names of the desktop.
Click OK to apply the changes and close the configuration dialog.
For the names of the desktops to appear in the desktop previewer rather than the number, right-click the desktop previewer and select Pager Options+Desktop Name.

2.3. Configuring 3D Desktop Effects¶

Configuring desktop effects (Xgl) for your KDE desktop is as simple as a few clicks in YaST and the KDE control center (Personal Settings).

Figure 2.2. 3D Desktop Effects on KDE

To find out whether your hardware supports desktop effects and to prepare for the configuration, proceed as follows:

Install the following packages with YaST: compiz-kde, xgl, xgl-hardware-list, and compiz.
Check whether your hardware supports desktop effects at all by reviewing the /etc/X11/xgl-hardware-list file.
Download and install missing drivers if needed by following the vendor's instructions.

To enable 3D desktop effects on your desktop, proceed as follows:

Start YaST from the main menu or by pressing Alt+F2 and entering yast.
In YaST, select System+/etc/sysconfig Editor.
In the list on the left, unfold the Desktop+Display manager entries.
Select the DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER entry and set its value to Xgl.
Click Finish to apply the changes.
Reboot your machine.
Desktop effects should now be available to you.

These are the most prominent features available to you when using desktop effects and their default keyboard shortcuts:

Wrap your virtual desktops around a cube and rotate the cube to get to another virtual desktop. Rotate the cube with Ctrl+Alt+→ or Ctrl+Alt+← key combinations.
Fly through the range of virtual desktops without having to use the pager and select the one you want to use. To change to this panel-like view, use the Ctrl+Alt+↓ key combination. To scroll to a desktop left or right to the current one, keep holding Ctrl+Alt and use the → and ← keys.
Zoom into certain parts of the desktop. Select the area to enlarge and right-click while holding the Windows key.
Fit all windows opened on one virtual desktop to be displayed in full so you can easily switch focus between them. Arrange the windows by using the Ctrl+Alt+↑ key combination. While holding down the Ctrl+Alt keys, use the arrow keys to determine the focus.
Create virtual raindrops on your desktop and use a virtual windscreen wiper to get rid of them. Toggle the raindrops with Shift+F9 and toggle the windscreen wiper with Shift+F8.

	Configuring Desktop Effects
Use the gnome-xgl-settings utility to select the type of desktop effects to run, configure keyboard shortcuts, and perform other fine-tuning related to the desktop effects. Run the gnome-xgl-settings command in a terminal window or the Run Command prompt.

To disable desktop effects in a running session, proceed as follows:

Open the KDE control center and select KDE Components+Session Manager.
In the Advanced group, set Preferred Window Manager to kwin.
Apply your settings and leave the module.

To disable desktop effects permanently, proceed as follows:

Start YaST.
Select System+/etc/sysconfig Editor.
In the list on the left, unfold the Desktop+Display manager entries.
Select the DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER entry and set its value to Xorg.
Click Finish to apply the changes.
Reboot your machine.

2.4. Configuring the Panel¶

You can add the following objects to your panel: applications, applets (mini-programs) and further panels. Applications and applets can either be added to the quick launch area or the system tray in the main panel or in additional panels. Panel elements and additional panels can be moved to different places or be completely removed at any time.

Procedure 2.5. Adding and Removing Panel Elements¶

Right-click an empty patch of the panel.
To add a new application to the panel:
1. From the context menu, select Add Application to Panel.
2. Select the application to add from one of the categories of the submenu. The application icon is inserted into the panel.
3. To change the icon for the application, right-click the button and select Configure Application Button. By clicking the application icon in the dialog box that appears, open a new window in which to select a different icon.
4. To remove the icon from the panel, right-click the icon and select Remove Button.
To add a new applet to the panel:
1. From the context menu, select Add Applet to Panel.
2. In the dialog box that appears, select the applet to add and click Add to Panel. The applet is inserted into the panel.
3. To remove the applet from the panel, right-click the icon and select Quit. If the context menu of the applet does not provide a Quit menu item, hold the mouse pointer over the left-side boundary of the area and right-click the small black arrow displayed there. Select Remove.
You can also add additional panels of different types. To do so, right-click an empty patch of the panel and select Add Panel. Choose the type of panel to add from the submenu.
To remove the additional panel, right-click an empty patch of a panel, select Remove Panel and choose the panel to remove from the desktop.

Procedure 2.6. Moving Elements within Panels¶

To move an application icon to a different position in the panel, right-click the icon and select Move. The mouse pointer changes into a cross-hair. Drag the pointer to the place in the panel to insert the icon then press the left mouse button. The icon is inserted at the new position.
In the same way, you can also move areas of the panel, such as the desktop previewer, the taskbar, and the system tray: Hold the mouse pointer over the boundary of the area and click the small black arrow displayed there. From the context menu, select Move. Click again to insert the area at the new position.

You can configure many aspects of the main panel and of additional panels. For example, you can change size, length, and position of a panel or activate transparency effects. You can also influence the taskbar behavior.

Procedure 2.7. Changing Panel Appearance and Behavior¶

Right-click an empty patch of the panel and select Configure Panel. A dialog opens in which you can configure several aspects of the panel. To access the different categories, click one of the icons at the left window pane. By default, the dialog shows the options of the Arrangement category.
If you added additional panels, a list appears at the top of the window, showing the available panels. Select the panel to configure.
If desired, choose a different position on the desktop, adjust the panel length, or increase or decrease the panel size and Apply your settings.
To activate or deactivate automatic hiding of the panel or change the default hiding options, click Hiding on the left window pane. Set the options according to your wishes and click Apply.
To change the color of the panel or to enable transparency or background images for the panel, click Appearance.
Below Button Backgrounds, you can choose a background for different parts of the panel. To color a part of the panel, choose Custom Color from the list for the respective button and click the button on the right to choose a color.
To make the panel appear transparent, activate Enable transparency. To increase visibility of the transparent panel also for very dark or very light backgrounds, click Advanced Options and set a color and the amount of tinting for the panel. Apply your changes.
To change the default behavior of the taskbar, click Taskbar on the left window pane.
To make the taskbar show only the applications from the currently active desktop instead of all applications, deactivate Show windows from all desktops.
Change the other taskbar options, if desired, and click Apply.
When all panel options are set according to your preferences, leave the configuration dialog with OK.

Procedure 2.8. Configuring the Main Menu¶

To configure your main menu, proceed as follows:

Start the KDE control center from the main menu or press Alt+F2 and enter kcontrol.
Click Desktop+Panels.
Figure 2.3. Editing the Main Menu¶
Click the Menus tab.
You can define whether to see the applications names or the descriptive text (or both) in the main menu. Select from Name only, Name (Description), Description only, and Description (name).
To change a menu item, click Edit K Menu. The K Menu Editor shows a list of menu items on the left.
1. Click the item in the list and change its options on the right.
2. You can add new menu items, submenus, or separators with the File menu or the toolbar.
3. To cut, copy, paste, or delete objects in the main menu, use the Edit menu or the icons in the toolbar.
4. To apply your changes in the K Menu Editor, click File+Quit.
To apply all of your changes in the Menus tab and close the KDE control center, click Apply .

2.5. Configuring System and Security Aspects¶

By default, SUSE Linux Enterprise 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. Such user-installed fonts are, however, only visible and available to the corresponding user.

Procedure 2.9. Installing New Fonts¶

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

To install new fonts, proceed as follows:

Start the control center from the main menu or press Alt+F2 and enter kcontrol.
Click System Administration+Font Installer.
To update system fonts, click Administrator Mode and enter the root password. Then proceed as described below.
To install fonts as a user, click Add Fonts.
In the dialog that opens, select one or more fonts for installation. The marked fonts are then installed to your personal font folder. Selecting a font shows a preview.

By default, you define the settings for KWallet password manager with the help of a wizard when you use KWallet for the first time. You can adjust the initial settings at any time to increase security.

Procedure 2.10. Adjusting KWallet Settings¶

If KWallet is already started, click the KWallet symbol in the panel and select Configure Wallet. Otherwise, open KDE control center and click Security & Privacy+KDE Wallet.
If KWallet Manager is not yet enabled, activate the respective check box at the top.
By default, a wallet is closed when the last application stops using it. To increase security, you can set a more restrictive policy: to close a wallet automatically after a period of inactivity or after start-up of the screen saver, activate the respective check boxes.
To remove the KWallet icon from the panel, deactivate Show manager in system tray. You can then only access KWallet from the main menu.
By default, KWallet stores all passwords in one wallet named kdewallet. To store local and network-related passwords in different wallets, activate Different wallet for local passwords. Click New to create an additional wallet, if needed.

Instead of using KWallet to manage your passwords, you can also make use of single-sign on with Novell CASA, if this is configured for your system. Single sign-on is a method of access control that enables users to authenticate once and thus gain access to the resources of multiple software systems. CASA (Common Authentication Service Adapter) lets you manage authentication credentials across several platforms like SUSE Linux Enterprise, Microsoft* Windows* and Macintosh* OS 10. You can access and store passwords of the programs and services installed on any of these platforms. CASA also interfaces with GNOME Keyring, KDE's KWallet, and the Firefox Password Manager, allowing you to manage all of these from one interface if desired.

Before you can use CASA to manage your passwords, CASA needs to be enabled in YaST. To do so, start YaST and click Security+CASA. In the CASA Configuration dialog, click Enable CASA and after the confirmation message, click Finish to close YaST.

Procedure 2.11. Managing Passwords with Novell CASA¶

Start Novell CASA Manager from the main menu by selecting System+Configuration+Novell CASA Manager.
If the CASA services are not available yet, a message box lets you start the appropriate YaST module to enable CASA first.

If you start CASA for the first time, you are prompted for a master password to encrypt and secure your credentials. Enter your master password twice and click OK. The Novell CASA Manager opens.

	Persistent Storage in CASA is Tied to Login Password
Verify that your login password has been recorded and an SS_CredSet:Desktop entry is shown on the miCASA tab. If the entry does not appear, log out from your desktop and log in again to have your password recorded with CASA. If your login password is not known to CASA, you cannot use single sign-on.

To configure CASA, select Options+Preferences.
In the Preferences dialog, select the stores that should be supported by CASA and click OK. A tab is added for each store you selected, so you can now access and manage the passwords stored there from Novell CASA Manager.
To delete a password from one of the stores, select the entry, right-click and choose Delete.
If you need to change the CASA master password, select Options+Change Master Password.

You can also edit existing passwords, import or export passwords, or link passwords with Novell CASA. For more information, click Help+Contents to access the CASA online help. Find the complete CASA documentation at http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Downloads/casa.