Kicker, the KDE Panel
Kicker is the application launcher panel of the K Desktop Environment. By default, it appears along the bottom of the screen, and takes up the whole of the width of the screen. Kicker is something of a one-stop shop for (almost!) everything that you might want quick access to. Besides the 
icon Menu, where you can start applications, Kicker is also capable of running docked applets like the pager, the taskbar or the clock, and extensions, such as child panels. The next section describes some common ways to customize the panel.
Customizing the icons on the panel
When you first start KDE, kicker displays some icons next to the menu. These can be used to start the applications that they represent.
These default icons might not represent the applications you use most often, so you can remove the ones you do not want and add icons for other applications that you use.
To remove an icon, right mouse button-click on the icon, and select Remove application name Button in the popup menu that appears.
To add a new icon, right mouse button-click on an empty space on the panel, and follow the menu entry . This leads you to a copy of the menu, where you can find all of the KDE applications. For example, to add an icon for the JuK music player, follow through the menus to ->->. The icon will appear on the panel in the space that you right-clicked on.
Adding extras and applets
Kicker can add many types of items as well as application launch icons. You can find these items using the same menu as before, but this time selecting Add Applet to Panel... or Add New Panel. The items in the Add Applet window are small programs that can reside on the panel. An example of an applet is the Desktop Preview & Pager, which shows a small image of each of your virtual desktops.
The System Tray
The system tray is where programs that are run, but not directly needed are kept. Some programs (like music players) are shown there, because you probably want to keep them open, but so that it does not take too much space on your screen, it will put an icon in the system tray.
When you right click on such an icon, a popup menu will appear where you can see some options of the program (like play, pause, stop, ... in a music player).
When you left click on it, the main window of the program will appear. If you hover your mouse above the icon, a tool tip will appear with some information (in the music player case information like the current song). Programs that normally support system tray icons are music players, IRC clients, organizers, ...
Removing Panel Items
You can remove applets and other special items from the panel using the arrow on its handle on the applet's left. Right click on the arrow, and choose .
The desktop
Adding an application to the desktop
Just choose the desired application from the K menu and drag and drop it to the Desktop. For applications not listed in the K menu, use the right mouse button on the desktop and choose Create New->File->Link to Application... and fill in the configuration for the application you want to link to.
Mounting/Unmounting a device from the desktop
First, make sure you are allowed to mount/umount the relevant device as a user. Then you can add any device via right mouse button on the desktop and then choosing Create New->Link to Device and then selecting the device of the type you wish to control from the desktop. Fill in the settings for the device in the dialog that appears and click OK. You can use the resulting desktop icon to mount/unmount the device from the desktop.
The window manager
Defining my own set of keyboard shortcuts
Launch the KDE Control Center and select -> to configure window manager bindings like maximizing windows, etc..
What is “shading” a window?
By “shading” a window we mean “rolling up” the window leaving just the title bar visible. You can do this by double clicking on the window title bar.
How can I start an application with special window options, like maximized/minimized/to stay on top?
Use the kstart command. As an example, to open KCalc with the “Stay on Top” option, use:
yazhini@localhost:~$ kstart --ontop kcalc
For maximized windows, use the --maximize option, for minimized windows, use --iconify.
The File Manager
Changing the appearance of a folder in Konqueror
Right-click the folder, select , click on the large icon in the dialog which appears, and choose another icon. To change the icon displayed for entries in the , use the Menu Editor, located at ->.
Non-anonymous FTP transfers with Konqueror
Normally, if you enter a URL like ftp://ftp.somehost.com, Konqueror will attempt an anonymous login to the FTP server. If you want to login as a particular user, enter a URL like ftp://username@ftp.somehost.com instead. Konqueror will ask for your password and connect to the server.
Specify the startup folder for Konqueror
Using the right mouse button, click on the Home icon and choose Properties. Under the Application tab you will probably find something like kfmclient openProfile filemanagement; just append file:/whereever/you/want with the folder you would like Konqueror to start in.
Configure the programs that Konqueror uses to open different types of files
In order to configure file associations, you should go to the KDE Control Center and choose the item File Associations under the category KDE Components.
Suppose the default PDF viewer is now KGhostView and you would prefer to use KPDF as a viewer. You would simply type pdf in the search box at the top of the dialog, choose pdf in the application group and move KPDF up. In the Embedding tab you can also choose which component other applications will use to display files (for example, when viewing files in Konqueror or using Ark's embedded viewer).
KDE
Setting my default web browser to be something other than Konqueror
If you are using KDE 3.3 or later, open up the KDE Control Center and navigate to the KDE Components->Component Chooser panel. Select Web Browser from the list on the left, then select Open http and https URLs in the following browser: and type in the name of the browser (e.g. mozilla, firefox, opera, etc.) in the textbox.
/* Will add few more important things and finish this soon */
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.