Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 User manual

SUSE Linux Enterprise® provides the tools that Linux* users require in their daily activities. It comes with an
easy-to-use graphical user interface (the GNOME* desktop) that communicates with the underlying Linux system
to let you access and manage les, folders, and programs. SUSE Linux Enterprise provides an integrated suite
of applications for a wide range of ofce, multimedia, and Internet activities. The OpenOfce.org suite is also
included, which allows you to edit and save les in a number of formats. Because the ofce suite is available
for several operating systems, you can use the same data across different computing platforms.
Getting Started
When you start your system, you are usually prompted to
enter your username and password. If someone else in-
stalled your system, check with your system administrator
for your username and password.
After logging in to GNOME for the rst time, you see the
GNOME desktop, which offers the following basic elements:
Desktop Icons: Access programs and features on your
system by double-clicking an icon. Right-click an icon to
access additional menus and options. You can add as many
icons to your desktop as you want. By default, the desktop
features several key icons, including your personal Home
folder and a trash can for deleted items. Other icons repre-
senting devices on your computer, such as CD drives, might
also be present on the desktop. If you double-click your
Home folder, the Nautilus le manager starts and displays
the contents of your home directory.
Bottom Panel: The desktop includes a panel across the
bottom of the screen. This panel contains the Computer
menu (similar to the Start menu in Windows*), the system
tray, and a taskbar to display icons for all applications cur-
rently running. You can also add applications and applets
to the panel for easy access.
Main Menu: Click Computer on the far left of the bottom
panel to open the main menu. Commonly used applications
appear in the main menu, along with recently used applica-
tions. You can also click Documents to display your recent
documents, or you can click Places to display your favorite
places (such as your home directory or the desktop). Click
More Applications to access additional applications, listed
in categories. Use the options on the right to access help,
install additional software, open the GNOME Control Center,
lock your screen, log out of the desktop, or check the status
of your hard drive and network connections.
System Tray: The right side of the bottom panel holds
some smaller icons, including the system clock that displays
GNOME Quick Start
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP2
NOVELL® QUICK START CARD
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the date and time, the volume control, and icons for several
other helper applications.
Taskbar: By default, all started applications are displayed
in the taskbar (the area in the middle of the panel between
the Computer button and the system tray). You can access
any started application regardless of the currently active
desktop. Click an application name to open it. Right-click
an application name to see options for moving, restoring,
or minimizing the window.
Desktop Menu: Right-click an empty spot on the desktop
to display a menu with various options. Click Create Folder
to create a new folder. Use Create Launcher to create a
launcher icon for an application. Provide the name of the
application and the command for starting it, then select an
icon to represent it. You can also change the desktop
background, open a terminal, create a document, and align
desktop icons.
Modifying Desktop Panels
The bottom panel can be customized to meet your individ-
ual needs, and additional panels can be congured to fur-
ther personalize your desktop.
To add a new panel, right-click the bottom panel and select
New Panel. To delete a panel, right-click the panel and select
Delete This Panel. SUSE Linux Enterprise requires that at
least one panel be left on the desktop.
Adding and Removing Panel Icons
1. Right-click a blank space on the panel and select Add
to Panel.
2. Browse to the desired program and double-click it to
add it to the panel.
3. To remove a program icon from a panel, right-click the
icon and select Remove From Panel.
Starting Programs
To run a program in SUSE Linux Enterprise, click Computer
on the panel to open the main menu screen. If the program
you want is not in the main menu screen, click More Appli-
cations to view a list of all available applications. Navigate
the submenus and click an entry to start the corresponding
program.
You can also add an icon to your panel that opens a more
traditional version of the main menu. Right-click a blank
space on the panel, select Add to Panel, then double-click
Traditional Main Menu.
If you already know the name of an application but are not
sure how to start it from the main menu, use the Search
eld in the main menu. Click Computer, type a portion of
the application name in the Search eld, then press Enter.
If the application is installed on your system, the name of
the application appears in the Desktop Search dialog box.
Click the name to start the program.
Customizing Your Desktop
You can easily add, delete, and create shortcut icons on
your desktop. You can also change icon properties and the
desktop background to suit your needs.
Adding Program Icons to Your Desktop
1. Click Computer.
2. Browse to the desired program.
3. Click and drag the icon to the desktop and position it
as desired.
To delete an icon from your desktop, simply click the pro-
gram icon and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Changing the Desktop Background
1. Right-click the background.
2. Select Change Desktop Background.
3. To select wallpaper from the preprogrammed images,
browse to and select the desired image. After you select
it, the background changes automatically.
4. To add an image, select Add Wallpaper, browse to the
desired image, then click Open.
5. To display a colored background, select No Wallpaper
from the top of the list; then, from Desktop Colors, se-
lect the ll pattern and the desired colors.
6. Click Close.
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Conguring Desktop Effects
Xgl is an X server architecture that lets you turn your desk-
top into a rotating 3D cube, tile windows so they do not
overlap, and switch tasks while viewing live thumbnails. You
can enable translucent or transparent windows, zoom in
and out of the desktop screen, and use other window effects
such as shadows, fading, and transformations. You can also
congure windows to snap to other windows and screen
edges when they are moved.
To enable Xgl, you need a graphics adapter capable of
providing 3D support, and you also need the graphics driver
that Linux uses to operate the graphics adapter. This driver
must be able to handle OpenGL (or 3D) requests from the
Linux kernel. Your screen resolution must be within the
1024x768 to 1920x2000 range, and your color depth must
be set at 24-bit. 3D acceleration must also be enabled. Use
SaX2 to change your graphics card and monitor properties
if necessary.
1. Click Computer →Control Center.
2. Click Desktop Effects in the Look and Feel group.
The Desktop Effects tool analyzes your system and tries
to determine whether or not you can run Xgl. If it nds
anything wrong, it advises you on what actions you can
take. For example, you might be advised to change your
screen resolution or color depth, or to activate 3D ac-
celeration. Follow the on-screen prompts to congure
your system for Xgl.
3. After your system is congured for Xgl, click Enable
Desktop Effects.
4. Type the root password, then click Continue.
5. Log out of your session, then log back in.
The default desktop effects are now enabled. For exam-
ple, windows are translucent when you move them,
they fade away when you close them, and dragging a
window to the far right of the screen rotates the desk-
top cube. To change any of these effects, use the op-
tions in the Desktop Effects Setting dialog box.
Using the GNOME Control Center
In addition to letting you change individual desktop ele-
ments, GNOME lets you extensively personalize your desk-
top. You can nd more settings to adjust the overall appear-
ance and behavior of your desktop in the GNOME Control
Center. There, you can also change fonts, keyboard and
mouse congurations, regional and language settings, pa-
rameters for your Internet and network usage, and more.
To start the Control Center, click Computer, then click
Control Center on the right of the main menu.
Managing Files and Folders
Use the Nautilus File Manager to create and view folders
and documents, run scripts, and create CDs of your data.
Open Nautilus by double-clicking your home directory icon
on the desktop. The contents of your home directory are
displayed.
The elements of the Nautilus window include the following:
Menu: Lets you perform most tasks.
Toolbar: Lets you quickly navigate among les and fold-
ers, and provides access to les and folders.
Location Bar: Lets you locate les, folders, and URI sites.
Side Pane: Lets you navigate or display information about
the selected le or folder. Use the drop-down list to cus-
tomize what is shown in the pane. The list includes ways to
view information about les, perform actions on les, add
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emblems to les, view a history of recently visited sites, and
display your les in the tree system.
View Pane: Displays folders and les. Use the options
on the View menu to increase or decrease the size of con-
tent in the view pane and to display items as a list or as
icons.
Status Bar: Displays the number of items in a folder and
gives the available free space. When a le is selected, the
status bar displays the lename and size.
Archiving Folders
If you have les you have not used recently but want to
keep on your computer, you can compress the les into a
tape archive (TAR) format.
1. In the Nautilus view pane, right-click the folder you
want to archive and select Create Archive.
2. Accept the default archive lename or provide a new
name. Use tar.gz for the most common archive form.
3. Specify a location for the archive le, then click Create.
To extract an archived le, right-click the le and select
Extract Here.
Creating a CD/DVD
If your system has a CD or DVD read/write drive, you can
use the Nautilus le manager to burn CDs and DVDs.
1. Click Computer →More Applications →Audio & Video
→GNOME CD/DVD Creator, or insert a blank disc and
click Make Data CD/DVD or Make Audio CD/DVD.
2. Copy the les you want to put on the CD or DVD into
the Nautilus CD/DVD Creator window.
3. Click Write to Disc.
4. Modify information in the Write to Disc dialog box or
accept the defaults, then click Write.
The les are burned to the disc. This could take a few
minutes, depending on the amount of data being
burned and the speed of your burner.
You can also use the Helix* Banshee™ music player to burn
audio and MP3 CDs.
Using Bookmarks
Use the Nautilus bookmarks feature to mark your favorite
folders.
1. Select the folder or item you want to create a bookmark
for.
2. Click Bookmarks →Add Bookmark. The bookmark is
added to the list, with the folder name as the bookmark
name. When you bookmark a le, it is the folder that
is actually bookmarked.
3. To select an item from your bookmarks list, click
Bookmarks, then click the desired bookmark in the list.
You can also organize your bookmarks list by clicking
Bookmarks →Edit Bookmarks and making your selections
in the dialog box.
To change the order of your bookmarks, click a bookmark
and drag it to the desired location.
Browsing the Internet with Firefox
Firefox* is fast becoming the Web browser of choice. It has
all the familiarity of other browsers, plus added features
such as security and privacy tools.
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To start Firefox, click Computer →Firefox Web Browser.
With features like tabbed browsing, pop-up window block-
ing, and download and image management, Firefox com-
bines the latest Web technologies. Its easy access to differ-
ent search engines helps you nd the information you need.
Enter a URL in the location bar to start browsing.
To open an empty tab in Firefox, press Ctrl +Tand type a
new URL. To open a link in a new tab, click the link with
your middle mouse button. Right-click a tab to access more
tab options. You can create a new tab, reload one or all
existing tabs, or close a single tab or all tabs. You can also
change the sequence of the tabs by dragging and dropping
them to a new position.
Finding Information on the Web
1. To start a search on the Web with the Google* engine,
type your search keywords in the integrated search box
on the right of the location bar,
then press Enter. The results display in the window.
2. To use a different search engine, click the G icon in the
search box to open a list of other search engines.
3. Click the desired engine, then press Enter to start the
search.
You can also search the current Web page for keywords.
To do so, pressCtrl +Fto open a Find bar at the bottom of
the window. Enter your search keyword there and use the
buttons to the right of the box to search in different direc-
tions or to select all hits in the text.
Downloading Files with Firefox
If you download a le with Firefox, the Firefox Download
Manager starts and saves this le to the folder congured
in Firefox Preferences. By default, your desktop is the desti-
nation folder for downloaded les. Firefox shows your n-
ished downloads in the Downloads window.
You can open the downloaded les directly from the
Downloads window or from the destination folder. To clean
up the history of downloaded les, click Clean Up.
Conguring Firefox Preferences
To adjust the default download folder or to activate or
modify the pop-up blocking feature, click Edit →Prefer-
ences.
From here you can also congure numerous other settings
such as appearance, language, privacy, and tab options.
Click the icons and set the options on each page according
to your preferences. Click Close to apply the changes.
E-Mailing and Calendaring
For reading and managing your mail and events, SUSE Linux
Enterprise offers you Novell® Evolution™, a groupware
program that makes it easy to store, organize, and retrieve
your personal information; it also offers the GroupWise®
Client, a cross-platform, corporate e-mail system that pro-
vides secure messaging, calendaring, scheduling, and instant
messaging.
Starting Evolution for the First Time
Evolution seamlessly combines e-mail, a calendar, an address
book, and a task list in one easy-to-use application. With
its extensive support for communications and data inter-
change standards, Evolution can work with existing corpo-
rate networks and applications, including Microsoft* Ex-
change.
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To start Evolution, click Computer →More Applications →
Ofce →Evolution Mail and Calendar.
The rst time you start it, Evolution prompts you with a few
questions as it sets up a mail account and helps you import
mail from your old mail client. Then it shows you how many
new messages you have and lists upcoming appointments
and tasks, as well as the current weather and news from
news feeds. The calendar, address book, and mail tools are
available in the shortcut bar on the left.
Press Ctrl +Nto open a new item for whatever part of
Evolution you are working in. In mail, this creates a new
message. If you are in the address book, Ctrl +Ncreates a
new contact card, and in the calendar, Ctrl +Ncreates a
new appointment.
For more information on using Evolution, click Help →
Contents in any Evolution window.
Using the GroupWise Client
GroupWise is a robust, dependable messaging and collabo-
ration system that connects you to your universal mailbox
anytime and anywhere. SUSE Linux Enterprise includes the
GroupWise Cross-Platform Client for Linux.
GroupWise is not installed by default. Use the Software
Management feature in YaST to install the
novell-groupwise-gwclient package. Then click
Computer →More Applications →Communicate →
GroupWise to open the GroupWise Client.
Your main work area in GroupWise is called the main win-
dow. From the main window, you can read your messages,
schedule appointments, view your calendar, manage con-
tacts, change the mode of GroupWise you are running in,
open folders, open documents, and much more.
For more information on using GroupWise, click Help →
User Guide in the GroupWise Client.
Instant Messaging with Gaim
Gaim is a multiprotocol instant messaging (IM) client for
Linux, BSD, Mac OS* X, and Windows. It is compatible with
GroupWise Messenger, AOL* Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ,
Yahoo!*, IRC, Jabber*, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr* networks.
To congure Gaim:
1. Click Computer →More Applications →Communicate
→Gaim Instant Messenger.
2. The rst time you start Gaim, you are prompted to Add
an account. Select the protocol you want, then type
your screen name, password, and alias in the appropri-
ate elds.
3. Specify any desired user options, then click Show More
Options.
4. Type your server address in the Server Address eld.
5. Type your server port (if different from the default) in
the Server Port eld.
6. Select your proxy type, if needed.
7. Click Save, then click Close in the Accounts window.
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8. Select the account you just created in the Login win-
dow.
9. Type your password in the Password eld.
10. Click Sign On.
Viewing PDF Files
Documents that need to be shared or printed across plat-
forms can be saved as PDF (Portable Document Format)
les in the OpenOfce.org suite. SUSE Linux Enterprise ships
with several PDF viewers, such as Evince and Adobe* Acro-
bat* Reader.
1. Click Computer →More Applications →Ofce.
2. Select Acrobat Reader or Evince.
3. To view a PDF le, click File →Open, locate the desired
PDF le, then click Open.
4. Use the navigation icons at the top of the window to
navigate through the document. If your PDF document
provides bookmarks, you can access them in the left
panel of the viewer.
Finding Files on Your Computer
To locate les on your computer, click Computer, enter
your search terms in the Search eld, then press Enter. The
results are displayed in the Desktop Search dialog box.
You can use the results lists to open a le, forward it via e-
mail, or display it in the le manager. Simply right-click an
item in the results list and select the option you want. The
options available for an item depend on the type of le it
is. Clicking a le in the list displays a preview of the le and
information such as the title, path, and date the le was
last modied or accessed.
Use the Search menu to limit your search to les in a spe-
cic location, such as your address book or Web pages, or
to display only a specic type of le in your results list. The
View menu lets you sort the items in your results list accord-
ing to name, relevance, or the date the le was last modi-
ed.
You can also access Desktop Search by clicking Computer
→More Applications →System →Search.
Managing Your Music
Use Helix Banshee to import CDs, sync your music collection
to an iPod* or other digital audio player, play music directly
from an iPod (or other digital audio player), create playlists
with songs from your library, create audio and MP3 CDs
from subsets of your library, and subscribe to, download,
and listen to your favorite podcasts. Helix Banshee also
supports streaming audio through its Internet Radio plug-
in.
To open Helix Banshee, click Computer →Helix Banshee
Music Player.
The rst time you open Helix Banshee, click OK to accept
the license agreement. You are then prompted to import
music. Choose an import source, such as a local folder, local
le, or your home directory, then click Import Music Source.
After successfully importing your music, your library is dis-
played.
To play a song, simply select the song in the library and
click the play button. You can also use the buttons in the
upper left corner to pause a song or play the next or previ-
ous song. Use the loudspeaker button on the right to adjust
the volume.
Helix Banshee also has an integrated CD player. When you
insert a music CD, your CD title appears in the left panel.
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Select the title and click the Play button to play your full
CD.
To create audio and MP3 CDs, select the songs you want,
then click the Write CD button in the upper-right side of
Helix Banshee.
Managing Your Digital Image
Collection
F-Spot is a management tool for your collection of digital
images tailored for the GNOME desktop. It allows you to
assign different tags to your images in order to categorize
them and offers various image editing options. For example,
you can remove red-eye, crop, and adjust brightness and
colors. F-Spot supports sixteen common le types, including
JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and RAW.
You can import photos from your hard drive, your digital
camera, or your iPod. You can also use F-Spot to create
photo CDs, generate a Web site gallery, or export your
photos to your Flickr, 23, Picasa Web, or SmugMug account.
To access F-Spot, click Computer →F-Spot Photo Browser.
The rst time you run F-Spot, you must tell it where to nd
the images you want to import into your collection. If you
already have a collection of images stored on your hard
drive, enter the path to the respective directory and option-
ally include subfolders. F-Spot imports these images into
its database.
Thumbnails of your images are displayed in the right part
of the window, and detailed information for a selected im-
age is displayed in a sidebar to the left. By default, your
photos are displayed in reverse-chronological order, so your
newest photos are always at the top. You can sort your
photos in chronological order or reverse-alphabetical order
by clicking View →Reverse Order.
A menu bar at the top of the window allows you to access
the main menus. A toolbar below offers several different
functions depicted by a matching icon.
Starting OpenOfce.org
The OpenOfce.org ofce suite offers a complete set of
ofce tools, including word processing, spreadsheet, presen-
tation, vector drawing, and database components. Because
OpenOfce.org is available for a number of operating sys-
tems, you can use the same data across different computing
platforms.
To start OpenOfce.org, click Computer →OpenOfce.org
Writer. To create a new document, click File →New, then
choose the type of document you want to create. To open
an existing document, click Open, then select the le you
want from the le system.
Conguring Your System with YaST
Use the YaST Control Center to change the installation and
conguration of your whole system. Administrator (or root)
permission is required to open YaST.
To open YaST, click Computer →More Applications →
System →YaST, then enter the root password. If you do
not know the root password, ask your system administra-
tor.
YaST contains various modules you can use to adjust your
system settings. These modules are divided into the follow-
ing categories:
AppArmor: Use the modules of this category to congure
the Novell AppArmor™ access control system. This option
is available only if the Novell AppArmor pattern is installed.
Hardware: Contains modules for conguring hardware
components such as your monitor, keyboard, mouse,
printer, and scanner.
Miscellaneous: Holds several modules that cannot easily
be classied into the rst six module groups. For example,
you can view log les and install drivers from a vendor CD.
Network Devices: Includes modules for conguring
network devices such as network cards, ISDN, DSL, or mo-
dem.
Network Services: Contains modules for network services
and for conguring clients such as LDAP and NFS.
Security: Use these modules to congure security details
such as rewall options, and to create and manage users
and groups.
Software: Use the modules of this category to set options
for installation and updates, and to install or remove soft-
ware packages.
System: Use these modules to change system settings
such as the date, time, or language, and to perform tasks
such as backing up or restoring les.
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Other: Use the modules of this category to create and
administer virtual machines. This option is available only if
the Xen Virtual Machine Host Server pattern is installed.
Managing Printers
Printers can either be connected to your system locally or
accessed over a network. To use a local printer, make sure
that it is connected to your machine. Shut down the system
before connecting a non-USB printer to your system.
You can congure printers with YaST. Start YaST, then click
Hardware →Printer to open the main printer conguration
window. Depending on the network environment or your
local printer model, YaST might be able to congure the
printer automatically. If autodetection of printing devices
fails, click Add in the Printer Conguration dialog to start
the manual conguration workow. Follow the instructions
in the YaST online help. If you are not sure which option
to choose and which information to enter, ask your system
administrator.
After conguring a printing device correctly, you can ad-
dress it from any application.
SUSE Linux Enterprise also includes iPrint, which lets mobile
employees, business partners, and customers access printers
from a variety of remote locations using existing Internet
connections. Whether users are working in an ofce build-
ing, telecommuting from home, or attending a sales meeting
in another country, iPrint ensures that they can print docu-
ments quickly, easily, and reliably. To install the iPrint Client,
see Installing the iPrint Linux Client [http://www.novell
.com/documentation/sled10/iprint/data/
bwajcld.html] in the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop iPrint
Client User Guide.
You can also use the GNOME Control Center to monitor
and manage your print jobs. Click Computer →Control
Center →Printers. Administrator (or root) permission is
required.
Logging Out
When you are nished using the computer, you can log out
and leave the system running, or restart or shut down the
computer.
Logging Out or Switching Users
Click Computer →Logout, then select one of the following
options:
Log out: Logs you out of the current session and returns
you to the login screen.
Switch User: Suspends your session, allowing another
user to log in and use the computer.
Restarting or Shutting Down the Computer
Click Computer →Shutdown, then select one of the follow-
ing options:
Shutdown: Logs you out of the current session, then
turns off the computer.
Restart: Logs you out of the current session, then restarts
the computer.
Sleep: Puts your computer in a temporary state that
conserves power. The state of your session is preserved,
however, including all applications you have running and
all documents you have open.
Hibernate: Suspends your session, using no power until
the computer is restarted. The state of your session is pre-
served, however, including all applications you have running
and all documents you have open.
For More Information
This guide gave you a short introduction to the GNOME
desktop and some key applications running on it. To discov-
er more, refer to GNOME User Guide and the other manuals
available for SUSE Linux Enterprise at http://www
.novell.com/documentation/sled10/ or in your
installed system under /usr/share/doc/manual.
Legal Notice
Copyright© 2006-2008 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied,
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stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted without the
express written consent of the publisher. For Novell trade-
marks, see the Novell Trademark and Service Mark list
[http://www.novell.com/company/legal/
trademarks/tmlist.html]. All third-party trademarks
are the property of their respective owners. A trademark
symbol (® , ™, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk
(*) denotes a third-party trademark.
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Created by SUSE® with XSL-FO
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