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| Red Hat Linux 7.2: The Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide |
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The GNOME and KDE file managers are powerful and important tools. You can use
these applications to help you create, edit, and delete files and
directories, as well as accomplish other tasks throughout your
system. This chapter also explains how to manage files and directories
from the command line.
This chapter provides an overview of Nautilus
and Konquerer, the file managers for GNOME and
KDE. To learn more, read the GNOME
User's Guide or the KDE user's documentation in their
respective help browsers. You can also find the latest
documentation at their websites: http://www.gnome.org and http://www.kde.org.
The GNOME file manager, Nautilus, lets you easily browse
and work with files and directories. If
Nautilus does not open on your desktop by
default:
From the , click
on =>
=> .
From the desktop, click on the home directory icon. By
default, this icon looks like a house.
On the left, you see a folder representing the directory in which
you are currently working. On the right, you see the contents of
that folder (as a new user, it is unlikely that there will be many new files or directories
when you first open the file manager). Click on the drop-down menu labelled View as
Icons and select View as List to have
your files displayed as lists rather than icons.
 | Changing the Order |
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| | If you view directory contents as lists, you
can determine the order in which items are displayed by clicking on one of the list
headings. For example, if you want to see the list alphabetically,
click on the Name heading.
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| Resize Individual Icons |
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| | Each icon can be resized individually. Left-click once on an icon to
select it and then right-click once on it. From the pop-up menu that appears, select
Stretch Icon. A box appears around the icon and you
can click and drag any of the corners of this box to resize the icon.
Stretching an icon can make it look fuzzy. Open the pop-up menu as described
above and select Restore Icon's Original Size to
return it to default size.
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Use the navigation buttons above the
Location bar to move through your files and
directories:
Back and Forward
— Move you up or down through the directory listing
history.
Up — Moves you "up" the directory
tree.
Refresh — Refreshes the view of the
current directory.
Home — Lets you jump back to your
default directory.
Web search — Opens a search engine.
Stop — Stops a page from loading.
You can type a directory location straight into the
Location bar. If you know the path where you
want to go, for example /etc/X11, you can type
it into the Location bar and press
[Enter] to move to that location. You can acces the
Internet by typing website addresses in the location bar as well (for
information on configuring an Internet connection, see Chapter 5).
You can copy and move files and directories from a window to your
desktop or to another folder (that is, directory). If you want to
move a file or directory to your desktop, just drag and drop it there.
You can also right-click on an item, select , place
the cursor where you want the item to go, right-click again, and
select . If you want to delete the item from
its original location, go back to the original, right-click, and
select .
Another way to copy an item is by clicking on the
icon or item name, then dragging it while holding down the [Shift]
key. This will copy it without removing the original from its
current location.
| Deciding Whether to Copy or Move an Item |
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| | Not sure whether you want to move or copy something? Use the
[Alt] key when you drag an item. A pop-up menu will
appear once you release it, letting you choose whether to
copy or move. You can also choose to link the item, which,
essentially, is a shortcut to the item in its original location.
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To change a file's properties, right-click on a file or directory in
the directory window and choose
. A dialog, similar to Figure 11-2, opens.
On the Basics tab, you see information
about the file, such as the size of the file and the last time it
was modified.
You can change the icon for the file by clicking on Select Custom
Icon and choosing from the icon selections that
appear. Remove Custom Icon reinstates the
file's default icon.
Emblems can be added to a file icon, indicating that the file is personal, new,
a draft, very important, a personal favorite, and so on. Click on the
Emblems tab to select informational emblems for
a file. Use the check boxes next to the emblems to add or remove them.
On the Permissions tab (see Figure 11-3), you can change the permissions and
ownership of a file (that is, if you have the right permissions yourself). You can
change the read, write, and execute settings for a file. For more information on
permissions, see Chapter 10
Nautilus has three user levels for you to
choose from and many preference options within each level that can be
configured to your liking. Click on at
the top of the Nautilus screen. Here, you
can select beginner, intermediate, or advanced user level. Obviously,
as the levels go progressively higher, the available preference options
grow in number and complexity.
Select a user level that best suits your level of Linux knowledge. You can
change this user level at anytime and without having to log out of
your system for them to take effect.
Select Edit Preferences to open a window where you can configure all of the options available to the user level you have
chosen. The following is a list of all the preferences you can configure. If you
do not see a particular choice when you open the Edit
Preferences window, it is because that choice is not
available to the user level you have chosen.
- View Preferences
Default View — Change the default file arrangement from icons
to list by clicking on the dropdown menu and selecting your choice.
Icon/List View Defaults —
Lay out items — Select the order in which items in a folder appear:
Manually (arrange them in any order you like), By Name
(alphabetically), By Size (from largest to smallest), By Type
(files are grouped according to type), By Modification Date
(most recently modified first), or By Emblems (files with like
emblems are grouped together and those without emblems are at
the end).
Sort in Reversed Order — Reverses the order of any of the above layout
selections.
Select a Font — Select a font from the dropdown menu if you want one
other than the default.
Default Zoom Level — Change the default size in which items appear.
Use Tighter Layout — Set the icons closer together.
Font Size at Default — Change the default font size (12-point, 14-point,
20-point, etc).
- Appearance
Select the smoother (higher quality) graphics option if you like,
as well as various font options and Nautilus
themes (the screens are self-explanatory). You can add themes
here by clicking on Add New Theme and
entering a file name for a theme you have created or downloaded.
- Windows and Desktop
Under Desktop, choose whether
Nautilus or your home folder will
draw your desktop. The difference, basically, is that
Nautilus offers more configuration
options than your home folder.
The other sections deal with new window and trach can behavior and keyboard
shortcuts. The options are self-explanatory.
- Icon and List Views
Choose to activate items with a single or double mouse click and other
self-explanatory file display options.
- Icon Captions
Select the order in which you want file information to appear (size, type, last
date modified, etc.).
- Sidebar Panels
Determine which tabs appear in the Nautilus sidebar
(Help, History, News, Notes). Also indicate if you want folders (directories)
only to appear in the sidebar or folders plus a list of the
files they contain.
- Search
Change your default search engine
- Navigation
Change your default Home location (can be a file or
a website), change HTTP proxy settings, and remove the built-in
bookmarks that Red Hat Linux includes in the browser bookmark list by default.
- Speed Tradeoffs
There are many interesting and convenient functions in
Nautilus, but some of them can slow
down your system. All of the preferences on the
Speed Tradeoffs tab have
Always, Local Files
Only, and Never
options. Obviously, selecting Always puts
the most demand on your system and this demand decreases with
the next two options.
The Show Text in Icons option shows a portion of a text
file's contents on the actual icon. Directory folders show, by default,
the number of items they contain; change this option under Show Count of Items in
Folders. Icons for image files can look like the images
themselves; choose your preference for this option, under
Show Thumbnails for Image Files. Excerpts of
sound files can be previewed automatically by placing the cursor over
the icon or file name; choose your preferences for this option under
Preview Sound Files.
The last option, Make Folder Appearance Details Public,
controls how directories you create appear to others who have access
to them. If you customize a file so it has a background image, for
example, anyone else who has permission to access that file also sees
the background image.
- News Panel
The News Panel preferences control the
information shown when you click on the News
tab on the left of the Nautilus
screen. Change the preferences to determine how many news items
are shown on the tab and how often they are automatically updated.
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Disclaimer: For authoritative source or latest update to this
documentation, please refer to http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/ |
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Quotes: Don't believe your friends when they ask you to be honest with them. All they really want is to be maintained in the good opinion they have of themselves.
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