Explore KDE The easy way, using a live CD By Carl Weisheit

Why did I use Kubuntu and KDE?  Using a live CD will let you explore the KDE GUI without installing or altering anything on your system  KDE is one of the two most popular GUIs used in Linux. (other is GNOME)  KDE is a complete desktop environment, it uses Kwin as its default window manager  KDE has a huge number of features, and whole suites of applications designed to integrate with it.  Kubuntu is a live cd of the Ubuntu distro using the KDE interface  Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux Distro at this time* and comes pre-installed on major brands such as Dell Computers  * #1 on Distro Watch

Desktop Features Desktop background K menu button KDE's panel (also known as kicker) allows small programs, called "applets", to be embedded. Mounted drive icon To select from Multiple desktops Commonly used places in computer Time and date trashcan

Get info by rolling mouse over item

Left click icon to open default file manager (Dolphin)

to view mounted and unmounted drives and partitions Select storage media Mounted indicator Unmounted partition

Right click and select “Actions/Mount” to mount drive

Right click and select “Actions/Unmount” to unmount drive

Right click and select “Properties” to view drive properties

Viewing each tab of properties

Open menu and select LOG OUT

To reboot or shutdown

Run command lets you launch applications by name

System settings allow you to configure your system

To set your Default applications and file associations

Background, screensaver and appearance settings

Computer administration Date / time Monitor settings Keyboard shortcuts

Computer administration sound Users and group settings Printer setup

Network and connectivity Network settings File sharing properties

Computer administration “advanced tab”

“Stringi” is a file searching utility

The KDE help center provides user manuals and info on many applications and features

This is a basic package manager Use it to install Synaptic package manager

Useful utilities, some of which are also found under “system settings”

How to open a terminal without leaving the GUI

The KDE info center provides hardware information

Example info from KDE info center memory PCI info CPU info Sound info

Kde system monitor: for system performance

Kde system monitor: processes and system loads

Office applications

Multimedia applications

Internet applications

Graphics applications

right click on background to sort icons

right click on background to change desktop settings

Go quickly to common places from the icon in the KDE Panel

Konqueror has many uses from browsing the web to exploring your files to searching your local network for shared folders Click icon in panel

Right click panel to configure it or add or remove applications

Speaker icon brings volume control or mixer panel Speaker icon

Right click network icon to configure network settings Network icon

Right click clock to set time or date clock

KDE Keyboard shortcuts  Ctrl – Esc = List of running applications  Ctrl – B = Add Bookmark  Ctrl – P = Print Page  Ctrl - N = New  Ctrl – O = Open  Ctrl – W =Close  Ctrl – Z = Undo  Ctrl – C = Copy  Ctrl – F = Find  Ctrl – V = Paste  Ctrl – R = Replace  Ctrl – S = Save  Ctrl – E = Text Completion  Ctrl – A = Select All  Ctrl – Q = Quit  Ctrl - Home = Home  Ctrl - Insert = Insert  Ctrl - End = End  Ctrl - Down = Next item  Ctrl - Up = Previous Item  Ctrl - Plus (+) = Zoom In  Ctrl - Minus (-) = Zoom Out  Ctrl - Tab = Switch forward one desktop  Ctrl – Shift -Tab = Switch back one desktop  Ctrl – Shift - Z = Redo Ctrl - F3 = Find Prev  Ctrl - F1 to F12 = Switch to Desktop 1 – 12  Shift-Ctrl-F1 to F4 = Switch to Desktop 13 to 16  Ctrl- Alt-L = Lock desktop  Ctrl- Alt-D = Show / Hide desktop  Ctrl-Alt-Esc = Kill Window (Click on the window to action the kill.)  Ctrl-Alt-Delete = Logout (To complete logout process, Tab & Enter)  Shift - F1= What's this  F1 = Help  Alt - F1 = Popup KDE launch menu  F2 = rename file  Alt - F2 = Execute Command  F3 = Find Next  Alt - F3 = Window open menu  Alt - F4 = Window close Down Next Item in List  F5 = Reload  F11 = Switch fullscreen / normal size  F12 = Toggle cursor key mouse emulation  Alt – Tab = Switch forward among windows  Alt-Shift-Tab = Switch backward among windows

Interesting configurations; XP look alike from

Interesting configurations; Vista look alike from

THE END Tell us on the general list if you tried these programs