Chapter 3
LINUX DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT
Linux Desktop Environment
 A desktop environment commonly refers to a style of
graphical user interface (GUI) that is based on the desktop
metaphor which can be seen on most modern personal
computers today.
 These graphical interfaces are designed to assist the user in easily
accessing and configuring (or modifying) the most important (or
frequently accessed) specific OS packed features.
Linux Desktop Environment cont..
 Yet it is not meant to give access to the whole vast feature set
found in an OS, reason for which the traditional, yet more
complicated and less intuitive, command-line interface (CLI)
is still in use when full control over the OS is required.
 A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows,
toolbars, folders, wallpapers, and desktop widgets.
Common desktop environment
1) K Desktop Environment
K desktop environment (www.kde.org)
• Developed by Mathias Ettrich on 1996 October
• Kool Desktop Environment
• In addition to all the features you would expect to find in a
complete desktop environment (window managers, toolbars,
panels, menus, keybindings,icons, and so on).
• Applications for graphics, multimedia, office productivity,
games, system administration, and many other uses have been
integrated to work smoothly with KDE, which is the default
desktop environment for SUSE, KNOPPIX, and various
other Linux distributions.
• The KDE Desktop is based on the Qt 3 graphical toolkit.
• The KDE was created to bring a high-quality desktop
environment to UNIX (and now Linux) workstations.
• Integrated within KDE are tools for managing files,
windows, multiple desktops, and applications.
• With KDE, you can do :
 Drag-and-drop a document from a folder window (Konqueror)
to the Trash icon (to get rid of it) or on an OpenOffice.org
Writer icon (to open it for editing).
 Right-click an image file (JPEG, PNG, and so on), and the
OpenWith menu lets you choose to open the file using an
image viewer (KView), editor (The GIMP), slide show viewer
(KuickShow), or other application.
 To make more applications available to you in the future,
KDE provides a platform for developers to create programs
that easily share information and detect how to deal with
different data types.
 The things you can do with KDE increase in number every
day.
• KDE is the default desktop environment for Mandriva,
KNOPPIX, and several other Linux systems.
• SUSE, openSUSE, and related distributions moved from
KDE to GNOME as the default desktop, but still make
KDE available.
• KDE is also available with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and
Fedora but is not installed by default when they are
installed as desktop systems (you need to specifically
request KDE during installation).
2) GNOME
• GNOME desktop environment
(www.gnome.org)—GNOME is a more streamlined
desktop environment. It includes a smaller feature set
than KDE and runs faster in many lower-memory
systems.
• It’s the default desktop for Red Hat–sponsored systems
such as Fedora and RHEL, Ubuntu, and others.
• GNOME is based on GTK+ 2.
• GNOME (pronounced guh-nome) provides the desktop
environment that you get by default when you install Fedora,
Ubuntu, or another Linux system.
• This desktop environment provides the software that is between
your X Window System framework and the look-and-feel
provided by the window manager.
• GNOME is a stable and reliable desktop environment, with a few
cool features.
• To use your GNOME desktop, you should become familiar
with the following components:
1) Metacity (window manager)—The default window
manager for GNOME in Fedora and RHEL is Metacity.
Metacity configuration options let you control such things as
themes, window borders, and controls used on your desktop.
2) Nautilus (file manager/graphical shell)—When you
open a folder (by double-clicking the Home icon on your
desktop, for example), the Nautilus window opens and displays
the contents of the selected folder. Nautilus can also display
other types of content, such as shared folders from Windows
computers on the network (using SMB).
3) GNOME panels (application/task launcher)—These
panels, which line the top and bottom of your screen, are
designed to make it convenient for you to launch the
applications you use, manage running applications, and work
with multiple virtual desktops.
 By default, the top panel contains menu buttons (Applications, Places, and
Desktop), desktop application launchers (Evolution e-mail and a set of
OpenOffice.org applications), a workspace switcher (for managing four
virtual desktops), and a clock. It also has an icon to alert you when you
need software updates. The bottom panel contains window lists and the
workspace switcher.
4) Desktop area—The windows and icons you use are arranged
on the desktop area, which supports drag-and-drop between
applications, a desktop menu (right-click to see it), and icons
for launching applications. There is a Computer icon that
consolidates CD drives, floppy drives, the file system, and
shared network resources in one place.
 GNOME also includes a set of Preferences windows that
enable you to configure different aspects of your
desktop.
 You can change backgrounds, colors, fonts, keyboard
shortcuts, and other features related to the look and
behavior of the desktop. Figure 3-7 shows how the
GNOME desktop environment appears the first time
you log in, with a few windows added to the screen.
Common open source application in
Linux
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Office application
Internet application
Email application
Graphics application
Entertainment application
1) Office application
 OpenOffice.org, which shares its source code with StarOffice,
consists of the following office productivity applications:
 Writer—A word-processing application that can work with documents
in file formats from Microsoft Word, StarOffice, and several others.
Writer also has a full set of features for using templates, working with
fonts, navigating your documents, including images and effects, and
generating tables of contents.
 Calc—A spreadsheet application that lets you incorporate data from
Microsoft Excel, StarOffice, Dbase, and several other spreadsheet formats.
Some nice features in Calc enable you to create charts, set up database ranges
(to easily sort data in an area of a spreadsheet), and use the data pilot tool to
arrange data in different points of view.
 Draw—A drawing application that enables you to create, edit, and align
objects; include textures and colors; and work with layers of objects. It lets
you incorporate images, vector graphics, AutoCAD, and a variety of other file
formats into your drawings. Then, you can save your drawing in the
OpenOffice.org Drawing or StarDraw format.
 Math—A calculation program that lets you create mathematical formulas.
 Impress—A presentation application that includes a variety of slide effects.
You can useImpress to create and save presentations in the Microsoft
PowerPoint, StarDraw, andStarImpress formats.
 The alternatives are:
 Koffice (KDE Office suite)
 KDE Office is a very complete Office suite that is, beginning with 1.3.x,
getting close to being an advanced and usable Office program. It just isn't
there yet.
 Gnome Office (Not really a suite, but a combination of
Abiword, Gnumeric and other Gnome programs)