Use the Nautilus file manager to create (or view) directories and documents, run scripts and create CDs of your data. In addition, the file manager provides support for Web and file viewing.

You can open the file manager in the following ways:

Figure 2.1: File Manager #

The elements of the Nautilus window include the following:

Menu.  Lets you perform most tasks in the file manager. You can also open a context-sensitive pop-up menu from a file manager window by right-clicking inside it. The items in this menu depend on where you right-click. For example, if you right-click a file or directory, you can select items related to the file or directory. If you right-click the background of a view pane, you can select items related to the display of items in the view pane.

Toolbar.  Lets you quickly navigate among files and directories, and provides access to them. The toolbar contains Back, Forward, Up, Stop, Reload, Home, Computer, and Search buttons.

Location Bar.  The location bar displays the current location in the file system. Each directory is displayed as a button. Navigate to a location by pressing a button.

Side Pane.  Lets you navigate or display information about the selected file or directory. Use the drop-down box to customize what is shown in the pane. The list includes ways to view information about files, perform actions on files, add emblems to files, view a history of recently visited sites and display your files in the Tree system. To display or hide the side pane press F9.

View Pane.  Displays directories and files. Use the icons in the top right part of the window to switch between list and grid icon view. The menu to the right of these icons can be used to further customize the view.

To access CDs/DVDs or USB storage devices, insert the medium. An icon for the medium is automatically created on the desktop. For many types of removable media, a file manager window pops up automatically when the media is inserted or attached to the computer. If file manager does not open, double-click the icon for that drive to view the contents.

Warning: Unmount to Prevent Data Loss

Do not simply remove disks from the drive after using them. Removable media must always be unmounted from the system first. Quit all applications still accessing the medium, then right-click the icon for the medium and select Eject or Unmount from the menu. Then safely remove the medium when the device icon disappears or the tray opens.

To search for files, activate the activities overview by moving the mouse pointer to the top left corner of the screen and enter the search term.

To copy text between applications, select the text, then move the mouse cursor to the position where you want the text to be pasted. Click the center button on the mouse or the scroll wheel to paste the text.

When copying information between programs, you must keep the source program open and paste the text before closing it. When a program closes, any content from that application that is on the clipboard is lost.

To surf the Internet or send and receive e-mail messages, you must have configured an Internet connection with YaST. Depending on your environment, in YaST select whether to use NetworkManager. In GNOME, you can then establish Internet connections with NetworkManager as described in Section “Configuring Network Connections”, Chapter 22, Using NetworkManager, Administration Guide.

For a list of criteria to help you decide whether to use NetworkManager, refer to Section “Use Cases for NetworkManager”, Chapter 22, Using NetworkManager, Administration Guide.

The GNOME desktop includes Firefox, a Mozilla*-based Web browser. You can start it by clicking Applications › Internet › Firefox.

You can type an address into the location bar at the top or click links in a page to move to different pages, like in any other Web browser.

For more information, see Chapter 16, Firefox: Browsing the Web.

For reading and managing your mail and events, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop offers you Evolution, a groupware program that makes it easy to store, organize and retrieve your personal information.

Evolution seamlessly combines e-mail, a calendar, an address book, and a memo and task list in one easy-to-use application. With its extensive support for communications and data interchange standards, Evolution can work with existing corporate networks and applications, including Microsoft* Exchange.

To start Evolution, click Applications › Internet › Evolution.

The first time you start Evolution, it 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. The calendar, address book and mail tools are available in the shortcut bar on the left.

For more information, see Chapter 12, Evolution: E-Mailing and Calendaring.

For creating and editing documents, LibreOffice is installed with the GNOME desktop. LibreOffice is a complete set of office tools that can both read and save Microsoft Office file formats. LibreOffice has a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, a drawing tool and a presentation program.

To get started, select a LibreOffice module by clicking Applications › Office and selecting the module you want to open.

A number of sample documents and templates are included with LibreOffice. You can access the templates by clicking File › New › Templates and Documents within LibreOffice. In addition, you can use wizards, which guide you through the creation of letters and other typical documents.

For more information, view the Help in any LibreOffice program.

To control the state of the computer battery, check the battery icon in the right part of the GNOME panel. Click the icon to open the menu and see the status of the battery in more detail. On certain events, such as a critically low battery state, GNOME will display notifications informing you about the event. Click Battery › Power Settings to open Power settings. You can also open the power settings vis Applications › System Tools › Settings › Power

You can use the Archive Manager application (also known as File Roller) to create, view, modify or unpack an archive. An archive is a file that acts as a container for other files. An archive can contain many files, directories and subdirectories, usually in compressed form. Archive Manager supports common formats such as zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2, lzh, and rar. You can use Archive Manager to create, open and extract a compressed non-archive file.

To start Archive Manager, click Applications › Utilities › Archive Manager. If you already have a compressed file, double-click the file name in the Nautilus file manager to view the contents of the archive in Archive Manager.

Figure 2.2: Archive Manager #

You can take a snapshot of your screen or of an individual application window by using the Take Screenshots utility. Start it by pressing Print to take a screenshot of the entire desktop or by pressing Alt–Print to take a screenshot of the currently active window or dialog.

The screenshots are automatically saved to your ~/Pictures directory.

You can also use GIMP to take screenshots. In GIMP, click File › Create › Screenshot, select an area, choose a delay and then click Snap.

Documents that need to be shared or printed across platforms can be saved as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop ships with the Evince Document Viewer.

Figure 2.3: Evince Document Viewer #

To open Evince, double-click a PDF file in a file manager window (or Web site) or press Alt–F2, type evince and press Enter.

To view a PDF file in Evince, click the wheel icon to open the menu and select Open, locate the desired PDF file and click Open.

Use the navigation icons at the top of the window or the thumbnails in the left panel to navigate through the document. If your PDF document provides bookmarks, you can access them in the left panel of the viewer.

If your system includes a fingerprint reader, users can log in to the system either by swiping a finger on the fingerprint reader or by typing in a password.

When you connect to the Internet, the updater applet automatically checks whether software updates for your system are available. The updater applet in the system tray of the panel informs you of the availability of updates and lets you easily install them with a few clicks. The applet icon changes color and appearance depending on the availability of updates for your system.

For detailed information on how to install software updates with the updater applet and how to configure it, refer to the chapter about installing and removing software in Section “Keeping the System Up-to-date”, Chapter 6, Installing or Removing Software, Deployment Guide.

Along with the applications described in this chapter for getting started, GNOME can run many other applications. Find detailed information about these important applications in the other parts of this manual.

To learn more about GNOME and GNOME applications, see http://www.gnome.org and http://gnomefiles.org.

To report bugs or add feature requests, go to http://bugzilla.gnome.org.