Using Nautilus & Start Here

2.3. Using Nautilus

The graphical desktop includes a file manager called Nautilus that gives you a graphical display of your system and personal files. Nautilus is designed to be much more than a visual listing of files, however. It allows you to configure your desktop, configure your Red Hat Linux system, play your digital music and video files, browse your photo collection, access your network resources, and more all from one integrated interface. In essence, Nautilus becomes a shell for your entire desktop experience.

 

Working in Nautilus is efficient and provides an alternative to searching through the various submenus connected to the Main Menu or using a shell prompt to navigate the file system. The following sections explain how to use the Nautilus to enhance your desktop experience.

 

To start Nautilus as a file manager, double-click on your home directory icon:

 

Once Nautilus appears, you can navigate through your home directory or the rest of the file system.

 

To return to your home directory, click the Home button. When you navigate through your file system, you can always see where you are by looking at the frame on the left which shows you the current directory.

 

The main frame contains folders and files which you can drag with your mouse to move and copy them into new locations. If you prefer, you may click on the Tree tab on the bottom left to display a hierarchical view of your complete file system which may make moving and copying easier for you.

 

If the Tree tab does not appear on the bottom left, you can make the tab available by right clicking in the tab area and choosing Tree from the menu.

 

If you do not want to use the tree view, you can open another Nautilus window by selecting File => New Window. Once you have another Nautilus window, you can drag and drop files to different directories.

 

By default, dragging a file from one directory to another will move the file. If you wish to copy the file to another directory, press the [Ctrl] key while dragging and dropping the file.

 

By default, text-based files and images in your home directory will be seen as thumbnails. For text files, this means you will see a portion of the actual text in the icon. For images, you will see a scaleddown (or thumbnail) version of the image.

 

To turn off this feature, select Edit => Preferences.

 

Select Performance from the menu on the left. Select Never for the visual enhancements that you want to disable. Disabling these features will increase the speed of Nautilus.

 

2.4. Start Here

 

 

Start Here was designed to hold all of the tools and applications you need to access when using your system. From your favorite applications to system and configuration tools, the Start Here window provides a central location for using and customizing your system.

 

You may access Start Here at any time by double-clicking on the desktop icon labeled Start Here.

 

The Start Here screen includes icons that allow you to access your favorite applications, desktop preferences, Main Menu items, server configuration tools, and system settings.

 

Tip

You can add your favorite locations to the Tutormarks. Navigate to the location you want to tutormark, and then select Tutormarks => Add Tutormark.

 

2.4.1. Customizing the Desktop

From the Start Here screen you can select the Preferences icon to configure your desktop, which presents you with a wide selection of configuration options. Below you will find a list of a few of the options and tools in each area.

 

Background You can configure your background with new colors or a new image.

Sound In this section you can configure the system sounds associated with various functions. For example, if you would like to have a sound play when you log in to your desktop, you can configure that here.

 

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can configure shortcuts by pressing a combination of keystrokes on the keyboard to perform actions within an application or on your desktop. For example, you can configure a shortcut to move from your current Workspace to Workspace 2 by pressing [Ctrl]-[F2].

 

2.4.2. Customizing your System

The Start Here screen in Nautilus contains additional configuration tools that help you with your new Red Hat Linux system and the server applications included. The System Settings icon includes tools that help you set up your system for personal everyday use. Below you will find a list of some of the tools included in System Settings and what you can do with them.

  

Date & Time

This tool allows you to set the date and time of your machine. You will be able to set your time zone information as well. Refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide for more details on using this tool.

 

Soundcard Detection

The Soundcard Detection tool probes your machine for available sound devices. Refer to Section 9.3 for more details on configuring your sound hardware.

 

Users & Groups

The Users& Groups tool allows you to add and remove users from your system. Refer to Section 1.6 for details.

 

Printing

The Printer Configuration Tool allows you to add a new printer to your system. The printer may be connected to your machine or available on a network. Refer to Chapter 7 and the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide for details.

As mentioned before, you will also find server configuration tools in the Start Here area. These tools help you configure services and applications you are using on the local machine to serve other machines. The server configuration tools are found by clicking on the Server Settings icon. A couple of examples of the tools found in this area are the tools for the Apache Web Server and a DNS/Bind tool. You must have those server applications installed before these tools appear in this section. Refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide for details.

 

2.5. Logging Out

When you have finished working and want to quit GNOME, you are presented with the choice of simply logging out of GNOME (leaving the system running), restarting the machine, or halting the system completely.

 

Figure 2-8. The Desktop Log Out Confirmation

 

To quit the graphical desktop, select the Log Out menu item from the Main Menu. This will bring up a dialog which presents you with the options listed above.