<chapter id="getting-started">
<title>Getting Started </title>

<epigraph>
<attribution>Help for one of the toughest riddles in <quote>The 7th Guest</quote></attribution>
<para>Using only what you see, can you get from A to B?</para>
</epigraph>

<para>So far, you may be thinking that &kde; is little more than another window manager. Relax, and read this chapter, and we'll introduce you to some features that will assure you that &kde; is very much more than a window manager &mdash; it's a full fledged environment.</para>

<sect1 id="editing-files">
<title>Editing Files </title>

<para>Since you do not only have &kde; applications installed on your system, you probably know the mess of editing <abbrev>ASCII</abbrev> style configuration files. But in fact, there are a lot of other file types that need to be edited this way. For example, the raw &XML; source for this guide was written <abbrev>ASCII</abbrev> style, as was the source code for the &kde; programs themselves. We will now show you how you can use the &kwrite; facility in &kde; to edit <abbrev>ASCII</abbrev> files of your own. </para>

<sect2 id="the-filemanager-screen">
<title>Opening a Window Containing Your Home Folder </title>

<para>Click on the &ticon; button and choose <guimenuitem>Home (Personal Files)</guimenuitem>. A window showing the contents of your home folder will pop up. To see a more detailed listing of files in your home folder, select <guimenuitem>Show Hidden Files</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>View</guimenu> menu.</para>

<para>On the left hand of the window, a tree view of your file system structure should appear, while on the right hand side, you can see icons for each file in your Home folder, including any <quote>hidden files</quote> &mdash; files or folders beginning with a period. </para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The File Manager Screen </title>

<para>We tried to make the File Manager as easy as possible to use, and if you know other window managers (including those built into other Operating Systems) with integrated file management, many of the following concepts should be familiar to you.</para>

<para>On the top, there is a <guimenu>Location</guimenu> menu which contains functions to open and close file manager windows. You can also print the current contents.</para>

<note><para>Want to visit the Internet? There are several paths you can take. You could choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Location</guimenu><guimenuitem>Open Location</guimenuitem></menuchoice> (or press <keycombo>&Ctrl;<keycap>O</keycap></keycombo>) and enter a &URL;.</para>

<para>The simplest way however, is to simply type in the address you want to go to in the location bar itself.</para>

<para>For example, if you want to visit the &kde; homepage, enter <userinput>http://www.kde.org</userinput>. You can also quickly transfer files over &FTP; using this method. &kde; is <quote>Internet ready</quote>, which means that you can load and save files not only on your local hard disk, but also on remote &FTP; and other remote servers that you have write access to. While other operating systems and desktops make a distinction between local and remote file systems, &kde; does not.</para>
</note>

<para>The <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu offers functions to select, copy and move files. We will use them later. Already having used the <guimenu>View</guimenu> menu, you have probably seen that you can view the content in many different ways. Just play around a bit and see what happens.</para>

<para>You will undoubtedly find the <guimenu>Bookmarks</guimenu> to be extremely useful: Now you can remember virtually any link, be it on the local machine or somewhere on the Internet. &kde;'s network transparency works both ways, allowing you to treat files and folders on your hard drive as if they were Internet bookmarks.</para>

<para>The <guimenu>Tools</guimenu> menu helps you find the notorious file-that-I-put-somewhere-I-do-not-remember-anymore.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Navigating Through Folders </title>

<para>We will now pick one of your configuration files and edit it. First, we must change the folder in the File Manager.</para>

<para>&konqueror; started with your home folder as the top of the <quote>tree</quote>. For most day-to-day purposes, this is where you are likely to be working, so it is a practical default. Sometimes you need to see the broader picture though, so the rest of your file system is not far away.</para>

<para>You can quickly display the <filename class="directory">/</filename> or <quote>root</quote> folder several ways: click the small <guiicon>folder</guiicon> icon beside the navigation pane to switch to a full filesystem tree, use the <guiicon>Up</guiicon> arrow on the toolbar above to go to the top of your filesystem in the right hand pane, or type in <userinput>/</userinput> in the location bar.</para>

<para>For the purpose of following this guide, press the small blue folder icon beside the navigation pane, so that the navigation pane switches to a full filesystem view. Notice that part of the tree is expanded, and your home folder is still selected. Now you can see how your home folder fits into the whole hierarchy, and your home folder files are still visible in the right hand pane.</para>

<para>Scroll down the navigation pane on the left side of the window until you find the folder <filename>/etc</filename>. Double-click on <filename>etc</filename>. You will see a long list of files in the right window.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="opening-a-file">
<title>Opening A File </title>

<para>Some of the files you see here are at the heart of your operating system, so making permanent changes to them require you to be the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> or superuser. We are going to practice on a file that will not hurt anything if a mistake is made, called <filename>motd</filename>.</para>

<para>Scroll down until you find the file <filename>motd</filename> and click on it with the <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse button. In the <guimenu>context menu</guimenu>, select <guimenuitem>Open With</guimenuitem>. A new menu will pop up. Choose <guimenuitem>&kwrite;</guimenuitem>. Voila!</para>

<para>There are many ways to open a file, and this is just one of them. &kwrite; is an editor with a simple and probably familiar interface. You could also have navigated down the small tree in the popup dialogue to the <guilabel>Editors</guilabel> section, and chosen another editor, or simply double click the file to open it in the default editor.</para>

<para>In the meantime, you have the file <filename>/etc/motd</filename> open in &kwrite; and we're ready to do some editing.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The Editor Screen </title>

<para>The more you work with &kde;, the more you will notice that most screens and applications look and feel the same. The &kwrite; <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu is a great example of this. Almost every other &kde; program has the same menu, allowing you to create new files, open existing files from your local file system or (coming soon) even the web, save them (soon even on the web, too!), print it or mail it to somebody else.</para>

<para>The <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu can also be found in most &kde; applications, allowing you to cut and paste information between programs. You can also search and replace text. Using the <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> Menu, you can customise the editor in many different ways. For example, you can increase the font size to suit your monitor resolution &mdash; and your eyes. Of course, as in any other &kde; application, you find a <guimenu>Help</guimenu> Menu, offering you on-line help whenever you need it. </para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Using the Editor </title>

<para>Most <filename>motd</filename> files contain useless stuff like <quote>Do not forget to back up your data</quote> or <quote>Do not annoy the system manager</quote>. Boring. Let's change the text so that users logging in get the really important information. You can navigate through the text using the arrow keys, and mark sections of text with <keycombo>&Shift;<keycap>Arrows</keycap> </keycombo>or by using the mouse with the <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> button pressed. Use the <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> Menu to cut and paste text. Enter whatever you want, or use the following (great) example: </para>

<screen><userinput>Welcome!
 
This machine now has KDE installed, providing you with a great, 
easy-to-use interface and a consistent Look-and-Feel for all your 
applications. For more information on how to get KDE running on your 
account, please email the administrator. </userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="saving-files">
<title>Saving Your Work </title>

<para>Now that you have changed the <filename>motd</filename> file, it is time to save the file, putting the changes into effect. To do this, you can use either the <guimenu>File</guimenu> Menu, or you can use the <guiicon>Save</guiicon> Icon on the toolbar.</para>

<para>At this point, reality hits us. You need to have <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> permission to save the changes to this file. &kde; handles this by asking you for the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> password.</para>

<para>You probably don't really want to save this file, so you can press <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> in the password dialogue and <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> again in the save dialogue.</para>

<para>Finally, finish your work by closing the editor and file manager window. You can do this by clicking the <guibutton>X</guibutton> button on the top left of the window, by using the window menu of the title bar, or by choosing <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Quit</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. Simple and elegant, isn't it? </para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="creating-new-files">
<title>Creating New Files</title>

<para>As with everything in &kde;, there are several ways to create a new file. You could open up the file manager, <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> click on an empty space in a folder you own, and choose <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Create New</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>File</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Text File...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. A new empty file will appear, which you can open just like any other. You can even do this right on the desktop itself.</para>

<para>More often you are already in an application and want to start a new file. Most &kde; applications offer a <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item, and an icon on the toolbar to complement it. A new empty document will appear that you can immediately begin working in.</para>

<para>Both these approaches have advantages, so use the one that is most practical at the time.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="moving-files-with-drag-and-drop">
<title>Moving Files With Drag and Drop </title>

<para>As you have seen in the previous section, working with files is as easy as 1-2-3. However, when you want to copy and move files, the whole copy-and-paste business can get annoying. Don't worry &mdash; a procedure called <quote>drag and drop</quote> allows you to copy and move files more quickly and easily. </para>

<sect2>
<title>Opening Two File Manager Windows </title>

<para>Before you can start, you will need to open two file manager windows. The simplest way to open a new window is to press the gear wheel button on the right of the icon bar. If you do not see the tree view in the new window, activate it (<menuchoice><guimenu>Window</guimenu><guimenuitem>Navigation Panel</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> or press <keycap>F9</keycap>).</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Dragging a File From One Window To Another </title>

<para>In the first window, open the <filename>/etc</filename> folder and scroll until you see the <filename>motd</filename> file we modified in the previous section.</para>

<para>In the second window, open your home folder.</para>

<para>Click on the <filename>motd</filename> file. Hold your <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> mouse button and drag your file into your home folder. Release the <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> mouse button (this is called <emphasis>dropping</emphasis> the file). You will be presented up to four options: <guimenuitem>Copy Here</guimenuitem>, <guimenuitem>Move Here</guimenuitem>, <guimenuitem>Link Here</guimenuitem> and <guimenuitem>Cancel</guimenuitem>. In this example, since you are not <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>, you cannot move the file, so this option is not presented. <guimenuitem>Link Here</guimenuitem> will create a symbolic link to the file, while <guimenuitem>Copy Here</guimenuitem> and <guimenuitem>Move Here</guimenuitem> do exactly what they say. Select <guimenuitem>Copy Here</guimenuitem>. You should now have a copy of the <filename>motd</filename> file in your home folder. </para>

</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="using-command-line-and-terminals">
<title>Using Command Line And Terminals </title>

<para>So far, you have only worked with the tools and programs &kde; provides. Undoubtedly, you will want to use other &UNIX; programs as well. There are two ways of running them: The quick command line and the terminal.</para>

<sect2>
<title>Quick Command Line </title>

<para>Pressing <keycombo action="simul">&Alt; <keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> pops up a small window where you can enter a command to run. Please note that you will not see any text output generated from a program started in this manner! This method is only recommended for starting &X-Window; based programs or for running tools where you do not need to see or type anything. For other programs, you will still need to use the terminal.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The &UNIX; Terminal Emulator </title>

<para>From the application menu, choose <menuchoice><guisubmenu>System</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Terminal</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>. A terminal window will open. Here you can use regular &UNIX; shell commands: <command>ls</command>, <command>cat</command>, <command>less</command>, and so forth. Using the <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> menu, you can customise the terminal emulator to suit your needs. </para>

</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="finding-your-lost-files">
<title>Finding Your Lost Files </title>

<para>Everyone has undoubtedly encountered the following problem: You start <command>ftp</command>, log into a great site like ftp.kde.org and start downloading files. It is late in the evening and you shut down your machine after completing the transfer. The next morning, you are at the keyboard again, and you start wondering into which folder you placed the recently transferred files. Using &kde;'s &kfind; utility makes finding those lost files a snap.</para>

<sect2>
<title>Starting &kfind;</title>

<para>Starting &kfind; is simple: Choose <guimenuitem>Find Files</guimenuitem> in the &kmenu;. &kfind; uses an interface part you probably have not yet met in &kde;: tabs. When &kfind; starts, you see that <guilabel>Name/Location</guilabel> is selected. When you click on <guilabel>Date Range</guilabel>, the tab content changes. Since you have never run a search before, most of the icons on the toolbar and most of the menu entries are disabled. We will change this now.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Finding a File by Knowing Parts of Its Name </title>

<para>As long as you know a bit of the file name, searching is easy. Select the <guilabel>Name/Location</guilabel> tab, and enter the file name in the <guilabel>Named</guilabel> field. Wildcards may be used as needed. As a test, type <userinput>*.tar.gz</userinput>. By default, the search begins in your home folder, but you can select any starting folder you wish by clicking on the <guilabel>Look in</guilabel> or <guibutton>Browse...</guibutton>. To start searching, press the <guibutton>Find</guibutton> button. After a moment, a list of files will appear in the search results window. If they do not appear, you started the search in the wrong folder, made a spelling mistake in the <guilabel>Named</guilabel> field, or no files ending with a <filename>.tar.gz</filename> extension are located on your machine.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="finding-with-complex-criteria">
<title>Finding a File by More Complex Criteria </title>

<para>There are many categories you can use to make your search more precise. <emphasis>The more you know about the file, the better are your chances of finding it</emphasis>.</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Date Range</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>Here, you can specify that you only want to see files which were last touched in a given period of time. You can also specify that you only want to see files that were touched since a specified number of months or days ago.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>File Type</guilabel> in the <guilabel>Contents</guilabel> tab.</term>
<listitem><para>If you know that the file was of a special type (&eg;, a tar/gzip archive or a jpeg picture), you can tell &kfind; to find only this type of file.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Containing text</guilabel> in the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> tab</term>
<listitem>
<para>You can specify text that the file must contain. </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>File size is</guilabel>, in the <guilabel>Properties</guilabel> tab</term>
<listitem><para>If you know the file size, you can limit your search in this regard, as well. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<para>&kfind; has many more options to refine searches, explore them all!</para>

</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="using-multiple-desktops">
<title>Using Multiple Desktops </title>

<para>Using multiple desktops helps you organise your work. You can place your programs on different desktops, and name the desktops so you know what you do there. This increases and optimises your workspace. It also helps you when you are surfing the net instead of doing your work and your boss comes in. But, of course, this is rare &mdash; at least in the office where I work. </para>

<para>You can switch between desktops by clicking the desktop buttons on the &kicker; panel. If you want to rename them, you can do so by double-clicking on them. </para>

<para>You can use windows on multiple desktops. If you want to have a window present everywhere, just click the sticky button on the top-left of the window. To send a window to another desktop, click on the title bar with the <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse button, choose <guimenuitem>To Desktop</guimenuitem>, and select the desktop where you would like the window moved. </para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="quitting-kde">
<title>Quitting &kde;</title>

<para>To quit working with &kde;, you can use the <guimenuitem>Logout</guimenuitem> entry in the &kmenu;. You will be asked if you really want to quit &kde;. Quitting will close all windows and return you to your console or display manager. For information on how programs can save your work during logout, please read <link linkend="kde-logout">the notes for logging out.</link> </para>

</sect1>
</chapter>
