Linux mint 7 questions

[madokie]

What is the difference between the KDE and the GNOME versions?
Is there anyway for me to move the toolbar/menu to the top? TIA

[RoyGBiv]

1. Yes, you can move it ...

You click the "cashew" icon, then click and hold on the Screen Edge button and move it where you want: top, left, right, or bottom.



KDE 4.x has taken a new direction in what the desktop does and means. You can customize it in so many ways, it'd be hard to list them all.

One of the ways you can customize it in dozens of ways involves what you're calling the toolbar/menu. In KDE, this is a panel. You can then place things called widgets on the panel. Most default configurations I've seen include a taskbar, a "quick launch" widget, the system tray, a clock, and the kicker or Application Launcher widget. In Windows, the whole thing is called a taskbar. Every time you open a window, this "task" is represented on the taskbar. The taskbar widget works the same in KDE. The quick launch widget is the same as the quick launch in windows, etc. The "kicker" is analogous to the Start Menu.

The Add Widget menu showing a small sampling of some of the widgets



One new aspect of this is that you can have multiple panels. I've seen systems with a panel on the top and bottom. This allows you to do various setups, like having one panel for the taskbar, one for miscellaneous other things. Hell, you could have one on each edge. I dunno why you'd do that, but you could.

Also, you can add the widgets to the desktop itself, which in KDE is called the Plasma panel. This means you could put the taskbar smack in the middle of your desktop if you wanted. In fact, some of the widgets only really function properly while on the desktop.

The other major difference with KDE is that the desktop is no longer intended to hold a bunch of icons. You *can* do that if you want, but it's not the point of it anymore.

You can use the desktop to display various widgets (like a system or network monitor or those mentioned previously), various folder views, and the icon shortcuts if you want.

Here are the various folder views you have. The first is the default view, showing the contents of my home directory. The one beside it is another kind of view showing the contents of my ~/bin directory. The third is an icon linking to my ~/archives directory.



You can also create a blank one of these and populate it with whatever you want, sorta like that program for Windows mention in another thread that allows you to organize your desktop by grouping things together.

I'm not really qualified to tell you all the differences between GNOME and KDE specifically other than to explain things about KDE. I've used GNOME very little because I don't like its "look and feel." That, for many people, is the practical difference between them.

There's also the matter of applications. GNOME is based on the GTK library, KDE on QT. That matters only in the sense that these libraries are used to make the GUIs for various apps, so you have "KDE" programs and "GNOME" programs. That does *not* mean you can't use a "GNOME" application under KDE or vice versa. It just means that when you install KDE or GNOME, you generally get a different set of default applications, e.g. Konqueror or Dragon (Mint uses Dragon) for the file manager, Nautilus in GNOME.

[RoyGBiv]

2. P.S.

About Linux Mint specifically ...

Since Mint is a derivative of Ubuntu, it lags behind. Mint 7 is based on Ubuntu 9.04. Mint 8 will be based on 9.10. I'm not sure when it's scheduled for release. They're working on it now.

[madokie]

3. Another question when I click the minimizing button

theres an outline of a box moving down and to the left on the screen but there is no way for me to maximize that window again, where do they go? How do I get that function back? I'm sure its something I've done trying to customize my menus.

[RoyGBiv]

4. What are you using?

Are you in Ubuntu 9.10?

It sounds like your taskbar is gone, which is where those Windows should go when minimized, but if this is a GNOME thing, I may not know. There are some fundamental differences in the way the two desktop managers do these things.

For the moment, try hitting ALT-TAB at the same time, which should cycle between open applications/windows even if they're minimized. At least, that works in KDE.

OnEdit: Did a quick search to see if this behavior is what I think it is, and it seems that it could be.

If you're using GNOME (Ubuntu 9.10), try right-clicking on the taskbar/panel, and then see if there's an "Add to Panel" option. If so, click that and then see if you can find a "Windows List" option. If so, click it, and it should add that back.

[madokie]

5. Right now I'm in mint 7 and have a mess of things

I think I'm going to have to reinstall the program as soon as the download I've got going finishes and I burn a copy. I'm downloading mint 7 kde. What I'm doing is trying to decide which linux I want to go with. I did have ubuntu 9.1 on here then I removed it and put mint 7 on and I really like it better so I thought I'd try the KDE version of it and see what I thought of it.

[RoyGBiv]

6. Did the "Windows List" thing work?

I did more searching, and all of the situations mentioning the behavior you described that I found were a result of having accidentally removed the Windows List thing.

Just curious.

[madokie]

7. Yes, thanks

[RoyGBiv]

8. Cool ... a suggestion

I was going to mention this the other day but forgot.

A strategy I've used for awhile when trying out a new distribution involves immediately creating a second user when I first start up the system.

In Mint 7 KDE the app for doing this is Applications > System > KUser

Then, if while playing around with desktop things you happen to bork your desktop so that fixing it is more painful than just starting over, you can abandon that user and use the other one you created. You'll end up with a desktop with the new user that has all the default settings.

[madokie]

9. Thanks

I'll do that from now on because I sure have this one in a mess, Oh well it doesn't take too long to reinstall.
I wish there was some way I could save the updates so I don't have to wait for them to download each one of these re-installs I'll be doing before it's all said and done.

So far I like mint better than ubuntu, it seems to do the web faster and the text seems sharper.

[pokerfan]

10. Yes!

I always create a Guest account for visitors. That way they can't screw up the system. They can't do that anyway without superuser access anyway but it keeps them away from my settings and files. And as you said, it's a failsafe for me if I screw up my settings.