Suse & OpenSuse Tips » gnome

How to install GNOME desktop environment theme in OpenSuse 11.1

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:43:01 +0000

Linux desktops in general offers users the capabilities to customize the operating system to meet any particular preferences. The OpenSUSE implementation of the GNOME desktop environment is no exception to this rule.

The theme of a desktop defines how various aspects of the desktop appear such as Controls, Window Borders, Colors, Icons and Pointers. In order to change the GNOME desktop environment theme, Theme settings are configured from the Appearance Preferences screen accessed from the Computer->Control Center->Appearance option.

If you would like to download and install other themes via the Internet, a wide range of themes are available for download from http://art.gnome.org/themes.

The new theme can be installed one of two ways.

Either click and drag the theme package from the desktop to the Appearance Preferences dialog to add the theme,
or click on the Install… button in Appearance Preferences and navigate to the location where the theme is installed.

Once the theme has been added you will be asked if you wish to apply the new theme to the current desktop. Good luck trying it out!

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How to install GNOME desktop environment theme in OpenSuse 11.1

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How to install Gnome/KDE Desktop Environment on OpenSuse 11

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:39:00 +0000

If you using OpenSuse and would like to switch from GNOME Desktop environment to KDE Desktop environment or vice versa, then this is a simple blog post for you.

In general, you can install GNOME/KDE Desktop Environment during installing of OpenSuse or after installation of OpenSuse. You can also switch from one desktop environment to another desktop environment easily.

During Installation :
During installation process for OpenSuse, you can select which desktop environment you want as your default, or which one will automatically load when you log into OpenSUSE 11.0, at the "Desktop Selection" section. Continue through the installation and you will come to a section called "Installation Overview" (check the left column for this heading). On this screen, you will see all of the hardware, settings, configurations and software that is about to be installed (since it is the last step before installation). Click on the "Change…" button and the software packages will load. Once they load, scroll down in the left column until you find the heading "Graphical Environments." Once you get there, check the following 2 packages:

To install Gnome:

GNOME Base System
GNOME Desktop Environment

To install KDE3:

KDE3 Base System
KDE3 Desktop Environment

To install KDE4:

KDE4 Base System
KDE4 Desktop Environment

Once you have checked them, click "OK" and finish the installation.

After Installation

The other method is after you have installed OpenSUSE 11.0. In order to install a new desktop environment, open YaST Package Manager, either by going into YaST (enter root password), go the "Software" section and then select "Software Management" or through the terminal by issuing the command: su, enter the root password, and then issuing the command: yast2 –install. Once you have YaST Package Manager open, the repositories will refresh. Once they finish, click the dropdown menu in the bottom-left of the window labeled: "Groups." Select "Patterns" instead and wait for the left column to refresh. Now, scroll down in left menu until you find the heading "Graphical Environments," select the following packages, and then press "Install All":

To install Gnome:

GNOME Base System
GNOME Desktop Environment

To install KDE3:

KDE3 Base System
KDE3 Desktop Environment

To install KDE4:

KDE4 Base System
KDE4 Desktop Environment

Switching Between Environments
Switching between desktop environments is fairly easy. For example, if you would like to switch GNOME to KDE, before you login, you will see a link in the bottom-left of the screen labeled: "Sessions." Click this, and a prompt will appear. Select the desktop environment you want to boot into and then enter your username and password. Once you do this, you will be asked if you want to make this session the default session: this means that if you make this session the default (weather you selected Gnome or KDE), that desktop environment will automatically load when you login, rather than having to into the session prompt and selecting it.

If you set OpenSUSE 11.0 to automatically log you in when it boots, this option will not appear. To disable the auto-login, open YaST and enter the root password in the prompt. Find the heading: "Security and Users" (you can jump to this heading by clicking the link the left column with the name "Security and Users"). Once the window loads, you will see the users on your OpenSUSE system. Click the dropdown labeled "Expert Options" and select the "Login Settings." In this new window, uncheck "Auto Login" (you can also uncheck "Passwordless Logins" if you want OpenSUSE 11.0 to prompt you for your password when you enter your username; this is suggested for security reasons, so if it is checked, it is suggested that you uncheck it) and then press the "OK" button. Now, click the "Finish" button in the bottom-right. Now, when you boot your OpenSUSE 11.0 system, you will be prompted to enter your username and password (if you unchecked "Passwordless Logins" in the Expert User option window [see middle of the paragraph]) and you can click the "Sessions" link to change your desktop environment. [via]

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How to install Gnome/KDE Desktop Environment on OpenSuse 11

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How to create shortcuts on Gnome desktop

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:51:28 +0000

Shortcuts on Linux is known as soft links and traditionally, this can be achieved by using the “ln –s” command and option. You can also achieve this on the Gnome desktop using the mouse only. However, unlike the Windows way to create a shortcut where you right click on the folder/file and near the bottom of the list there is the option to “Create Shortcut”.

In Gnome, the middle mouse button is used for this purposes (if you have a mouse that’s only 2 buttons, you can generally click on both to simulate the middle mouse button). As an example, OpenSuSE and SuSE both automatically mounts the Windows partition and assuming that you want to create a shortcut to these Windows partition on your desktop, you first select the Windows partition (as above).

Click (using the middle mouse button) and drag the mounted Windows directory to your desktop. Release the mouse button and select the “Link Here” option.

The shortcut to your selected Windows partition will be on your desktop.

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How to create shortcuts on Gnome desktop

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Customizing Gnome Terminal fonts and colors

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:30:22 +0000

By default, most SuSE and OpenSuse distribution selects Gnome as the window manager, KDE being the other option. Under Gnome, the terminal application is called the Gnome Terminal which has a better look and feel than the plain Terminal application (which is also available). The default size of the terminal may be too small for some of us, especially those who are using really large screens with very fine resolution.

To change the font and color settings, go to the “Edit” menu and select “Profile Preferences”.

You can deselect the “Use the system fixed width font” and click on the font selection “Monospace | 12”, to change the font size to whatever is suitable. The changes are instant and you can actually see it when you are selecting it.

To change the color combination, select the tab “Colors” (3rd tab on top). You need to de-select the “Use colors from system theme” and my personal preference for the moment is to have bright green text on a black background.

The screen above is from a 22” wide screen LCD. By enlarging the fonts and also matching the colors makes it easier to work.

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Customizing Gnome Terminal fonts and colors

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Open Special Locations in Nautilus with URI

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:51:24 +0000

For Linux, the official file manager for the GNOME desktop is Nautilus. In case you wondering the origin for Nautilus, it is a play on words. By evoking the shell of a nautilus to represent an operating system shell. Nautilus replaced Midnight Commander in GNOME 1.4 and was the default from version 2.0 onwards.

There are many ways to open an application in Nautilus. However, here’s a simple tip that you might not know. You can open special locations in Nautilus by entering the URI in the location bar. An Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters used to identify or name a resource on the Internet. You can invoke the location bar by using the keyboard shortcut key Ctrl+L.

For example, if you would like to show Computer and lists the disk partitions, you can type in computer:///. Similarly, you can try the following special location URIs :

network:/// to show the network locations
burn:/// to see the inbuilt CD application
fonts:/// to list the fonts installed on the system
burn:/// to open the CD Writing Window.
themes:/// to list the themes available for the Gnome Desktop
system-settings:/// to give access to system settings.

These URIs can be handy and it could be a time saver indeed.

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Open Special Locations in Nautilus with URI

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