KDE KORNER:

ADDING AN ICON TO THE PANEL TO LOAD/EJECT A DVD/CD

Place the mouse on the kicker panel, right click and select "Add Application to Panel -> Add Non-KDE Application". In the dialog that pops up, paste the following in the Executable box:

umount /dev/sr0; eject -T /dev/sr0

NOTE: you must replace “sr0” with the name of the device you want to load/eject. Be sure that “Run in terminal” is NOT checked. Name it however you like and assign it an icon of your choice.

A SHORT LIST OF HANDY KDE APPLICATIONS

Here is a list of wonderful applications that can make your life easier in KDE:

Katapult:
allows you to run an application by pressing a key combination (for example: ALT+spacebar) and typing the first letters of the application's name (as it appears in the KMenu).
Kshowmail:
allows you to check multiple mail accounts. You can use filters, choose to remove selected messages from the server, and much more.
Basket:
an incredibly powerful and customizable application to take notes, insert images, etc. It has so many options that it sometimes feels like you are in OpenOffice.
Ksnapshot:
lets you take screenshots, both full-screen and partial.
Kdocker:
allows you to send a running application to the system tray, temporarily hiding it from the taskbar.

A FEW FEATURES TO KEEP IN MIND ABOUT KDE

  • Whenever you open the KDE dialog that lets you browse for a file and open it, that dialog is assigned to the application that launched it. This enables you to customize it according to each specific application. For example, when you choose "Configure Desktop -> Picture" and press the folder icon to the right, you can drag your wallpaper directory to the left panel and choose to show that folder only when opening the dialog through that application, so that the folder will not show on the left panel when you are browsing for a file in OpenOffice, for example.
  • You can add extra panel's to your desktop. This is specially useful when you have a big monitor (or a cheap-small-widescreen like I do) and have some extra space to spare.
  • There are many alternatives to the default KMenu, such as Kickoff, KBFX and TastyMenu.
  • Kicker (the default panel) has many mini-applications which can easily be installed by right clicking on the panel and choosing Add Applet to Panel; try them.

ADDING OR REMOVING LOGOUT, LOCK, SWITCH USER, ETC., OPTIONS IN KMENU:

Open ~/.kde/share/config/kickerrc and paste the following (anywhere in the file):

[KDE Action Restrictions]
lock_session= true
logout_session= true
run_command=false

{this removes the run command box; just setting it to false won't work. Remove to re-show the run command}

start_new_session=true
switch_user=true

With the exception of “run_command” (which is explained above) all you have to do is set to true if you want each option to be shown in Kmenu and to false if you don't.

ADDING AN EXTRA PANEL ICON TO RELOAD THE REPOSITORIES BEFORE OPENING SYNAPTIC.

Before PCLinuxOS incorporated update-notifier, I used to have to icons in my kicker panel to open Synaptic: the regular one and another that reloaded the repositories before opening Synaptic. All you have to do is place the mouse on the kicker panel, right click and select "Add Application to Panel -> Add Non-KDE Application". In the dialog that pops up, paste the following in the Executable box:

kdesu 'konsole --noframe --noscrollbar --nomenubar –notabbar -e apt-get update && synaptic'

Be sure that “Run in terminal” is NOT checked. Name it whatever you'd like and assign it an icon (preferably one that's different from Synaptic's, to avoid confusion).

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