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[personal-kdebase.git] / runtime / doc / userguide / index.docbook
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57 <book lang="&language;">
58 <bookinfo>
59 <title>The &kde; User Guide</title>
61 <authorgroup>
62 <corpauthor>
63 The &kde; Documentation Team
64 </corpauthor>
66 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
67 </authorgroup>
69 <copyright>
70 <year>2004</year><year>2005</year>
71 <holder>The &kde; Documentation Team</holder>
72 </copyright>
74 <legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
76 <date>2004-06-16</date>
77 <releaseinfo>0.0.1</releaseinfo>
79 <abstract>
80 <para>A general user guide to &kde;
81 </para>
83 <para>Please report any problems with this document to
84 <email>kde-doc-english@kde.org</email>.
85 </para>
86 </abstract>
88 <keywordset>
89 <keyword>KDE</keyword>
90 <keyword>desktop</keyword>
91 <keyword>handbook</keyword>
92 <keyword>tutorial</keyword>
93 </keywordset>
95 </bookinfo>
97 <part id="introduction">
98 <title>Introduction</title>
100 <chapter id="welcome">
101 <title>Welcome to the &kde; User Guide</title>
103 <para>This User Guide aims to provide an overview of the entire &kde; experience. We
104 assume here that you have a standard, working installation of a complete &kde;
105 desktop environment, and the accompanying packages. This book should be
106 your first point of reference for any simple &kde; configuration question, or
107 to find out how to perform a common task.</para>
109 <sect1 id="what-the-ug-is">
110 <title>What this book aims to be</title>
112 <para>The first place to look and a one stop shop for all questions you have
113 regarding your &kde; experience.</para>
115 <para>A Quick Start Guide to commonly performed tasks - In most cases, you do not
116 need to know the details of how to configure every option in an application,
117 in order to get down to work. You will find step-by-step guides which
118 will work in most common situations, along with links to sources of
119 further information in case you have any problems.</para>
121 <para>There are also some tips and tricks showing you the most useful and
122 impressive features of &kde;, and ways to save you time and effort.</para>
124 </sect1>
126 <sect1 id="what-the-ug-is-not">
127 <title>What this book is not</title>
129 <para>The User Guide is not intended to be a replacement for the application
130 manuals. You should turn to the handbook for help with specific program
131 configuration and troubleshooting issues not covered in this book. If the
132 answer is outside the scope of this book, we will tell you here precisely
133 where to look for further help.</para>
135 <para>You may also have a variety of third party packages, and some of these
136 applications are mentioned briefly here, but we normally cover only the
137 applications provided as part of a &kde; release. This is not a judgment on
138 the value of third party applications, and in fact many of them are
139 excellent.</para>
141 <para>The User Guide is not specific to a distribution, and covers a default &kde;
142 installation. Your local installation may be customized by your
143 distribution provider, or by yourself, and so our advice here is
144 generic. You may have to adjust paths in order to locate the files that are
145 discussed.</para>
146 </sect1>
148 <sect1 id="typographic-conventions">
149 <title>Conventions used in this book</title>
151 <para>We'll use the following formatting conventions to make it clear what
152 we're referring to:
153 <informaltable>
154 <tgroup cols="3">
156 <thead>
157 <row>
158 <entry>Type of Text</entry>
159 <entry>Style</entry>
160 <entry>Example</entry>
161 </row>
162 </thead>
163 <tbody>
165 <row>
166 <entry>Text appearing in the &GUI; (on buttons, &etc;)</entry>
167 <entry>Light gray background</entry>
168 <entry><guilabel>Settings</guilabel></entry>
169 </row>
171 <row>
172 <entry>Names of keys</entry>
173 <entry>Bold font</entry>
174 <entry>&Ctrl;</entry>
175 </row>
177 <row>
178 <entry>Menu entries</entry>
179 <entry><quote>Menu Name</quote>-><quote>Menu Item</quote></entry>
180 <entry><menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Quit</guimenuitem>
181 </menuchoice></entry>
182 </row>
184 <row>
185 <entry>Key combinations (pressed simultaneously)</entry>
186 <entry><quote>Modifier Key</quote>+<quote>Action Key</quote></entry>
187 <entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q</keycap>
188 </keycombo></entry>
189 </row>
191 <row>
192 <entry>Text you should enter</entry>
193 <entry>Bold, fixed width font</entry>
194 <entry><userinput>ls -al kde/</userinput></entry>
195 </row>
197 <row>
198 <entry>Text you should replace as appropriate</entry>
199 <entry>Italic green font</entry>
200 <entry><replaceable>user</replaceable></entry>
201 </row>
203 </tbody>
204 </tgroup>
205 </informaltable>
206 </para>
208 </sect1>
210 <sect1 id="system-locations">
211 <title>System Locations</title>
213 <para>You may need to know the following system locations:
215 <variablelist>
217 <varlistentry>
218 <term>&kde; prefix</term>
219 <listitem><para>&kde; installs into its own folder tree, which you can find by
220 running the command <userinput><command>kde4-config</command> <option>--prefix</option></userinput>. This folder is referred to
221 by the environment variables $<envar>KDEDIRS</envar> and possibly
222 $<envar>KDEDIR</envar>.</para>
223 </listitem>
224 </varlistentry>
226 <varlistentry>
227 <term>&kde; user-specific settings</term>
228 <listitem><para>The environment variable $<envar>KDEHOME</envar>
229 points to the folder where &kde; should find user-specific settings. If it is not
230 set, the default value of <filename
231 class="directory">~/.kde</filename> is used.</para>
232 </listitem>
233 </varlistentry>
235 </variablelist>
237 </para>
238 </sect1>
240 <sect1 id="overview">
241 <title>Overview, or <quote>Where to look in the User Guide</quote></title>
243 <para>Here's an overview of what's in the User Guide:</para>
245 <para><xref linkend="desktop"/> contains an introduction to the basic
246 use of &kde;, such as <xref linkend="windows-how-to-work"/>, and the tools
247 that you'll be using in all &kde; applications, like <xref
248 linkend="programs-save-open" />. If you're new to &kde; or even
249 computers in general, you will probably find this section
250 helpful.</para>
252 <para><xref linkend="components"/> explains some important components
253 of a &kde; installation and how they fit together: &kde;'s multimedia
254 and networking capabilities are extensive, and not covered thoroughly
255 here, but there's a taster of both of them in this part of the User
256 Guide. At the end of this part, you'll find a guide to tweaking &kde;
257 just that little bit more, in <xref
258 linkend="tinkering-under-the-hood"/>.</para>
260 <para><xref linkend="kde-online"/> highlights &kde;'s suite of
261 Internet applications. &kde; includes a powerful web browser,
262 &konqueror;, a full-featured email client, &kmail;, a news reader,
263 &knode;, and many more applications to make your Internet experience
264 easier and more productive. This part of the User Guide contains
265 information about setting up these applications.</para>
267 <para><xref linkend="kde-for-administrators"/> is a reference guide to
268 some &kde; features which will be useful to administrators setting up
269 multi-user systems. This part also has information that may be useful
270 to &kde; users with single-user systems: where configuration files are
271 stored, what environment variables affect &kde;, and so on. The KIOSK
272 framework is the &kde; system which allows administrators to limit
273 what users can do in &kde;. It is potentially useful in many
274 situations, but especially for running single-function kiosks with,
275 for example, just a web browser, hence the name.</para>
277 </sect1>
278 </chapter>
279 </part>
281 <part id="desktop">
282 <title>The Desktop</title>
284 <chapter id="basics">
285 <title>The Basics</title>
286 <para>The <quote>desktop</quote><indexterm><primary>Desktop</primary>
287 </indexterm> is just the name for the layout of
288 the screen when you start &kde;. It looks something like this (on your
289 own system, it might look slightly different, but the main features
290 should be the
291 same):</para>
293 <screenshot>
294 <mediaobject>
295 <imageobject>
296 <imagedata fileref="desktop.png" format="PNG"/>
297 </imageobject>
298 <textobject><phrase>A default desktop layout</phrase>
299 </textobject>
300 </mediaobject>
301 </screenshot>
303 <para>Let us look at the most important parts:
304 <itemizedlist>
305 <listitem><para>Most of the screen is
306 taken up by the background<indexterm><primary>Background</primary></indexterm>. At the moment, there is a picture making up
307 the background. This picture is usually referred to as the
308 <quote>wallpaper,</quote><indexterm><primary>Wallpaper</primary></indexterm> and you can change it to make &kde; suit your
309 taste.</para>
310 </listitem>
312 <listitem><para>In the top left-hand corner are two icons:
313 <guiicon>Trash</guiicon> and <guiicon>Home</guiicon>. Clicking on
314 these will open your <filename>Trash</filename> folder and Home
315 folder, respectively. You can add more icons to the desktop so that
316 you can open your favorite programs, or access removable media, with
317 just one click.</para>
318 </listitem>
320 <listitem><para>At the bottom is the &kde; Panel<indexterm><primary>Panel</primary></indexterm>, also known as
321 <quote>&kicker;</quote>. The Panel contains several useful ways of
322 interacting with &kde;. It houses the &kmenu;, from where you can open
323 any &kde; application installed on your computer, it shows all the
324 programs that are currently running, as well as the time, and more.
325 Take a look at <xref linkend="panel-and-desktop"/> for more
326 information about the &kde; Panel.</para>
327 </listitem>
328 </itemizedlist></para>
330 <!-- Put this somewhere else
331 At the far left is the &kmenu;
332 button. Clicking on this button will open the main &kde; menu, which
333 has links to all the installed &kde; applications, and some useful
334 commands, like <guilabel>Find Files</guilabel> and <guilabel>Log
335 Out</guilabel>. You can start an application by finding it in the
336 &kmenu; and clicking on its name. Like the other things on the
337 desktop, the &kmenu; can be changed to fit your needs.</para>
338 </listitem>
341 <!-- Put this in the Panel section
342 <listitem><para>Next to the &kmenu; button are icons which will
343 start some commonly-used &kde; applications. icons are similar
344 to the ones on the desktop background, but you can only put links to
345 programs here (and not links to removable media, like CDs).</para>
346 </listitem>
350 <sect1 id="logging-in">
351 <sect1info>
352 <authorgroup>
353 <author>
354 &Philip.Rodrigues;
355 </author>
356 </authorgroup>
357 </sect1info>
359 <title>Logging In and Logging Out</title>
360 <para>Basic KDM &amp; startkde stuff.</para>
361 <!-- Not sure what exactly to say about startkde and where to say it -->
362 <!-- (Phil) -->
363 <para>There are two ways to log into &kde;: graphically and via the
364 command line. We'll look at them both briefly:</para>
366 <sect2 id="logging-in-graphically">
367 <title>Logging in Graphically</title>
368 <indexterm><primary>login</primary></indexterm>
369 <indexterm><primary>&kdm;</primary></indexterm>
371 <para>If you see a screen a little bit like the one below when you
372 start up your computer, then you are all set for logging in
373 graphically. Just enter your username in the
374 <guilabel>Login</guilabel> text box and your password in the
375 <guilabel>Password</guilabel> text box. Your password will not be shown
376 as you type it; it will probably be shown as asterisks. When you have
377 entered that information, click on the <guibutton>Login</guibutton>
378 button, and &kde; will start up. The &kde; splash screen will appear,
379 and keep you informed about the progress of &kde; startup, and when
380 it is done, &kde; will be ready to use.</para>
381 </sect2>
383 <sect2 id="logging-in-via-cmdline">
384 <title>Logging in via the Command Line</title>
385 <indexterm><primary><command>startkde</command></primary></indexterm>
386 <indexterm><primary><command>startx</command></primary></indexterm>
388 <para>If you prefer using the command line, you can log in to &kde;
389 with the <command>startx</command> command. Add the line
390 <userinput>exec startkde</userinput> to the
391 <filename>.xinitrc</filename> file in your home folder (create it
392 if it does not exist), save the file, and then run
393 <command>startx</command>. &kde; should start in the same way as if
394 you had logged in graphically.</para>
395 </sect2>
397 <sect2 id="logging-out">
398 <title>Logging Out</title>
399 <indexterm><primary>logout</primary></indexterm>
401 <para>Once you have finished using &kde; for the moment, you will
402 want to log out until next time. The easiest way to do this is to
403 click on the &kmenu; at the bottom left of your screen, and then
404 select the <guimenuitem>Log Out...</guimenuitem> item. A dialog with the
405 text <guilabel>End session for
406 <replaceable>username</replaceable></guilabel> will appear. To confirm
407 that you want to log out, click on the <guibutton>End Current Session</guibutton>
408 button. If you change your mind, and decide to carry on using &kde;
409 for now, hit <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton>.</para>
411 <itemizedlist>
412 <title>Related Information</title>
413 <listitem><para>The &kdm; Handbook has information about using and setting up
414 the &kde; graphical login manager. You can read it in &khelpcenter; or
415 by entering <userinput>help:/kdm</userinput> in &konqueror;'s
416 <guilabel>Location</guilabel> bar.</para>
417 </listitem>
418 </itemizedlist>
420 </sect2>
421 </sect1>
423 &getting-help;
424 &windows-how-to;
426 &the-filemanager;
429 </chapter>
431 &panel-and-desktop;
433 &programs-and-documents;
435 </part>
437 <part id="components">
438 <title>&kde; Components</title>
440 &control-center;
442 &base-kde-applications;
444 &extragear-applications;
446 <chapter id="multimedia">
447 <title>Multimedia With &kde;</title>
449 &removable-disks;
451 &playing-music;
453 &playing-audiocds;
455 &playing-movies;
457 </chapter>
459 <chapter id="multiuser-kde">
460 <title>&kde; the Multiuser Desktop</title>
462 &your-kde-account;
464 &kde-as-root;
466 &switching-sessions;
467 </chapter>
469 <chapter id="networking">
470 <title>Networking with &kde;</title>
472 &file-sharing;
474 &networking-with-windows;
476 &shared-sessions;
477 </chapter>
479 <chapter id="graphics-printing-and-fonts">
480 <title>Graphics, Printing, and Fonts</title>
482 &printer-setup;
484 &printing-from-apps;
486 &pdf-files;
488 &font-installation;
490 &creating-graphics;
492 </chapter>
493 &customizing-desktop;
495 &konsole-intro;
497 &kde-edutainment;
499 &accessibility;
501 &under-the-hood;
502 </part>
504 <part id="kde-online">
505 <title>&kde; and the Internet</title>
507 &net-connection-setup;
509 &email;
511 <chapter id="browser">
512 <title>&konqueror;</title>
514 <para>Intro to the browser</para>
516 &internet-shortcuts;
518 &browser-fine-tuning;
519 </chapter>
521 &usenet;
523 &messaging-intro;
525 </part>
527 &kde-office;
529 &kde-for-admins;
531 <part id="more">
532 <title>More Tools</title>
534 &migrator-applications;
536 &migrator-dictionary;
538 &standard-menu-entries;
540 &glossary;
542 <chapter id="troubleshooting">
543 <title>Troubleshooting Problems</title>
545 <para>Problems that aren't</para>
547 <para>Frozen apps (how to kill them)</para>
549 <para>Things won't open</para>
551 <para>That scary crash dialog</para>
553 <para>Reporting Bugs</para>
555 <para>More Resources</para>
557 &troubleshooting-network-x;
559 &troubleshooting-no-open;
561 </chapter>
563 <chapter id="contributing">
564 <title>Contributing to &kde;</title>
566 <para>Some basic information to get encourage people to contribute to
567 &kde;, information about what's available, and how to get
568 started.</para>
570 </chapter>
572 </part>
575 <appendix id="appendix-credits">
576 <title>Credits and Licenses</title>
578 &credits-and-license;
580 <sect1 id="license">
581 <title>License</title>
583 <!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->
585 &underFDL;
586 </sect1>
588 </appendix>
590 &documentation.index;
593 </book>
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