Customizing Your Desktop

You can easily add, delete, and create shortcut icons on your desktop. You can also change icon properties and the desktop background to suit your needs.

Adding Program Icons to Your Desktop

  1. Click Computer.

  2. Browse to the desired program.

  3. Click and drag the icon to the desktop and position it as desired.

To delete an icon from your desktop, simply click the program icon and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Changing the Desktop Background

  1. Right-click the background.

  2. Select Change Desktop Background.

  3. To select a wallpaper from the preprogrammed images, browse to and select the desired image. After you select it, the background changes automatically.

  4. To add an image, select Add Wallpaper, browse to the desired image, then click Open.

  5. To display a colored background, select No Wallpaper from the top of the list; then, from Colors, select the fill pattern and the desired colors.

  6. Click Close.

Using the GNOME Control Center

In addition to letting you change individual desktop elements, GNOME lets you extensively personalize your desktop. You can find more settings to adjust the overall appearance and behavior of your desktop in the GNOME Control Center. There, you can also change fonts, keyboard and mouse configurations, regional and language settings, parameters for your Internet and network usage, and more.

To start the Control Center, click Computer, then click Control Center on the right of the main menu.

Configuring Desktop Effects

Xgl is an X server architecture that lets you turn your desktop into a rotating 3D cube, tile windows so they do not overlap, and switch tasks while viewing live thumbnails. You can enable translucent or transparent windows, zoom in and out of the desktop screen, and use other window effects such as shadows, fading, and transformations. You can also configure windows to snap to other windows and screen edges when they are moved.

To enable Xgl, you need a graphics adapter capable of providing 3D support, and you also need the graphics driver that Linux uses to operate the graphics adapter. This driver must be able to handle OpenGL (or 3D) requests from the Linux kernel. Your screen resolution must be within the 1024x768 to 1920x2000 range, and your color depth must be set at 24-bit. 3D acceleration must also be enabled. Use SaX2 to change your graphics card and monitor properties if necessary.

  1. Click Computer+Control Center.

  2. Click Desktop Effects in the Look and Feel group.

    The Desktop Effects tool analyzes your system and tries to determine whether or not you can run Xgl. If it finds anything wrong, it advises you on what actions you can take. For example, you might be advised to change your screen resolution or color depth, or to activate 3D acceleration. Follow the on-screen prompts to configure your system for Xgl.

  3. After your system is configured for Xgl, click Enable Desktop Effects.

  4. Type the root password, then click Continue.

  5. Log out of your session, then log back in.

    The default desktop effects are now enabled. For example, windows are translucent when you move them, they fade away when you close them, and dragging a window to the far right of the screen rotates the desktop cube. To change any of these effects, click Configure Compiz in the Desktop Effects Setting dialog box.