Application Guide

Copyright © 2006- 2009 Novell, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

SUSE®, openSUSE®, the openSUSE® logo, Novell®, the Novell® logo, the N® logo, are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Linux* is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A trademark symbol (® , ™, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third-party trademark.

All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither Novell, Inc., SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, the authors, nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.

About This Guide

This manual introduces you to a variety of applications shipped with openSUSE®. It guides you through the use of these applications and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for end users.

The manual is divided into the following parts:

OpenOffice.org Novell Edition

Introduces the OpenOffice.org suite, including Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw, and Math. Learn which additional features are included in the Novell edition of OpenOffice.org.

Information Management

Get to know the e-mailing and calendaring software provided by your product. Learn how to use protected information transfer by signing and encrypting your documents or mails. Make use of note-taking applications to collect and sort information and to organize your ideas.

Communication and Collaboration

Stay in contact with others and communicate via network connections using Instant Messaging or Voice over IP.

Internet

Search for information on the Web with browsers combining the latest browsing and security technologies. Make use of file transfers client to transfer data from the Internet.

Graphics

Get to know GIMP, an image manipulation program that meets the needs of both amateurs and professionals. Learn how to download digital photographs from your camera and how to manage your image collection by creating albums or exporting them to image galleries on the Web.

Multimedia

Get introduced to your desktop's applications for playing music and movies. Learn how to create data or audio CDs and DVDs for archiving your data.

Many chapters in this manual contain links to additional documentation resources. These include additional documentation that is available on the system, as well as documentation available on the Internet.

For an overview of the documentation available for your product and the latest documentation updates, refer to http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse112 or to the following section.

Available Documentation

We provide HTML and PDF versions of our books in different languages.

“Start-Up” (↑Start-Up)

Guides you through the installation and basic configuration of your system. For newcomers, the manual also introduces basic Linux concepts such as the file system, the user concept and access permissions and gives an overview of the features openSUSE offers to support mobile computing. Provides help and advice in troubleshooting.

“KDE User Guide” (↑KDE User Guide)

Introduces the KDE desktop of openSUSE. It guides you through using and configuring the desktop and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for users who want to make efficient use of KDE as their default desktop.

“GNOME User Guide” (↑GNOME User Guide)

Introduces the GNOME desktop of openSUSE. It guides you through using and configuring the desktop and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for end users who want to make efficient use of GNOME desktop as their default desktop.

Application Guide

Learn how to use and configure key desktop applications on openSUSE. This guide introduces browsers and e-mail clients as well as office applications and collaboration tools. It also covers graphics and multimedia applications.

“Reference” (↑Reference)

Gives you a general understanding of openSUSE and covers advanced system administration tasks. It is intended mainly for system administrators and home users with basic system administration knowledge. It provides detailed information about advanced deployment scenarios, administration of your system, the interaction of key system components and the set-up of various network and file services openSUSE offers.

“Security Guide” (↑Security Guide)

Introduces basic concepts of system security, covering both local and network security aspects. Shows how to make use of the product inherent security software like Novell AppArmor (which lets you specify per program which files the program may read, write, and execute) or the auditing system that reliably collects information about any security-relevant events.

In addition to the comprehensive manuals, several quick start guides are available:

“KDE Quick Start” (↑Quick Start Manuals)

Gives a short introduction to the KDE desktop and some key applications running on it.

“GNOME Quick Start” (↑Quick Start Manuals)

Gives a short introduction to the GNOME desktop and some key applications running on it.

“Installation Quick Start” (↑Quick Start Manuals)

Lists the system requirements and guides you step-by-step through the installation of openSUSE from DVD, or from an ISO image.

Novell AppArmor Quick Start

Helps you understand the main concepts behind Novell® AppArmor.

Find HTML versions of most product manuals in your installed system under /usr/share/doc/manual or in the help centers of your desktop. Find the latest documentation updates at http://www.novell.com/documentation where you can download PDF or HTML versions of the manuals for your product.

Feedback

Several feedback channels are available:

To report bugs for a product component or to submit enhancement requests, please use https://bugzilla.novell.com/. If you are new to Bugzilla, you might find the Submitting Bug Reports article—available under http://en.opensuse.org/Submitting_Bug_Reports helpful. Frequently asked questions on reporting bugs are available under http://en.opensuse.org/Bug_Reporting_FAQ.

We want to hear your comments and suggestions about this manual and the other documentation included with this product. Please use the User Comments feature at the bottom of each page of the online documentation and enter your comments there.

Documentation Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in this manual:

/etc/passwd: directory names and filenames

placeholder: replace placeholder with the actual value

PATH: the environment variable PATH

ls, --help: commands, options, and parameters

user: users or groups

Alt, Alt+F1: a key to press or a key combination; keys are shown in uppercase as on a keyboard

File, File+Save As: menu items, buttons

Dancing Penguins (Chapter Penguins, ↑Another Manual): This is a reference to a chapter in another manual.

About the Making of This Manual

This book is written in Novdoc, a subset of DocBook (see http://www.docbook.org). The XML source files were validated by xmllint, processed by xsltproc, and converted into XSL-FO using a customized version of Norman Walsh's stylesheets. The final PDF is formatted through XEP from RenderX. The open source tools and the environment used to build this manual are available in the package susedoc that is shipped with openSUSE.

Source Code

The source code of openSUSE is publicly available. To download the source code, proceed as outlined under http://www.novell.com/products/suselinux/source_code.html. If requested we send you the source code on a DVD. We need to charge a $15 or €15 fee for creation, handling and postage. To request a DVD of the source code, send an e-mail to sourcedvd@suse.de or mail the request to:

  SUSE Linux Products GmbH
  Product Management
  openSUSE
  Maxfeldstr. 5
  D-90409 Nürnberg
  Germany

Acknowledgments

With a lot of voluntary commitment, the developers of Linux cooperate on a global scale to promote the development of Linux. We thank them for their efforts—this distribution would not exist without them. Furthermore, we thank Frank Zappa and Pawar. Special thanks, of course, goes to Linus Torvalds.

Have a lot of fun!

Your SUSE Team

Part I. OpenOffice.org Novell Edition

Chapter 1. The OpenOffice.org Office Suite

Abstract

OpenOffice.org is an open-source office suite that provides tools for all types of office tasks such as writing texts, working with spreadsheets, or creating graphics and presentations. With OpenOffice.org, you can use the same data across different computing platforms. You can also open and edit files in other formats, including Microsoft Office, then save them back to this format, if needed. This chapter contains information that applies to all of the OpenOffice.org modules and gives an overview of the features specific to the Novell edition of OpenOffice.org that is shipped with openSUSE®.

OpenOffice.org Modules

OpenOffice.org consists of several application modules (subprograms), which are designed to interact with each other. They are listed in Table 1.1. A full description of each module is available in the online help, described in Section “For More Information”.

Table 1.1. The OpenOffice.org Application Modules

Module

Purpose

Writer

Word processor application module

Calc

Spreadsheet application module

Impress

Presentation application module

Base

Database application module

Draw

Application module for drawing vector graphics

Math

Application module for generating mathematical formulas

The following chapters cover individual OpenOffice.org modules:

Chapter 2, OpenOffice.org Writer

Introduces OpenOffice.org Writer.

Chapter 3, OpenOffice.org Calc

Introduces OpenOffice.org Calc.

Chapter 4, Further OpenOffice.org Modules

Introduces OpenOffice.org Impress, Base, Draw, and Math.

What's New in OpenOffice.org 3.1.1?

For a list of new core features available with OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, refer to http://development.openoffice.org/releases/3.1.1.html.

Novell Edition of OpenOffice.org

openSUSE® includes the Novell edition of OpenOffice.org. The Novell edition includes several enhancements that are not yet included in the standard edition:

Excel VBA Macro Interoperability:

OpenOffice.org Novell edition eases the migration of many macros from Microsoft Excel. Although not all macros can be successfully migrated, this interoperability offers more than the standard edition, which does not support migration of macros.

Data Pilots:

Data Pilots are interoperable with Microsoft Office PivotTables*. OpenOffice.org Novell edition substantially improves the Data Pilot feature, making it possible to edit pilots after creation.

Enhanced Fonts:

Licensed fonts from Agfa* Monotype* which are metrically identical and visually compatible with some of the key Microsoft fonts. This allows OpenOffice.org Novell edition to match fonts when opening documents originally composed in Microsoft Office, and very closely match pagination and page formatting.

EMF+Support:

The ability to render EMF+ formatted graphics.

SVG Support:

The ability to import scalable vector graphics.

Import File Formats:

Microsoft Works, WordPerfect* text and graphics, T602 files, Office Open XML, and more.

GroupWise® Integration:

OpenOffice.org Novell edition includes improved integration with ODMA (Open Document Management Architecture) services, for example for GroupWise. If you have the GroupWise client installed on the machine, OpenOffice.org Novell edition will offer to open documents from GroupWise, or save documents in GroupWise.

You can also use the standard edition of OpenOffice.org rather than the Novell edition. If you install the latest version of OpenOffice.org, all of your Novell edition files remain compatible. However, the standard edition does not contain the enhancements made in the Novell edition.

Compatibility with Other Office Applications

OpenOffice.org can work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases in many other formats, including Microsoft Office. They can be easily opened like other files and saved back to the original format. Though some work has already been invested in interoperability, occasionally there are still formatting issues. If you have problems with your documents, consider opening them in the original application and resaving them in an open format such as RTF for text documents. In case of migration problems with spreadsheets however, it is advisable to re-save them as Excel files and use this as intermediate format (with CSV format you would lose all cell formatting and CVS sometimes leads to incorrect cell type detection for spreadsheets).

OpenOffice.org Migration Guide

For useful information about migrating from other office suites to OpenOffice.org, refer to the OpenOffice.org Migration Guide at http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/0600MG-MigrationGuide.pdf.

Converting Documents to the OpenOffice.org Format

OpenOffice.org can read, edit, and save documents in a number of formats. It is not necessary to convert files from those formats to the OpenOffice.org format to use those files. However, if you want to convert the files, you can do so. To convert a number of documents, such as when first switching to OpenOffice.org, do the following:

Select File+Wizards+Document Converter.

Choose the file format from which to convert.

There are several StarOffice and Microsoft Office formats available.

Click Next.

Specify where OpenOffice.org should look for templates and documents to convert and in which directory the converted files should be placed.

Documents retrieved from a Windows partition are usually in a subdirectory of /windows.

Make sure that all other settings are correct, then click Next.

Review the summary of the actions to perform, then start the conversion by clicking Convert. When everything is done, close the Wizard by clicking Close.

The amount of time needed for the conversion depends on the number of files and their complexity. For most documents, conversion does not take very long.

Sharing Files with Users of Other Office Suites

OpenOffice.org is available for a number of operating systems. This makes it an excellent tool when a group of users frequently need to share files and do not use the same system on their computers.

When sharing documents with others, you have several options.

If the recipient needs to be able to edit the file

Save the document in the format the other user needs. For example, to save as a Microsoft Word file, click File+Save As, then select the Microsoft Word file type for the version of Word the other user needs.

If the recipient only needs to read the document

Export the document to a PDF file with File+Export as PDF. PDF files can be read on any platform using a PDF viewer.

If you want to share a document for editing

Agree on a common exchange format that works for everyone. TXT and RTF formats, although limited in formatting, might be a good option for text documents.

If you want to e-mail a document as a PDF

Click File+Send+E-mail as PDF. Your default e-mail program opens with the file attached.

If you want to e-mail a document to a Microsoft Word user

Click File+Send+E-mail as Microsoft Word. Your default e-mail program opens with the file attached.

Send a document as the body of an e-mail

Click File+Send+Document as E-mail. Your default e-mail program opens with the contents of the document as the e-mail body.

Starting OpenOffice.org

To start the OpenOffice.org suite, press Alt+F2 and enter ooffice. The OpenOffice.org window opens.

In the selection dialog, choose the module you want to open or which file type you want to create. If any OpenOffice.org application is open, you can start any of the other applications by clicking File+New+Name of Application.

You can also start individual OpenOffice.org modules from your main menu or by pressing Alt+F2 and entering the command for the respective module. For example, enter oowriter to start OpenOffice.org Writer, or oocalc to start Calculator, or ooimpress to start Impress.

Saving OpenOffice.org Files with a Password

You can save files, no matter in which OpenOffice.org format, with a password. Note that this offers limited protection only. For stronger protection, use encryption methods as described in “Encrypting Partitions and Files” (↑Security Guide). To save a file with a password, select File+Save or File+Save As. In the dialog that opens, activate the Save with password check box and click OK. After you have typed and confirmed your password, your file will be saved. The next time a user opens the file, he will be prompted for the password.

To change the password, either overwrite the same file by selecting File+Save As or select File+Properties and click Change Password to access the password dialog.

Customizing OpenOffice.org

You can customize OpenOffice.org to best suit your needs and working style. Toolbars, menus, and keyboard shortcuts can all be reconfigured to help you more quickly access the features you use the most. You can also assign macros to application events if you want specific actions to occur when those events take place. For example, if you always work with a specific spreadsheet, you can create a macro that opens the spreadsheet and assign the macro to the Start Application event.

This section contains simple, generic instructions for customizing your environment. The changes you make are effective immediately, so you can see if the changes are what you wanted and go back and modify them if they are not. See the OpenOffice.org help files for detailed instructions.

To access the customization dialog in any open OpenOffice.org module, select Tools+Customize.

Figure 1.1. Customization Dialog in Writer

Procedure 1.1. Customizing Toolbars

In the customization dialog, click the Toolbar tab.

From the Toolbar drop-down list, select the toolbar you want to customize.

Select the check boxes next to the commands you want to appear on the toolbar, and deselect the check boxes next to the commands you do not want to appear. A short description for each command is shown at the bottom of the dialog.

With Save In, select whether to save your customized toolbar in the current OpenOffice.org module or in the current document. If you decide to save it in the OpenOffice.org module, the customized toolbar is used whenever you open that module. If you decide to save it together with the current document, the customized toolbar is used whenever you open that document.

Repeat to customize additional toolbars.

Click OK.

If you want to switch back to the original settings again, open the customization dialog, click the Toolbardrop-down list and select Restore Default Settings. Click Yes and Reset to proceed.

Procedure 1.2. Showing or Hiding Buttons in the Toolbar

Click the arrow icon at the right edge of the toolbar you want to change.

Click Visible Buttons to display a list of buttons.

Select the buttons in the list to enable (check) or disable (uncheck) them.

Procedure 1.3. Customizing Menus

You can add or delete items from current menus, reorganize menus, and even create new menus.

Click Tools+Customize+Menus.

Select the menu you want to change, or click New to create a new menu.

Click Help for more information about the options in the Customize dialog.

Modify, add, or delete menu items as desired.

Click OK.

Procedure 1.4. Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

You can reassign currently assigned keyboard shortcuts and assign new shortcuts to frequently used functions.

Click Tools+Customize+Keyboard.

Select the keys you want to assign to a shortcut.

Select a Category and an appropriate function.

Click Modify to assign the function to the key or Delete to remove an existing assignment.

Further Information

Click Help for more information about the options in the Customize dialog.

Click OK.

Procedure 1.5. Customizing Events

OpenOffice.org also provides ways to assign macros to events such as application startup or the saving of a document. The assigned macro runs automatically whenever the selected event occurs.

Click Tools+Customize+Events.

Select the event you want to change.

Click Help for more information about the options in the Customize dialog box.

Assign or remove macros for the selected event.

Click OK.

Changing the Global Settings

Global settings can be changed in any OpenOffice.org application by clicking Tools+Options on the menu bar. This opens the window shown in the figure below. A tree structure is used to display categories of settings.

Figure 1.2. The Options Window

The settings categories that appear depend on the module you are working in. For example, if you are in Writer, the OpenOffice.org Writer category appears in the list, but the OpenOffice.org Calc category does not. The OpenOffice.org Base category appears in both Calc and Writer. The Application column in the table shows where each setting category is available.

The following table lists the settings categories along with a brief description of each category:

Table 1.2. Global Setting Categories

Settings​ Category

Description

Application

OpenOffice.org

Various basic settings, including your user data (such as your address and e-mail), important paths, and settings for printers and external programs.

All

Load/Save

Includes the settings related to the opening and saving of several file types. There is a dialog for general settings and several special dialogs to define how external formats should be handled.

All

Language​ Settings

Covers the various settings related to languages and writing aids, such as your locale and spell checker settings. This is also the place to enable support for Asian languages.

All

OpenOffice.org​ Writer

Configures the global word processing options, such as the basic fonts and layout that Writer should use.

Writer

OpenOffice.org​ Writer/Web

Changes the settings related to the HTML authoring features of OpenOffice.org.

Writer

OpenOffice.org​ Calc

Changes the settings for Calc, such as those related to sorting lists and grids.

Calc

OpenOffice.org​ Impress

Changes the settings that should apply to all presentations. For example, you can specify the measurement unit for the grid used to arrange elements.

Impress

OpenOffice.org​ Draw

Includes the settings related to the vector drawing module, such as the drawing scale, grid properties, and some print options.

Draw

OpenOffice.org​ Math

Provides a single dialog to set special print options for formulas.

Math

OpenOffice.org​ Base

Provides dialogs to set and edit connections and registered databases.

Base

Charts

Defines the default colors used for newly created charts.

All

Internet

Includes the dialogs to configure any proxies and to change settings related to search engines.

All

Settings Apply Globally

All settings listed in the table are applied globally for the specified applications. They are used as defaults for every new document you create.

Using Templates

A template is a document containing only the styles (and content) that you want to appear in every document of that type. When a document is created or opened with the template, the styles are automatically applied to that document. Templates greatly enhance the use of OpenOffice.org by simplifying formatting tasks for a variety of different types of documents. For example, in a word processor, you might write letters, memos, and reports, all of which look different and require different styles. Or for spreadsheets, you might want to use different cell styles or headings for certain types of spreadsheets. If you use templates for each of your document types, the styles you need for each document are always readily available.

OpenOffice.org comes with a set of predefined templates, and you can find additional templates on the Internet. For details, see Section “For More Information”. If you want to create your own templates, this requires some up-front planning. You need to determine how you want the document to look so you can create the styles you need in that template.

A detailed explanation of templates is beyond the scope of this section. Procedure 1.6, “Creating OpenOffice.org Templates” only shows how to generate a template from an existing document.

Procedure 1.6. Creating OpenOffice.org Templates

For text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings, you can easily create a template from an existing document as follows:

Start OpenOffice.org and open or create a document that contains the styles and content that you want to re-use for other documents of that type.

Click File+Templates+Save.

Specify a name for the template.

In the Categories box, click the category you want to place the template in. The category is the folder where the template is stored.

Click OK.

Converting Former Microsoft Word Templates

You can convert Microsoft Word templates like you would any other Word document. See Section “Converting Documents to the OpenOffice.org Format” for information.

For More Information

OpenOffice.org contains extensive online help. In addition, a large community of users and developers support it. The following lists shows some of the places where you can go for additional information.

OpenOffice.org Online Help Menu

Extensive help on performing any task in OpenOffice.org.

http://support.openoffice.org/index.html

Official OpenOffice.org support page. provides manuals, tutorials, user and developer forums, users@openoffice.org mailing list, Frequently Asked Questions, and much more

http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/0600MG-MigrationGuide.pdf

OpenOffice.org Migration Guide. Provides information about migrating to OpenOffice.org from other office suites, including Microsoft Office.

http://www.taming-openoffice-org.com/

Taming OpenOffice.org: Books, news, tips and tricks.

http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php

Extensive information about creating and using macros.

http://documentation.openoffice.org/Samples_Templates/User/template_2_x/index.html

The OpenOffice.org documentation Web site provides templates for Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw. Including thesis templates, Curriculum Vitae or templates for CD cases, fax cover sheets, and much more.

http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/openoffice-template.htm

Various templates for creating labels with OpenOffice.org.

http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO/index.html

Detailed HOWTOs for various OpenOffice.org tasks, including how to create and use templates.

Chapter 2. OpenOffice.org Writer

OpenOffice.org Writer is a full-featured word processor with page and text formatting capabilities. Its interface is similar to interfaces of other major word processors, and it includes some features that are usually found only in expensive desktop publishing applications.

This chapter highlights a few key features of Writer. For more information about these features and for complete instructions for using Writer, look at the OpenOffice.org help or at the sources listed in Section “For More Information”.

Much of the information in this chapter can also be applied to other OpenOffice.org modules. For example, other modules use styles similarly to how they are used in Writer.

What's New in Writer?

Find some major enhancements listed below.

Displaying Multiple Pages in Editing Mode

OpenOffice.org now includes a set of icons at the right corner of the status bar that allows you to display multiple pages in the editing mode. With the slide bar, zoom seamlessly in and out of the document. When zooming out, OpenOffice.org displays more pages of your document.

Display and Usability of Notes

When editing or reviewing a document, users can add notes to the text. In contrast to earlier versions of OpenOffice.org where notes were only shown as small rectangles within the text, the notes are now displayed on the side of the document. Notes from different users are displayed in different colors and also show editing date and time.

The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org includes additional features available also in Writer, like enhanced fonts, support of certain file formats or GroupWise integration. For more details, refer to Section “Novell Edition of OpenOffice.org”.

Creating a New Document

There are two ways to create a new document.

To create a document from scratch, click File+New+Text Document.

To use a standard format and predefined elements for your own documents, try a wizard. For example, to create a business letter, click File+Wizards+Letter. Using the wizard's dialogs, easily create a basic document using a standard format. A sample wizard dialog is shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1. An OpenOffice.org Wizard

Enter text in the document window as desired. Use the Formatting toolbar or the Format menu to adjust the appearance of the document. Use the File menu or the relevant buttons in the toolbar to print and save your document. With the options under Insert, add extra items to your document, such as a table, picture, or chart.

Sharing Documents with Other Word Processors

You can use Writer to edit documents created in a variety of other word processors. For example, you can import a Microsoft Word document, edit it, and save it again as a Word document. Most Word documents can be imported into OpenOffice.org without any problem. Formatting, fonts, and all other aspects of the document remain intact. However, some very complex documents (such as documents containing complicated tables, Word macros, or unusual fonts or formatting) might require some editing after being imported. OpenOffice.org can also save in many popular word processing formats. Likewise, documents created in OpenOffice.org and saved as Word files can be opened in Microsoft Word.

This means if you use OpenOffice.org in an environment where you frequently share documents with Word users, you should have little or no trouble exchanging document files. Just open the files, edit them, and save them as Word files.

Formatting with Styles

OpenOffice.org uses styles for applying consistent formatting to various elements in a document. The following types of styles are available via the Format menu:

Table 2.1. About the Types of Styles

Type of Style

What it Does

Paragraph

Applies standardized formatting to the various types of paragraphs in your document. For example, apply a paragraph style to a first-level heading to set the font and font size, spacing above and below the heading, location of the heading, and other formatting specifications.

Character

Applies standardized formatting for types of text. For example, if you want emphasized text to appear in italics, you can create an emphasis style that italicizes selected text when you apply the style to it.

Frame/Object

Applies standardized formatting to frames. For example, if your document uses sidebars, you can create frames with specified graphics, borders, location, and other formatting so that all of your sidebars have a consistent appearance.

Page

Applies standardized formatting to a specified type of page. For example, if every page of your document contains a header and footer except for the first page, you can use a first page style that disables headers and footers. You can also use different page styles for left and right pages so that you have bigger margins on the insides of pages and your page numbers appear on an outside corner.

Bullets and numbering

Applies standardized formatting to specified list types. For example, you can define a checklist with square check boxes and a bullet list with round bullets, then easily apply the correct style when creating your lists.

The Styles and Formatting Window

The Styles and Formatting window (called the Stylist in earlier versions of OpenOffice.org) is a versatile formatting tool for applying styles to text, paragraphs, pages, frames, and lists. To open this window, click Format+Styles and Formatting.

Figure 2.2. Styles and Formatting Window

OpenOffice.org comes with several predefined styles. You can use these styles as they are, modify them, or create new styles. Use the icons at the top of the window to display formatting styles for the most common elements like paragraphs, frames, pages or lists. Go on with the instructions below, to get to know more about styles.

Applying a Style

To apply a style, select the element you want to apply the style to, and then double-click the style in the Styles and Formatting window. For example, to apply a style to a paragraph, place the cursor anywhere in that paragraph and double-click the desired paragraph style.

Docking the Style and Formatting Window

By default, the Styles and Formatting window is a floating window; that is, it opens in its own window that you can place anywhere on the screen. To make it appear always in the same part of the Writer interface, you can dock the Styles and Formatting window. To do so, drag its title bar to the left or right side of the main Writer window until a grey frame appears, then release the mouse button to position it there. To undock the window and make it appear as a floating window again, just drag its title bar to a different place.

The docking/undocking mechanism applies to some other windows in OpenOffice.org as well, including the Navigator.

Changing a Style

With styles, you can change formatting throughout a document by changing a style, rather than applying the change separately everywhere you want to apply the new formatting.

In the Styles and Formatting window, right-click the style you want to change.

Click Modify.

Change the settings for the selected style.

For information about the available settings, refer to the OpenOffice.org online help.

Click OK.

Creating a Style

OpenOffice.org comes with a collection of styles to suit many users’ needs. However, most users eventually need a style that does not yet exist. To create a new style:

Right-click in any empty space in the Styles and Formatting window.

Make sure you are in the list of styles for the type of style you want to create. For example, if you are creating a character style, make sure you are in the character style list.

Click New.

Click OK.

Name your style and choose the settings you want applied with that style.

For details about the style options available in any tab, click that tab and then click Help.

Using Styles Versus Using Formatting Buttons and Menu Options

Using styles, rather than the Format menu options and buttons, helps to give your pages, paragraphs, texts, and lists a more consistent look and makes it easier to change your formatting. For example, if you emphasize text by selecting it and clicking the Bold button, then later decide you want emphasized text to be italicized, you need to find all of your bolded text and manually change it to italics. If you use a character style, you only need to change the style from bold to italics and all text that has been formatted with that style automatically changes from bold to italics.

Text that is formatted with a menu option or button overrides any styles you have applied. If you use the Bold button to format some text and an emphasis style to format other text, then changing the style does not change the text that you formatted with the button, even if you later apply the style to the text you bolded with the button. You must manually unbold the text and then apply the style.

Likewise, if you manually format your paragraphs using Format+Paragraph, it is easy to end up with inconsistent paragraph formatting. This is especially true if you copy and paste paragraphs from other documents with different formatting. However, if you apply paragraph styles, formatting remains consistent. If you change a style, the change is automatically applied to all paragraphs formatted with that style.

Working with Large Documents

You can use Writer to work on large documents. Large documents can be either a single file or a collection of files assembled into a single document.

Navigating in Large Documents

The Navigator tool displays information about the contents of a document. It also lets you quickly jump to different elements. For example, you can use the Navigator to get a quick overview of all images included in the document.

To open the Navigator, click View+Navigator or press F5. The elements listed in the Navigator vary according to the document loaded in Writer.

Figure 2.3. Navigator Tool in Writer

Click an item in the Navigator to jump to that item in the document.

Using Master Documents

If you are working with a very large document, such as a book, you might find it easier to manage the book with a master document, rather than keeping the book in a single file. A master document enables you to quickly apply formatting changes to a large document or to jump to each subdocument for editing.

A master document is a Writer document that serves as a container for multiple Writer files. You can maintain chapters or other subdocuments as individual files collected in the master document. Master documents are also useful if multiple users are working on a single document. You can separate each user’s section of the document into subdocuments collected in a master document, allowing multiple writers to work on their subdocuments at the same time without fear of overwriting others' work.

Procedure 2.1. Creating a Master Document

Click New+Master Document.

or

Open an existing document and click File+Send+Create Master Document.

Select Insert in the navigator window and hold the button.

Move the mouse to File and release the mouse button.

Select a file to add an existing file to the master document.

To create and add a new document to the master document, choose Insert+New Document. The new file opens in another OpenOffice.org Writer window. The content of the file will be integrated in the master document. To save the file as part of the master document, switch back to the master, enter the filename into the open file menu and click OK.

To enter some text directly into the master document, select Insert+Text.

The OpenOffice.org help files contain more complete information about working with master documents. Look for the topic entitled Using Master Documents and Subdocuments .

Styles and Templates in Master Documents

The styles from all of your subdocuments are imported into the master document. To ensure that formatting is consistent throughout your master document, you should use the same template for each subdocument. Doing so is not mandatory. However, if subdocuments are formatted differently, you might need to do some reformatting to successfully bring subdocuments into the master document without creating inconsistencies. For example, if two documents imported into your master document include different styles with the same name, the master document will use the formatting specified for that style in the first document you import.

Using Writer as an HTML Editor

In addition to being a full-featured word processor, Writer also functions as an HTML editor. Writer includes HTML tags that can be applied as you would any other style in a Writer document. You can view the document as it will appear online, or you can directly edit the HTML code.

Procedure 2.2. Creating an HTML Document

Click File+New+HTML Document.

Press F11 to open the Styles and Formatting window.

Click the arrow at the bottom of the Styles and Formatting window.

Select HTML Styles.

Create your HTML document, using the styles to tag your text.

Click File+Save As.

Select the location where you want to save your file, name the file, and select HTML Document (.html) from the Filter list.

Click OK.

If you prefer to edit HTML code directly, or if you want to see the HTML code created when you edited the HTML file as a Writer document, click View+HTML Source. In HTML Source mode, the Formatting and Styles list is not available.

The first time you switch to HTML Source mode, you are prompted to save the file as HTML, if you have not already done so.

Chapter 3. OpenOffice.org Calc

Calc is the OpenOffice.org spreadsheet and data plotting module. Spreadsheets consist of a number of sheets, containing cells which can be filled with elements like text, numbers, or formulas. A formula can manipulate data from other cells to generate a value for the cell in which it is inserted. Calc also allows you to define ranges, filter and sort the data or creates charts from the data to present it graphically. By using DataPilots, you can combine, analyze or compare larger amounts of data.

As with the entire OpenOffice.org suite, Calc can be used across a variety of platforms. It provides a number of exchange formats (including export to PDF documents), and can also read and save files in Microsoft Excel's format. Its interoperability is constantly ameliorated.

This chapter can only introduce some very basic Calc functionalities. For more information and for complete instructions, look at the OpenOffice.org help or at the sources listed in Section “For More Information”. Power users can find a list of new features in Section “What's New in Calc?”.

VBA Macros

Calc can process many VBA macros in Excel documents; however, support for VBA macros is not yet complete. When opening an Excel spreadsheet that makes heavy use of macros, you might discover that some do not work.

What's New in Calc?

Find some major enhancements listed below.

Spreadsheet Collaboration

It is now possible to share a spreadsheet with other users. To do so, click Tools+Share Document. In the dialog that appears, activate the sharing mode and save the document. This creates a lock file .~sharing.filename.ods# in the same directory to store the list of users who are currently accessing the document. When a different user, tux opens the file, he is informed about the sharing mode and can make his changes to the file. When he wants to save his changes (and the document has been modified by another user in the meantime), a message appears. Upon saving the document, the changes of both users will be merged.

Access Permissions

Note that all writers working on the shared document need writing permission for both the shared file and the lock file.

Higher Number of Columns Per Calc Sheet

Instead of only 256 columns per spreadsheet, OpenOffice.org can now handle 1024 columns per spreadsheet.

The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org includes the following additional features available in Calc:

Variable Formula Syntax Support (Calc A1, Excel A1, and Excel R1C1)

Accessible from the Options dialog: Click Tools+Options+OpenOffice.org Calc+Calculate and select the relevant Formula Syntax.

Support of External Range Names

Allows users to access named ranges in external documents like you can in Microsoft Excel. For example, =SUM('file:///external.ods'#NamedRange)

Support for Encrypted Excel Export

Allows you to save to an *.xls file with password and encrypt its content. Click File+Save As... and select the Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls) format. Set the checkbox Save with password, save and type your password.

Protecting Sheets

Allows you to protect sheets and the contents of locked cells with a password. Click Tools+Protect Document+Sheet to access the available options.

Changing Source Data Ranges of DataPilots

Allows you to change the source data range of a DataPilot after the table has been created.

Toggling Grid Lines Per Sheet

Allows you to hide or show the grid lines individually for each sheet. The grid line settings are saved with the document. Access the function from the right end of the toolbar.

Argument Separators in Formula Expressions

The argument separators in formula expression are dependent on locales. In the English locale you can use a comma instead of a semicolon as a separator for expressions. For example, you can write =SUM(A1,A2,A3) instead of =SUM(A1;A2;A3).

Creating a New Document

Start OpenOffice.org and select File+New+Spreadsheet to create a new spreadsheet from scratch. Access the individual sheets by clicking the respective tabs at the bottom of the window.

Enter data in the cells as desired. To adjust the appearance, either use the Formatting toolbar or the Format menu—or define styles as described in Section “Using Formatting and Styles in Calc” . Use the File menu or the relevant buttons in the toolbar to print and save your document.

Using Formatting and Styles in Calc

Calc comes with a few built-in cell and page styles to improve the appearance of your spreadsheets and reports. Although these built-in styles are adequate for many uses, you will probably find it useful to create styles for your own frequently used formatting preferences.

Procedure 3.1. Creating a Style

Click Format+Styles and Formatting.

In the Styles and Formatting window, click either the Cell Styles or the Page Styles icon from the top of the window.

Right-click in the Styles and Formatting window, then click New.

Specify a name for your style and use the various tabs to set the desired formatting options.

Click OK.

Procedure 3.2. Modifying a Style

Click Format+Styles and Formatting.

In the Formatting and Styles window, click either the Cell Styles or the Page Styles icon.

Right-click the name of the style you want to change, then click Modify.

Change the desired formatting options.

Click OK.

To apply a style to specific cells, select the cells you want to format. Then double-click the style you want to apply in the Styles and Formatting window.

Chapter 4. Further OpenOffice.org Modules

Besides OpenOffice.org Writer and OpenOffice.org Calc, OpenOffice.org also includes the modules Impress, Base, Draw, and Math. With these you can create presentations, design databases, draw up graphics and diagrams, and create mathematical formulas.

Using Presentations with Impress

Use OpenOffice.org Impress to create presentations for screen display or printing, such as slide shows or transparencies. If you have used other presentation software, you can move comfortably to Impress, which works very similarly to other presentation software.

Impress can open and save Microsoft Powerpoint presentations. This means you can exchange presentations with Powerpoint users, as long as you save your presentations in Powerpoint format.

What's New in Impress?

The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org allows you to use 3D transitions for your slides. Access the available transitions by selecting Slide Show+Transitions.

Creating a Presentation

You can either create a new presentation from scratch (without any preformatted slides) or use an existing template or presentation for your new document. Impress uses styles and templates the same way other OpenOffice.org modules do. See Section “Using Templates” for more information about templates. A wizard leads you through the available options for creating new presentations.

Start OpenOffice.org Impress directly or in OpenOffice.org, click File+New+Presentation.

Select one of the options for creating a new presentation.

If you decide to create a presentation from a template, choose one of the templates from the drop-down list and click Next.

From a variety of backgrounds and ready-made presentations, select a slide design. To create your own design, select Original.

Select an output medium. The output medium is the form the final presentation will take, such an overhead sheet, paper, or a screen slide show, among other choices.

Select Preview for a thumbnail showing your choices. If all options are set according to your wishes, click Next.

If you want to use effects for slide transitions, select the Effect you want to use and specify the Speed .

Either use the default presentation type or choose Automatic to specify the amount of time each page displays and the length of the pause between presentations.

If all options are set according to your wishes, click Create.

The presentation opens, ready for editing.

Using Master Pages

Master pages give your presentation a consistent look by defining the way each slide looks, what fonts are used, and other graphical elements. Impress uses two types of master pages:

Slide Master

Contains elements that appear on all slides. For example, you might want your company logo to appear in the same place on every slide. The slide master also determines the text formatting style for the heading and outline of every slide that uses that master page, as well as any information you want to appear in a header or footer.

Notes Master

Determines the formatting and appearance of the notes in your presentation.

Creating a Slide Master

Impress comes with a collection of preformatted master pages. Eventually, most users will want to customize their presentations by creating their own slide masters.

Start Impress, then create a new empty presentation.

Click View+Master+Slide Master.

This opens the current slide master in Master View.

Right-click the left-hand panel, then click New Master.

Edit the slide master until it has the desired look.

Click Close Master View or View+Normal to return to Normal View.

Tip

When you have created all of the slide masters you want to use in your presentations, you can save them in an Impress template. Then, any time you want to create presentations that use those slide masters, open a new presentation with your template.

Applying a Slide Master

Slide masters can be applied to selected slides or to all slides in the presentation.

Open your presentation, then click View+Master+Slide Master.

(Optional) If you want to apply the slide master to multiple slides, but not to all slides. Select the slides that you want to use that slide master.

To select multiple slides, pressCtrl in the Slides Pane while clicking on the slides you want to use.

In the Tasks Pane, right-click the master page you want to apply.

If you do not see the Task Pane, click View+Task Pane.

Apply the slide master by clicking one of the following:

Apply to All Slides

Applies the selected slide master to all slides in the presentation.

Apply to Selected Slides

Applies the selected slide master to the current slide, or to any slides you select before applying the slide master. For example, if you want to apply a different slide master to the first slide in a presentation, select that slide, then change to Master View and apply a slide master to that slide.

Using Databases with Base

OpenOffice.org includes a database module: Base. Use Base to design a database to store many different kinds of information, from a simple address book or recipe file to a sophisticated document management system.

Tables, forms, queries, and reports can be created manually or by using convenient wizards. For example, the Table Wizard contains a number of common fields for business and personal use. Databases created in Base can be used as data sources, such as when creating form letters.

It is beyond the scope of this document to detail database design with Base. More information can be found at the sources listed in Section “For More Information”.

Creating a Database Using Predefined Options

Base comes with several predefined database fields to help you create a database. A wizard guides you through the steps to create a new database. The steps in this section are specific to creating an address book using predefined fields, but it should be easy to follow them to use the predefined fields for any of the built-in database options.

The process for creating a database can be broken into several subprocesses:

Creating the Database

Click File+New+Database.

Select Create a new database+Next.

Click Yes, register the database for me to make your database information available to other OpenOffice.org modules, select both check boxes in the bottom half of the dialog, then click Finish.

Browse to the directory where you want to save the database, specify a name for the database, then click OK.

Setting Up the Database Table

Next, define the fields you want to use in your database table.

In the Table Wizard, click Personal.

The Sample tables list changes to show the predefined tables for personal use. If you had clicked Business, the list would contain predefined business tables.

In the Sample tables list, click Addresses.

The available fields for the predefined address book appear in the Available fields menu.

In the Available fields menu, click the fields you want to use in your address book.

You can select one item at a time, or you can shift-click multiple items to select them.

Click the single arrow icon to move the selected items to the Selected fields menu.

To move all available fields to the Selected fields menu, click the double right-arrow.

Use the ↑ and ↓ keys to adjust the order of the selected fields.

The fields appear in the table and forms in the order in which they are listed.

Click Next.

Make sure each of the fields is defined correctly.

You can change the field name, type, maximum characters and whether it is a required field. For this example, leave the settings as they are.

Click Next.

Click Create a primary key, click Automatically add a primary key, click Auto value, then click Next.

Accept the default name for the table, select Create a form based on this table, then click Finish.

Creating a Form

Next, create the form to use when entering data into your address book.

In the Form Wizard, click the double right-arrow icon to move all available fields to the Fields in the form list, then click Next twice.

Select Add Subform if you want to add a subform, then click Next.

For this example, accept the default selections.

Select how you want to arrange your form, then click Next.

Select the option to use the form to display all data and leave all of the check boxes empty, then click Next.

Apply a style and field border, then click Next.

For this example, accept the default selections.

Name the form, select the Modify the form option, then click Finish.

Modifying the Form

After the form has been defined, you can modify the appearance of the form to suit your preferences.

Close the form that opened when you finished the previous step.

In the main window for your database, right-click the form you want to modify (there should be only one option), then click Edit.

Arrange the fields on the form by dragging them to their new locations.

For example, move the First Name field so it appears to the right of the Last Name field, and then adjust the locations of the other fields to suit your preference.

When you have finished modifying the form, save it and close it.

What’s Next?

After you have created your database tables and forms, you are ready to enter your data. You can also design queries and reports to help sort and display the data.

Refer to OpenOffice.org online help and other sources listed in Section “For More Information” for additional information about Base.

Creating Graphics with Draw

Use OpenOffice.org Draw to create graphics and diagrams. You can save your drawings in today’s most common formats and import them into any application that lets you import graphics, including the other OpenOffice.org modules. You can also create Flash versions of your drawings.

The OpenOffice.org documentation contains complete instructions on using Draw. See Section “For More Information” for more information.

What's New in Draw?

The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org allows you to import Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg) and WordPerfect Graphics (*.wpg). Select File+Open and use the Filter drop-down list to view which file formats can be opened.

Creating and Inserting Graphics

Procedure 4.1. Creating a Graphic

Press Alt+F2 and enter oodraw to open OpenOffice.org Draw.

Use the toolbar at the bottom of the window to create a graphic.

Save the graphic.

To embed an existing Draw graphic into an OpenOffice.org document, select Insert+Object+OLE Object. Select Create from file and click Search to navigate to the Draw file to insert. If you insert a file as OLE object, you can easily edit the object later by double-clicking it.

Procedure 4.2. Opening Draw From Other OpenOffice.org Modules

One particularly useful feature of Draw is the ability to open it from other OpenOffice.org modules so you can create a drawing that is automatically imported into your document.

From an OpenOffice.org module (for example, from Writer), click Insert+Object+OLE Object+OpenOffice.org 3.x Drawing+OK.

This opens Draw.

Create your drawing.

Click in your document, outside the Draw frame.

The drawing is automatically inserted into your document.

Creating Mathematical Formulas with Math

It is usually difficult to include complex mathematical formulas in your documents. The OpenOffice.org Math equation editor lets you create formulas using operators, functions, and formatting assistants. You can then save those formulas as objects that can be imported into other documents. Math functions can be inserted into other OpenOffice.org documents like any other graphic object.

Note

Math is not a calculator. The functions it creates are graphical objects. Even if they are imported into Calc, these functions cannot be evaluated.

Part II. Information Management

Chapter 5. Kontact: E-Mailing and Calendaring

Abstract

Kontact combines the functionality of a number of KDE applications into a convenient, single interface for personal information management. These applications include KMail for email, KOrganizer for the calendar, KAddressBook for contacts, KNode for newsgroups, and KNotes for notes. Kontact integrates easily with the rest of the KDE desktop and connects to a variety of groupware servers. It includes extra features such as journal entries, Spam and virus filtering, and an RSS reader.

Start Kontact from the main menu. Alternatively, press Alt+F2 and enter kontact . You can also open the individual components instead of the combined application if you only need partial functionality.

Kontact Overview

The default window view is shown in Figure 5.1, “The Kontact Summary View”. Use the icons in the left section to access the different components. The Summary provides basic information, including upcoming birthdays, to-dos and the number of new mail messages. The news section can access RSS feeds to provide updated news of interest to you. Use Settings+Configure Summary View to configure the information displayed.

Figure 5.1. The Kontact Summary View

Mail

The folder area to the left contains a list of your mail folders (mail boxes) indicating the total number of messages and the number of unread messages. To select a folder, simply click it. The messages in that folder appear in the top right frame. The number of messages in that folder is also shown in the status bar at the bottom of the application window.

The subject, sender, and time of receipt of each message are listed in the header area to the right. Click a message to select it and display it in the message window. Sort the messages by clicking one of the column headers (subject, sender, date, etc.). The contents of the currently selected message are displayed in the message frame of the window. Attachments are depicted as icons at the end of the message, based on the MIME type of the attachment, or they can be displayed inline.

Contacts

The upper left frame of this component shows all addresses in the currently-activated address books. The lower left frame lists your address books and shows whether they are currently active. The right frame shows the currently-selected contact. Use the search bar at the top to find a particular contact.

Calendar

The calendar view is divided into a number of frames. By default, view a small calendar of this month and a week view of the current week. Also find a list of to-dos, a detailed view of the current event or to-do, and a list of calendars with the status of each. Select a different view from the toolbar or the View menu.

To-Do List

To-do List shows your list of tasks. Click the field at the top to add a new item to the list. Right-click in the column of an existing item to make changes to the value in that column. An item can be broken into several subitems. Right-click and select New Sub-to-do to create a subitem. You can also assign to-dos to other people.

Journal

The Journal provides a place for your reflections, occurrences, or experiences. Choose a date in the calendar frame and click Add Journal Entry to add a new entry. If a journal entry already exists for the chosen date, edit it in the right frame.

Notes

Use the Notes component to keep sticky notes to yourself. If you are using KDE, use the KNotes icon in the system tray to make your notes visible on the desktop.

Feeds

The Feeds window is divided into three frames—a tree view with RSS feeds on the left, an article list on the top right, and the article view on the bottom right side. Click a feed in the tree view to display it. Right-click a feed to update, edit, or delete it. Right-click a folder in the tree view to open a menu where you can add a new feed or manipulate existing feeds within.

Mail

Kontact uses KMail as its email component. You can also start it separately with the command kmail. To configure it, open the mail component then select Settings+Configure KMail. KMail is a fully-featured email client that supports a number of protocols.

Figure 5.2. The Kontact Mail Component

Configuring Identities

KMail can manage multiple email accounts (private or business). Creating separate identities for your different email accounts allows you to associate different sender addresses, cryptography settings and signatures with each of them. To create an identity, select Settings+Configure KMail and choose Identities+Add. Determine whether to create a new identity from scratch, use the control center settings , or whether to duplicate an existing identity.

To create a new identity from scratch, enter the name of the new identity and enter your name, organization and email address in the General tab. You can also configure one or several of the following options:

Cryptography

Set the keys to use for signing and encrypting messages. For the encryption to work, first create a key with KGpg, as described in Chapter 7, Encryption with KGpg.

Advanced

Enter a default reply-to and a default blind carbon-copy address (usually empty), choose a dictionary, select the folders for draft, sent messages, and templates, and define by which sending account the messages should be sent.

Templates

Define custom templates to use for new messages, for default replies to senders and lists, and for forwarded messages. To use templates, activate Use Custom Message Templates, first.

Signature

Click Enable Signature first to use it. Decide how your messages should be signed. Use the input field below to configure your signature or obtain it from a file or the output of a command.

Picture

Use this tab to include a picture in the X-Face format in your messages. X-Face can only hold black and white images with a dimension of 48 × 48 pixels. You can obtain the picture from the input field below or from an external source.

Creating Accounts

Before you can send or receive emails, create one or several accounts. KMail allows both remote accounts and local mailboxes. The settings under Accounts determine how Kontact receives and sends email. Many of these settings vary depending on the system and network in which your mail server is located. If you are not sure about the settings or items to select, consult your ISP or system administrator.

To configure a remote account, proceed as follows:

Start Kontact and select Settings+Configure KMail+Accounts.

Create an incoming account by clicking on the Receiving tab:

Click Add and choose the account type. Usually it is POP3, IMAP, or disconnected IMAP.

Enter your account name (can be freely choosen), the incoming mail server, login and password.

Decide, if the following options are useful to your setup:

General+Store POP password

If you use KWallet, check Store POP password. This makes it a bit more convenient as you do not have to type in your passwords (it is taken once from KWallet, see “Managing Passwords with KWallet Manager” (↑KDE User Guide).)

General+Enable interval mail checking

If you need to be up-to-date with your mails, check this option and enter the interval.

Advanced+Leave fetched messages on the server (POP3 only)

KMail can leave the original message on the server and receive a copy. Especially for POP3 accounts, this could be useful, if you need the mail on a different computer.

Advanced+Use default identity (IMAP/disconnected IMAP only)

This option lets you choose your identity.

Proceed with OK.

Create an outgoing account by clicking on the Sending tab and click Add to choose either SMTP or Sendmail:

If you select SMTP (the default), enter an account name and the host name of the SMTP server. Should the server require login and password, also check Server requires authentication and enter the required credentials. Configure additional security settings using the Security tab.

If you select Sendmail, no further configuration is required.

Apply your settings and leave the account configuration dialog with OK.

To configure a local mailbox, proceed as follows:

Start Kontact and select Settings+Configure KMail+Accounts.

Create an incoming account by clicking on the Receiving tab:

Click Add and choose Local mailbox or Maildir mailbox.

Enter your account name. Choose any name you like.

Decide which locking method you want. Usually you can leave it on Procmail lockfile

Proceed with Ok.

Create an outgoing account as described in Step 3.

Composing Messages

To compose new messages, select Message+New Message or click the corresponding icon in the toolbar. To send messages from different email accounts, select one of the identities as described in Section “Configuring Identities”. Select View+Identity to show a popup menu. In To, enter an email address or part of a name or address in your address book. If Kontact can match what you enter to something in the address book, a selection list opens. Click the desired contact or complete your input if none matches. To select directly from the address book, click the Select... button next to the Address field.

To attach files to your message, click the paper clip icon and select the file to attach. Conversely, drag a file from the desktop or another folder to the New Message window or select one of the options in the Attach menu. Normally, the format of a file is recognized correctly. If the format is not recognized, right-click the icon. From the menu that appears, select Properties. Set the format and filename in the next dialog and add a description. In addition, decide whether the attached file should be signed or encrypted.

When you are finished composing your message, send it immediately with Message+Send or move it to the outbox with Message+Send Later. If you send the email, the message is copied to sent-mail after having been sent successfully. Messages moved to the outbox can be edited or deleted.

Managing Folders

Message folders help organize your messages. By default, they are located in the ~/.kde4/share/apps/kmail/mail directory. When starting KMail for the first time, the program creates several folders. If you are using IMAP, the IMAP folders are listed below the local folders. Each incoming mail server has its folders in the Folder list.

If you want to organize your messages in additional folders, select from your list your parent folder and create new folders by selecting Folder+New Folder. This opens a window in which to specify the name and format of the new folder.

Right-click the folder for a context menu offering several folder operations. Click Expire to specify the expiration date for read and unread messages, what should happen with them after expiration, and whether expired messages should be deleted or moved to a folder. If you intend to use the folder to store messages from a mailing list, set the necessary options under Folder+Mailing List Management.

To move one or several messages from one folder to another, drag them from the upper window and drop them into the appropriate folder in the left window. Messages can also be moved by highlighting the messages then pressing M or selecting Message+Move to. In the list of folders that appears, select the folder to which to move your messages.

Additionally, you can add folders to the Favorite Folders pane. This enables you to go quickly to your frequently used mail folders, especially if your folders are deeply structured. Choose the relevant folder and select Add to Favorite Folders.

Signing and Encrypting emails

Email is an insecure medium, as anyone could theoretically read your emails or send some in your name. By signing your emails you enable the recipient of your emails to verify the sender of the messages as the key used to sign is only available to you. By encrypting the contents of your emails you ensure that they can only be read by the recipient. KMail supports both the signing and encryption of emails.

Prepare KMail for signing and encrypting emails:

Generate a key pair as described in Section “Generating a New Key Pair” and export your public key as described in Section “Exporting the Public Key”.

Configure the details of the encryption procedure in KMail:

Start KMail and go to Settings+Configure KMail+Identities.

Select the identity under which to send encrypted and signed messages. Click Modify... and proceed to Cryptography.

Change the OpenPGP signing key by clicking on Change... and selecting your key from the dialog box.

Change the OpenPGP encryption key by clicking on Change... and selecting your key from the dialog box.

Change to Security+Composing and check When encrypting emails, always also encrypt to the certificate of my own identify. With this option you can decrypt the message or file at any time.

Apply your settings and leave the configuration dialog with OK.

Sending Signed Mails

Sign your emails to allow the recipient to verify whether these have really been sent by you. KMail uses your private key to sign your messages and the recipient can verify the signature using your public key available on key servers. To sign an email, proceed as follows:

Compose your email as usual.

Select Options+Sign Message.

If you know the recipient can download your public key from a key server, you can omit this step. For convenience reasons, select Attach+Attach My Public Key to create an attachment to your email containing your public key.

Send your message as usual via Message+Send Mail and enter your key's passphrase when prompted. KMail signs your message using your private key and the recipient can verify the signature by the public key attached to your message.

Sending Encrypted Mails

Use encryption on your emails whenever you want to make sure that only the recipient can read the contents. To be able to exchange encrypted emails with another party, get the appropriate public key and use it to encrypt your message. At the other end, the private key is then used to decrypt the contents of your message. Of course, you can use both signatures and encryption on your messages.

To send an encrypted email, proceed as follows:

Start KGpg with Alt+F2 and entering kgpg.

Get the recipient's public key:

If you get it directly from the recipient, import the key with KGpg via Keys+Import Key.

Access a public key server and import it from there. Select in KGpg File+Key Server Dialog, and search for the key. Select the respective key and import it into your keyring.

Compose a new message in KMail.

Select Options+Encrypt Message. In the mail window a blue line Message will be encrypted is displayed.

Send the mail. A dialog window opens and asks you for the correct key.

Check whether all keys are correct.

Enter your passphrase.

Importing Email from Other Mail Programs

To import email from other applications, select File+Import Messages from the mail view in Kontact. It currently features import filters for Outlook Express, the mbox format, email text format, Pegasus Mail, Opera, Evolution, and more. The import utility can also be started separately with the command kmailcvt.

Select the corresponding application and confirm with Continue. A file or a folder must be provided, depending on the selected type. KMail then completes the process.

Filters

Filters are a convenient method of automatically processing incoming mail. They use aspects of the mail such as sender or size, to move mail to certain folders, delete unwanted mails, bounce mails back to the sender, or perform a number of other actions.

Setting Up a Filter

To create a filter based on an existing message, right-click the desired message then select Create Filter and the desired filter criteria. To create a filter from scratch, select Settings+Configure Filters.

Select the match method for filter criteria (all or any). Then select criteria that applies only to the desired messages. In Filter Actions, set what the filter should do to the messages that meet the criteria. The Advanced tab provides control over whether the filter is applied for specific accounts only.

Applying Filters

Filters are applied in the order listed in the dialog accessed with Settings+Configure Filters. Change the order by selecting a filter and clicking the arrow buttons. Filters are only applied to new incoming messages or sent messages as specified in the filter's advanced options. To apply filters to existing messages, right-click the desired messages and choose Messages+Apply Filter and the desired filter.

If your filters do not act as expected, monitor them with Tools+Filter Log Viewer. When logging is enabled in this dialog, it shows how messages are processed by your filters and can help locate the problem.

Contacts

The contacts component uses KAddressBook. You can also start it separately with the command kaddressbook. Configure it with Settings+Configure KAddressBook. To search for a particular contact, use the search bar. With Filter, select to display only contacts in a certain category. Right-click a contact to open a menu in which to select from a variety of options, such as sending the contact information in an email.

Figure 5.3. The Kontact Address Book

Adding Contacts

To add a contact with the name and email address from an email, right-click the address in the mail component and select Open in Address Book. To add a new contact without using an email, select File+New Contact in the address component. Both methods open a dialog in which to enter information about the contact.

In the General tab, enter basic contact information, such as name, email addresses, and telephone numbers. Categories can be used to sort addresses. Details contains more specific information, such as birthday and spouse's name.

If your contact uses an instant messenger, you can add these identities in IM Addresses. If you do this and have Kopete or another KDE chat program running at the same time as Kontact, view status information about these identities in Kontact. In Crypto Settings, enter the contact's encryption data, such as public key.

Misc has additional information, such as a photograph and the location of the user's Free/Busy information. Use Custom Fields to add your own information to the contact or address book.

Contacts can also be imported in a variety of formats. Use File+Import and select the desired format. Then select the file to import.

Creating a Distribution List

If you frequently send email messages to the same group of people, a distribution list enables you to store multiple email addresses as a single contact item so that you do not need to enter each name individually in every email you send to that group. To create a distribution list, proceed as follows:

Click Settings+Show Extension Bar+Distribution List Editor. A new section appears.

Click New List.

Enter a name for the list and click OK.

Add contacts to the list by dragging them from the address list and dropping them in the distribution list window.

Use this list like you would an individual contact when creating an email.

Adding Address Books

Groupware Address Books

The best way to add groupware resources is with the Groupware Wizard, a separate tool. To use it, close Kontact then run groupwarewizard in a command line or from the Office group of the KDE menu. Select the server type (such as SLOX, GroupWise, or Exchange) from the list offered, then enter the address and authentication data. The wizard then adds the available resources to Kontact.

Kontact can access multiple address books, such as shared ones offered by Novell GroupWise or an LDAP server. Select View+Address Books to view the current address books. Press Add to add one then select the type and enter the required information.

The check boxes in front of the address books show the activation status of each address book. To prevent the display of a book without deleting it, uncheck it. Remove deletes the selected book from the list.

Calendar

Kontact uses KOrganizer as its calendar component. You can also start it separately with the command korganizer. To configure it, use Settings+Configure Calendar. With the calendar, enter appointments and schedule meetings with others. If desired, you can be reminded of upcoming events. You can also import, export, and archive calendars with the options from the File menu.

Figure 5.4. The Kontact Calendar

Scheduling an Event

Add a new event or meeting with Actions+New Event. Enter the desired details. Under Reminder, specify the exact time (minutes, hours, or days in advance) that the attendees should be reminded of the event. If an event recurs, specify the appropriate interval. Another way to create an event at a specific point in the calendar is to double-click the corresponding field in one of the program's calendar views. This opens the same dialog window as that available from the menu. Alternatively, select a time range in the Calendar view and right-click.

Specify the attendees of an event by entering their data manually in the dialog or by inserting data from the address book. To enter data manually, select New. To import data from the address book, click Select Addressee then select the corresponding entries from the dialog. To schedule the event based on the participants' availability, go to Free/Busy and click Pick Date.

Use the Recurrence tab to configure an event that happens on a regular basis. Attachments can be convenient for linking other information with the event, such as an agenda for a meeting.

Adding Calendars

Groupware Calendars

The best way to add groupware resources is with Groupware Wizard, a separate tool. To use it, close Kontact then run groupwarewizard in a command line or from the Office group of the KDE menu. Select the server type (such as SLOX, GroupWise, or Exchange) from the list offered then enter the address and authentication data. The wizard adds the available resources to Kontact.

The calendar module can connect to multiple calendars simultaneously. This is useful for combining a personal calendar with an organizational one. To add a new calendar, click Add then select the calendar type. Complete the necessary fields.

The check boxes in front of the calendars show the activation status of each. To prevent the display of a calendar without deleting it, uncheck it. Remove deletes the selected calendar from the list.

For More Information

Kontact includes help for itself and its various components. Access it with Help+Kontact Handbook. The project's Web page, http://www.kontact.org, is also informative.

Chapter 6. Evolution: E-mailing and Calendaring

Evolution™ makes the tasks of storing, organizing, and retrieving your personal information easy, so you can work and communicate more effectively with others. It’s a highly evolved groupware program and an integral part of the Internet-connected desktop.

Evolution can help you work in a group by handling email, addresses, and other contact information, and one or more calendars. It can do that on one or several computers, connected directly or over a network, for one person or for large groups.

With Evolution, you can accomplish your most common daily tasks. For example, it takes only one or two clicks to enter appointment or contact information sent to you by email, or to send email to a contact or appointment. People who get lots of email will appreciate advanced features like search folders, which let you save searches as though they were ordinary email folders.

This chapter introduces you to Evolution and helps you get started. For more details, refer to the Evolution documentation.

Section “Starting Evolution for the First Time”

Section “Using Evolution: An Overview”

Starting Evolution for the First Time

To start the Evolution client click Computer+Evolution, or typeevolution in a terminal window.

Setup Assistant

The first time you run Evolution, it creates a directory called .evolution in your home directory, where it stores all of its local data. Then, it opens a Setup Assistant to help you set up email accounts and import data from other applications.

With the Setup Assistant you can get started in only two to five minutes .

Later on, if you want to change this account, or if you want to create a new one, click Edit+Preferences, then click Mail Accounts. Select the account you want to change, then click Edit. To add a new account you can also click Add.

The Setup Assistant helps you to provide all the required information .

Defining Your Identity

The Identity window is the first step in the assistant.

Here, you enter some basic personal information. You can define multiple identities later by clicking Edit+Preferences, then clicking Mail Accounts.

When the First-Run Assistant starts, the Welcome page is displayed. Click Forward to proceed to the Identity window.

Type your full name in the Full Name field.

Type your email address in the E-Mail Address field.

(Optional) Select if this account is your default account.

(Optional) Type a reply to address in the Reply-To field.

Use this field if you want replies to emails sent to a different address.

(Optional) Type your organization name in the Organization field.

This is the company where you work, or the organization you represent when you send email.

Click Forward.

Receiving Mail

The Receiving E-mail option lets you determine the server where you want to receive your email.

You need to specify the type of server you want to receive mail with. If you are not sure about the type of server, contact your system administrator or ISP.

Select a server type in the Server Type list.

The following is a list of available server types:

Novell GroupWise:  Select this option if you want to connect to Novell® GroupWise®. Novell GroupWise keeps email, calendar, and contact information on the server.

Microsoft Exchange:  Available only if you have installed the connector for Microsoft* Exchange. You can connect to a Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003 or 2007 server, which stores email, calendar, and contact information on the server.

IMAP:  Keeps the email on your server so you can access your email from multiple systems.

IMAP4rev1:  Keeps the email on your server so you can access your email from multiple systems.

POP:  Downloads your email to your hard disk for permanent storage, freeing up space on the email server.

USENET News:  Connects to the news server and downloads a list of available news digests.

Local Delivery:  If you want to move email from the spool and store it in your home directory, you need to provide the path to the mail spool you want to use. If you want to leave mail in your system’s spool files, choose the Standard Unix Mbox Spool option instead.

MH Format Mail Directories:  If you want to download your email using mh or another MH-style program, you need to provide the path to the mail directory you want to use.

Maildir Format Mail Directories:  If you download your email using Qmail or another maildir-style program, you should use this option. You need to provide the path to the mail directory you want to use.

Standard Unix Mbox Spool or Directory:  If you want to read and store email in the mail spool on your local system, choose this option. You need to provide the path to the mail spool you want to use.

None:  If you do not plan to check email with this account, select this option. There are no configuration options.

Remote Configuration Options

If you have selected Novell GroupWise, IMAP, POP, or USENET News as your server, you need to specify additional information.

Type the hostname of your email server in the Hostname field.

If you are not sure about the hostname, contact your system administrator.

Type your username for the account in the Username field.

Select a secure (SSL) connection.

If your server supports secure connections, enable this security option. If you are not sure about secure connections, contact your system administrator.

Select your authentication type in the Authentication list.

or

Click Check for Supported Types to have Evolution check for supported types. Some servers do not announce the authentication mechanisms they support, so clicking this button is not a guarantee that available mechanisms actually work.

If you are not sure about the required server type, contact your system administrator.

Select if you want Evolution to remember your password.

Click Forward.

(Conditional) If you chose Microsoft Exchange, provide your username in the Username field and your Outlook Web Access (OWA) URL in the OWA Url field. OWA URL and user names should be entered as in OWA. If the mailbox path is different from the username, the OWA path should include the mailbox path also. You should see something similar to this: http://<server name>/exchange/<mail box path>

When you have finished, continue with Section “Receiving Mail Options”.

Local Configuration Options

If you selected Local Delivery, MH-Format Mail Directories, Maildir-Format Mail Directories, or Standard Unix Mbox Spool or Directory, you must specify the path to the local files in the path field. Continue with Section “Receiving Mail Options”.

Receiving Mail Options

After you have selected a mail delivery mechanism, you can set some preferences for its behavior.

Section “Novell GroupWise Receiving Options”

Section “Microsoft Exchange Receiving Options”

Section “IMAP and IMAP4rev1 Receiving Options”

Section “POP Receiving Options”

Section “USENET News Receiving Options”

Section “Local Delivery Receiving Options”

Section “MH-Format Mail Directories Receiving Options”

Section “Maildir-Format Mail Directories Receiving Options”

Section “Standard Unix Mbox Spool or Directory Receiving Options”

Novell GroupWise Receiving Options

If you select Novell GroupWise as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail.

If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want to check for new messages in all folders.

Select if you want to apply filters to new messages in the Inbox on the server.

Select if you want to check new messages for junk content.

Select if you want to only check for junk messages in the Inbox folder.

Select if you want to automatically synchronize remote mail locally.

Type your Post Office Agent SOAP port in the Post Office Agent SOAP Port field.

If you are not sure what your Post Office Agent SOAP port is, contact your system administrator.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

Microsoft Exchange Receiving Options

If you select Microsoft Exchange as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options.

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail.

If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Specify the Global Catalog server name in the Global Catalog Server Name field.

The Global Catalog Server contains the user information for users. If you are not sure what your Global Catalog server name is, contact your system administrator.

Select if you want to limit the number of Global Address Lists (GAL).

The GAL contains a list of all email addresses. If you select this option, you need to specify the maximum number of responses.

Select if you want the password expire warning period.

If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should send the password expire message.

Select if you want to automatically synchronize remote mail locally.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

IMAP and IMAP4rev1 Receiving Options

If you select IMAP or IMAP4rev1 as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail.

If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want Evolution to use custom commands to connect to Evolution.

If you select this option, specify the custom command you want Evolution to use.

Select if you want Evolution to show only subscribed folders.

Subscribed folders are folders that you have chosen to receive mail from by subscribing to them.

Select if you want Evolution to override server-supplied folder namespaces.

By choosing this option you can rename the folders that the server provides. If you select this option, you need to specify the namespace to use.

Select if you want to apply filters to new messages in the Inbox.

Select if you want to check new messages for junk content.

Select if you want to check for junk messages in the Inbox folder.

Select if you want to automatically synchronize remote mail locally.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

POP Receiving Options

If you select POP as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail. If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want to leave messages on the server.

Select if you want to disable support for all POP3 extensions (support for POP3).

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

USENET News Receiving Options

If you select USENET News as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail. If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want to show folders in short notation.

For example, comp.os.linux would appear as c.o.linux.

Select if you want to show relative folder names in the subscription dialog box.

If you select to show relative folder names in the subscription page, only the name of the folder is displayed. For example the folder evolution.mail would appear as evolution.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

Local Delivery Receiving Options

If you select Local Delivery as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail. If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

MH-Format Mail Directories Receiving Options

If you select MH-Format Mail Directories as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail. If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want to user the .folders summary file.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

Maildir-Format Mail Directories Receiving Options

If you select Maildir-Format Mail Directories as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail. If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want to apply filters to new messages in the Inbox.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail”.

Standard Unix Mbox Spool or Directory Receiving Options

If you select Standard Unix Mbox Spool or Directory as your receiving server type, you need to specify the following options:

Select if you want Evolution to automatically check for new mail. If you select this option, you need to specify how often Evolution should check for new messages.

Select if you want to apply filters to new messages in the Inbox.

Select if you want to store status headers in Elm, Pine, and Mutt formats.

Click Forward.

When you have finished, continue with Section “Sending Mail” Section “Sending Mail”.

Sending Mail

Now that you have entered information about how you plan to get mail, Evolution needs to know about how you want to send it.

Select a server type from the Server Type list.

The following server types are available:

Send Mail:  Uses the Sendmail program to send mail from your system. Sendmail is more flexible, but is not as easy to configure, so you should select this option only if you know how to set up a Sendmail service.

SMTP:  Sends mail using an outbound mail server. This is the most common choice for sending mail. If you choose SMTP, there are additional configuration options.

SMTP Configuration

Type the host address in the Host field.

If you are not sure what your host address is, contact your system administrator.

Select if your server requires authentication.

If you selected that your server requires authentication, you need to provide the following information:

Select your authentication type in the Authentication list.

or

Click Check for Supported Types to have Evolution check for supported types. Some servers do not announce the authentication mechanisms they support, so clicking this button is not a guarantee that available mechanisms actually work.

Type your username in the Username field.

Select if you want Evolution to remember your password.

Select if you use a secure connection (SSL).

Click Forward.

Continue with Section “Account Management”.

Account Management

Now that you have finished the email configuration process you need to give the account a name. The name can be any name you prefer. Type your account name on the Name field, then click Forward.

Continue with Section “Time Zone”.

Time Zone

In this step, you need to select your time zone either on the map or select from the time zone drop-down list.

When you have finished, click Forward, then click Apply. Evolution opens with your new account created.

If you want to import email from another client, continue with Section “Importing Mail (Optional)”. If not, skip to Section “Using Evolution: An Overview”.

Importing Mail (Optional)

If Evolution finds email or address files from another application, it offers to import them.

Microsoft Outlook* (and versions of Outlook Express after version 4), use proprietary formats that Evolution cannot read or import. To import information, you might want to use the Export tool under Windows*.

Before importing email from Netscape*, make sure you have selected File+Compact All Folders. If you don’t, Evolution will import and undelete the messages in your Trash folders.

Note

Evolution uses standard file types for email and calendar information, so you can copy those files from your ~/.evolution directory. The file formats used are mbox for email and iCal for calendar information.

Contacts files are stored in a database, but can be saved as a standard vCard*. To export contact data, open your contacts tool and select the contacts you want to export (press Ctrl+A to select them all). Click File+Save as VCard.

Using Evolution: An Overview

Now that the first-run configuration has finished, you’re ready to begin using Evolution. Here’s a quick explanation of what’s happening in your main Evolution window.

Figure 6.1. Evolution Window

Menu Bar

The menu bar gives you access to nearly all of Evolution features.

Folder List

The folder list gives you a list of the available folders for each account. To see the contents of a folder, click the folder name. The contents are displayed in the email list.

Toolbar

The toolbar gives you fast and easy access to the frequently used features in each component.

Search Tool

The search tool lets you search for emails either in the current account or in all accounts. You can filter emails, contacts, calendar entries and tasks using different criteria. The Search tool can also save frequently used searches to a search folder.

Message List

The message list displays a list of emails that you have received. The radio button above the list lets you view mesasages according to predifened and custom labels. To view an email in the preview pane, click the email in the email list.

Shortcut Bar

The shortcut bar lets you switch between folders. At the bottom of the shortcut bar there are tool buttons that let you switch tools, and above that is a list of all the available folders for the current tool. If you have the Evolution Connector for Microsoft Exchange installed, you have an Exchange button in addition to buttons for the other tools.

Status Bar

The status bar periodically displays a message, or tells you the progress of a task. This most often happens when you’re checking or sending email. These progress queues are shown in the previous figure. The Online/Offline indicator is here, too, in the lower left of the window.

Preview Pane

The preview pane displays the contents of the emails that are selected in the email list.

The Menu Bar

The menu bar’s contents always provide all the possible actions for any given view of your data. If you’re looking at your Inbox, most of the menu items relate to email. Some content relates to other components of Evolution and some, especially those in the File menu, relates to the application as a whole.

File:  Anything related to a file or to the operations of the application usually falls under this menu, such as creating things, saving them to disk, printing them, and quitting the program itself.

Edit:  Contains useful tools that help you edit text and move it around. Lets you access the settings and configuration options in the Edit menu.

View:  Lets you decide how Evolution should look. Some of the features control the appearance of Evolution as a whole, and others the way a particular kind of information appears.

Folder:  Contains actions that can be performed on folders. You can find things like copy, rename, delete, and so on.

Message:  Contains actions that can be applied to a message. If there is only one target for the action (such as replying to a message), you can normally find it in the Message menu.

Search:  Lets you search for messages, or phrases within a message. You can also see previous searches you have made. In addition to the Search menu, there is a text entry box in the toolbar that you can use to search for messages. You can also create a search folder from a search.

Help:  Opens the Evolution Help files.

The Shortcut Bar

Evolution’s most important job is to give you access to your information and help you use it quickly. One way it does that is through the shortcut bar, which is the column on the left side of the main window. The buttons, such as Mail and Contacts, are the shortcuts. Above them is a list of folders for the selected Evolution tool.

The folder list organizes your email, calendars, contact lists, and task lists in a tree, similar to a file tree. Most people find one to four folders at the base of the tree, depending on the tool and their system configuration. Each Evolution tool has at least one, called On This Computer, for local information. For example, the folder list for the email tool shows any remote email storage you have set up, plus local folders and search folders.

If you get large amounts of email, you might want to create more folders than just your Inbox. You can create multiple email folders, address books, calendars, task lists, or memo lists.

To create a new folder:

Click Folder+New.

Type the name of the folder in the Folder Name field.

Select the location of the new folder.

Click OK.

Folder Management

Right-click a folder or subfolder to display a menu with the following options:

New Folder:  Creates a new folder or subfolder in the same location.

Copy:  Copies the folder to a different location. When you select this item, Evolution offers a choice of locations to copy the folder to.

Move:  Moves the folder to another location.

Delete:  Deletes the folder and all contents.

Mark Messages As Read:  Marks all the messages in the folder as read.

Rename:  Lets you change the name of the folder.

Refresh:  Refreshes the folder.

Disable:  Disables the account.

Properties:  Checks the number of total and unread messages in a folder and, for remote folders, lets you select whether to copy the folder to your local system for offline operation.

You can also rearrange folders and messages by dragging and dropping them.

Any time new email arrives in a email folder, that folder label is displayed in bold text, along with the number of new messages in that folder.

Email

Evolution email is like other email programs in several ways:

It can send and receive email in HTML or as plain text, and makes it easy to send and receive multiple file attachments.

It supports multiple email sources, including IMAP, POP3, and local mbox or mh spools and files created by other email programs.

It can sort and organize your email in a wide variety of ways with folders, searches, and filters.

It lets you guard your privacy with encryption.

However, Evolution differs from other email programs in some very essential ways. First, it’s built to handle very large amounts of email. The junk email, message filtering and searching functions were built for speed and efficiency. There’s also the search folder, an advanced organizational feature not found in some email clients. If you get a lot of email, or if you keep every message you get in case you need to refer to it later, you’ll find this feature especially useful. Here’s a quick explanation of what’s happening in your main Evolution email window. You can also run Evolution now in Windows.

Message List

The message list displays all the emails that you have. This includes all your read and unread messages and email that is flagged to be deleted. With the Show radio button above the message you can filter the message list view using several predifned and custom labels.

Preview Pane

This is where your email is displayed.

If you find the preview pane too small, you can resize the pane, enlarge the whole window, or double-click the message in the message list to have it open in a new window. To change the size of a pane, drag the divider between the two panes.

As with folders, you can right-click messages in the message list and get a menu of possible actions, including moving or deleting them, creating filters or search folders based on them, and marking them as junk mail.

Email-related actions, like Reply and Forward, appear as buttons in the toolbar and are also located in the right-click menu and as keyboard shortcuts.

Templates

Evolution allows you to create and edit message templates that you can use at any time to send mail with the same pattern.

The Calendar

To begin using the calendar, click Calendar in the shortcut bar. By default, the calendar shows today’s schedule on a ruled background. At the upper right, there’s a Tasks list, where you can keep a list of tasks separate from your calendar appointments. Below that, there’s a list for memos.

Appointment List

The appointment list displays all your scheduled appointments.

Month Pane

The month pane is a small view of a calendar month. You can also select a range of days in the month pane to display a custom range of days in the appointment list.

Tasks

Tasks are distinct from appointments because they generally don’t have times associated with them. You can see a larger view of your task list by clicking Tasks in the shortcut bar.

Memos

Memos, like Tasks, don’t have times associated with them. You can see a larger view of your Memo list by clicking Memos in the shortcut bar.

The Contacts Tool

The Evolution contacts tool can handle all of the functions of an address book or phone book. However, it’s easier to update Evolution than it is to change an actual paper book, in part because Evolution can synchronize with Palm OS* devices and use LDAP directories on a network.

Another advantage of the Evolution contacts tool is its integration with the rest of the application. For example, you can right-click on an email address in Evolution mail to instantly create a contact entry.

To use the contacts tool, click Contacts in the shortcut bar. By default, the display shows all your contacts in alphabetical order, in a minicard view. You can select other views from the View menu, and adjust the width of the columns by clicking and dragging the gray column dividers.

The largest section of the contacts display shows a list of individual contacts. You can also search the contacts in the same way that you search email folders, using the search tool on the right side of the toolbar.

For More Information

Get more information about Evolution from the official knowledge base available via F1. More useful information is available from the following links:

Offical project homepage: http://projects.gnome.org/evolution/

Wiki reference: http://www.go-evolution.org/Main_Page

Chapter 7. Encryption with KGpg

You can sign or encrypt data with KGpg, a graphical user interface for GnuPG. This program helps you to generate and manage all needed keys. Use its editor function for the quick creation and encryption of files or use the applet in your panel to encrypt or decrypt by dragging and dropping. Other programs, such as your mail program (Kontact or Evolution), access the key data to process signed or encrypted contents. In the following sections, learn how to execute the following steps necessary for signing and encrypting data with KGpg:

Generating a New Key Pair

Exporting the Public Key

Importing Public Keys from Others

Encrypting Your Data

Why Signing and Encrypting?

Signing

Signing means attaching electronic signatures to mails (or even software) to prove its origin. To avoid someone writing mails using your name and to protect both you and the recipients, you should sign your mails. Signatures help you to easily check the sender of the mails you receive and to distinguish authentic from malicious mails.

Software developers sign their software so you are able to check its integrity. Even if you have the software from an unofficial server, you can verify the package with the signature.

Encrypting

You might have sensitive information you want to protect from other parties. Encrypting helps you to transform data and make it unreadable for others. This is especially important for companies who must protect internal information as well as the employees' privacy.

Generating a New Key Pair

To be able to exchange encrypted messages with other users, first generate your own key pair. One part of it—the public key—is distributed to your communication partners, who can use it to encrypt the files or e-mail messages they send. The other part of the key pair—the private key—is used to decrypt the encrypted contents.

Private Key versus Public Key

Only you should have access to the private key. Do not grant other users access to this data.

Your private key is protected with a passphrase. Choose the passphrase carefully: do not use words from a dictionary, and mix alphabetic with non-alphabetic characters.

To create a new pair, proceed as follows:

Start KGpg from the main menu or press Alt+F2 and enter kgpg. When you start the program for the first time, a wizard appears, guiding you through the configuration. Follow the instructions up to the point where you are prompted to create a key.

Select Keys+Generate Key Pair, if you want to create a new key pair.

Figure 7.1. KGpg: Creating a Key

Enter a name, an e-mail address, and optionally, a comment. If you do not like the default settings provided, also set the expiration time for the key, the key size, and the encryption algorithm used.

To generate a standard key, confirm your settings with OK. After clicking OK, a dialog prompts you to enter a passphrase twice. The passphrase protects your private key. The relative strength of your chosen password is measured and displayed by the Password strength meter. The key pair will be generated. This can take some time.

Expert Mode

If you are an experienced user, use the Expert Mode to define additional options. This takes you to a terminal window where you can set the type of key to be generated, the key size (in bits) and the date of expiration. After entering your name and email address, you are prompted for a passphrase to protect your private key.

After the key generation is finished, a summary will be displayed. Save and print the revocation certificate and keep it in a save place. You will need the certificate to revoke your passphrase if you forgot it. After you have confirmed with OK, KGpg displays its main window and you are finished.

Figure 7.2. KGpg Main Window: Key Management

The main window shows the keys that belong to your key ring: your own key and the keys from other persons that you have already imported. As GnuPG uses a more sophisticated implementation of key pairs, for each user name, several sub keys are displayed but these can be neglected for the purpose of this chapter. Apart from some other details (like expiration date or creation date of the key and the ID), the main windows also shows the level of trust for each key, indicated by colors. White means that the trust level is unknown, blue indicates a high level of trust. For more information, see Section “Trusting Keys”.

KGpg Icon and Main Window

When you start KGpg in later sessions, only a small icon with a padlock appears in the system tray. Click that icon to display the main KGpg window on your desktop.

Exporting the Public Key

After generating your key pair, make the public key available to other users. This enables them to use it to encrypt or sign the messages or files they send you. For example, if you want to encrypt a message for user tux, you encrypt it using tux' public key. To decrypt the message, tux uses his private key. If tux wants to send you a message, he encrypts it using your public key and you decrypt the message with your private key.

To make the public key available for others, select Keys+Export Public Keys. The dialog that opens offers four options:

Email

Your public key is sent to a recipient of your choice by email. If you activate this option and confirm with OK, the dialog for creating a new email message with your default mail program appears. Enter the recipient and click Send. The recipient receives your key and can then send you encrypted contents.

Clipboard

You can place your public key here before continuing to process it.

Default Key Server

To make your public key available to a wide audience, export it to one of the key servers on the Internet. For more information, refer to Section “The Key Server Dialog”.

File

If you prefer to distribute your key as a file on a data medium instead of sending it by email, click this option, confirm or change the file path and name, and click OK.

Importing Public Keys from Others

If you receive a key in a file (for example, as an e-mail attachment), integrate it in your key ring with Import Key and use it for encrypted communication with the sender. You can also import keys from a public server if the person you want to communicate with has stored his public key there. For more information, see Section “The Key Server Dialog”. The procedure is similar to the procedure for exporting keys already described.

Signing Keys

Keys can be signed like every other file to guarantee their authenticity and integrity. If you are absolutely sure an imported key belongs to the individual specified as the owner, express your trust in the authenticity of the key with your signature.

Establishing a Web of Trust

Encrypted communication is only secure to the extent that you can positively associate public keys in circulation with the specified user. By cross-checking and signing these keys, you contribute to the establishment of a Web of Trust. For these reasons, make really sure you only sign keys you have personally checked.

Before you can use your key, you need to sign it yourself.

Procedure 7.1. Signing A Key

Select the key to sign in the key list in the Key Management window.

Select Keys+Sign Keys.

Select the private key to use for the signature. An alert reminds you to check the authenticity of this key before signing it. In the drop down list, select how you carefully you have checked that the key belongs to the person with whom you want to communicate.

Click Continue and enter your passphrase in the next step. With entering the passphrase, you sign the key with your own private key. The signed key now appears green in the trust column.

Other users can now check the signature by means of your public key.

Trusting Keys

Normally, you are asked by the corresponding program whether you trust the key, or rather, whether you assume it is really used by its authorized owner. This happens each time a message needs to be decrypted or a signature has to be checked. To avoid this, edit the trust level of the newly imported key. To trust a key and set a certain trust level, do the following:

Right-click the key and select Key Properties.

Adjust the trust level in the Owner Trust drop-down list. This value indicates how much you trust the owner of this key to correctly verify the identity of the keys he signs.

Close the property dialog. If you have set the trust level to Fully or Ultimately, the key now appears blue in the trust column.

The lower the trust level is, the less you trust the signer of the key to have checked the true identity of the keys signed. You may be entirely sure about the signer's identity, but this user may not check other people's identities properly before signing their keys. Notice that the trust level does not trigger any automatic actions by KGpg.

The Key Server Dialog

Several Internet-based key servers offer the public keys of many users. To engage in encrypted communication with a large number of users, use these servers to distribute your public key. For this purpose, export your public key to one of these servers. Similarly, KGpg enables you to search one of these servers for the keys of certain people and import their public keys from the server. Open the key server dialog with File+Key Server Dialog.

Importing a Key from a Key Server

By means of the Import tab in the key server dialog, import public keys from one of the Internet-based key servers. Select one of the preconfigured key servers and enter a search string (e-mail address of the communication partner) or the ID of the key to find. When you click Search, your system connects to the Internet and searches the specified key server for a key that matches your specifications.

Figure 7.3. Search Screen for Importing a Key

If your search on the key server is successful, a list of all retrieved server entries is displayed in a new window. Select the key to include in your key ring and click Import. Confirm the following message with OK, then exit the key server dialog with Close. The imported key then appears in the main overview of the key manager and is ready for use.

Exporting Your Keys to a Key Server

To export your key to one of the freely accessible key servers on the Internet, select the Export tab in the key server dialog. Designate the target server and the key to export by means of two drop-down menus. Then start the export with Export.

Figure 7.4. Exporting a Key to a Key Server

Encrypting Your Data

After you have generated your key pair, exported your public key and imported public keys from others, you can also send or receive encrypted mails. Refer to Section “Signing and Encrypting emails” to learn how to make use of those options in KMail.

KGpg also offers the possibility to encrypt text. To open the integrated editor choose File+Open Editor.

Encrypting and Decrypting from a File Manager

KGpg is also integrated into file managers like Dolphin or Konqueror. Generally, PGP-encrypted files are designated with the suffix asc. There are several options how to encrypt or decrypt files inside a File Manager:

Encrypt a File

To encrypt a file inside a File Manager, right-click the file and select Actions+Encrypt File. Choose one of the trusted keys in the dialog. After clicking OK in the dialog, a new file with the asc suffix will be created in the same directory.

Decrypt a File on the fly

To decrypt an encrypted file instantly, right-click the file and select Open with KGpg. If the original filename already exists, a dialog opens that asks how to name the file or if it should be overwritten. KGpg prompts for the password of your private key and saves the decrypted file in the same directory.

Decrypt with the editor

To decrypt an encrypted file with the editor, right-click the file in the File Manager and select Actions+View file decrypted.

The KGpg Editor

Instead of creating contents for encryption in an external editor then encrypting the file with one of the methods described above, you can use the integrated editor of KGpg. To open the editor, select File+Open Editor. In the editor, enter the desired text (or copy it into the editor from the clipboard or any file), and click Encrypt. Then select the key to use and complete the encryption procedure. To decrypt files, use Decrypt and enter the password associated with the key.

Generating and checking signatures is just as easy as encrypting directly from the editor. Go to Signature+Generate Signature and select the file to sign from the file dialog. Select the private key to use and enter the associated password. KGpg informs you of the successful generation of the signature. Files can also be signed from the editor by simply clicking Sign/Verify. To check a signed file, go to Signature+Verify Signature and select the file to check in the following dialog. After you confirm the selection, KGpg checks the signature and reports the result of the operation. Another possibility is to load the signed file into the editor and click Sign/Verify.

For More Information

For comprehensive background information about the encryption method, refer to the GnuPG project pages at http://www.gnupg.org/documentation/index.en.html.

Chapter 8. Encryption with Passwords and Encryption Keys

The GNOME Passwords and Encryption Keys program is an important component of the encryption infrastructure on your system. With the help of this program, you can create and manage PGP and SSH keys, import and export PGP and SSH keys, share your keys with others, back up your keys and keyring, cache your passphrase, and encrypt and decrypt the clipboard.

Figure 8.1. Password and Encryption Keys Main Window

Signing and Encryption

Signing means attaching electronic signatures to email messages or even software to prove its origin. To keep someone else from writing messages using your name, and to protect both you and the people you send them to, you should sign your mails. Signatures help you easily check the sender of the messages you receive and distinguish authentic messages from malicious ones.

Software developers sign their software so that you can check the integrity. Even if you get the software from an unofficial server, you can verify the package with the signature.

You might also have sensitive information you want to protect from other parties. Encryption helps you transform data and make it unreadable for others. This is important for companies so they can protect internal information as well as their employees' privacy.

Generating a New Key Pair

To exchange encrypted messages with other users, you must first generate your own key pair. One part of it—the public key—is distributed to your communication partners, who can than use it to encrypt the files or email messages they send. The other part of the key pair—the private key—is used to decrypt the encrypted contents.

Important

The public key is intended for the public and should be distributed to all your communication partners. However, only you should have access to the private key. Do not grant other users access to this data.

Creating OpenPGP Keys

OpenPGP is a non proprietary protocol for encrypting email with the use of public key cryptography based on PGP. It defines standard formats for encrypted messages, signatures, private keys, and certificates for exchanging public keys.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click File+New+PGP Key.

Specify your full name, email address, and comment, if needed.

Click Advanced key options to specify the following advanced options for the key.

Encryption Type

Specifies the encryption algorithms used to generate your keys. DSA ElGamal is the recommended choice because it lets you encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify as needed. Both DSA (sign only) and RSA (sign only) allow only signing.

Key Strength

Specifies the length of the key in bits. The longer the key, the more secure it is (provided a strong passphrase is used), but keep in mind that performing any operation with a longer key requires more time than it does with a shorter key. Acceptable values are between 1024 and 4096 bits. At least 2048 bits is recommended.

Expiration Date

Specifies the date at which the key will cease to be usable for performing encryption or signing operations. You will have to either change the expiration date or generate a new key or subkey after this amount of time passes. Sign your new key with your old one before it expires to preserve your trust status.

Click Create to create the new key pair.

The Passphrase for New PGP Key dialog box opens.

Specify the passphrase twice for your new key, then click OK.

When you specify a passphrase, use the same practices you use when you create a strong password. The main difference between a password and a passphrase is that spaces are valid characters in a passphrase.

Creating Secure Shell Keys

Secure Shell (SSH) is a method of logging into a remote computer to execute commands on that machine. SSH keys are used in key-based authentication system as an alternative to the default password authentication system. With key-based authentication, there is no need to manually type a password to authenticate.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click File+New+Secure Shell Key.

Select Secure Shell Key, then click Continue.

Specify a description of what the key is to be used for.

You can use your email address or any other reminder.

Optionally, click Advanced key options to specify the following advanced options for the key.

Encryption Type.  Specifies the encryption algorithms used to generate your keys. Select RSA to use the Rivest-ShamirAdleman (RSA) algorithm to create the SSH key. This is the preferred and more secure choice. Select DSA to use the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) to create the SSH key.

Key Strength.  Specifies the length of the key in bits. The longer the key, the more secure it is (provided a strong passphrase is used), but keep in mind that performing any operation with a longer key requires more time than it does with a shorter key. Acceptable values are between 1024 and 4096 bits. At least 2048 bits is recommended.

Click Just Create Key to create the new key, or click Create and Set Up to create the key and set up another computer to use for authentication.

Specify the passphrase for your new key, click OK, then repeat.

When you specify a passphrase, use the same practices you use when you create a strong password. The main difference between a password and a passphrase is that spaces are valid characters in a passphrase.

Modifying Key Properties

You can modify properties of existing OpenPGP or SSH keys.

Editing OpenPGP Key Properties

The descriptions in this section apply to all OpenPGP keys.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Double-click the PGP key you want to view or edit. (or select the key, then click on Properties in toolbar).

Use the options on theOwner tab to add a photo to the key or to change the passphrase associated with the key.

Photo IDs allow a key owner to embed one or more pictures of themselves in a key. These identities can be signed just like normal user IDs. A photo ID must be in JPEG format. The recommended size is 120×150 pixels.

If the chosen image does not meet the required file type or size, Passwords and Encryption Keys can resize and convert it on the fly from any image format supported by the GDK library.

Click the Names and Signatures tab to add a user ID to a key.

See Section “Adding a User ID” for more information.

Click the Details tab, which contains the following properties:

Key ID:  The Key ID is similar to the Fingerprint, but the Key ID contains only the last eight characters of the fingerprint. It is generally possible to identify a key with only the Key ID, but sometimes two keys might have the same Key ID.

Type:  Specifies the encryption algorithm used to generate a key. DSA keys can only sign. ElGamal keys are used to encrypt.

Strength:  Specifies the length, in bits, of the key. The longer the key, the more security it provides. However, a long key will not compensate for the use of a weak passphrase.

Fingerprint:  A unique string of characters that exactly identifies a key.

Created:  The date the key was created.

Expires:  The date the key can no longer be used (a key can no longer be used to perform key operations after it has expired). Changing a key's expiration date to a point in the future re-enables it. A good general practice is to have a master key that never expires and multiple subkeys that do expire and are signed by the master key.

Overide Owner Trust:  Here you can set the level of trust in the owner of the key. Trust is an indication of how sure you are of a person's ability to correctly extend the web of trust. When you are faced with a key you have not signed, the validity of that person's key will be determined based on the signatures they have collected and how well or not you trust the people who have made those signatures.

Exportr Complete Key:  Exports the key to a file.

Subkeys:  See Section “Editing OpenPGP Subkey Properties” for more information.

Click Close.

Adding a User ID

User IDs allow multiple identities and email addresses to be used with the same key. Adding a user ID is useful, for example, when you want to have an identity for your job and one for your friends. They take the following form:

Name (comment) <e-mail address>

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Double-click the PGP key you want to view or edit (or select the key, then click Properties in the toolbar).

Click the Names and Signatures tab, then click Add Name.

Specify a name in the Full Name field.

You must enter at least five characters in this field.

Specify an email address in the Email Address field.

Your email address is how most people will locate your key on a key server or other key provider. Make sure it is correct before continuing.

In the Key Comment field, specify additional information that will display in the name of your new ID

This information can be searched for on key servers.

Click Close.

Editing OpenPGP Subkey Properties

Each OpenPGP key has a single master key used to sign only. Subkeys are used to encrypt and to sign as well. In this way, if your sub key is compromised, you don't need to revoke your master key.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Double-click the PGP key you want to edit (or select the key, then click Properties in the toolbar).

Click the Details tab, then click Subkeys.

Use the button to on the left of the dialog box to add, delete, expire, or revoke subkeys.

Each subkey has the following information:

ID:  The identifier of the subkey.

Type:  Specifies the encryption algorithm used to generate a subkey. DSA keys can only sign, ElGamal keys are used to encrypt, and RSA keys are used to sign or to encrypt.

Created:  Specifies the date the key was created.

Expires:  Specifies the date the key can no longer be used.

Status:  Specifies the status of the key.

Strength:  Specifies the length, in bits, of the key. The longer the key, the more security it provides. However, a long key will not compensate for the use of a weak passphrase.

Click Close.

Editing Secure Shell Key Properties

The descriptions in this section apply to all SSH keys.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Double-click the Secure Shell key you want to view or edit (or select the key, then click Properties in the toolbar).

Use the options on the Key tab to change the name of the key or the passphrase associated with the key.

Click the Details tab, which contains the following properties:

Algorithm:  Specifies the encryption algorithm used to generate a key.

Strength:  Indicates the length in bits of a key. The longer the key, the more security it provides. However, a long key does not make up for the use of a weak passphrase.

Location:  The location where the private key has been stored.

Fingerprint:  A unique string of characters that exactly identifies a key.

Export Complete Key:  Exports the key to a file.

Click Close.

Importing Keys

To import keys:

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click File+Import.

Select a file containing at least one ASCII armored public key.

Click Open to import the key.

You can also paste keys inside Passwords and Encryption Keys:

Select an ASCII armored public block of text, then copy it to the clipboard.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click Edit+Paste

Exporting Keys

To export keys:

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Select the keys you want to export.

Click File+Export.

Specify a filename and location for the exported key.

Click Save to export the key.

You can also export keys to the clipboard in an ASCII armored block of text:

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Select the keys you want to export.

Click Edit+Copy.

Signing a Key

Signing another person's key means that you are giving trust to that person. Before signing a key, carefully check the key's fingerprint to ensure that the key really belongs to that person.

Trust is an indication of how sure you are of a person's ability to correctly extend the web of trust. When you are faced with a key you have not signed, the validity of that person's key will be determined based on the signatures they have collected and how well or not you trust the people who have made those signatures. By default, an unknown key will require three signatures with marginal trust value or one fully trusted signature.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Select the key you want to sign from the My Personal Keys or Other Keys tabs.

Click File+Sign.

Select how carefully the key has been checked, then indicate if the signature should be local to your keyring, and if your signature can be revoked

Click Sign.

File Manager Integration

Passwords and Encryption Keys integrates with the Nautilus file manager. You can encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify files, as well as import public keys from the file manager window without launching Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Enabling File Manager Integration

The package seahorse-plugins-nautilus has to be installed to enable file manager integration.

Encrypting Files From Nautilus

In Nautilus, right-click the files you want to encrypt.

Select Encrypt.

Select the people (recipients) you want to encrypt the file to, then click OK.

Signing Files From Nautilus

In Nautilus, right-click the files you want to sign.

Select Sign.

Select a signer, then click OK.

If prompted, specify the passphrase of your private key, then click OK.

Decrypting Files From Nautilus

To decrypt an encrypted file in Nautilus, simply double-click the file you want to decrypt.

If prompted, specify the passphrase of your private key.

Verifying Signatures From Nautilus

To verify files, simply double-click the detached signature file. Detached signature file names often have a .sig extension.

Text Editor Integration

Passwords and Encryption Keys integrates with the gedit text editor. You can quickly encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify text directly in the text editor.

Enabling Text Editor Integration

The package seahorse-plugins-gedit has to be installed to enable file manager integration. The plugin has to be enabled in gedit by choosing Edit+Preferences+Plugins and checking Text Encryption.

Encrypting Text in gedit

In gedit, select the text you want to encrypt.

From menu, select Edit+Encrypt.

Select the people (recipients) you want to encrypt the file to, then click OK.

Signing Text in gedit

In gedit, select the text you want to sign.

From menu, select Edit+Sign.

Select a signer, then click OK.

If prompted, specify the passphrase of your private key, then click OK.

Decrypting Text and Verifying Its Signatures

In gedit, select the text you want to decrypt or the text which signature you want to verify.

From menu, select Edit+Decrypt/Verify.

Clipboard Integration

Passwords and Encryption Keys integrate with the clipboard in GNOME desktop. You can quickly encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify text in the clipboard.

Enabling Clipboard Integration

The package seahorse-plugins-applet has to be installed to enable clipboard integration. If it is installed, the Clipboard Text Encryption applet can be added to the GNOME panel. To add the applet, right-click an empty space on your panel and select Add to Panel+Clipboard Text Encryption.

To encrypt, decrypt, sign, or verify text using the encryption applet, follow these steps:

Copy the text to be encrypted, signed, decrypted, or verified to the clipboard.

Left-click the encryption applet icon in the panel and choose the appropriate action from the menu.

If you are encrypting, select recipients. If you are signing, select a signer. You may need to enter a passphrase.

You can paste encrypted, decrypted, signed, or verified text where needed.

Encryption Preferences

Functionality of the Password and Encryption Keys tool can be customized. Possible options are described in this section.

Encryption Settings

Click Computer+Control Center+Personal+Encryption and Keyrings.

Click Encryption tab.

Choose from the following options:

Default Key:  Specifies the key you want to use to sign files. Files will be encrypted to this key if the When encrypting, always include myself as a recipient option is selected.

When encrypting, always include myself as a recipient:  Select this option to add yourself to the recipients list for all files encrypted by Passwords and Encryption Keys. If you do not select this option, and you do not select yourself as a recipient, you cannot decrypt any files you encrypt.

Click Close.

Passphrase Cache

Enabling Passwords and Encryption Keys's passphrase caching ability allows you to perform many operations that require entering your passphrase without reentering it every time seahorse-daemon takes the place of gpg-agent. Letting the cached passphrases expire is usually a good idea. This will then require reentering your passphrase, but adds security.

Click Computer+Control Center+Personal+Encryption and Keyrings.

Click the PGP Passphrases tab.

Choose from the following options:

Never remember passphrases.  Select this option to not remember any passphrase.

Remember passphrases for ... minutes.  Specifies the amount of time, in minutes, for storing passphrases.

Always remember passphrases whenever logged in.  Select this option to remember any passphrases whenever you are logged in to the session.

Ask me before using a cached passphrase.  Select this option to ask you before a stored passphrase is used.

Show icon in status area when passphrases are in memory.  Select this option to show a warning icon when passphrases are in memory.

Click Close.

Password Keyrings

You can use password keyring preferences to create or remove keyrings, to set the default keyring for application passwords or to change unlock password of a keyring. To create a new keyring, follow these steps:

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click File+New+Password Keyring, then click the Continue.

Enter new keyring's name and press Add.

Set and confirm new keyring's Password and click Create.

To change unlock password of an existing keyring, click on the keyring in the Passwords tab and press Change Password. You have to provide the old password to be able to change it.

To change the default keyring for application passwords, click on the keyring in the Passwords tab and press Set as Default.

Key Servers

You can keep your keys up-to-date by syncing keys periodically with remote keyservers. Syncing will ensure that you have the latest signatures made on all of your keys, so that the web of trust will be effective.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click Edit+Preferences, then click the Key Servers tab.

Passwords and Encryption Keys provides support for HKP and LDAP keyservers.

HKP Servers:  HKP keyservers are ordinary Web-based keyservers such as the popular hkp://pgp.mit.edu:11371, also accessible at http://pgp.mit.edu.

LDAP Keyservers:  LDAP keyservers are less common, but use the standard LDAP protocol to serve keys. ldap://keyserver.pgp.com is a good LDAP server.

You can Add or Remove keyservers to be used using the buttons on the left. To add a new keyserver, set its type, host and port, if necessary.

Set whether you want to automatically publish your public keys and which keyserver to use. Set whether you want to autopmatically retrieve keys from keyservers and whether to synchronize modified keys with keyservers.

Click Close.

Key Sharing

Key Sharing is provided by DNS-SD, also known as Bonjour or Rendevous. Enabling key sharing adds the local Passwords and Encryption Keys users' public key rings to the remote search dialog box. Using these local key servers is generally faster than accessing remote servers.

Click Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Passwords and Encryption Keys.

Click Edit+Preferences, then click the Key Sharing tab.

Select Share my keys with others on my network.

Click Close.

Chapter 9. Taking Notes with Tomboy

Tomboy is a GNOME note-taking application that enables you to organize the ideas and information you deal with every day. Among other things, it can help you collect and sort all kind of data, write down your ideas, allocate your contacts and make to-do lists.

Tomboy also has some useful editing features to help you customize your notes, including:

Highlighting search text

Inline spell checking

Auto-linking Web and email addresses

Undo/redo support

Font styling and sizing

Bulleted lists

Tomboy is located on the GNOME panel, and by default is started automatically when you log into GNOME. You can also access Tomboy by clicking Computer+More Applications+Utilities+Tomboy Notes. Tomboy panel icon

Creating Notes

To create a new note, click the Tomboy Notes icon in your GNOME Panel, then select Create New Note. Tomboy panel icon

Figure 9.1. A New Tomboy Note

To edit the note, click the content area, then use the keyboard to add and remove content. The first line of the note contains its title. By default, this is populated with the text New Note #. You can change the title by clicking the line and using the keyboard. By default, focus is given to the content area upon creation of a new note, so you can immediately start editing the note without clicking the content area. For more information on formatting the contents of a note, see Section “Formatting Text in Notes”.

Your note is saved automatically.

You can then organize the notes you create by linking related notes and ideas together. Fore more information, see Section “Linking Notes”.

Searching All Notes

To get an overview of all your notes, click and then select Search All Notes. By default, the Search All Notes dialog box displays your notes in the order they were last modified. Click the Note or Last Changed column headings to change the sort order. Click the column heading a second time to toggle between ascending and descending order. Tomboy panel icon

Figure 9.2. Search All Notes Dialog Box

You can find specific notes by entering text into the Search field. The list of notes automatically updates to list only the notes that contain matching text.

To open a note listed in the Search All Notes dialog box, do any of the following:

Double-click a note.

Select a note, then click File+Open.

Right-click a note, then select Open.

Select a note, then press Ctrl+O.

Linking Notes

You can link notes in Tomboy by highlighting text in your current note, then clicking the Link button in the toolbar. This creates a new note and underlines the note's title in the current note.

For example, if your current note contains the phrase “resume,” you can select this text, then click Link to create a new note with the title “resume.” A link is also created in the current note which you can click to open the new “resume” note.

Figure 9.3. Links in Tomboy Notes

If you change the title of a note, the links in other notes to that note are automatically updated. Typing the name of another note in your current note automatically links that note for you. To see what other notes link to the current note, click Tools+What links here?

Accessing Your Notes

To access your notes, click the Tomboy icon on the GNOME panel, then select one of the notes you recently viewed or created from the menu, or search for older notes (see Section “Searching All Notes” for more information). Tomboy panel icon

To force a note to always appear in the panel menu regardless of when you last accessed it, click the thumbtack icon to the right of the note to “pin” it to the menu. Notes that are pinned to the panel menu have a thumbtack icon that look like this: Accessing Your Notes. Notes that are not pinned to the panel menu have thumbtack icons that look like this: Accessing Your Notes.

Formatting Text in Notes

You can use the Text button on the Tomboy toolbar to format text within your notes. The Text button displays a drop-down menu with the following options:

Undo

Allows you to revert previous changes made to your note during the current session. To undo your last change using the keyboard, press Ctrl+Z.

Redo

Allows you to put back changes that were removed using the Undo feature. To redo your last change using the keyboard, press Shift+Ctrl+Z.

Bold

To make text within your note bold, select the text you want to modify, then select the Bold option from the Text drop-down menu. You can also press Ctrl+B after selecting text.

Italic

To make text within your note italic, select the text you want to modify, then select the Italic option from the Text drop-down menu. You can also press Ctrl+I after selecting text.

Strikeout

Puts a line through the selected text. To add a strikeout, select the text you want, then select the Strikeout option from the Text drop-down menu. You can also press Ctrl+S after selecting text.

Highlight

Puts a yellow background around the selected text. To add a highlight, select the text you want, then select the Highlight option from the Text drop-down menu. You can also press Ctrl+H after selecting text.

Fixed Width

The fixed width style allows text to use a fixed width font. To change existing text, select the text you want to modify, then select the Fixed Width option from the Text drop-down menu. You can also select the Fixed Width option from the Text drop-down menu before you start typing to have the text you type be in a fixed width style.

Font Size

There are four options in this part of the menu: Small, Normal, Large, and Huge. Each of these options represents a font size you can use for the selected text in the note. To modify the font size, select the text you want to modify, then select one of the Font Size options from the Text drop-down menu.

Bullets

Select the Bullets option from the Text drop-down menu in order to begin or end a bulleted list. If your cursor is inside a bulleted list, the Increase Indent and Decrease Indent options are enabled.

For more information on bullets, see Section “Using Bulleted Lists”.

Increase Indent

With the cursor on a bulleted list line, select this option to shift the current line to the right.

Decrease Indent

With the cursor on a bulleted list line, select this option to shift the current line to the left.

Find in This Note

Lets you search for text within the current note. Selecting this option causes a Find bar to open at the bottom of the note. To open the Find bar using the keyboard, press Ctrl+F.

Enter the text you want to find. After entering text, all matches are highlighted. Click Find Next to highlight the next match and place the cursor there. Click Previous to move to the previous match.

To close the find bar, click X on the far left or press the Escape key.

Using Bulleted Lists

Tomboy's bulleted lists are useful for creating hierarchically-structured content. Creation and formatting of bulleted lists is described in this section.

Beginning a Bulleted List

To begin a bulleted list, use any of the following methods:

Select Bullets from the Text drop-down menu.

Write a line of text immediatelly after the automatically created bullet, then press Enter.

Ending a Bulleted List

To end a bulleted list, do any of the following:

Select Bullets from the Text drop-down menu.

Press Enter on a blank bulleted line.

Select Decrease Indent from the Text drop-down menu until the current line is no longer part of the bulleted list.

Press Shift+Tab until the current line is no longer part of the bulleted list.

Increasing Indentation

To increase the line indentation in a bulleted list, select Increase Indent from the Text drop-down menu, or press the Tab key.

Decreasing Indentation

To decrease the line indentation in a bulleted list, select Decrease Indent from the Text drop-down menu, or press Shift+Tab.

Exporting Notes to HTML

You can create an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) document from one or more notes.

In the note you want to export, select the Export to HTML option from the Tools drop-down menu.

Specify where to save the HTML file.

If you want to export any notes for which a link exists in the current note, select Export linked notes. To export all notes for which a link exists in any of the notes, select Include all other linked notes.

Click Save.

Deleting Notes

To delete a note, click the Delete button on the Tomboy toolbar. You will see a dialog box asking if you want to permanently delete the note and its contents. Click Delete to discard the note permanently, or click Cancel to abort the process.

Links to this note from other notes will still exist, but will re-create the note upon activation.

Printing Notes

Select the Print option on the Tools drop-down menu to print the current note. You will be presented with the standard GNOME print dialog box.

Configuring Tomboy Preferences

To modify preferences for Tomboy, right-click the Tomboy icon (Tomboy panel icon) on the GNOME panel, then select Preferences. You can set preferences related to Editing, Hotkeys, Synchronization and Add-ins on relevant tabs.

Editing Preferences

The Editing tab of the Preferences dialog lets you set options related to editing of notes.

Figure 9.4. Tomboy Editing Preferences

The Editing preferences include the following:

Spell check while typing

Underlines misspellings in red, and provides suggestions in the right-click context menu.

Highlight WikiWords

Creates links for phrases ThatLookLikeThis. Clicking the link creates a new note with the title corresponding to the link text.

Use custom font

Sets a custom font to be used in your notes. If this option is disabled, the default system font will be used.

New note template

Sets the default text that is used for any newly-created note.

Hotkey Preferences

The Hotkeys tab of the Preferences dialog lets you set global key combinations to perform different functions in Tomboy. To set key combinations, the Listen for Hotkeys checkbox must be selected. Press Alt+H to toggle this option on or off.

Figure 9.5. Tomboy Hotkey Preferences

The Hotkey preferences include the following:

Show notes menu

Specify the key combination to open the notes menu.

Open “Start Here”

Specify the key combination to open the “Start Here” note, which is pre-installed with Tomboy.

Create new note

Specify the key combination to create a new note.

Open “Search All Notes”:

Specify the key combination to open the Search All Notes dialog box.

Synchronization Preferences

The Synchronization tab of the Preferences dialog lets you share notes, announce notes, receive announcements, and get notes from other instances of Tomboy. This can be useful, for example, if you want to work on a single set of notes in separate instances of Tomboy running on your desktop and your laptop.

Figure 9.6. Tomboy Synchronization Preferences

The Synchronization preferences include the following:

Service

Specify the location of the synchronized files. By default, you can select a local folder or WebDAV server. To synchronize to a remote location, click the Add-ins tab, select Synchronization+SSH Sync Service Add-in, then click Enable. This adds an SSH (sshfs FUSE) option to the Service drop-down list.

Specify the information required for the Service you selected, then click Save.

Advanced

Specify what happens when a conflict is detected between a local note and a note on the configured synchronization server. You can choose to be prompted when a conflict occurs, to rename the local note, or to replace the local note with the note on the synchronization server.

Clear

Clears your current synchronization settings. If you choose to clear your synchronization settings, you might have to synchronize your notes again when you save new settings.

To synchronize your notes, click Tools+Synchronize Notes in any open note.

Add-ins Preferences

The Add-ins tabbed page lets you enable and configure Tomboy add-ins (formerly called plugins). Tomboy comes with several pre-installed add-ins, such as Backlinks, Bugzilla Links, Evolution Mail Integration, Export to HTML, Fixed Width, Note of the Day, Printing Support, and Sticky Notes Importer.

The list of installed add-ins is shown on the left of the Add-ins tabbed page. To enable or disable an add-in, select the plugin you want, then click Enable or Disable.

Figure 9.7. Tomboy Add-ins Preferences

Additional add-ins can be found in the Tomboy Add-ins page. Place new add-ins in the $HOME/.tomboy/addins folder.

Part III. Communication and Collaboration

Chapter 10. Instant Messaging with Kopete

Kopete is an online messenger application allowing multiple partners connected to the Internet to chat with each other. Kopete currently supports all common messenger protocols, such as AOL* Instant Messenger (AIM), GroupWise® Messenger, ICQ, Jabber*, SMS, Skype*, WinPopup and Yahoo!*.

Configuring Kopete

Before you can chat with your friends, you need to create an account:

Open Kopete by pressing Alt+F2 and entering kopete. If Kopete does not start, check if the package kopete is installed.

Select Settings+Configure and click Add Accounts.... The configuration wizard appears.

Select your messaging service. Generally, this is mostly determined by what service your friends are using.

If the messaging services requires registration but you do not have an account for this service yet, click Register New Account. In the browser window that opens, enter your user data to register.

Switch back to Kopete and enter the data received on registration with the messaging service. This usually consists of the nickname or email address and a password. Complete the configuration of your account by clicking Finish.

After you have configured your account you need to add contacts to chat with them. If you have already created an account on another PC, this data is imported and automatically added to your contact list after login. To manually create a contact entry, click File+Add Contact. A new assistant appears to help with creation. However, you must be online and connect with Kopete to the selected messaging service to add a contact to your list.

Chatting with Friends

It is necessary to be connected to the Internet to be able to chat with other participants. When this is done, you should set your status by clicking File+Set Status+Online. This establishes a connection between Kopete and the selected messaging service. After the successful login, you are visible to others.

The main application windows features a list of contacts. You must have contacts to chat with others. To add a new contact, click on File+Add Contact and choose your identity. After you have entered the relevant data (which can vary depending on your account) you see your new contact. When you right-click a contact marked as online, a menu opens with various options. Send that person a message or start a chatting session. A chat allows the invitation of additional participants for real-time discussion. Connection to all participants is closed when the creator of the chat session closes it.

Figure 10.1. Chat Window

If you want to see your previous chat session, select a contact and go to Tools+Latest History. This menu item shows your chat sessions with this person. Conversely, you can select Edit+View History. This opens a window where you can see an overview of all contacts and there saved messages.

You can view other options by right-clicking a username. A pop-up menu opens. An important option is Start Chat to start a chatting session. With Rename Contact and Remove Contact, you can run the relevant action. The pop-up menu also contains a submenu item with the username where you can block the user or get user information.

Scrolling Through Old Chat Sessions

If you want to know what you wrote during one of the last chat sessions with a person, click a contact to open the chat window again and press Alt+← or Alt+→ to scroll through your sessions. Alternatively, use the arrow icons in the toolbar to scroll back and forth.

Customizing Kopete

Kopete offers numerous options to customize it according to your needs. Find some examples in the following sections.

Adding Groups

Grouping contacts in your list can give a better overview. Click File+Create New Group. Name the group and confirm this with OK. A new folder appears in the contact list that can be used to store the desired contacts. Drag and drop contacts into the desired folder.

Figure 10.2. The Main Kopete Window

Empty groups can be disabled by activating Settings+Hide Empty Groups. To customize a special group only, right-click the relevant entry and select Properties in the popup window that opens. Now change the icons or your notifications.

Using an Identity

Kopete can manage several accounts, which is helpful if you have friends using different messenger protocols. Each account can be associated with a different identity. This is useful for privacy or business reasons. To create a new identity, proceed as follows:

In Kopete, select Settings+Configure and go to the Accounts tab. The configuration window appears.

Select Add Identity... and enter a name, nickname, and other information.

If you want to use the new identity for different accounts, simply move your account into your new identity.

Configuring Notifications

Kopete allows you to configure notifications for events such as contacts coming online or going offline or an incoming message for you. This can be done globally, for a specific group or a single contact.

To activate the notifications option proceed as follows:

Make sure all your contacts are shown in the Kopete window. If not, select Settings+Show Offline Users.

Right-click your preferred contact and select Properties. The notification dialog appears, see Figure 10.3

Figure 10.3. Notification Dialog in Kopete

Go to the Custom Notification tab and select Contact Gone Online.

Decide which action should be executed for this event: Play a Sound, Show a Message in a Popup, Log to a File, Mark Taskbar Entry, or Run Command.

Click OK to confirm your settings.

To modify the default notification options, select Settings+Notifications. Select which event is important for you and change the notification settings. For example, if you want to be informed by a sound when any of your contacts has come online, select A contact has come online and activate Play a sound. Select the sound and click OK to close the configuration dialog.

Configuring Kopete Plug-ins

Kopete offers some nice extensions for you chat sessions which can be accessed from Settings+Configure Plugins. For example, you can auto replace text, encrypt outgoing messages, highlight text (if the message contains some interesting words), render LaTeX formulas, or translate messages.

For More Information

More information about Kopete and chats can be found on the following Web sites:

Kopete Home Page

Common Abbreviations Used in Chat Sessions

KDE Forum

Chapter 11. Instant Messaging with Pidgin

Pidgin (formerly called Gaim) is an instant messaging (IM) client that allows you to connect to multiple accounts simultaneously. Chat live with your contacts in one tabbed interface, regardless of which IM system they use. Pidgin supports the following instant messaging protocols: AOL* Instant Messenger (AIM), Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, GroupWise Messenger, ICQ, IRC, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Yahoo!*, and Zephyr*. Pidgin also supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, and typing notification.

In the following, learn how to set up Pidgin and how to communicate with your contacts.

Configuring Accounts

To use Pidgin, you must already have accounts on the systems you want to use. For example, to use Pidgin for your AIM account, you must first have an AIM account. Once you have those accounts, set them up in the Pidgin Add Account dialog.

Procedure 11.1. Adding and Editing Accounts

Start Pidgin from the main menu or press Alt+F2 and enter pidgin. If Pidgin does not start, check if the package pidgin is installed.

If you start Pidgin for the first time, a message appears, prompting you to configure an account. Otherwise, Pidgin opens the Buddy List window, showing your contacts.

To add or edit an account from there, select Accounts+Manage Accounts.

In the Accounts dialog, click Add to add a new account or select an existing account and click Modify.

On the Basic tab, select the protocol. The dialog to add or modify accounts differs for each protocol, depending on what setup options are available for that protocol.

Enter the data received on registration with the messaging service. This usually consists of the username or email address and a password. Your protocol might support additional options, such as a buddy icon, alias, login options, or others.

On the Advanced tab, enter the Server and Port you got from your messaging service or system administrator.

Click Save.

If needed, add accounts for each additional protocol, as described above.

After an account is added, you can log in to that account by entering your password in the Pidgin login dialog box. Use the Accounts menu to view and enable or disable accounts that you have configured.

Managing Your Contacts

Use the Buddy List to manage your contacts, also known as buddies. You can add and remove buddies from your Buddy List, and you can organize your buddies in groups so they are easy to find.

After your accounts are set up, all buddies who are online appear in your Buddy List. If you want your buddies who are not online to appear in the Buddy List, click Buddies+Show Offline Buddies.

Figure 11.1. Pidgin Buddy List

To add a buddy to your Buddy List, click Buddies+Add Buddy, then enter the information about that buddy.

Adding Contacts for Certain Protocols

For some protocols, you cannot add a buddy in the Pidgin interface. You must use the client for those protocols if you want to add to your buddy list. After you have added a buddy in the protocol’s client, that buddy appears in your Buddy List.

To remove a buddy from the list of contacts, right-click on that buddy’s name in the Buddy List and click Remove.

Chatting with Friends

It is necessary to be connected to the Internet to be able to chat with other participants. After a successful login, you are usually marked as Available in the Buddy List, and thus visible to others. To change your status, click the drop-down list at the bottom of the Buddy List and select another option.

To open a chat session, double-click a buddy name in the Buddy List. The Chat screen opens. Type your message, then press Enter to send.

Each chat session you open appears as a tab in the Chat screen. Click on a buddy’s tab to chat with that buddy. Close a chat session by closing the tab for that buddy.

Figure 11.2. Pidgin Chat Session

For More Information

This chapter explained the Pidgin options you need to know about to set up Pidgin and communicate with your contacts. It does not explain all of Pidgin features and options. For more information, open Pidgin, then click Help+Online Help or press F1.

Chapter 12. Using Voice over IP with Ekiga

Abstract

Modern telecommunication means far more than just making a phone call. It is also about text messaging and sometimes even video conferencing. Roaming enables you to be reachable under one phone number all across the world. Ekiga brings these features to your Linux desktop, allowing you to communicate over broadband Internet.

Before starting, make sure that the following requirements are met:

Your sound card is properly configured.

A headset or a microphone and speakers are connected to your computer.

For dialing in to regular phone networks, a SIP account is required. SIP (Signaling protocol for Internet Telephony) is the protocol used to establish sessions for audio and video conferencing or call forwarding. There are many VoIP providers all over the world. For a quick start, have a look at the service that the Ekiga project provides at http://www.ekiga.net.

For video conferencing, a webcam is connected to your computer.

Configuring Ekiga

On first start, Ekiga opens a configuration assistant that requests all data needed to configure Ekiga. Proceed as follows:

Enter your full name (name and surname).

Enter your ekiga.net account data or choose not to sign up with ekiga.net.

To add other accounts later, configure them using Edit+Accounts.

Enter your Ekiga Call Out Account data or choose not to sign up with ekiga.net.

Determine your connection type.

Choose the audio manager to use. Accept the default setting ALSA, as it guarantees the best sound quality. Other sound systems, like OSS, are not available on openSUSE.

By default, there is no ringing device set. If you want a ring tone, change this to one of your available audio devices.

Choose the video input device, if available.

Check the summary of your settings and apply them.

If registration fails after making changes to your configuration, just restart Ekiga.

Ekiga allows you to maintain multiple accounts. To configure an additional account, proceed as follows:

Open Edit+Accounts.

Choose Accounts+Add <account type>. If unsure, select Add a SIP Account.

Enter the Registrar to which you want to register. This is usually an IP address or a host name that will be given to you by your Internet Telephony Service Provider. Enter User, and Password according to the data provided by your provider.

Leave the configuration dialog with OK and activate the account. The status of your account displayed in the Ekiga main window changes to Registered.

The Ekiga User Interface

The Ekiga user interface has several tabs available. The first tab is Contacts, the second is Dialpad and the last one is Call History. In addition, there is a Call Panel tab available, which displays pictures and videos of local or remote webcams.

Figure 12.1. Ekiga User Interface

The user interface has different modes. To switch between views, use the tab line. By default, Ekiga opens the Contacts tab. There, a local addressbook lets you quickly open connections to often-used numbers. To get a full view with webcam support and audio controls, activate the Call Panel with View+Show Call Panel.

At the bottom of the Call Panel, there are icons for several controls like Audio Settings, Video Settings, Video Display and Hold Call. All icons provide a tool tip that is activated by the mouse pointer hovering over the icon. Some settings like the Audio settings may only be changed during a phone call.

Many of the functions of Ekiga are available with keyboard shortcuts. Table 12.1, “Keyboard Shortcuts for Ekiga” summarizes the most important ones.

Table 12.1. Keyboard Shortcuts for Ekiga

Ctrl Sequence

Description

Ctrl+O

Initiate a call with the current number.

Esc

Hang up.

Ctrl+N

Add a contact to your address book.

Ctrl+B

Open the Address Book dialog.

H

Hold the current call.

T

Transfer the current call to another party.

M

Suspend the audio stream of the current call.

P

Suspend the video stream of the current call.

Ctrl+W

Close the Ekiga user interface.

Ctrl+Q

Quit Ekiga.

Ctrl+E

Start the account manager.

Ctrl+J

Activate the Call Panel on the main user interface.

Ctrl++

Zoom in to the picture from the Web cam.

Ctrl+-

Zoom out on the picture from the Web cam.

Ctrl+0

Return to the normal size of the Web cam display.

F11

Use full screen for the Web cam.

Making a Call

Once Ekiga is properly configured, making a call is straightforward.

Start Ekiga using the menu or the command line.

Enter the SIP address of the party to call at the SIP address prompt. The address should look like:

for direct local calls: sip:username@domainname or username@hostname

sip:username@domainname or userid@sipserver

Click Call or press Ctrl+O and wait for the other party to pick up the phone.

To end the call, click Hang up or press Esc.

If you need to tweak the sound parameters during a call, click on the Audio Settings icon in the Call Panel. A interface that holds the Audio options for Playback level and Recording level is displayed. Use the sliders to adjust the levels to fit your needs.

Answering a Call

Ekiga can receive calls in two different ways. First, the user may be called directly with sip:user@host. Conversely, make your calls via an SIP provider. Most SIP providers enable you to get calls from a normal landline to your VoIP account. Depending on the mode in which Ekiga is run, there are several ways in which you would be alerted to an incoming call:

Normal Application

Incoming calls can only be received and answered if Ekiga is already running. You hear the ring sound on your headset or your speakers. If Ekiga is not running, the call cannot be received.

Panel Applet

Normally, the Ekiga panel applet would run silently without giving any notice of its existence. This changes as soon as a call comes in. The main window of Ekiga opens and you hear a ring sound on your headset or speakers.

Once you have noticed an incoming call, just click Accept to answer the call then start talking. If you do not want to accept this call, click Reject. It is also possible to transfer the call to another SIP address.

Using the Address Book

Ekiga has the ability to manage your SIP contacts. All of the contacts are displayed in the Contacts tab, shown in the main window after startup. To add a contact or a new contact group, run Chat+Add Contact.

If you want to add a new group, enter the group name into the bottom input field and press Add. The new group is then added to the group list and preselected.

The following entries are required for a valid contact:

Name

Enter the name of your contact. This may be a full name, but you can also use a nickname here.

SIP Address

Enter a valid SIP address for your contact.

Groups

If you have many different contacts, add your own groups.

To call a contact from the address book, double-click this contact. The call is initiated immediately.

For More Information

The official home page of Ekiga is http://www.ekiga.org/. This site offers answers to frequently asked questions as well as more detailed documentation.

For information about the support of the H323 teleconferencing protocol in Linux, see http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/H.323. This is also a good starting point when searching for projects supporting VoIP.

To set up a private telephone network, you might be interested in the PBX software Asterisk http://www.asterisk.org/. Find information about at http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk.

Part IV. Internet

Chapter 13. Browsing with Konqueror

Abstract

Konqueror is a modern Web browser, but can also be used as a file manager. However, to manage your files and directories, it is recommended using Dolphin. If you start the browser with the icon in the panel, Konqueror opens with the Web browser profile. As a browser, Konqueror offers tabbed browsing, the possibility of saving Web pages with graphics, Internet keywords, bookmarks, and support for Java and JavaScript.

Figure 13.1. The Browser Window of Konqueror

Start Konqueror from the main menu or by entering the command konqueror. If Konqueror does not start, check if the package konqueror is installed. To load a Web page, enter its address in the location bar, for example http://www.opensuse.org. Konqueror now attempts to reach the address and displays the page. Entering the protocol at the beginning of the address (http:// in this case) is not strictly required. The program is able to complete the address automatically, but this only works reliably with Web addresses. For an FTP address, always enter ftp:// at the beginning of the input field.

Tabbed Browsing

If you often use more than one Web page at a time, tabbed browsing may make it easier to switch between them. Load Web sites in separate tabs within one window. The advantage is that you keep more control over your desktop because you only have one main window. After logout, the KDE session management allows you to save your Web session in Konqueror. The next time you log in, Konqueror loads the exact URLs visited last time.

To open a new tab, select Window+New Tab or press Ctrl+T. To change the behavior of tabs, go to Settings+Configure Konqueror. In the dialog box that opens, select General and enable Open links in new tab instead of in new window. You can also hide the tab bar with Hide the tab bar When only one tab is open.

Automatic Scrolling

In general, scrolling with the mouse is the normal way to view information further down a page. However, there are occasions when it is preferable not to use a mouse. It can be very convenient to use key combinations instead of removing your hands from the keyboard.

To scroll down automatically, use Shift+↓. This scrolls down the page without further intervention. Increase the speed by pressing Shift+↓ again. Pressing Shift+↑ slows down. To stop scrolling, use ↓.

Profiles

Section “Tabbed Browsing” described how to handle tabs in Konqueror. You can save your tabs with URLs and the position of the window in a profile. This differs from the session management already mentioned. With profiles, your saved tabs are at hand without the intensive start-up time of session management.

To create a profile, do the following:

Go to Settings+Configure View Profiles.

In the dialog box that appears, insert a name in Profile Name.

To save your URLs, select Save URLs in Profile.

Approve with Save.

The next time you need your tab collection, go to Settings+Load View Profile and find the name listed in the menu. After you select it, Konqueror restores your tabs.

Saving Web Pages and Graphics

As in other browsers, you can save Web pages. To do this, select File+Save As and specify a name for your HTML file. However, images are not saved. To archive an entire Web page including the images, select Tools+Archive Web Page. Konqueror suggests a filename that you can usually accept. The filename ends with .war, the extension for Web archives. To view the saved Web archive later, simply click the relevant file and the Web page is displayed in Konqueror along with images.

Searching with Konqueror

Searching with Konqueror is very convenient. You can use the search bar or Web shortcuts.

Using the Search Bar

Konqueror contains a search bar where you can choose from many search engines. If you want to search for a specific term, proceed as follows:

Locate the search bar in Konqueror. It is on the right side after the location bar.

Click the icon inside the search bar. Choose a search engine from the pop-up menu.

Insert your search term and press Enter. The result is displayed in Konqueror.

If you need a search engine that is not listed in the pop-up menu, add it as follows:

Procedure 13.1. Adding More Search Engines

In Konqueror, click the icon in the search bar.

Choose Select Search Engines....

Make sure that Enable web shortcuts is activated.

Enable the relevant search engine and close the dialog with OK. You can see your selected search engine when you click the icon in the search bar.

Using Web Shortcuts

Each search engine defined is attached to a web shortcut. This shortcut can be entered in the location bar.

To see which search engines are already defined, go to Settings+Configure Konqueror+Web Browsing+Web Shortcuts. You can see the names of the search providers and the shortcuts. Konqueror defines many search engines: Google, Yahoo, Lycos, and a number of less common resources like an acronym database, the Internet movie database, and KDE application searches.

If you do not find your preferred search engine here, you are able to define a new one very easily. For example, to search our home page for some interesting articles, go to http://en.opensuse.org/, enter your query and look for the appropriate results.

Procedure 13.2. Creating New Web Shortcuts

Go to the search bar, click the icon, and select Select Search Engines.

Make sure that Enable web shortcuts is activated.

Click New.

Create a new web shortcut:

Assign your web shortcut a name in Search provider name.

Enter the search URI. For example, if you want to search in openSUSE, use http://en.opensuse.org/Special:Search?search=\{@}. The search query is specified as \{@}. Get more information by clicking in the text field labeled with Search URI and pressing Shift+F1.

Enter your abbreviations in URI Shortcuts. There you can enter more than one, separated by commas.

Proceed with OK.

After creating a new Web shortcut, you can use it in the location bar. The result is displayed in the current window.

Using Shortcuts Directly without Opening Konqueror

You do not need to open Konqueror and enter the Web shortcut. You can use it directly: select Run Command from the main menu or press Alt+F2. After the dialog box appears, enter your shortcut, a colon (:), and your search term.

Bookmarks

Instead of remembering and reentering addresses for sites visited often, you can bookmark these URLs using the Bookmark menu. As well as Web page addresses, you can also bookmark the directories of your local disk in this way.

To create a new bookmark in Konqueror, click Bookmarks+Add Bookmark. Any previously added bookmarks are included as items in the menu. It is a good idea to arrange the bookmark collection by subjects in a hierarchical structure, so that you do not lose track of the different items. Create a new subgroup for your bookmarks with New Bookmark Folder. Selecting Bookmarks+Edit Bookmarks opens the bookmark editor. Use this program to organize, rearrange, add, and delete bookmarks.

If you are using Netscape, Mozilla, or Firefox as additional browsers, it is not necessary to recreate your bookmarks. File+Import+Import Netscape Bookmarks in the bookmark editor enables you to integrate your Netscape and Mozilla bookmarks into your most current collection. The reverse is also possible via Export as Netscape Bookmarks.

Change your bookmarks by right-clicking the entry. A pop-up menu appears in which to select the desired action (cut, copy, delete, etc.). When you are satisfied with the result, save the bookmarks with File+Save. If you only want to change the name or link, just right-click the entry in the bookmark toolbar and select Properties. Change the name and location and confirm with Update.

To save your bookmark list and have instant access to it, make your bookmarks visible in Konqueror. Select Settings+Toolbars+Bookmark Toolbar (Konqueror). A bookmark panel is automatically displayed in the current Konqueror window.

Java and JavaScript

Do not confuse these two languages. Java is an object-oriented, platform-independent programming language from Sun Microsystems. It is frequently used for small programs (applets), which are executed over the Internet for things like online banking, chatting, and shopping. JavaScript is an interpreted scripting language mainly used for the dynamic structuring of Web pages, for example, for menus and other effects.

Konqueror allows you to enable or disable these two languages. This can even be done in a domain-specific way, which means that you can permit access for some hosts and block access for others. Java and JavaScript are often disabled for security reasons. Unfortunately, some Web pages require JavaScript for correct display.

Enabling Advertisement Blockers

Some Web pages open annoying advertisements. With the help of Konqueror, these windows can be blocked. Proceed as follows:

Procedure 13.3. Blocking Advertisements

Select Settings+Configure Konqueror+Web Browsing+AdBlock Filters in Konqueror.

Activate Enable filters.

Enter an expression for the Web page to filter. For example:

http://www.example.com/*

This filters everything that comes from that URL.

Click Insert.

If you need the entries on another computer, click Export, save the file, move it to your other computer and import it there in Konqueror from the same dialog box.

For More Information

For any questions or problems that arise when working with Konqueror, refer to the application's handbook, which is available from the Help menu. Konqueror also has a Web page, located at http://www.konqueror.org.

Chapter 14. Browsing with Firefox

Abstract

Included with your openSUSE® is the Mozilla Firefox Web browser. With features like tabbed browsing, pop-up window blocking and download and image management, Firefox combines the latest browsing and security technologies with an easy-to-use interface. Using tabs, you can view more than one Web page in a single window. You can suppress annoying advertisements and disable images for faster browsing. Firefox's easy access to different search engines helps you find the information you need.

Start Firefox from the main menu or by entering the command firefox. The main program features are described in the following sections.

Navigating Web Sites

Firefox has much of the same look and feel as other browsers. It is shown in Figure 14.1, “The Browser Window of Firefox”. The navigation toolbar includes Forward and Back, the smart location bar for a Web address, and the search bar. Bookmarks are also available for quick access from the bookmarks toolbar. For more information about the various Firefox features, use the Help menu.

Figure 14.1. The Browser Window of Firefox

The Smart Location Bar

When typing into the location bar, an auto-completion drop-down menu opens, showing the addresses matching what you have typed. The phrase that is matched is highlighted with bold letters. The drop-down menu shows all matching addresses, bookmark and page titles and tag names from your browsing history and your bookmarks list. Matching even works across word boundaries. Entries visited most frequently and recently are listed first.

List entries from the bookmark list are marked with a star. Bookmarks with tags are marked with an additional label followed by the tag names. List entries from the browsing history are not marked.

Use ↑ and ↓ or the mouse wheel to scroll through the list. Press Enter or click on an entry to go to the selected page. Del removes an entry from the list if it is an entry from the history. Bookmarked entries can only be removed by deleting the associated bookmark.

Zooming

Firefox offers two zooming options: page zoom, the default, and text zoom. Page view zooms the entire page as is, with all elements of a page, including graphics, expanding equally while text zoom only changes the text size.

To toggle between page and text zoom, choose View+Zoom+Zoom Text Only. To zoom in or out either use the mouse wheel while holding the Ctrl key, or use Ctrl++ and Ctrl+-. Reset the zoom factor with Ctrl+0

Tabbed Browsing

If you often use more than one Web page at a time, tabbed browsing makes it easier to switch between pages. It allows you to load Web sites in separate tabs within one window.

Opening tabs

To open a new tab, select File+New Tab or press Ctrl+T. This opens an empty tab in the Firefox window. To open a link on a web page or a bookmark in a tab, middle-click it. Alternatively, right-click a link and select Open Link in New Tab. You may also open an address in the location bar in a new tab with a middle-click or by pressing Ctrl+Enter.

Closing Tabs

Right-click on a tab to open a context menu, giving you access to tab managing options such as closing, reloading, or bookmarking. To close a tab, you may also use Ctrl+W or click the close button. Any closed tab can be restored by choosing from History+Recently Closed Tabs. In order to reopen the last closed tab either choose Undo Close Tab from the context menu or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+T.

Sorting Tabs

By default, tabs are sorted in the order you opened them. Rearrange the tab order by dragging and dropping a tab to the desired position. If you have opened a large number of tabs, they will not all be displayed in the tab bar. Use the arrows at the ends of the bar to move left or right-click on the down arrow at the right end of the tab bar to get a list of all tabs.

Dragging and Dropping

Drag and drop also works with tabs. Drag a link onto an existing tab to open it in that tab or drag and drop a link on an empty space in the tab bar to open a new tab.

Using the Sidebar

Use the left side of your browser window for viewing bookmarks or browsing history. Extensions may add new ways to use the sidebar as well. To display the sidebar, select View+Sidebar and select the desired contents.

Finding Information

There are two ways to find information in Firefox: use the search bar to search the Internet with a search engine or the find bar to search the page currently displayed.

Finding Information on the Web

Firefox has a search bar that can access different engines like Google, Yahoo, or Amazon. For example, if you want to find information about SUSE using the current engine, click in the search bar, type SUSE, and hit Enter. The results appear in your window. To choose your search engine, click the icon to the left of the search bar. A menu opens with a list of available search engines.

Customizing the Search Bar

If you want to change the order, add, or delete a search engine, establish an Internet connection and proceed as follows.

Click the icon to the left of the search bar.

Select Manage Search Engines from the menu.

Click Remove to delete an entry and Move Up/Down to change the order.

To add a search engine, click Get More Search Engines. Firefox displays a Web page with available plug-ins. You can choose from Wikipedia, IMDB, Flickr, and numerous others. Click Download Now to install it.

Figure 14.2. Manage Search Engines

Some Web sites offer search engines that you can add directly to the search bar. Whenever you enter such a Web site, the icon to the left of the search bar turns blue. Click on the icon and select the “Add” entry from the menu.

Adding Smart Keywords to Your Online Searches

Firefox lets you define your own smart keywords: abbreviations to use as a URL shortcut for a particular search engine. If you define ws as a smart keyword for the Wikipedia search for example, you can now type ws SEARCHTERM into the location bar to search Wikipedia for SEARCHTERM.

To assign a shortcut for a search engine from the search bar, click the icon to the left of the search bar and open the Manage Search Engines dialog. Mark a search engine and open the Edit Keyword dialog.

It is also possible to define a smart keyword for any search field on a Web site. Proceed as follows:

Right-click on the search field and choose Add a Keyword for this Search from the menu that opens. The Add Bookmark dialog appears.

In Name, enter a descriptive name for this smart keyword.

Enter your Keyword for this search.

Choose the location where to save this smart keyword with Create In.

Finalize with Add.

Smart Keywords for Regular Web sites

Using smart keywords is not restricted to search engines. You can also add a smart keyword to a bookmark (via the bookmark's properties). For example, if you assign nov to the Novell home page bookmark, you can open it by just typing nov into the location bar.

Searching in the Current Page

To search inside a Web page, click Edit+Find in This Page or press Ctrl+F. The find bar opens. It is usually displayed at the bottom of a window. Type your query in the input field. Firefox finds the first occurrence of this phrase as you type. You can find other occurrences of the phrase by pressing F3 or the Next button in the find bar. Clicking the Highlight All button will highlight all occurrences of the phrase. Checking the Match Case option makes the query case-sensitive.

Firefox also offers two quick-find options. Click anywhere you like to start a search on a Web page, type the key / immediately followed by the search term. The first occurrence of the search term will be highlighted as you type. Use F3 to find the next occurrence. It is also possible to limit quick-find to links only. This search option is available by typing the key '.

Managing Bookmarks

Bookmarks offer a convenient way of saving links to your favorite Web sites. Firefox not only makes it very easy to add new bookmarks with just one mouse click, it also offers multiple ways to manage large bookmark collections. You can sort your bookmarks into folders, create filtered views (called smart bookmarks) that will be updated on the fly, or you can classify bookmarks with tags.

Add a bookmark by clicking on the star in the location bar. The star will turn yellow to indicate the page is bookmarked. Clicking once will save the bookmark in the Unsorted Bookmarks folder under the page title. Double clicking on the star opens a menu which lets you choose a location where to save the bookmark and lets you enter a name and tags. Bookmarking tabs is done via the context menu. Right-click in a tab and choose whether to Bookmark This Tab or to Bookmark All Tabs. In the latter case Firefox asks you to create a new folder for the tab links.

To remove or edit a bookmark, open it and click on the star in the location bar. You can also choose Bookmarks, right-click the bookmark in the list, then click Delete to remove the bookmark or Properties to edit it.

Organizing Bookmarks

The Library can be used to manage the properties (name and address location) for each bookmark and organize the bookmarks into folders and sections. It resembles Figure 14.3, “The Firefox Bookmark Library”.

Figure 14.3. The Firefox Bookmark Library

To open the Library, click Bookmark+Organise Bookmarks. The library window is split into two parts: the left pane shows the folder tree view, the right pane the subfolders and bookmarks of the selected folder. Use Views to customize the right pane. The left pane contains three main folders:

History

Contains your complete browsing history. You cannot alter this list other than by deleting entries from it.

Tags

Lists bookmarks for each tag you have specified. See Section “Tags” for more information on tags.

All Bookmarks

This category contains the three main bookmark folders:

Bookmarks Toolbar

Contains the bookmarks and folders displayed beneath the location bar. See Section “The Bookmarks Toolbar” for more information.

Bookmarks Menu

Holds the bookmarks and folder accessible via the Bookmarks entry in the main menu or the bookmarks side menu.

Unsorted Bookmarks

Contains all bookmarks created with a single click on the star in the location bar. This folder is only visible in the library and the bookmarks sidebar.

Organize your bookmarks using the right pane. Choose actions for folders or bookmarks either from the context menu that opens when you right-click on an item or from the Organise dialog. The properties of a chosen folder or bookmark can be edited in the bottom part of the right pane. By default, only Name, Location, and Tags are displayed for a bookmark. Click More to gain access to all properties.

Use drag and drop to rearrange your bookmarks. Left-click a bookmark and drag it to a new position while holding the mouse button pressed. Drop it by releasing the mouse button. You can use this technique to move a bookmark or a folder to a different folder, or to change the order of bookmarks in a folder.

Tags

Tags offer a convenient way to file a bookmark under several categories. You can tag a bookmark with as much terms as you want. For example, to access all sites tagged with suse enter suse into the location bar. Whats more, a smart bookmark folder for each tag is automatically created in the tags folder of the library. Drag and drop a smart bookmark for a tag onto your bookmark toolbar or into a folder of your bookmarks menu to easily access it.

To add tags to a bookmark, open the bookmark in Firefox and click on the yellow star in the location bar. The Edit This Bookmark dialog opens where you can add a comma separated list of tags. It is also possible to add tags via the bookmark's properties dialog which you can open in the library or by right-clicking on a bookmark in the menu or the toolbar.

Importing and Exporting Bookmarks

If you used a different browser in the past, you probably want to use your old bookmarks in Firefox, too. Firefox can automatically import bookmarks from other browsers installed on your system, such as Netscape or Opera. You also can import bookmarks from a file exported from a browser on different computer or from a backup.

To import bookmarks from another browser or from a file in HTML format, open the library by choosing Bookmarks+Organise Bookmarks. Start the Import Wizard by choosing Import and Backup+Import HTML... and choose an import location. Start the import by clicking Next. Bookmarks from another browser are imported to a separate folder under the bookmarks menu named From Browser Name. Imports from an HTML file are imported as is.

Exporting bookmarks is also done via the Import and Backup dialog in the library window. To save your bookmarks as an HTML file, choose Export HTML.... In order to create or restore a backup of your bookmarks, choose Backup... or Restore. Firefox uses the JavaScript Object Notation file format (.json) for backups.

Live Bookmarks

Live bookmarks display headlines in your bookmark menu and keep you up to date with the latest news. This enables you to save time with one glance at your favorite sites. Live bookmarks update automatically.

Many sites and blogs support this format. A Web site indicates this by showing an orange icon in the right part of the location bar. Click the icon and choose Subscribe Now in the page that opens. A dialog box opens in which to select the name and location of your live bookmark. Confirm with Add. This page also lets you choose alternative applications to subscribe to, such as Bloglines, or My Yahoo.

Smart Bookmarks

Smart bookmarks are virtual bookmark folders that are dynamically updated. By default, three smart bookmark folders are already predefined: the Most Visited links are available from your bookmarks toolbar, Recently Bookmarked links and Recent Tags are located in the bookmarks menu. You can create new smart bookmarks by searching for certain entries in your library.

To create a new smart bookmark, open the library by choosing Bookmarks+Organise Bookmarks and proceed as follows:

Either select one of the main folders (History, Tags, All Bookmarks) or a specific bookmarks folder.

Enter a search term into the input field, for example Linux. This will do a case insensitive search for all links containing the phrase Linux in either the Web page title, the tags, or the URL.

Save the search to create a new smart bookmark. A smart bookmark will always be saved to the bookmarks menu folder—drag and drop it to the desired location.

Tip

Creating a smart bookmark from your saved bookmarks creates an up-to-date filtered view on your bookmarks that only changes when you add or delete bookmarks matching the search term.

A smart bookmark folder based on your browsing history dynamically changes as you surf the Web. Every time you browse a site that matches the search term, it gets “added” to your smart bookmark. For this reason, it is recommended to use search terms that are as specific as possible. If you are interested in links to openSUSE-specific topics as opposed to general Linux topics, use openSUSE rather than Linux.

Warning

Clearing the private data also deletes the browsing history (unless configured otherwise) and so will also clear history based smart bookmarks!

The Bookmarks Toolbar

The Bookmarks Toolbar is displayed beneath the location bar and lets you quickly access bookmarks. You can also add, organize, and edit bookmarks directly. By default, the Bookmarks Toolbar is populated with a predefined set of bookmarks organized into several folders (see Figure 14.1, “The Browser Window of Firefox”).

To manage the Bookmarks Toolbar you can use the library as described in Section “Organizing Bookmarks”. Its content is located in the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder. It is also possible to manage the toolbar directly. To add a folder, bookmark, or separator, right-click on an empty space in the toolbar and choose the appropriate entry from the pop-up menu. To add the current page to the bar use drag and drop: left-click on the Web page's icon in the location bar and drag it to the desired position on the bookmarks toolbar while pressing the mouse button. Hovering over an existing bookmark folder will automatically open it, enabling you to place the bookmark within this folder.

To manage a certain folder or bookmark, right-click on it. A pop-up menu opens which lets you Delete it or change its Properties. To move or copy an entry, choose Cut, or Copy and Paste it to the desired position.

Using the Download Manager

Keep track of your current and past downloads with the help of the download manager. It automatically opens every time you download a file. To manually start the download manager, click Tools+Downloads. While downloading a file, a progress bar indicates the download status. If necessary, pause the download and resume it later. To open a downloaded file with the associated application, click Open. To open the location to which the file was saved, choose Open Containing Folder. Remove From List only deletes the entry from the download manager, it does not delete the file from the hard disk.

By default, all files are downloaded to your desktop. To change this behavior, open the download manger's configuration window from Edit+Preferences and go to the Main tab. In the Download area, either choose another location or Always Ask Me Where to Save Files.

Resuming Downloads

If your browser crashes or is closed while downloading, all pending downloads will automatically be resumed in the background when starting Firefox the next time. A download that was paused before the browser was closed can manually be resumed via the download manager.

Security

Since browsing the Internet has become more risky, Firefox offers various measures to make browsing safer. It automatically checks whether you are trying to access a site known to contain harmful software (malware) or a site known to steal sensitive data (phishing) and stops you from entering these sites. The Instant Web Site ID lets you easily check a site's legitimacy, and a password manager and the pop-up blocker offers additional security. With Private Browsing you can surf the Internet without Firefox recording any data on your computer.

Instant Web Site ID

Firefox allows you to check the identity of a Web page with a single glance. The color of the Web site's icon (also called favicon) in the location bar to the left of the address indicates which identity information is available and whether communication is encrypted or not:

Gray

The site does not provide any identity information and communication between Web server and browser is not encrypted. This is fine as long as you do not exchange sensitive information with this site. Most web sites will be “gray”.

Blue

This site is from a domain that has been verified by a certificate, so you can be sure that you are really connected to the very site it claims to be. Communication with a “blue” server is always encrypted.

Green

This site completely identifies itself by a certificate that ensures a site is owned by the person or organization it claims to be. This is especially important when exchanging very sensitive data (for example when doing money transactions over the Internet). In this case you can be sure to be on your bank's Web site when it sends complete identity information. Communication with a “green” server is always encrypted.

To view detailed identity information, click the Web site's icon in the location bar. In the opening pop-up click on More Information... to open the Page Info Window. Here, you can view the site's certificate and the encryption level, as well as information about stored passwords and cookies.

With the Permissions view you can set per-site permissions for image loading, pop-ups, cookies and installation permissions. The Media view lists all images, background graphics and embedded objects from a site and displays further information on each item together with a preview. It also lets you save each individual item.

Figure 14.4. The Firefox Page Info Window

Password Management

Each time you enter a username and a password on a Web site, Firefox offers to store this data. A new toolbar on top of the page opens, asking you whether you want Firefox to remember the password. If you accept by clicking Remember, the password will be stored on your hard disk in an encrypted format. The next time you access this site, Firefox will automatically fill in the login data.

To review or manage your passwords, open the password manager by clicking Edit+Preferences+Security+Saved Passwords.... The password manager opens with a list of sites and their corresponding usernames. By default, the passwords are not displayed. You can click on Show Passwords to display them. Delete single or all entries from the list using Remove or Remove All, respectively.

To protect your passwords from unauthorized access, you can set a master password that is required when managing or adding passwords. Open the Security tab on the Preferences dialog and check Use a Master Password.

Private Browsing

By default, Firefox keeps track of your browsing history by storing content and links of visited websites, cookies, downloads, passwords, search terms and formula data. Collecting and storing this data makes browsing faster and more convenient. However, when you use a public terminal or a friend's computer, for example, you might want to turn it off. In Private Browsing mode Firefox will not keep track of your browsing history nor will it cache the content of pages you have visited.

Enable the Private Browsing mode by either clicking Tools+Start Private Browsing or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P. The current website and all open tabs will be replaced by the Private Browsing information screen. As long as you will browse in private mode, the string (Private Browsing) will be displayed in the window's title bar.

Disable Private Browsing by either clicking Tools+Stop Private Browsing or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P. Your previous session will be restored.

To make Private Browsing the default mode, open the Privacy tab in the Preference window as described in Section “Preferences”, set Firefox will: to Use custom settings for history and then choose Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session.

Bookmarks and Downloads

Downloads and bookmarks you made during Private Browsing mode will be kept.

Customizing Firefox

Firefox can be customized extensively. You can not only change the way Firefox behaves (by altering its preferences), but also add additional functionality (by installing extensions or change the look and feel by installing new themes). With the Add-ons manager, Firefox offers a convenient way to manage extensions, themes and plugins.

Preferences

Firefox offers a wide range of configuration options available via Edit+Preferences, see Figure 14.5, “The Preferences Window”. Each option is described in detail in the online help, which can be accessed by clicking the Help button.

Figure 14.5. The Preferences Window

Session management

By default, Firefox automatically restores your session—windows and tabs— only after it has crashed, or after a restart when having installed an extension. However, it can be configured to restore a session every time it is started: Open the Preferences dialog as described in Section “Preferences” and go to the Main tab. Set When Firefox Starts: to Show My Windows and Tabs from Last Time.

When you have multiple windows open they will only be restored the next time when you close all of them at once with File+Quit or with Ctrl+Q. If you close the windows one by one, only the last window will be restored.

Language Preferences for Web Sites

When sending a request to a Web server, the browser always sends the information about which language is preferred by the user. Web sites that are available in more than one language (and are configured to evaluate this language parameter) will display their pages in the language the browser requests. On openSUSE, the preferred language is preconfigured to use the same language as the desktop. To change this setting, open the Preferences window as described in Section “Preferences”, go to the Content tab and Choose your preferred language.

Spell Checking

When typing into multiple-line input fields, Firefox, by default, spell-checks what you type. Misspelled words are underlined in red. To correct a word, right-click it and choose the correct spelling from the context menu. You may also add the word to the dictionary, if it is correct.

To change or add a dictionary, right-click anywhere in a multi-line input field and choose the appropriate option from the context menu. Here you may also disable spell-checking for this input field. If you want to globally disable spell checking, open the Preferences window as described in Section “Preferences” and go to the Advanced tab. Uncheck Check My Spelling As I Type.

Add-ons

Extensions let you personalize Firefox to exactly fit your needs. With the help of extensions you can change Firefox's look and feel, enhance existing functionality (such as the download manager or tabbed browsing), and add functions (such as a blog editor, Bit Torrent support or even a music player). Certain extensions also assist Web developers, while others increase security by dynamically blocking active content. More than 8000 extensions are available for Firefox. With the add-ons manager you cannot only install new extensions, but also disable, enable, or delete them. It also finds updates for installed extensions.

If you do not like the standard look and feel of Firefox, install a new theme. Themes do not change the functionality, only the appearance of the browser.

Installing Add-ons

To add an extension or theme, start the add-ons manager with Tools+Add-Ons. It opens with the Get Add-Ons tab either displaying a choice of recommended add-ons or the results of your last search. Use the Search All Add-Ons field to search for specific add-ons. Click on an entry in the list to view a short description and a screenshot. Install the add-on by clicking Add to Firefox... or open a Web page with detailed information by clicking the Learn More link.

Figure 14.6. Installing Firefox Extensions

If you just want to browse all available add-ons or would like to use advanced search options, click Browse All Add-Ons. This opens the Firefox add-ons Web page. To install an extension, click on the Add to Firefox button on the page describing the add-on.

In order to activate freshly installed extensions or themes, Firefox needs to be restarted via the Restart Firefox button in the add-ons manager. Restarting the browser with this button ensures that the complete session will be restored.

Managing Add-ons

The Add-ons Manager also offers a convenient interface to manage extensions, themes, and plugins. Extensions can be enabled, disabled or uninstalled. If an extension is configurable, its configuration options can be accessed via the Preferences button. In the Themes tab you may Uninstall a theme, or activate a different theme by clicking on Use Theme. Pending extension and theme installations are also listed. Select Cancel to stop the installation. Although you cannot install Plug-Ins as a user, you may disable or enable them with the Add-ons manager.

Actions like uninstalling or disabling an add-on require a browser restart. Each time you perform such an action, the Restart Browser button is displayed in the add-ons manager.

Printing from Firefox

Before you actually print a Web page, you can use the print preview function to control how the printed page will look like. Choose File+Print Preview. Configure paper size and orientation per printer with File+Page Setup.

To print a Web page either choose File+Print or press Ctrl+P. The Printer dialog opens. To print with the default options just click Print.

The Printer dialog also offers extensive configuration options to fine-tune the printout. On the General tab, choose a printer, the range to print, the number of copies and the order. Page Setup lets you specify the number of pages per side, the scaling factor as well as paper source and type. You can also activate double-sided printing here if the printer supports it. Control how frames, backgrounds, header and footer are printed on the Options tab. You may also specify Job options, such as printing at a specific time, and the Image Quality in this dialog.

For More Information

Get more information about Firefox from the official knowledge base available via F1. More useful information is available from the following links:

Support forum: http://support.mozilla.com/forum

Main Menu reference: http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Menu+reference

Preferences reference: http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Options+window

Keyboard shortcuts: http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Keyboard+shortcuts

Chapter 15. Transferring Data From the Internet

Abstract

GNOME FTP (gFTP) is a multithreaded file transfer client. It supports FTP, FTPS (control connection only), HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, and FSP protocols. Futhermore, it allows the transfer of files between two remote FTP servers via FXP. To start GNOME FTP, press Alt+F2 and enter gftp.

Figure 15.1. GNOME FTP

ASCII vs. Binary Transfers

There are two common ways of transferring files via FTP: ASCII and binary. ASCII mode transfers files as text. ASCII files are .txt, .asp, .html, and .php files, for example. Binary mode transfers files as raw data. Binary files are .wav, .jpg, .gif, and mp3 files, for example.

To change the transfer mode, either click FTP+Binary or FTP+Ascii.

For FTP transfers, you can also choose FTP+Preferences, click the FTP tab, and select the Transfer Files in ASCII Mode option.

Connecting to a Remote Server

To connect to a remote server, do the following:

In GNOME FTP, click Remote+Open Location.

Specify a URL to connect to, then enter a username and password.

Leave the username blank to log in as an anonymous user.

Click Connect.

If connection is successful, a list of the files on the remote server appears in the right part of the GNOME FTP window (the file list on the left side is your local computer's directory of files). You can now upload and download files.

To bookmark a site you access frequently, click Bookmarks+Add Bookmark. Specify a name for the bookmark, then click Add. The new bookmark is added to your list of bookmarks.

Transferring Files

In the following figure, the file list on the right contains the remote server's directory of files. The file list on the left side contains your local computer's directory of files (on your hard drive or network).

Figure 15.2. gFTP File Transfer

To download files, select the files you want to download in the remote list of files, then click the left arrow button. The progress of each download is listed in the field in the middle of the window. If the transfer is successful, the files appear in the directory listing on the left.

To upload a file, select the files you want to upload in your local directory listing on the left, then click the right arrow button. The progress of each download is listed in the field in the middle of the window. If the transfer is successful, the files appear in the remote directory listing on the right.

To modify preferences for your downloads, click FTP+Preferences.

Setting Up an HTTP Proxy Server

To set up an HTTP proxy server, do the following:

In GNOME FTP, click FTP+Preferences, then select the FTP tab.

Choose HTTP Proxy from the Proxy Server Type drop-down list, then specify your proxy server information in that dialog box.

Click the HTTP tab, and enter the same proxy server information as above in the dialog box.

Click OK.

For More Information

You can find more information about gFTP at http://www.gftp.org.

Part V. Graphics

Chapter 16. Manipulating Graphics with GIMP

Abstract

GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a program for creating and editing raster graphics. In most aspects, its features are comparable to those of Adobe Photoshop and other commercial programs. Use it to resize and retouch photographs, design graphics for Web pages, create covers for your custom CDs, or almost any other graphics project. It meets the needs of both amateurs and professionals.

Like many other Linux programs, GIMP is developed as a cooperative effort of developers worldwide who volunteer their time and code to the project. The program is under constant development, so the version included in your system may vary slightly from the version discussed here. The layout of the individual windows and window sections is especially likely to vary.

GIMP is an extremely complex program. Only a small range of features, tools, and menu items are discussed in this chapter. See Section “For More Information” for ideas of where to find more information about the program.

Graphics Formats

There are two main types of graphics—raster and vector. GIMP is intended for working with raster graphics, which is the normal format for digital photographs or scanned images. Raster image is a collection of pixels—small blocks of color that together create the entire image. High resolution images contain large number of pixels and image files can easily become quite large because of this. It is also not possible to increase the size of a pixel image without losing quality. GIMP supports all the common formats of raster graphics, like JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, and more.

Unlike raster graphics, vector graphics do not store information for all individual pixels. Instead, it uses geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons. Vector images can be scaled very easily and image files can be smaller. The disadvanage of vector graphics is that it is not good at representing complex images with many different colors such as photographs. There are many specialized applications for vector graphics, for example Inkscape. GIMP has only a very limited support for vector graphics. For example, GIMP can open and rasterize vector graphics in SVG format or work with vector paths.

GIMP 2.6 still supports only limited selection of color spaces. It supports indexed images and grayscale or RGB images with 8 bits per channel (24 bits per pixel in RGB images without alpha channel). Many high-end digital cameras can produce image files with higher color depths. If you import such an image to GIMP, you will lose some color information.

Starting GIMP

Start GIMP from the main menu. Alternatively, enter gimp & in a command line.

The Default Windows

Three windows appear by default. The toolbox, an empty image window with the main GIMP menu, and a window containing several docked dialogs. They can be arranged on the screen and, except the toolbox and the last image window, closed if no longer needed. Closing the toolbox or the last image window open closes the application. In the default configuration, GIMP saves your window layout when you exit. Dialogs left open reappear when you next start the program.

The Image Window

Every new, opened, or scanned image appears in its own window. If there is more than one open image, each image has its own image window. There is always at least one image window open. If there is currently no image open, the image window is empty, containing only the main GIMP menu and drop area, which can be used to open any file by dragging and dropping it there. Closing the last image window exits the application.

The menu bar in the top of the window provides access to all image functions. Conversely, access the menu by right-clicking the image or clicking the small arrow button in the left corner of the rulers.

The File menu offers the standard file operations, such as New, Open, Save, Print and Close. Quit exits the application.

With the items in the View menu, control the display of the image and the image window. New View opens a second display window of the current image. Changes made in one view are reflected in all other views of that image. Alternate views are useful for magnifying a part of an image for manipulation while seeing the complete image in another view. Adjust the magnification level of the current window with Zoom. When Fit Image in Window is selected, the image window is resized to fit the current image display exactly.

The Toolbox

The toolbox contains important controls of the application. Closing it exits the application. At the very top, there is a drop area which can be used to open any image file by simply dragging and dropping it there. Below that, find icons for the various tools. Hover the mouse over an icon to display information about it.

Figure 16.1. The Toolbox

The current foreground and background color are shown in two overlapping boxes. The default colors are black for the foreground and white for the background. Click the box to open a color selection dialog. Swap the foreground and background color with the bent arrow symbol to the upper right of the boxes. Use the black and white symbol to the lower left to reset the colors to the default.

Under the toolbox, a dialog shows options for the currently selected tool. If it is not visible, open it by double-clicking the tool's icon in the toolbox.

Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo

In the first section, use the drop-down box to select the image to which the tabs refer. By clicking Auto, control whether the active image is chosen automatically. By default, Auto is enabled.

Layers shows the different layers in the current images and can be used to manipulate the layers. Information is available in Section “Layers”. Channels shows and can manipulate the color channels of the image.

Paths are a vector-based method of selecting parts of an image. They can also be used for drawing. Paths shows the paths available for an image and provides access to path functions. Undo shows a limited history of modifications made to the current image. Its use is described in Section “Undoing Mistakes”.

Getting Started

Although GIMP can be a bit overwhelming for new users, most quickly find it easy to use once they work out a few basics. Crucial basic functions are creating, opening, and saving images.

Creating a New Image

To create a new image, select File+New or press Ctrl+N. This opens a dialog in which to make settings for the new image. If desired, select a predefined setting called a Template. To create a custom template, select Windows+Dockable Dialogs+Templates and use the controls offered by the window that opens.

In the Image Size section, set the size of the image to create in pixels or another unit. Click the unit to select another unit from the list of available units. The ratio between pixels and a unit is set in Resolution, which appears when the Advanced Options section is opened. A resolution of 72 pixels per inch corresponds to common screen display. It is sufficient for Web page graphics. A higher resolution should be used for print images. For most printers, a resolution of 300 pixels per inch results in an acceptable quality.

In Color space, select whether the image should be in color (RGB) or Grayscale. For detailed information about image types, see Section “Image Modes”. In Fill With select the color the image is filled with. You can choose between Foreground Color and Background Color set in the toolbox, White or Transparency for a transparent image. Transparency is represented by a gray checkerboard pattern. You can enter a comment for the new image in Comment.

When the settings meet your needs, press OK. To restore the default settings, press Reset. Pressing Cancel aborts creation of a new image.

Opening an Existing Image

To open an existing image, select File+Open or press Ctrl+O. In the dialog that opens, select the desired file. You can also press Ctrl+L and type directly the path to the desired image. Then click Open to open the selected image or press Cancel to skip opening an image.

Scanning an Image

Instead of opening an existing image or creating a new one, you can scan one. To scan directly from GIMP, make sure that the package xsane is installed. To open the scanning dialog, select File+Create+XSane: Device dialog.

Create a preview when the object to scan is smaller than the total scanning area. Press Acquire preview in the Preview dialog to create a preview. If you want to scan only part of the area, select the desired rectangular part with the mouse.

In the xsane dialog, select whether to scan a binary (black and white without shades of gray), grayscale, or color image and the required scan resolution. The higher the resolution you choose, the better is the quality of the scanned image. However, this also results in a correspondingly larger file and the scanning process can take a very long time at higher resolutions. The size of the final image (both in pixels and bytes) is shown in the lower part of the dialog.

In the xsane dialog, use the sliders to set desired gamma, brightness, and contrast values. These sliders are not available in binary mode. Changes are visible in the preview immediately. Once all settings have been made, click Scan to scan the image.

Saving Images

No image function is as important as File+Save. It is better to save too often than too rarely. Use File+Save as to save the image with a new filename. It is a good idea to save image stages under different names or make backups in another directory so you can easily restore a previous state.

When saving for the first time or using Save as, a dialog opens in which to specify the filename and type. Enter the filename in the field at the top. For Save in folder, select the directory in which to save the file from a list of commonly used directories. To use a different directory or create a new one, open Browse for other folders. It is recommended to leave Select File Type set to By Extension. With that setting, GIMP determines the file type based on the extension appended to the filename. The following file types are frequently useful:

XCF

This is the native format of the application. It saves all layer and path information along with the image itself. Even if you need an image in another format, it is usually a good idea to save a copy as XCF to simplify future modifications. Information about layers is available in Section “Layers”.

JPEG

JPG or JPEG is a common format for photographs and Web page graphics without transparency. Its compression method enables reduction of file sizes, but information is lost when compressing. It may be a good idea to use the preview option when adjusting the compression level. Levels of 85% to 75% often result in an acceptable image quality with reasonable compression. Saving a backup in a lossless format, like XCF, is also recommended. If editing an image, save only the finished image as JPG. Repeatedly loading a JPG then saving can quickly result in poor image quality.

GIF

Although very popular in the past for graphics with transparency, GIF is less often used now because of license issues. GIF is also used for animated images. The format can only save indexed images. See Section “Image Modes” for information about indexed images. The file size can often be quite small if only a few colors are used.

PNG

With its support for transparency, lossless compression, free availability, and increasing browser support, PNG is replacing GIF as the preferred format for Web graphics with transparency. An added advantage is that PNG offers partial transparency, which is not offered by GIF. This enables smoother transitions from colored areas to transparent areas (antialiasing).

To save an image in the chosen format, press Save. To abort, press Cancel. If the image has features that cannot be saved in the chosen format, a dialog appears with choices for resolving the situation. Choosing Export, if offered, normally gives the desired results. A window then opens with the options of the format. Reasonable default values are provided.

Editing Images

GIMP provides a number of tools for making changes to images. The functions described here are those most interesting for home users.

Changing the Image Size

Once an image is scanned or a digital photograph is loaded from the camera, it is often necessary to modify the size for display on a Web page or for printing. Images can easily be made smaller either by scaling them down or by cutting off parts of them. Enlarging an image is much more problematic. Because of the nature of raster graphics, quality is lost when an image is enlarged. It is recommended to keep a copy of your original image before scaling or cropping.

Cropping an Image

Cropping an image works like cutting the edges off a piece of paper. Select the crop tool from the toolbox (it resembles a scalpel) or with Tools+Transform Tools+Crop. Click a starting corner and drag to outline the area to keep.

A rectangle showing the crop area will appear. To adjust the size of the rectangle, move your mouse pointer above any of the rectangle's sides or corners, click and drag to resize as desired. If you want to adjust both width and height of the rectangle, use a corner. To adjust only one dimension, use a side. To move the whole rectangle to a different position without resizing, click anywhere near its center and drag to the desired position.

When you are satisfied with the crop area, click anywhere inside to crop the image or press Enter. To cancel the cropping, click anywhere outside the crop area.

Advanced options for the crop tool are available in the Tool Options dialog.

Scaling an Image

Select Image+Scale Image to change the overall size of an image. Select the new size by entering it in Width or Height. To change the proportions of the image when scaling (this distorts the image), click the chain icon to the right of the fields to break the link between them. When those fields are linked, all values are changed proportionately. Adjust the resolution with X resolution and Y resolution.

The Interpolation option controls the quality of the resulting image. The default Cubic interpolation method is a good standard to use in most cases.

When finished adjusting the size, press Scale to scale the image. Reset restores the original values. Cancel aborts the procedure.

Changing the Canvas Size

Changing the canvas size is like putting a mat around an image. Even if the mat is smaller, the rest of the image is there, but you can only see part of it. If the mat is larger, you see the original image with extra space around it. To do this, select Image+Canvas Size.

In the dialog that opens, enter the new size. By default, the width and height maintain the same proportions as the current image. To change this, click the chain icon.

After adjusting the size, determine how the existing image should be positioned in comparison to the new size. Use the Offset values or drag the box inside the frame at the bottom. When satisfied with the changes, click Resize to change the canvas size. Click Reset to restore the original values or Cancel to cancel the canvas resize.

Selecting Parts of Images

It is often useful to perform an image operation on only part of an image. To do this, the part of the image with which to work must be selected. Areas can be selected using the select tools available in the toolbox, using the quick mask, or combining different options. Selections can also be modified with the items under Select. The selection is outlined with a dashed line, called marching ants.

Using the Selection Tools

The main selection tools are rather easy to use. The paths tool, which can also be used for more than selecting, is more complicated so is not described here. In the tool options for the other selection tools, use one of the icons in the Mode row to determine whether the selection should replace, be added to, be subtracted from, or intersect with an existing selection.

Rect Select

This tool can be used to select rectangular or square areas. To select an area with a fixed aspect ratio, width, height or size, activate the Fixed option and choose the relevant mode in the Tool Options dialog. To create a square, hold Shift while selecting a region.

Ellipse Select

Use this to select elliptical or circular areas. The same options are available as with the rectangular selection. To create a circle, hold Shift while selecting a region.

Free Select (Lasso)

With this tool, you can create a selection based on a combination of freehand drawing and polygonal segments. To draw a freehand line, drag the mouse over the image with the left mouse button pressed. To create a polygonal segment, release the mouse button where the segment should start and press it again where the segment should end. To complete the selection, hover the pointer above the starting point and click inside the circle.

Fuzzy Select (Magic Wand)

This tools selects a continuous region based on color similarities. Set the maximum difference between colors in the tool options dialog in Threshold. By default, the selction is based only on the active layer. To base the selection on all visible layers, check Sample merged.

Select by Color

With this, select all the pixels in the image with the same or similar color as the clicked pixel. The maximum difference between colors can be set in the tool options dialog in Threshold. The important difference between this tool and Fuzzy Select is that Fuzzy Select works on continuous color areas while Select by Color selects all pixels with similar colors in the whole image regardless of their position.

Intelligent Scissors

Click a series of points in the image. As you click, the points are connected based on color differences. Click on the first point to close the area. Convert it to a regular selection by clicking inside it.

Foreground Selection Tool

The Foreground Selection tool lets you semiautomatically select an object in a photograph with minimal manual effort.

If you want to use the Foreground Selection tool, follow these steps:

Activate the Foreground Selection tool by clicking on its icon in the Toolbox or choosing Tools+Selection Tools+Foreground Select from the menu.

Roughly select the foreground object you want to extract. Select as little as possible from the background but include the whole object. At this point, the tool works like the Fuzzy Select tool.

When you release the mouse button, the non selected part of the image is covered with dark blue mask.

Draw a continuous line through the foreground object going over colors which will be kept for the extraction. Do not paint over background pixels.

When you release the mouse button, all background is covered with dark blue mask. If parts of the object are also masked, paint over them. The mask will adapt.

When you are satisfied with the mask, press Enter. The mask will be converted to a new selection.

Using the Quick Mask

The quick mask is a way of selecting parts of an image using the paint tools. A good way to use it is to make a rough selection using the intelligent scissors or the lasso (the free selection tool). Then activate the quick mask by pressing the small icon with the dashed box in the lower left corner.

The quick mask displays the selection using an overlay of red. Areas shaded with red are not selected. Areas appearing as they did before the mask was activated are selected. To modify the selection, use the paint tools. Painting with white selects the painted pixels. Painting with black deselects pixels. Shades of gray (colors are treated as shades of gray) are a partial selection. Partial selection allows smooth transitions between selected and unselected areas.

To use a different color for displaying the quick mask, right-click the quick mask button then select Configure Color and Opacity from the menu. Click the colored box in the dialog that opens in order to select a new color.

After using the paint tools to adjust the selection as desired, convert from the quick mask view back to the normal selection view by clicking the icon in the lower left corner of the image window (currently displaying a red box). The selection is again displayed with the marching ants.

Applying and Removing Color

Most image editing involves applying or removing color. By selecting a part of the image, limit where color can be applied or removed. When you select a tool and move the cursor onto an image, the cursor's appearance changes to reflect the chosen tool. With many tools, an icon of the current tool is shown along with the arrow. For paint tools, an outline of the current brush is shown, allowing you to see exactly where you will be painting in the image and how large of an area will be painted.

Selecting Colors

Paint tools use the foreground color. To select the color, first click the display box of the foreground color in the Toolbox. A dialog with five tabs opens. These tabs provide different color selection methods. Only the first tab, shown in Figure 16.2, “The Basic Color Selector Dialog”, is described here. The new color is shown in Current. The previous color is shown in Old.

Figure 16.2. The Basic Color Selector Dialog

The easiest way to select a color is by using the colored areas in the boxes to the left. In the narrow vertical bar, click a color similar to the desired color. The larger box to the left then shows available nuances. Click the desired color. It is then shown in Current. If that color is not what you want, try again.

The arrow button to the right of Current enables the saving of a number of possible colors. Click the arrow to copy the current color to the history. A color can then be selected by clicking it in the history. A color can also be selected by directly entering its hexadecimal color code in HTML Notation.

The color selector defaults to selecting a color by hue, which is usually easiest for a new user. To select by saturation, value, red, green, or blue, select the corresponding radio button to the right. The sliders and number fields can also be used to modify the currently selected color. Experiment a bit to find out what works best for you.

When the desired color is shown in Current, click OK. To restore the original values shown when the dialog was opened, click Reset. To abort changing the color, click Cancel.

To select a color that already exists in your image, use the eye dropper tool. With the tool options, set whether the foreground or background color should be selected. Then click a point in the image that shows the desired color. When the color is right, click Close to close the tool's dialog.

Painting and Erasing

To paint and erase, use the tools from the toolbox. There are a number of options available to fine-tune each tool. Pressure sensitivity options apply only when a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet is used.

The pencil, brush, airbrush, and eraser work much like their real-life equivalents. The ink tool works like a calligraphy pen. Paint by clicking and dragging. The bucket fill is a method of coloring areas of an image. It fills based on color boundaries in the image. Adjusting the threshold modifies its sensitivity to color changes.

Adding Text

With the text tool, easily add text to an image. With the tool options, select the desired font, font size, color, justification, indent, and line spacing. Then click a starting point in the image. A small dialog opens in which to enter your text. Enter single or multiple lines of text then press Close.

The text tool creates text in a special layer. To work with the image after adding text, read Section “Layers”. When the text layer is active, it is possible to modify the text by clicking in the image to reopen the entry dialog. Change the settings by modifying the tool options.

Retouching Images—The Clone Tool

The clone tool is ideal for retouching images. It enables you to paint in an image using information from another part of the image. If desired, it can instead take information from a pattern.

When retouching, it is usually a good idea to use a small brush with soft edges. In this way, the modifications can blend better with the original image.

To select the source point in the image, press and hold Ctrl while clicking the desired source point. Then paint with the tool, as usual. When you move the cursor while painting, the source point, marked by a cross, moves as well. If the Alignment is set to None (the default setting), the source resets to the original when you release the left mouse button.

Adjusting Color Levels

Images often need a little adjusting to get ideal print or display results. In many programs designed for inexperienced users, the brightness and contrast levels are modified. This can work and is also available in GIMP, but better results can be obtained by adjusting the color levels.

To do this, select Colors+Levels. A dialog opens for controlling the levels in the image. Good results can usually be obtained by clicking Auto. To make manual adjustments to all channels, use the dropper tools in All Channels to pick areas in the image that should be black, neutral gray, and white.

To modify a channel individually, select the desired channel in Channel. Then drag the black, white, and middle markers in the slider in Input Levels. Conversely, use the dropper tools to select points in the image that should serve as the white, black, and gray points for that channel.

If Preview is checked, the image window shows a preview of the image with the modifications applied. When the desired result is achieved, press OK to apply the changes. With Reset, restore the original settings. Cancel aborts level adjustment.

Undoing Mistakes

Most modifications made in GIMP can be undone. To view a history of modifications, use the undo dialog included in the default window layout or open one from the image window menu with Windows+Dockable Dialogs+Undo History.

The dialog shows a base image and a series of editing changes that can be undone. Use the buttons to undo and redo changes. In this way, you can work back to the base image. If you undo a modification then make a new one, the undone modification cannot be redone.

Changes can also be undone and redone with the Edit menu. Alternatively, use the shortcuts Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y.

Layers

Layers are a very important aspect of GIMP. By drawing parts of your image on separate layers, change, move, or delete those parts without damaging the rest of the image. To understand how layers work, imagine an image created from a stack of transparent sheets. Different parts of the image are drawn on different sheets. The stack can be rearranged, changing which parts are on top. Individual layers or groups of layers can shift position, moving sections of the image to other locations. New sheets can be added and others set aside.

Use the Layers dialog to view the available layers of an image. The text tool automatically creates special text layers when used. The active layer is highlighted. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog offer a number of functions. More are available in the menu opened when a layer is right-clicked in the dialog. The two icon spaces before the image name are used for toggling image visibility (eye icon when visible) and for linking layers. Linked layers are marked with the chain icon and moved as a group.

Image Modes

GIMP has three image modes—RGB, Grayscale, and Indexed. RGB is a normal color mode and is the best mode for editing most images. Grayscale is used for black-and-white images. Indexed limits the colors in the image to a set number. It is mainly used for GIF images. If you need an indexed image, it is normally best to edit the image in RGB then convert to indexed right before saving. If you save to a format that requires an indexed image, GIMP offers to index the image when saving.

Special Effects

GIMP includes a wide range of filters and scripts for enhancing images, adding special effects to them or making artistic manipulations. They are available in Filters. Experimenting is the best way to find out what is available.

Printing Images

To print an image, select File+Print from the image menu. If your printer is configured in the system, it should appear in the list. You can configure printing options on Page Setup and Image Settings tabs.

Figure 16.3. The Print Dialog

When satisfied with the settings, press Print. Cancel aborts printing.

For More Information

The following resources are very useful for users of GIMP. They contain much more information about GIMP than this chapter. If you want to use GIMP for more advanced tasks, you should not miss these resources.

http://www.gimp.org is the official home page of The GIMP. News about GIMP and related software are regularly posted on the frontpage.

Help provides access to the internal help system including extensive GIMP User Manual. The package gimp-help has to be installed. This documentation is also available online in HTML and PDF formats at http://docs.gimp.org. Translations into many languages are available.

A collection of many interesting GIMP tutorials is maintained at http://gimp.org/tutorials/. It contains basic tutorials for complete beginners as well as tutorials for advanced or expert users.

Various interesting information about GIMP can be found on the Wilber's Wiki at http://wiki.gimp.org/gimp/.

Printed books about GIMP are published regularly. You will find selection of the best ones with short annotations at http://gimp.org/books/.

GIMP functionality can be extended with scripts and plug-ins. Many such scripts and plug-ins are distributed in GIMP package, but other can be downloaded from the Internet. At http://registry.gimp.org/, you will find a database of GIMP scripts and plug-ins.

You can also use mailing lists or IRC channels to ask questions about GIMP. Please always try to find answers in the documentation mentioned above or in mailing list archives before asking your question. The time of experienced users present on GIMP lists and channels is limited. Be polite and patient. It may take some time before your question is answered.

There are a number of mailing lists about GIMP. You will find them at http://gimp.org/mail_lists.html. GIMP User list is the most appropriate place to ask user questions. If you do not want to subscribe to the list but want to read its archives, visit http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/lists/gimp-user/.

There is a whole IRC network dedicated to GIMP and GNOME desktop environment—GIMPNet. You can connect to GIMPNet with your favourite IRC client by pointing it at irc.gimp.org server. The #gimp-users channel is the right place to ask question about using GIMP. If you want to listen to developer's discussion, join the #gimp channel.

Chapter 17. Managing Your Digital Image Collection with DigiKam

Abstract

Managing digital photographs in Linux is very straightforward. KDE's digiKam downloads your images directly from your camera. It helps you organize and manipulate your images to get the best possible results. The application includes several useful plug-ins that can convert your images to various different formats. Image improvement plug-ins also include red eye reduction, speck removal and hot pixel removal. Various filter and effect plug-ins help create little works of art from your digital images.

About DigiKam

Start digiKam from the main menu or by pressing Alt+F2 and entering digikam. digiKam will ask you to choose a location to store your images and albums. On start-up, digiKam shows a window with two main areas: a list of your albums to the left and the images in the current album to the right. See Figure 17.1, “The Main Window of digiKam”. The far right edge of the window has a number of tabs attached which can be used to display important information about your images, or to manipulate certain image-related data:

Properties

Use this tab to access properties assigned to your images, such as file properties (permissions, ownership, modification date, etc.), image properties (dimensions, file format, etc.), and photograph properties (basic model, exposure and aperture information).

Metadata

Use this tab to access the various kinds of metadata associated with your images, such as EXIF and GPS.

Colors

Use this tab to access color management-related data and to analyze the histograms associated with your images.

Geolocation

Use this tab to search for the location stored in the picture.

Caption/Tags

Use this tab to assign comments, tags or ratings to your images.

Tag Filters

Use Tag Filter to filter the amount of images displayed in the main view, using tagging information. For details about tagging in digiKam, refer to Section “Managing Tags”.

Figure 17.1. The Main Window of digiKam

Configuring Your Camera

To download images from your digital camera, simply connect the camera to the USB port of your computer using the USB cable provided by the camera manufacturer. Depending on your camera model, you may need to switch your camera to a special data transfer mode. Consult the camera's manual about this.

There are four possibilities for accessing the pictures on the camera:

USB Mass Devices.  If your camera can be switched to a USB mass storage device, select this option. After you connect the camera to the USB port of your computer and turn the camera on, the new USB device is automatically detected and mounted. KDE lets you select the action to take in the event of any such device being mounted. You can choose to start digiKam or any other image viewing or processing application whenever a device of this type is mounted.

PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol, also Known as PictBridge).  If your camera can be switched to PTP, select this option. Normally your camera is not automatically mounted in PTP mode, but can be accessed through digiKam.

Special Drivers and Gphoto2.  If your camera supports neither USB mass storage nor PTP, try the special drivers provided by gphoto2, see Section “Troubleshooting”

Card Readers.  Nowadays cameras can use different non-volatile memory cards. For example, SD memory cards, compact flash (CF), memory sticks, to name a few. Some new computers have a card reader on board with different slots, to support all these formats. If you do not want to deal with cables, protocols, or drivers, select this option, as it simplifies a lot. Normally, card readers are detected as removeable devices and are automatically mounted in KDE.

To set up a camera in digiKam, select Import+Camera+Add Camera. First, try to detect the camera automatically with Auto-Detect. If this fails, browse the list of supported cameras for your model with Add. If your camera model is not included in the list, try an older model or use USB/IEEE mass storage camera and confirm with OK.

Downloading Pictures from the Camera

To download images from a camera that has been properly configured, attach the camera to your computer and select the camera from the Camera menu. digiKam opens a window and begins to download thumbnails and display them as in Figure 17.2, “Downloading Pictures from a Camera”. Right-click an image to open a pop-up menu with the options to View the image, to Download, or Delete the image. Select the Settings tab to the right of the download window to rename the image files using Renaming Options. Review the EXIF data associated with the selected image using the Metadata tab.

Figure 17.2. Downloading Pictures from a Camera

Renaming Images

Mass renaming of your images comes in handy if your camera's filenames are not meaningful enough for your purpose. Provide a unique prefix, add an optional date, and let digiKam provide a sequence number.

Select all images to download from the camera by pressing the left mouse button or by clicking individual images with Ctrl pressed, or by using one of the select modes provided by the Images menu at the bottom of the download window. Click Download and select the destination from the list, or create a new album with New Album (which automatically suggests a filename with the current date). Confirm with OK to start the download process.

Downloading Images from the Storage Medium

To save your camera's battery power, you can also attach a USB hub to your computer (providing an appropriate slot for your storage medium) and download the files from there. Once the USB hub is connected to your computer, the KDE media handler dialog opens and offers to download the images from the medium you attached.

Managing Albums

By default, digiKam creates a folder called My Albums to hold all root albums, called collections. Collections can store albums, while albums store sub albums and images. The first collection was created on first start with the First-run Wizard dialogue.

The albums can be sorted by directory layout, by collection name set in the album properties, or by the date that the albums were first created (this date can also be changed in the properties of each album).

To create a new album, use one of these methods:

Upload new images from the camera and create the target album during the download.

Create a new album by selecting a collection folder first and then Album+New Album from the main menu or via right-click.

Import an existing folder of images from your hard disk (select Import+Add Folders...).

Right-click a collection folder and select New Album.

To create a new collection, go to Settings+Configure digiKam, Collections menu and choose Add Collection.

Once you have chosen to create a new album, provide some basic administrative information about the new album, such as an album title. Optionally, choose a category, insert some comments, and select an album date. Categories are a way of organizing your albums by a common label. This label is used when you select View+Sort Albums+By Category. The comment is shown in the banner at the top of the main window. The album date is used when you select View+Sort Albums+By Date.

digiKam uses the first photograph in the album as the preview icon in the My Albums list. To select a different one, right-click the respective photograph and select Set as Album Thumbnail from the context menu.

Managing Tags

Managing a high number of different images across various albums can be very difficult. To manage your images by custom categories and across albums, digiKam provides the My Tags system. Tags categorize images, and more than one tag can be assigned to an image.

For example, assume that you took several pictures of animals and distributed them across various albums. Now you are looking for an easy way to generate an overview of all pictures ever taken of animals. Using digiKam's tags, proceed as follows for this scenario:

Select Tag+New Tag in the upper menu bar and enter a name for the new tag, in this case animals.

The dialog box allows you to create hierarchical tags, too. For example, to have a bear tag which is underneath a animals tag, insert animals/bear into the text field. Provide an optional icon and leave this dialog with OK.

Go to each album and tag all images showing some animals by right-clicking the image and selecting Assign Tag+animals+Assign this Tag. To tag more then one picture at once, use the Ctrl key.

If you need to process a huge number of images, an easier way to do the tagging would be using the Captions/Tags tab from the tab bar at the right edge of the main window. This interface allows you to assign tags to this image, enter an optional descriptive comment, and rate this image. When you are done with the first image, stay in this dialog, click the right arrow button, and click Apply when finished to apply your settings. Do it with all your images of this album. Proceed similarly with all other albums and images.

To retrieve all images in your entire collection that carry a certain tag (in this case animals), proceed as follows:

Open the Tags tab in the left tab bar.

Unfold the My Tag item.

Select the animals tag.

As a result, all images in your entire collection carrying this tag are displayed.

Figure 17.3. Display Tagged Images Only

The Tag Filter in the far right edge of the main window limits the number of images displayed for the current album to those marked by the tag or tags selected here.

Creating Powerful Search Filters

Any image collection soon becomes unmanageable if you do not find a means to easily search for the images you need and find them. To help you organize your collection, digiKam offers you two search options:

Simple Search

A basic search. Select Tools+Search and enter a text string that might be associated with your image (image or tag name or comment) and hit OK. You can save this search for future use, and edit other existing searches listed under Searches on the left edge of your digiKam window.

Advanced Search

Complex search filter. Select Tools+Advanced Search, provides a wide spectrum of search criteriums, which are:

File, Album, Tags

Search for names of albums, tags or the filenames of pictures.

Picture Properties

Search for image properties like date, rating, file size, color depth and a lot more.

Caption, Comment, Title

Search for comments, author and IPTC information.

Photograph Information

Search for photograph information like focal length, sensitivity and so on..

With the Add Search Group button it is possible to combine several search criteria. Searches.

The following example illustrates how to create an Advanced Search using rating or tag information to search for images:

Select Tools+Advanced Search from the main menu.

Select Picture Properties criterion. Now select Rating from 2 to 5 stars.

Select the Add Search Group button. Another search board appears. It is possible to combine search parameters with And or Or and the four options. Click on Meet any of the following conditions.

Select the File, Album, Tags criterion and choose a tag from the tags list.

Select the Picture Properties criterion. Choose JPEG as file format and press the Ok button. The results of your search are displayed in the digiKam window.

To save the search for future use, click on Searches tab on the left side. Specify a name for this search and Save Current Search by clicking the save button. Leave the Advanced Search dialog with another click on the Searches tab.

Figure 17.4. Creating an Advanced Search Filter

Exporting Image Collections

digiKam provides several export options that help archive and publish your personal image collections. It offers archiving to iPod, HTML export, and export to a remote gallery.

digiKam comes with some customized export functions for the most known online archives and the general export function Export+HTML Gallery. To create an HTML export of your image collection, proceed as follows:

Select Export+HTML Gallery.

Determine which part of your collection should be archived by selecting albums or tags in Collection and click Next.

Use Theme dialog to set the appearance of your HTML gallery and click Next.

Specify size, compression and file type for the thumbnails used for gallery navigation in Image Settings and click Next.

Determine the location of the gallery on disk with Output and click Finish.

To export your collection to an external image gallery on the Internet, proceed as follows:

Get an account for an external Web site to host your gallery.

Select Export+Export to Gallery and provide the URL, username, and password for the external site when asked. digiKam establishes a connection to the site specified and opens a new window called Gallery Export.

Determine the location of your new album in the gallery.

Click New Album and provide the information requested by digiKam.

Upload the images to the new album with Add Photos.

Managing Geolocation

Some cameras store GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates within the photographs when they take a picture. With this information digiKam is able to illustrate and search photographs by their location and display them on a globe. To make use of Geolocation, proceed as follows:

Search the Map

Click on the Map Searches tab on the left side. Press Shift ctrl and the left mouse button to choose an area on the map. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Every image matching the coordinates of the area will be displayed inside the main window.

Show Geolocation

Click on the Geolocation tab on the right side to open the globe. Select one or more pictures with the left mouse button. Every picture containing GPS information will be displayed on the map. To zoom in/out use the mouse wheel.

Adding Geolocation

Choose a picture in the main window and select Image +Geolocation+Edit Coordinates . Choose the location on the map or enter the coordinates manually and press Ok. The coordinates are now stored in the image’s EXIF tags. To edit several pictures at once press the Ctrl key while choosing the desired pictures.

Figure 17.5. Watching picture locations on the map

Viewing and Editing Images

digiKam comes with a comprehensive image viewing and editing suite consisting of various plug-ins. To enter digiKam's viewing or editing mode, right-click an image thumbnail and select View or Edit from the context menu. To use the plug-ins, install the digikamimageplugins package.

To view one or more images you have the following options:

To view a single image, browse to your album or collection and click on your image to display it. Another click brings you back to the previous view.

To start a slide show with all images, use View+Slideshow+All.

To start a slide show with selected images only, hold down the Ctrl key, select your images, and choose View+Slideshow+Selection.

To edit a selected image, use Edit from the main menu. This opens a window which contains some of the most frequently used basic editing options:

Use the back/forward buttons to browse your album without having to go back to the full album view.

Use the undo/redo menus to selectively undo or redo certain operations.

Use the zooming options to zoom in or out, or to fit the image view to the window size you are using. Use the looking glass icon to selectively zoom into a particular area of the image.

Flip the image clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Activate a slide show or full screen view of the selected image.

Applying Image Decorations

The editing mode contains more useful features. Use the Decorate menu to superimpose various kinds of graphics and text effects onto your images without having to bother about filters and their fine-tuning:

Apply Texture

Select the type of texture you want to apply to your image and determine how prominent this texture should be (Relief). digiKam applies the texture and saves the changes to the original copy of your image.

Add Border

Select the type of border. Depending on the type of border you have selected, choose one or two colors to be used for the border and set the width of the border around your image. digiKam creates the border and saves the changes to the original copy of your image.

Insert Text

Enter the text you want to superimpose on the image. Choose font, font style and size. Select the text justification and decide whether the text should be rotated (and to what degree). Add an optional border and semi-transparency. digiKam adds your text layer to the original image.

Template Superimpose

Just as you can superimpose any text on your image, you can also apply ready-made templates to create funny greeting cards, posters and the like.

Manipulating Color Settings

The Color menu allows you to manage all kinds of different color-related settings. Its capabilities range from simple auto correction mechanisms to full-blown color management via color profiles:

Auto Color Correction

If aiming for a straightforward color and exposure correction of your image, try this option. Choose from various preset modes and apply the one that matches best. Use the histograms to determine whether the result matches your needs.

Brightness/Contrast/Gamma

This tool offers a simple way of fixing over or underexposed images.

Hue/Saturation/Lightness

This tool helps you to optimize images that have been taken under very bright lighting conditions and appear somewhat washed out. Bring color saturation back to these images by manipulating the hue and saturation sliders. Depending on the level of color, you might also want to adjust the lightness to prevent the image from registering too dark. Of course, you can also use this tool to achieve the opposite effect if you need to brighten up an image that has been taken at low light conditions and contains far too much color saturation.

Color Balance

Depending on the lighting conditions under which an image was taken or the quality of an image scan, the colors may appear somehow out of balance. Using the color balance tool, you can try to shift the balance towards another end of the color spectrum.

Invert

Invert the color values.

Black & White

Transform your color image into black and white. Use the Film, Lens Filters, Tone, and Lightness to tweak the end product. The Film tab offers you to emulate the effects various black and white films. To emulate color filters used with the camera lens, use the Lens Filters tab. Note that you can only apply one filter at a time. Using the Tone tab you can have your black and white image tinted in a particular way (sepia, for example).

Depth

Determine the color depth (in bits). Transform 8-bit into 16-bit images and vice versa.

Color Management

Color management via ICC color profiles helps you maintain color fidelity across multiple output devices (camera, display, printer).

Levels Adjust

Use this option to control multiple levels and to check the resulting image in just one tool. It lets you save the chosen level settings and thus enables you to apply the same corrections to multiple images, if needed. This comes in handy if you know that your camera tends to use the same faulty color settings all the time, and you would like to be able to correct them with just a single click.

Color Effects

This tool offers a selection of color effects like edge finding, solarizing, etc.

White Balance

Every source of light registers differently on your digital camera's chip. Depending on the light source, the color temperature tends to register either warmer (towards the red end of the spectrum) or cooler (towards the blue end of the spectrum) than standard daylight. Most cameras ship with preset white balance schemes that try to compensate these effects. If the resulting images registers faulty, use the white balance adjustment provided by digiKam. Either manipulate the color temperature directly by using the Kelvin slider, or choose one of the preset white balance schemes.

Curves Adjust

This tool allows you to basically perform any operation available through the Brightness/Contrast/Gamma and the Levels Adjust tools, but in one tool and using free-function mapping. Therefore this tool is more powerful and flexible than the other two, but it may take some time to get used to.

Channel Mixer

The channel mixer tool provides an alternative way of converting colored images to black and white. Using the Monochrome option and the channel sliders, you can selectively determine how much each of the color channels contributes to the overall image. The channel mixer option is much more flexible than the standard conversion to black and white, because you can manage each color channel separately.

Fixing and Tweaking Your Images

Use the Enhance menu to address a number of common defects related to digital imagery:

Blur, Sharpen

Tweak the sharpness of your image or smooth it.

Red Eyes

Reduce or eliminate red eyes caused by use of a flash.

Inpainting

“Heal” defective areas of your image.

Noise Reduction

Remove artifacts, such as those caused by dust on your lens or sensor. Compensate for pixel noise caused by high ISO settings of your digital camera and reduce noise and artifacts in low quality scans.

Hot Pixels

Detect and erase problem pixels of your image caused by defective pixels of your camera's sensor.

Lens+Distortion

Compensate for barrel and pincushion distortion of your images caused by the use of strong wide-angle or telephoto lenses.

Lens+Vignetting Correction

Compensates circular shades (vignettes) at the edges or in the center of your image that were caused by the use of strong wide-angle or telephoto lenses.

Lens+Vignetting Correction

Compensates circular shades (vignettes) at the edges or in the center of your image that were caused by the use of strong wide-angle or telephoto lenses.

Restoration

Provides an all-inclusive treatment to images exhibiting various digital defects, such as noise and scratches.

To observe the functionality of the Fix options, look at Inpainting, for example. Assume some dust or scratch on your lens ruined an image. To remove this kind of blemish, proceed as follows:

Open your image.

Use the mouse cursor to select the area to which to apply the fix.

Select Enhance+Inpainting or press Ctrl+E.

Determine the method to use to remove the blemish:

Choose one of the Preset options (Remove Small Artifact, Remove Medium Artifact, or Remove Large Artifact) and proceed with Step 6.

Set the filter parameters on your own. Proceed with Step 5.

If you opted against using any of the preset filters (in the Preset tab), open the General and Advanced Settings tabs and adjust the settings to your needs.

Click OK to apply your settings and modify the image accordingly.

Creating and Reusing Your Own Filter Settings

If you need to use the same set of settings more than once (for example, if a scratch on the lens ruined an entire series of images), create your set of filter settings. Save them for later use by clicking Save As and saving them to a text file. For subsequent images, open the Image Inpainting dialog, click Load, then select the text file and apply the filter settings with OK.

Figure 17.6. Using Inpainting to Remove Artifacts

Applying Image Transformations

To scale or rotate an image, use the Transform menu:

Rotate, Flip, Free Rotation

Rotate your image to a certain degree. Rotate rotates by multiples of 90 degrees. With Free Rotation, specify any angle you want.

Crop, Aspect Ratio Crop

Crop your image. Crop cuts to any rectangular selection on top of your image. Aspect Ratio Crop crops the image following various sophisticated design principles.

Perspective Adjustment

Adjust the perspective of an image. For example, if you notice some odd angles in shots containing vertical or horizontal lines, use this tool to correct them. Grab any of the four handles to the corners of your image and move them as needed. Use the Crop tool to remove the resulting black edges of your image, and to trim it down.

Shear

Shift one part of your image to one direction and the other to the opposite direction, either horizontally or vertically. Specify the angles for vertical and horizontal shear and use Crop to trim the resulting image.

Resize

Scale your image. Resize offers a simple interface allowing you to manipulate your image size by pixel or percentage. Select whether to keep the aspect ratio. If you select Restore photograph, you can fine-tune the algorithms used on your resized image and improve the quality of the end product. Note that this option might be considerably slower than a simple resize operation.

Assuming you have an image that is otherwise perfect, but you are not entirely satisfied with the composition yet or need to crop your image to match a certain paper format for reproduction. Use Aspect Ratio Crop and proceed as follows:

Open your image.

Select Transform+Aspect Ratio Crop.

Determine the orientation and aspect ratio to use:

None

Specify a free crop of the image using the X, Width, and Y, Height sliders.

Custom

Select a custom ration of width versus height instead of using one of the preset values.

X:Y Ratio

These ratios match most of the common paper sizes used to print photographs. Pick the one that suits your purpose best.

Golden Ratio

A ratio (1:1.618) that is traditionally used by artists and architects to create harmonious results.

Use the Max. Aspect button to set the crop area to the maximum possible size of the specified ratio.

After determining the size of your crop selection, optionally apply compositional rules to it. The Composition Guide helps to create a crop selection that results in a visually pleasing image. Dotted lines are displayed that guide you to a better composition of your image.

For More Information

For a comprehensive description of the options, refer to http://docs.kde.org/kde3/en/extragear-graphics/digikam/image-editor.html

If the position of your crop does not follow the compositional rule to your satisfaction, move it.

Click OK to apply your crop selection and trim your image.

Figure 17.7. Creating a Custom Crop Using Aspect Ratio Crop

Applying Filters and Effects

You can select from a variety of basic effects and filters to apply to your images, giving them a more artistic or over-the-top look:

Raindrops

Apply raindrop effects to your image. Determine the size and number of the drops and specify the degree of distortion caused by the drops (Fish eyes).

Infrared Film

Simulate the use of infrared film to achieve a slightly surreal effect. The result is strikingly different from the original image. Add additional film grain and tweak the sensitivity (ISO) to achieve a more artistic feel.

Oil Paint

Simulate an oil painting. Determine the brush size and the degree of smoothing to apply to your image.

Emboss

Pretend your image had been embossed to a sheet of paper. Choose an appropriate depth.

Distortion Effects

Apply various strange distortion effects, such as fish eyes, to your image. Determine type, level, and repetition.

Add Film Grain

Add film grain to your image to give it a rough look.

Blur Effects

Blur your image to simulate the image being out of focus or to mimic any kind of movement that was not there when you took the image.

Charcoal Drawing

Transform your image into a black and white charcoal drawing. Choose an appropriate pencil size and determine the degree of smoothing to apply to the image.

Figure 17.8. Simulating IR Photography

Useful Tools

digiKam offers several little helpers for organizing your image collection and for processing your images. Find them in the Tools menu. Some highlights:

Find Duplicate Images

If you suspect that your collection contains a number of duplicates, use this option to find and delete them. First, determine which album or tag to include in the scope of your search. Click OK to initiate the search. If your collection contains any duplicates, you get a split screen showing both images and can select one of them for deletion.

Create Calendar

Create a simple calendar using a standard layout by selecting the images to use and by selecting paper size and fonts.

Batch Processing

If you need to perform certain actions on a large number of files at once, use batch processing. Add borders, edit colors, apply various effects and filters, rename and resize images, recompress them, or perform a RAW conversion.

To find out whether your camera's RAW format is supported by the digiKam converter plug-in, check Help+Supported RAW Cameras. Use Batch+Convert Images to convert images from one format to another, for example from jpg to png.

An example of batch processing of images could involve applying a solarizing effect to a number of images. To queue images for batch processing and perform the actual processing, proceed as follows:

Select Batch+Image Effects or right-click the album's name and select Batch Processes+Image Effects.

Set the effect to Solarize and click Options to determine the degree of the effect to be applied and display an optional preview.

Decide whether to rename or overwrite the original images, or even have them removed after the transformation has taken place.

Set the target folder to hold the resulting images. If you do not want the new images to be written to the original folder, select New and add a new folder or subfolder. Select the new folder with your mouse pointer.

Accept or modify the list of images queued for the transformation.

Click Start to initiate the transformation.

digiKam informs you about the progress and the success of the transformation.

Figure 17.9. Batch Processing: Solarizing Images

Troubleshooting

Although openSUSE and digiKam support a broad range of cameras, you might occasionally hit one of the following problems when using your digital camera with openSUSE:

Downloading Images from Your Camera Fails

If downloading your images fails no matter which protocol you have chosen (PTP or USB), try using the command line instead of digiKam. The gphoto2 --P command initializes the camera and downloads the images if gphoto2 supports this camera.

Your Camera is not Officially Supported by digiKam

Try gphoto2 --list-cameras and the information at http://www.gphoto.org/ to obtain more information about the status of your camera's support by Linux.

If the camera is not listed there, remove the storage medium from the camera and use a card reader device (either an external or internal one). As soon as the medium is detected, it is mounted automatically and you can import the images to your digiKam collection with Import+Add Images or Import+Add Folders.

For More Information

For more information about using digital cameras with Linux, refer to the following Web sites:

http://www.digikam.org>—The official homepage of digiKam

http://www.digikam.org/drupal/docs—The official digiKam Handbook

http://www.gphoto.org—Information about gPhoto2

http://www.gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php—A comprehensive list of supported cameras

Chapter 18. Managing Your Digital Image Collection with F-Spot

F-Spot is a management tool for your collection of digital images tailored for the GNOME desktop. It allows you to assign different tags to your images in order to categorize them and offers various image editing options. For example, you can remove red-eye, crop, and adjust brightness and colors. F-Spot supports sixteen common file types, including JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, and RAW.

You can import photos from your hard drive, your digital camera, or your iPod. You can also use F-Spot to view slide shows, create photo CDs, generate a Website gallery, or export your photos to your Flickr, 23, Picasa Web, or SmugMug account.

To access F-Spot, click Computer+F-Spot Photo Browser. The first time you run F-Spot, you can tell it where to find the images you want to import into your collection. If you already have a collection of images stored on your hard drive, enter the path to the relevant directory and optionally include subfolders. F-Spot imports these images into its database.

Figure 18.1. F-Spot Main Window

Thumbnails of your images are displayed in the right part of the window, and detailed information for a selected image is displayed in a sidebar to the left. By default, your photos are displayed in reverse-chronological order, so your newest photos are always at the top. You can sort your photos in chronological order or reverse-alphabetical order by clicking View+Reverse Order.

Contents of the Sidebar

At the top of the sidebar, change its contents from Tags to Metadata, Edit, or Folders. If the sidebar is not visible at all, press F9 or click View+Components+Sidebar to make the sidebar visible.

A menu bar at the top of the window allows you to access the main menus. A toolbar below the menu bar offers the following options:

Table 18.1. F-Spot Toolbar

Icon

Description

Rotate (Left or Right)

Use this shortcut to change an image's orientation.

Browse

The Browse mode allows you to view and search your entire collection or tagged subsets of it. You can also use the time line to search images by creation date.

Edit Image

This mode allows you to select one image and do some basic image processing. Details are available in Section “Basic Photo Editing”.

Fullscreen

Switch to fullscreen display mode.

Slideshow

Start a slide show.

Importing Photos

You can import photos from your hard drive or from your digital camera (see Section “Downloading Pictures from Your Camera” for more information). F-Spot automatically makes copies of photos imported from your hard drive. If you do not want to copy images, uncheck Copy files to the Photos folder on the Import dialog box, or press Shift when dragging photos into F-Spot.

Figure 18.2. Importing Images into F-Spot

By default, F-Spot copies your photos to the Photos directory in your home directory. You can change the directory F-Spot uses by clicking Edit+Preferences.

If all the photos you are importing are from a particular event, or if they have some other characteristic in common, you can create a tag for them so you can easily find them at a later time. Enter the tags that you want to associate on the import of all new photos (separated by commas) in the Attach Tags field.

To import photos:

Click Photo+Import.

Select an Import Source, then click Open.

After the photos are finished loading, click Import.

The photos are added to your catalog.

Downloading Pictures from Your Camera

You can import new images from your digital camera by connecting it to the USB port of your computer. The camera type is detected automatically. When you import photos from your camera, F-Spot makes copies of them so that you can clear your camera's memory.

Click Photo+Import.

Select your camera as the import source.

F-Spot launches a preview window displaying all the images that are available for download from your camera. The files are copied to the target directory specified via Copy files to. If Import files after copy is selected, all images copied from the camera are automatically imported to F-Spot's database. Tagging can be done on import, if you select the appropriate tag with Select Tags. If you do not want to import all the images on your camera to your database, just deselect the unwanted ones in the preview window.

Click Copy.

When the photo transfer is complete, click OK.

The photos are added to your catalog.

Getting Photo Information

When you select an image, some basic statistical information is displayed in the lower-left part of the window. This includes the filename, its version (copy or original image), the date of creation, size, and the exposure used in creating this particular photo.

To view more detailed information on a photo (including the EXIF data associated with the file), select Metadata below the Import button, then click Extended Metadata.

Managing Tags

Use tags to categorize any of your photos to create manageable subsets of your collection. F-Spot comes with default tags, but you can change them and add new ones. If, for example, you want to organize your collection of portrait shots of your loved ones, do the following:

Select the Browse mode of F-Spot.

Activate the Tags view in the sidebar to the left.

In the sidebar, right-click the People category, then select Create New Tag.

Create a new tag called Friends.

Create a new tag called Family.

The new tags appear as subcategories below the People category.

Attach tags to images or groups of selected images.

Right-click an image, select Attach Tag, then select the appropriate tag for this image. To attach a tag to a sequence of images, click the first one, then press Shift and select the other ones without releasing the Shift key. To attach a tag to a group of selected images, press and hold Control and select the images. Right-click for the tag menu and select the matching category.

You can also use the following methods to tag photos:

Drag and drop a photo onto a tag.

Drag and drop a tag onto a photo.

Use the options on the Tags menu.

Select a photo, then press t to display the Tags entry bar.

The first photo you associate with a tag is used for that tag's icon. To edit a tag's name, parent tag, or icon, right-click the tag, then select Edit Selected Tag.

You can change a tag's parent by dragging and dropping it where you want. You can also edit the name of a tag by selecting it and pressing F2.

After your photos have been tagged, you can browse your collection by tags. Using our earlier example, clicking People+Family limits the displayed collection to the photos tagged Family. Searching your collection by tag is also possible through Find+Find Selected Tag. The result of your search is displayed in the thumbnail overview window.

Removing tags from single images or groups of images works similarly to attaching them. The tag editing functions are also accessible on the Tags menu in the top menu bar.

Searching and Finding Photos

As mentioned in Section “Managing Tags”, tags can be used as a means to find certain images. Another way to find images is to use the Timeline below the toolbar. By dragging the little frame along this time line, you can limit the images displayed in the thumbnail overview to those taken in a selected time frame. F-Spot starts with a default time line, but you can edit the time span by moving the sliders to the right and left of the time line.

You can also start a search by clicking Find+Show Find Bar. With the find bar displayed, you can drag tags from the tag view to the find bar.

Figure 18.3. Show Find Bar in F-Spot

To find photos that are tagged with more than one tag, select the first tag in the tag view (or drag the tag onto the Find bar), then drag the second tag and drop it on top of the first. You can also right-click the second tag in the tag view, or click Find+Find Selected Tag With, then select the first tag (or group of tags).

You can search for photos that do not have a particular tag by double-clicking a tag in the Find bar. Photos that do not have that tag (or any tag at all) are displayed. You can also right-click a tag in the Find bar, then select Exclude.

To remove a tag from the search, drag it away from the Find bar, or right-click the tag and select Remove.

By default, photos tagged Hidden will not be shown. You must explicitly include the Hidden tag in your search to show such photos.

There is also a type-to-find entry. Press the forward slash (/) to open it. It cannot be used at the same time as the Find bar. You can type queries such as “TagA and (TagB or (TagC and TagD))”. At any point, if F-Spot recognizes what you have typed as a valid query, it will update your search. The not operator is not yet supported.

Figure 18.4. Type-to-find Search

Exporting Image Collections

F-Spot offers a range of export functions for your photo collections: Section “Generating a Website Gallery”, Section “Exporting Photos to CD”, Section “Exporting Photos to a Folder”, and Section “Posting to a SmugMug, Flickr, 23hq, Zooomr, or Picasa Web Albums Account”.

Generating a Website Gallery

If you use the PHP software known as Gallery, you can post your photos to your existing album. Ensure that the Remote module in your Gallery installation is enabled (Site Admin+Plugins (Get More Plugins)+Remote).

PennAve is another dynamic photo gallery application. It is designed to be used in conjunction with F-Spot to organize and manage your photos.

Select the photos you want to export.

Click Photo+Export to+Web Gallery.

Select the gallery you want to export your images to, or click Add to add a new gallery.

F-Spot establishes a connection to the Web location entered for your web gallery.

Select the album you want to export the images to, then specify whether to resize and rotate the images automatically and export titles and comments.

Click Export.

Exporting Photos to CD

Select the photos you want to burn to CD.

Click Photo+Export to+CD, then click Export.

F-Spot copies the files and opens the Write to Disc dialog—in case of trouble it just tries to write an ISO file via the Location for Image File dialog. Click Burn to confirm the operation.

Assign a name to your image disk, then select the writing speed.

Click Write to start the CD writing process.

Exporting Photos to a Folder

Select the photos you want to export.

Click Photo+Export to+Folder.

Choose from the following export methods:

Create standalone web gallery:  Export your photos to an interactive Website, ready for you to upload.

Save the files only:  Export your photos as files within directories, without putting them into a gallery.

Create gallery using “Original”:  Export your photos ready for use with Jakub Steiner's Original Photo Gallery software.

Click Export.

Posting to a SmugMug, Flickr, 23hq, Zooomr, or Picasa Web Albums Account

If you use SmugMug, Flickr, 23hq, Zooomr, or Picasa Web Albums, you can post your files directly from F-Spot to your account.

Select the photos you want to export.

Click Photo+Export to+SmugMug, Flickr, 23hq, Zooomr, or Picasaweb.

Select or unselect the options you want in the Export dialog box.

The options displayed on the Export dialog box depend on the type of account you are exporting to. For example, Flickr and 23hq exports require authorization in order to upload photos. To do this, click Authorize to open a Web browser, then log in to your account.

Click Export.

Basic Photo Editing

F-Spot offers several basic image editing functions, such as the ability to crop, remove red-eye, and adjust color and brightness.

When you edit a photo, a new copy (called a version) is created, so your original photo is never altered. After your first edit to a photo, subsequent edits modify the same version. If you want to create multiple versions of a photo (for example, with different cropping or coloring), click Photo+Create New Version. To access a photo's original version, click Photo+Version+Original.

Select the photo you want to edit.

To enter edit mode, click the Edit Image icon in the toolbar, double-click the image, or press Enter.

Choose from the following edit functions, using the buttons of the sidebar to the left or the entries from the Edit menu:

Function

Description

Crop

Cropping an image is a great way to improve the quality of a photograph by improving how it is framed. You crop a photo by selecting the part of the photo you want to keep. If you want your photo to be the exact dimensions necessary for a certain print size, you can constrain the kind of selection F-Spot will allow you to draw by choosing the appropriate size from the Constraint drop-down list. See the description of the Remove Red-Eye function for details on making a selection on your photo.

After you make your crop selection, click the Crop icon beneath the photo to finalize the crop. If you are working with the original photo, cropping creates a new version of your photo.

Red-Eye Reduction

To remove red-eye from a photo, select a zone containing the eyes. You might want to zoom in on the image to accurately select the eyes in the photo. You should be able to correct both eyes on the same person at once, or even the eyes from multiple people at once. If this does not work, or if the selected zone contains some vivid red parts (such as lips), you will probably have to correct one red eye at a time.

To make your selection, click one corner of the rectangle that will be your selection, then drag your mouse to the diagonal corner and release it. You can resize your selection by dragging its edges, and you can move it by clicking in the middle of it and dragging it to where you want it.

After you have selected a zone, remove the red by clicking the Red-eye icon beneath the photo.

Desaturate

Converts the photo to black and white.

Sepia Tone

Converts the photo to sepia tones.

Straighten

The Straighten effect helps you level a photo and is useful when editing landscapes taken without a tripod (when the imaginary line of horizon is not at 0°). This tool rotates a photo by a specified angle and automagically crops the resulted image so that you always see a perfect rectangle.

Soft Focus

Sharpening one region of a picture while blurring all the rest is a way to emphasize a particular area and grab attention. The soft focus effect is a way to emulate a lens that allows shooting with a short distance in front of and beyond the subject that appears to be in focus.

Choose the central point of the area you want to be in focus, then click the Soft Focus icon beneath the photo. Adjust the amount of blurring, then click Apply.

Auto Color

This effect automatically adjusts color levels to make a color-balanced picture. It works best for pictures taken with automatic white balance. Click the Automatically adjust the colors icon to access this feature.

Adjust Colors

To adjust the brightness, contrast, and colors of a photo, click the Adjust the photo colors icon to open the adjustment dialog box. Change the settings you want, then click OK.

Adjust Time

Access this function by clicking Edit+Adjust Time. Adjust date and time, then click OK.

Sharpen

Access this function by clicking Edit+Sharpen. Adjust the values for Amount, Radius, and Threshold to your needs, then click OK.

Comment

You can add a description or a comment to a photo by clicking the text entry box below the photo and entering text.

(Optional) If you want to edit another photo, use the arrow keys on the toolbar at the right to switch to a new photo.

To exit the edit mode, click Browse on the toolbar.

Tip

Professional image editing can also be done with GIMP. For more information, see Chapter 16, Manipulating Graphics with GIMP.

Sharing Photos

You can use either of the following methods to share your photos using F-Spot. Both methods share only the photos you have selected when you run them.

Section “E-mailing Photos”

Section “Printing Photos”

E-mailing Photos

You can e-mail your photos directly from F-Spot, sending them as-is (original size) or resizing them.

Select the photos you want to e-mail.

Click Photo+Send by Mail.

Select a size for your photos.

Click Create Mail.

Your default e-mail program opens, with your photos attached to a new mail message.

Printing Photos

Select the photos you want to print.

Click Photo+Print.

Select the print options you want, such as the printer you want to use or the page orientation, then click Print to print your photos.

The Preferences Dialog

Click Photo+Preferences to open the F-Spot Preferences dialog.

In the preferences dialog you can configure where to store your imported photos, where to store the tags, color profiles and the F-Spot appearance.

Part VI. Multimedia

Chapter 19. Playing Music and Movies: Amarok, Kaffeine and More

Abstract

During installation, YaST normally identifies and configures the sound cards of your computer automatically. Otherwise (or if you installed a new sound card), start YaST and configure the sound card manually in the Sound module. For details, refer to “Setting Up Sound Cards” (Chapter “Setting Up Hardware Components with YaST”, ↑Start-Up). When your sound card has been configured, you can control the volume and balance with a mixer and start other sound applications.

Linux includes a wide range of sound and multimedia applications. Some of these applications are installed on your Linux system by default. With the applications described here you can control the volume and balance of playback and play CDs, music and movie files.You can also record and compress your own audio data.

In case one of the listed applications is not installed by default on your system, use YaST to install the missing packages. Use the search function of the YaST package management tool to find the package names. For details on installing software, see “Installing or Removing Software” (↑Reference).

Mixers

Mixers provide a convenient means of controlling the volume and balance of the sound output and input of computers.

The main difference between the various mixers is the outward appearance of the user interface. However, there are a number of mixers that are designed for specific hardware. From the mixers available, select the one that best suits your needs.

The default KDE mixer application is KMix. If the mixer icon (a loudspeaker symbol) is not visible in the panel of your desktop, press Alt+F2 and enter kmix or start the mixer from the main menu. By default, clicking the KMix icon in the system tray shows the master controller with which to control the overall volume. To fine-tune your sound settings for several channels, right-click the KMix icon and select Show Mixer Window.

You can mute and increase or decrease the volume for all of the channels separately. If you need or want to change the channel to be used as master channel, right-click the KMix icon and click Select Master Channel. If you want more or less channels to appear in the mixer window, select Settings+Configure Channels and select the ones you want to show.

Figure 19.1. KMix Mixer Window

Starting the Mixer

Generally, it is advisable to open a mixer application before opening other sound applications. Use the mixer to test and adjust the control settings for the input and output of the sound card.

Playing Music Files

In Linux, find a variety of programs for playing music files, such as Ogg Vorbis or WAV. Ogg Vorbis is a free audio compression format that is now supported by the majority of audio players and even portable MP3 players. The file types supported by the applications depend on the engine used.

Playing MP3 Files

openSUSE currently does not benefit from an MP3 codec agreement. However, community support for MP3 and alternatives is strong. For more information and any options that might work for you legally and technically, refer to http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats and http://en.opensuse.org/Restricted_Formats#Possible_Solutions_2.

Amarok Music Player

The Amarok music player allows you to play various audio formats, create playlists, and to listen to streaming audio broadcasts of radio stations on the Internet. The file types supported depend on the engine used.

To start Amarok, press Alt+F2 and enter amarok.

Amarok Main Window

By default, the Amarok main window is divided into three main parts: the browser pane on the left, the context view in the middle and the playlist on the right side. Both the browser pane and the context view include several tabs. Click a tab to switch view and to access the information available from there. Clicking a tab twice in the browser pane hides the browser pane and expands the context view to the left.

Figure 19.2. Amarok—Main Window

Browser Pane

Includes the following tabs:

Collection:  Shows your personal music collection. The search field on top allows you to filter for certain artists or titles configure. Click the wrench icon at the right of the browser pane if you want to configure the way your collection is displayed, or to reorganize the collection. For more information about customizing the Collection tab, refer to Procedure 19.8, “Customizing the Collection Tab”.

Internet:  Shows the Internet services configured for Amarok. For details on how to configure the services, refer to Section “Configuring Amarok”. Click an entry to access the respective service. To get back to the list of services, click the arrow icon in the top left corner.

Playlists:  Lets you generate Dynamic Playlists based on certain criteria. To access and organize any playlists you have saved before, click My Playlist. From the playlist tab, you can also add or update Podcasts. For more information about playlists, refer to Procedure 19.3, “Saving and Exporting Playlists”. To learn more about podcasts, refer to Procedure 19.1, “Subscribing and Listening to Podcasts”.

Filelists:  Shows a file browser that corresponds to the standard KDE file manager. This view is designed for finding audio files you want to play, but not to add to your collection. Use the icons at the top to navigate the file system, change the view or to create bookmarks.

Context View

Shows information about the currently played track. Depending on your configuration of this view the follows tabs are available: Albums, Bookmarks, Current Track, Lyrics, Media Devices, Services, and Wikipedia. To change view, click one of the tabs. To learn how to configure the context view, refer to Procedure 19.9, “Customizing the Context View”.

Playlist

Shows the list of tracks that has been added there to be played. This can include tracks from your music collection, streams from the Internet, or podcasts . The currently played track is highlighted in the list. Use the icons at the bottom of the playlist to clear, modify, save or export the current playlist or click the wrench icon to configure the playlist layout. For more information about playlists, refer to Section “Using Playlists”.

Listening to Music and Podcasts

With Amarok, you can listen to music from various sources—be it your music collection on hard disc or streams from the Internet.

To fill the playlist area, just drag and drop items from the browser pane on the left to the playlist pane on the right (or double-click to move them to the playlist). This works for items on the Collection, the Internet or the Files tab. To select multiple items, keep Shift or Ctrl pressed while selecting the items. Alternatively, right-click an item on one of the tabs and select if to append it to the playlist or if to replace the current playlist with this item.

Double-click an item in the playlist to play it. Alternatively, use the control buttons in the upper part of the Amarok main window to play, pause, stop or skip items in the playlist.

For example, to listen to the music of your Last.fm neighbors, select Internet+Last.fm+My Neighborhood, add this entry to the playlist and start playing.

Usually, Amarok plays all tracks displayed in the playlist pane from top to bottom and stops after the last track. To modify play mode and behavior, select Playlist+Random or Playlist+Repeat and select the desired options. Instead of manually adding items to the playlist and then playing them in random order, you can also let Amarok create dynamic playlists as described in Procedure 19.4, “Creating Dynamic Playlists”.

Procedure 19.1. Subscribing and Listening to Podcasts

Podcasts are series of audio (or video) files that are released periodically and can be downloaded automatically by subscribing to a Web feed. You can add and manage podcasts on the Playlist tab of the browser pane. If the Podcast Directory Web service is configured for Amarok, you can also access a huge number of podcasts from there.

To add a podcast channel that you already know the URL of, switch to the Playlists tab and click Add Podcast.

Copy or enter the podcast URL into the next dialog and confirm with OK.

Right-click a podcast channel to open a context-menu allowing you to append or load the podcast to the playlist, to download an episode, to configure the podcast, to remove your subscription or to update the podcast channel.

If you want Amarok to automatically scan for updates on this podcast channel or to automatically download new episodes, right-click the podcast channel and select Configure. In the podcast configuration dialog you can also define the location to where Amarok should save this podcast or limit the number of episodes stored.

To use the integrated Web service to browse for available podcasts, switch to the Internet tab and click Podcast Directory. For more information about the Amarok Web services, refer to Procedure 19.7, “Defining Basic Amarok Settings”.

When clicking Podcast Directory for the first time, Amarok automatically fetches the list of podcasts, which takes a few seconds. Otherwise click Update to enforce a reload of the list. The available podcasts are sorted into categories.

Browse the list of podcasts or enter a term in the search field to filter for certain podcasts.

To get automatic updates for a podcast, select the podcast and click Subscribe.

View and manage the podcasts that you have subscribed to as described in steps Step 1 to Step 1 above.

Procedure 19.2. Listening to Web Radio

When listening to Web radio streams, Amarok also displays the current title and track played by the station.

To listen to a certain stream (like for example, a Web radio channel), select Playlist+Add Stream.

Copy or enter the stream URL into the next dialog and confirm with OK. The stream is automatically added to the playlist pane on the right.

Double-click the stream entry in the playlist to start listening. Alternatively, use the control buttons in the upper part of the Amarok main window to play, pause, or stop the stream.

Using Playlists

If you have added several items form your music collection to the playlist pane on the right, you can also save and export the current tracks as playlist for later reuse.

Instead of manually adding items to the playlist pane and setting a certain play mode, Amarok can also make use of dynamic playlists. Dynamic playlists allow you to play tracks from your collection in a random order or to define how Amarok should mix the music an then turn the dynamic mode on.

Procedure 19.3. Saving and Exporting Playlists

If you save a playlist, it can be played again later with Amarok by accessing it from the Playlists tab. In contrast to this, exporting a playlist allows you to store and use it also outside of Amarok.

To save a playlist, either click the Save Playlist icon at the bottom of the playlist pane.

The browser pane automatically switches to the Playlists tab. It shows the newly added playlist below My Playlists and prompts you to enter a name for the playlist. If you do not enter a name, date and time of creation are automatically set as name for the playlist.

To create folders in My Playlists, click the Add Folder icon.

You can also modify an already saved playlist by dragging and dropping new items from the playlist pane on the right onto the playlist entry shown below My Playlists.

To load, rename or delete a playlist, right-click the playlist and select the appropriate menu item from the context menu.

To use a playlist in players other than Amarok, click the Export Playlist icon at the bottom of the playlist pane.

Sharing Playlists with Other Players

Save playlists in m3u format, so you can share them with any other players using this format.

Select or enter a location and filename for your playlist and click Save.

Procedure 19.4. Creating Dynamic Playlists

With dynamic playlists, Amarok lets you either play tracks from your collection in a random order or lets you create biased playlists according to probability-driven criteria (“biases”). You can create weighted random playlists that adhere to certain criteria exactly (Proportional Bias) and to certain criteria approximately (Fuzzy Bias). It is possible to mix both types of biases when configuring a dynamic playlist.

Click the Playlists tab at the left side of the Amarok main window and select Dynamic Playlist.

To create a random playlist without matching any criteria, set the Playlist drop-down list to Random (which is the default value) and activate the On check-box. A randomly created list of tracks appears in the playlist pane.

To add a criterion that should be matched exactly:

Click the Add icon in the Proportional Bias category.

Select the desired criterion from the Match drop-down list.

From the With drop-down list, select the value that you want to set for this criterion.

With the Proportion slider, define which portion of the playlist should match this criterion.

To add a criterion that should be matched approximately:

Click the Add icon in the Fuzzy Bias category.

Select the desired criterion from the Match drop-down list.

From the With drop-down list, select the value that you want to set for this criterion.

With the Strictness slider, define how strictly to match this criterion.

Add further proportional or fuzzy biases as desired.

To remove a bias, click the Remove icon in front of this bias.

To save the current configuration for the dynamic playlist, click the Save icon at the upper right corner of the Dynamic Playlist category and enter a name.

The saved dynamic playlist configuration can now be accessed from the Playlist drop-down list at any time.

To use the selected dynamic playlist, activate the On check-box.

Click Repopulate if you want to replace the current tracks in the playlist area with the newly generated dynamic playlist.

Managing your Music Collection

Many Services Depend on Proper Tagging

When compressing (ripping) your audio data, tags are stored for each track, containing meta data like information about the artist, the track, the album, or the music genre. Usually, the tags are automatically assigned during the ripping process but sometimes they need to be corrected manually as described in Procedure 19.6, “Editing Tags, Statistics and Ratings”.

Many services (like retrieving covers from Amazon, or scrobbling your music to Last.fm) depend on proper tagging of your collection—otherwise they will fail or transfer incorrect data.

Amarok offers a lot of options for managing your personal music collection: For example, you can let Amarok scan for any changes to your music collection, edit track information (like tags or ratings and statistics) or automatically retrieve the cover artwork for each album.

After initial creation and basic configuration of your collection as described in Section “Configuring Amarok”, you can at any time trigger an update by selecting Tools+Update Collection. This reflects any changes done to your collection folder on the Collection tab immediately, without waiting for Amarok to update the collection automatically during the next check.

Tracks of unknown artists or albums are grouped under Unknown at the beginning of your collection. Compilation albums appear under Various Artists. To mark an album as compilation album, right-click the album and select Show Under Various Artists.

To search or filter your collection for a certain track or album, enter the title (or part of it) in the search field at the top. Each character you enter narrows down the search and the selection in the browser is adjusted as you type. To search for specific metadata such as Genre or Bitrate, or to combine several search options, click the Edit Filter button to the right of the search field to open a dialog that provides advanced filter options.

In the following, find examples for further common tasks you might want to execute.

Procedure 19.5. Assigning Album Covers

Amarok's Cover Manager lets you comfortably add, correct or fetch any missing covers for your music collection. If automatic cover retrieval is configured, Amarok tries to fetch any album covers from an Amazon Web server. If Amarok cannot find an album cover (which is sometimes the case if the collection is not tagged properly or if the album is only available via a direct sales channel), you can also manually assign a cover or custom picture.

If not configured otherwise, album covers are displayed on the Collection tab, in the context view and on the on-screen display (or on external widgets like PlayWolf).

Retrieval of covers relies on the tags of your music collection: Amarok uses the Artist - Album query to search Amazon for covers. The better your collection is tagged, the better the hit rate when automatically retrieving covers.

If you want Amarok to automatically retrieve cover artwork for each album, select Settings+Configure Amarok+General and activate the respective option in the configuration dialog.

Confirm your changes and close the configuration dialog.

To define from which Amazon Web server Amarok should get the covers, click Tools+Cover Manager.

Figure 19.3. Amarok—Cover Editor

From the Amazon Locale drop-down list choose the location of the Web server that suits your needs best.

If Amarok could not retrieve all covers automatically, you can check for any missing covers by setting the View to Albums Without Cover.

If necessary, change the Amazon Locale, then click Fetch Missing Covers.

If retrieval is still not successful or if you are not satisfied with a certain cover, right-click the cover and select Fetch Cover to manually refine the search by editing the search string.

To remove a cover, right-click the respective cover and select Unset Cover.

If you already have your own cover images, you can assign them by right-clicking an album cover and choosing Set Custom Cover.

Procedure 19.6. Editing Tags, Statistics and Ratings

Although tags are usually created automatically when ripping your music, it is sometimes necessary to edit or correct tags. Apart from editing tags, Amarok also lets you manually edit statistics for a track like the rating or score. Amarok automatically assigns a score to a song (ranging from 0-100), based on how many times you have played that song and if you have played it completely (or skipped it). Every time the song finishes playing, the score is changed.

To edit or set tags for an artist, a complete album or individual tracks, right-click the respective entry on the Collection tab and select Edit Track Details.

On the Tags tab, add or adjust the information as desired.

To set a custom rating for a track or to change the score, switch to the Statistics tab.

Move your mouse pointer over the star symbols until they change color. The more stars appear in yellow, the higher the rating. Click the mouse button to set the rating.

If desired, also adjust the track's Score.

Confirm your changes with Save & Close.

Configuring Amarok

Amarok offers a variety of configuration options. At first start-up, the most important settings to configure are the folders for your personal music collection and which back-end and sound system to use for playback. Although you can use Amarok without a music collection, it is recommended to create a collection. Most of the powerful, advanced features are only available with an existing collection.

Apart from that, Amarok comes with integrated Internet services that you can activate or deactivate, like for example support for Last.fm, a popular Internet radio and music community Web site.

Procedure 19.7. Defining Basic Amarok Settings

Select Settings+Configure Amarok to access the Amarok configuration dialog.

Click Collection and in the tree view, select the folder (or multiple folders) where Amarok should scan for your music files.

Activate the respective options to make Amarok scan the folders recursively or watch for changes in your music folders.

If you want to import an existing music collection (for example, from an older Amarok version), click Import Collection and follow the steps on the screen.

From the Playback category of the configuration dialog, you can also adjust the back-end and the output device for playing music, if necessary. To do so, click Configure to open the Sound and Video Configuration module (also accessible from the KDE Personal Settings). For more details about the output devices available from the list, hover your mouse pointer over the respective entries.

To discover the Web services integrated with Amarok, click the Internet Services category. From there, you can activate, deactivate or configure access to several services like Ampache Web media server, Jamendo legal and free music download, Last.fm music community, Magnatune Store, MP3tunes music locker or podcasts and shoutcasts directories.

Some of the services require registration. To sign up for a service or to enter your data for an already existing account, click the wrench icon next to the service.

To use and customize the appearance of an On Screen Display showing information like cover and artist of the currently played track, activate Use On-Screen Display.

Set the appearance options as desired and drag the preview to the desired place to define the position where the on-screen display should appear.

Confirm your changes with Apply .

Using Amarok Widgets

Instead of using the on-screen display to show information about the current track, you can also add external widgets to your desktop for displaying information or controlling Amarok, for example, the PlayWolf widget. For details on how to add or download widgets, refer to “Adding Widgets to the Desktop” (↑KDE User Guide).

Apart from configuring basic settings, Amarok also allows you to customize most of the panels in the main window: you can define the way your collection is displayed, which information to see in the context view and how the tracks in the playlist on the right are shown.

Procedure 19.8. Customizing the Collection Tab

To change the criteria according to which your collection is sorted and displayed, click the Sort Options icon at the upper right corner of the Collection tab.

Select one of the predefined criteria that are displayed at the top of the menu.

Alternatively, create your own sort options by using First Level, Second Level, and Third Level.

Define if you want publication year and cover art of the albums to be displayed in the collection.

Procedure 19.9. Customizing the Context View

You can choose from a number of applets to be displayed in the context view. These allow you to access different types of information about the currently played track by clicking the respective applet. For example, the Wikipedia applet searches for the artist's name and displays the corresponding Wikipedia article in the context browser. Current Track shows the album cover (if available) and the listening statistics related to the current track. To automatically search for the Lyrics of a track and display them in the context view, add the Lyrics applet. This applet depends on one or more lyrics scripts configured for Amarok. To add any scripts, use the Script Manager that is available from the Tools menu in the Amarok main window.

To configure which applets should be displayed, click the wrench icon at the bottom right corner of the context view. The panel at the bottom of the context view changes and shows its configurations options.

To add an applet, click any of the Add icons.

Use the arrow icons to scroll through the list of available applets.

Click an entry to add the respective applet.

To move applets to a different place within the panel, hover the mouse pointer over the respective applet until the cursor turns into a crosslines-like form. Move the cursor to the desired position in the panel, then click again to insert the applet.

To remove an applet, click the applet's Remove icon.

To leave the configuration mode and to lock the applets in their position, click the wrench icon.

Procedure 19.10. Customizing the Playlist

Amarok comes with several predefined layout settings for the playlist pane on the right, but you can also choose to create your own layout from scratch (or based on one of the default layouts).

To select one of the predefined layouts, click the wrench icon at the bottom of the playlist and select Default, No Grouping or Verbose.

To create your own layout, click the wrench icon and select Configure Playlist Layouts.

Click the default layouts in Available Layouts to see the options configured for each layout on the Head, Body and Single tabs on the right side.

Use the icons below Available Layouts to create a new playlist layout from scratch or to copy an existing layout as a basis for a new layout. Enter a name for the new layout.

On each of the tabs on the right, configure the elements Amarok should display by dragging and dropping the desired elements from the top row onto the respective tab.

Change the position of an element on a tab by clicking it and moving it around.

To set format options like Italic or Bold or Left, Center, or Right, right-click an element and select the respective option.

To remove an element from a tab, drag it back to the top row.

If all options are set according to your wishes, leave the Playlist Layout Editor with OK to save the newly defined layout.

You can now switch to the new playlist layout at any time by clicking the wrench icon and selecting the layout's name from the context menu.

The Amarok Tray Icon

Like other KDE applications, Amarok adds an icon to the KDE system tray. You can use this icon to control a large number of Amarok's features. Hovering the mouse pointer over the icon displays information about the track currently played. By scrolling the mouse wheel simultaneously you can reduce or increase the playback volume. A single left-click closes the application window without affecting playback. Click again to reopen the window. Clicking with the middle mouse button pauses playback—middle-click again to resume playback. Right-clicking opens a context menu where you have access to the player controls and can exit Amarok.

Using the Shift and Ctrl keys together with the mouse gives you access to more advanced features. Holding Shift while scrolling the mouse wheel seeks through the current track. Holding Ctrl while scrolling the mouse wheel skips through tracks in the playlist.

You may also drag items and drop them on the tray icon to add them to the current playlist. A pop-up menu opens, asking whether to append the track to the playlist, append and play it, or queue it after the current track.

For More Information

For more information about Amarok 2.x, refer to the following Web sites:

http://amarok.kde.org/

http://userbase.kde.org/Amarok

http://amarok.kde.org/wiki/FAQ

http://introducingkde4.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post.html

JuK Jukebox

JuK is a jukebox application that lets you manage your music file collection and playlists. JuK maintains a list of all files it knows about. This is called the collection list. The list is specific to JuK and is not shared with other applications. Independent of the collection list are playlists. You can have as many playlists as you want and you can share your JuK playlists with other media players. You can also edit the tags of your music files.

JuK is included in the juk package. If JuK is installed, start it from the main menu or press Alt+F2 and enter juk. On initial start-up you are prompted for the folders Juk should scan for your music collection. Find more information about JuK in the online help.

Handling Audio CDs

There are many ways to listen to your favorite music tracks. Either play a CD or play digitized versions of them. The following section features CD player applications as well as some applications that can be used for digitizing audio CDs.

For information about how to create your own CDs, refer to Chapter 22, Burning CDs and DVDs With K3b.

CDDA and Analog CD Playback

There are two different ways of playing audio CDs. CD and DVD drives capable of analog CD playback read the audio data and send it to the sound output device. Some external drives connected via PCMCIA, FireWire, or USB need to use CDDA (Compact Disk Digital Audio) to extract the audio data first then play it as digital PCM. The players featured in the following sections do not support CDDA. Use XMMS if you need CDDA support.

KsCD—Audio CD Player

KsCD is an easy-to-use audio CD player included in the skscd package. If it is installed, press Alt+F2 and enter kscd to start the application.

Figure 19.4. KsCD User Interface

Compressing Audio Data: Ripping

Audio compression can be handled by various tools. The following sections feature a command line approach to encoding and playing audio data as well as some graphical applications capable of audio compression.

Compressing Audio CDs with Konqueror

Konqueror is not only a browser and a file manager, it also allows you to rip audio CDs. Before you start the actual ripping process with Konqueror, configure the handling of audio CDs and the Ogg Vorbis encoder in the Personal Settings. From the main menu select Configure Desktop, then click Advanced+Audio CDs. The configuration module is divided into three tabs: General, Names, and Ogg Vorbis Encoder. Normally, a suitable CD device is detected automatically. Do not change this default setting unless the autodetection fails and you need to set the CD device manually. Error correction and encoder priority can also be set here. The Ogg Vorbis Encoder tab determines the quality of the encoding. To configure online lookup of album, track, and artist information for your ripped audio data, select Add Track Information.

To start Konqueror, press Alt+F2 and enter konqueror. Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive and enter audiocd:/ in the Location bar. Konqueror then lists the tracks of the CD, and some folders.

To keep uncompressed audio data on your disk, just select the .wav files and drag them into another Konqueror window to copy them to their final destination. To start the Ogg Vorbis encoding, drag the Ogg Vorbis folder or files from this folder to another Konqueror window. The encoding starts as soon as you drop the Ogg Vorbis folder at its destination.

Figure 19.5. Ripping Audio CDs with Konqueror

Command Line Tools for Encoding and Playback of Audio Data

Ogg Vorbis (package vorbis-tools) is a free audio compression format that is now supported by the majority of audio players and even portable MP3 players. The Web page of the project is http://www.xiph.org/vorbis.

Your system comes with several tools supporting Ogg Vorbis. oggenc is a command line tool used for encoding WAV files to Ogg. Just run oggenc  myfile.wav to transform a given .wav file into Ogg Vorbis. The -h option displays an overview of the other parameters. Oggenc supports encoding with a variable bit rate. In this way, an even higher degree of compression can be achieved. Instead of the bit rate, specify the desired quality with the parameter -q. -b determines the average bit rate. -m and -M specify the minimum and maximum bit rate.

ogg123 is a command line Ogg player. Start it with a command like ogg123 mysong.ogg.

Playing Movie Files

You can choose between several movie players shipped with your openSUSE. Kaffeine, for example, can be run with several back-ends, such as Xine and MPlayer.

To start Kaffeine, press Alt+F2 and enter kaffeine.

The formats you can view with Kaffeine depends on the back-end (by default, Xine is used). Xine interprets many of the most common multimedia formats available. For more information, refer to http://www.xine-project.org/.

In case the format is not supported by the player's engine, openSUSE offers to search for a suitable codec which you can then install with YaST.

Figure 19.6. Kaffeine Main Window

Kaffeine can also play multimedia streamed over the Internet, and can be used as a plug-in for Konqueror. It provides the usual options for playing files in full screen mode, navigating through files, and more. You can also take a snapshot of the video and save it as an image.

KDE 4 also ships with Dragon Player, included in the dragonplayer) package. Dragon Player uses the Phonon, which is a multimedia API that connects to any of several multimedia frameworks. If Dragon Player is installed, start it by pressing Alt+F2 and entering dragon. For more information on using Dragon Player, refer to the online help.

Troubleshooting

In case you do not get any audio output, check the following:

Sound Card Configured?

Check if your sound card is properly configured with YaST. For more information, see “Setting Up Sound Cards” (Chapter “Setting Up Hardware Components with YaST”, ↑Start-Up).

Volume Control in Mixer Application?

Check the volume control of the master channel and the other channels available in a mixer application. For more information, see Section “Mixers”.

Volume Control via Keyboard?

Many keyboards also have keys for controlling the volume. Check the volume control keys of your keyboard.

Volume Control of the Application?

Most multimedia applications also provide volume controls. Check the volume control in the application that you use to play music or movie files.

Sound Configuration in Personal Settings?

Check the defaults for the sound system configuration in the Personal Settings. Access them from the main menu by selecting Configure Desktop. In the Personal Settings, click Multimedia to open the Sound and Video Configuration.

External Devices Plugged In Properly?

In case you have external devices like loudspeaker or headphones connected to your machine, check that they are plugged in properly and that they are connected to the right ports.

Chapter 20. Playing and Managing Your Music with Banshee

Banshee™ is a GNOME media management and playback application that lets you import CDs, sync your music and video collection to a digital audio player, play music directly from a digital audio player, create playlists with songs from your library, create audio and MP3 CDs from subsets of your library, and subscribe to, download, and listen to your favorite podcasts. Banshee also supports streaming audio through its Internet Radio plug-in.

To open Banshee, click Computer+Banshee Media Player.

The first time you open Banshee, the Musik Library window opens ready to import music and videos, or add Internet radio stations.

Figure 20.1. Banshee Media Player

Listening to Music

To listen to music, Banshee needs to know what is available to listen to. You can listen to music in your library, which means that you will need to import music from an external source such as a file, folder, or CD, or you can listen to music directly off a CD. You can also listen to music from Internet radio stations, podcasts, and your digital audio player (see Section “Using Banshee with Your Digital Audio Player” for more information).

Banshee also comes with MP3 support. If your music collection consists of both MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files, you need not convert any files to a different format. Just open Banshee and start listening.

If the format you are trying to play is not supported by the player's engine, Banshee lets you search for a suitable codec which you can then install with YaST.

Importing Music

Banshee can import music from a file, folder, CD, or an alternate music source (such as a digital audio player).

Figure 20.2. Import Music Library

In Banshee, click Media+Import Media.

Select an import source.

Click Import Media Source.

Playing Your Music

To play a song, simply select the song in the library and click the play button in the upper left corner. Use the other buttons to pause a song or play the next or previous song. Use the loudspeaker button on the right to adjust the volume. You can also use the items on the Playback menu to repeat or shuffle songs.

Banshee has an integrated CD player. When you insert a music CD, your CD title appears in the left panel. Select the title and click the play button to play your full CD.

Notification Area Icon

You can keep Banshee hidden in the notification area when you are not interacting with it by minimizing the Banshee window. You will only see pop-up bubbles identifying the current song when track changes happen.

If you do not want to see the pop-ups, click Edit+Preferences+Extensions+Notification Area Icon+Disable.

Music Recommendations

Banshee automatically recommends music that you might like, based on the currently playing song. It finds artists and popular songs that people with similar musical tastes enjoy.

Figure 20.3. Banshee Music Recommendations

If you do not want to receive recommendations, click View, then deselect Show Recommendations.

Ripping Your Music

To rip music from a CD and add it to your library:

Insert a CD into your CD or DVD drive.

Banshee automatically lists the CD as a source on the left sidebar.

Select the CD title in the source list on the left, then click Import CD in the upper right corner.

Listening to Internet Radio

You can use Banshee to listen to Internet radio stations and streaming audio. Add your own stations.

Listening to an Internet Radio Station

To listen to Internet radio stations, select Radio in the source list on the left, then double-click the station you want to listen to.

Figure 20.4. Internet Radio Stations in Banshee

Adding a New Internet Radio Station

Right-click Radio in the source list, then click Add Station.

Enter the stream details in the Add new radio station dialog box, then click Save.

The new station is added to your list.

Listening to Podcasts

Banshee lets you subscribe, download, and listen to your favorite Podcasts.

Subscribing to a Podcast

Click Media+Subscribe to Podcast.

Enter the URL of the podcast you want to subscribe to.

Select from the pull-down menu what happens when new episodes of this podcast are available.

Click Subscribe.

The new podcast is added to your list.

Listening to a Podcast

To listen to a podcast, select Podcasts in the source list, then double-click the podcast you want to listen to.

Figure 20.5. Podcasts in Banshee

Right-click Podcast in the source list to update a podcast, subscribe to other podcasts, or find new podcasts.

Managing Your Music Library

Banshee gives you several ways to organize your music. You can create playlists, and sort and rate songs. You can also view a variety of information about your music collection, including playback statistics (when a song was last played and how many times).

Organizing Your Music

To create a new playlist, click Media+New Playlist (or press Ctrl+N). A new playlist is displayed below Music Library in the left panel. To rename it, right-click the playlist, select Rename and enter the name you want. To fill the new playlist, drag songs from the right-hand side of the window to the relevant playlist entry and drop them, or use the options on the Edit menu to remove or delete songs and rename or delete playlists. You can sort a playlist by clicking the title of the column. Click the column again to reverse the sort. You can also right-click Music Library, then click Sort Playlists.

You can edit the name of the artist, album, and title, as well as the track number and track count. Simply select a song, then click Edit+Edit Track Information (E), or in the main window right-click the song and select Edit Track Information. You can also rate your music, which gives you the ability to play only songs with a certain rating. To rate a song, select the number of stars you want to assign in the Rating field.

Figure 20.6. Track Editor

If you want to set all fields in a group to the same value, select multiple songs in a playlist and click Edit+Edit Track Information. Make the changes you want, then click Snyc all field values. You can also use the Back and Forward buttons to cycle through the selected songs.

Click the Properties tab to view detailed information about the selected song, including the bit rate, the sample rate, when a song was last played, when it was imported, how long the song is, and how many times the song has been played.

Creating Smart Playlists

You can create playlists that automatically add and remove songs based on criteria you specify. For example, a smart playlist can contain songs you rated as five stars but that you have not listened to for six months. Another smart playlist can contain all songs published in 2006 that you have labeled with the Classical genre.

Banshee automatically updates all smart playlists when a change is made to your music library. If you import new songs, Banshee checks to see if they match any of your available smart playlists. When applicable, Banshee also updates your smart playlists if you just listened to a song or updated a song's metadata.

Creating a Smart Playlist

Activate Music Library in source list on the left side.

In Banshee, click Media+New Smart Playlist.

Specify a name for the smart playlist, then select the criteria for songs in this playlist to match.

Use the plus and minus symbols to add or remove criteria. To use an already defined smart playlist, click Predefined Smart Playlists, then select the playlist you want.

Click Save. The smart playlist is added to your music library.

Using Banshee with Your Digital Audio Player

Banshee supports several digital audio players, including Apple* iPods, Creative* Nomads*, Dell* DJs, Nokia* N810, and almost any other generic USB Mass Storage player. Instead of having to use separate applications to get support for your audio devices, Banshee gives you integrated support and lets you copy your music to or from your device, no matter what format the music is in.

Playing Music from your Digital Audio Player

To play music from your digital audio player, simply plug your player into your system. After the system recognizes the device, an icon is displayed in the left panel in Banshee.

Select the icon to display the music on your device in the right panel. Double-click the song you want to listen to.

Figure 20.7. Banshee MP3 Playback from a Nokia N810

To view or change device properties, right-click your device, then select Device Properties. From there, you can view various pieces of information. For example, if you have an iPod, you can update the owner's name.

Figure 20.8. Banshee iPod Device Properties

Adding Music to Your Digital Audio Player

To add tracks to your player, simply drag them from your Music Library to your device.

Banshee transparently supports the transcoding of your songs for any device. You can have your music library in any number of formats (including, but not limited to, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and AAC), and it will be transparently transcoded before it is sent to your digital audio player.

To remove tracks, select your device in the list of sources, right-click the song you want to delete, then click Delete from <device_name>.

Copying Music on Your Digital Audio Player to Banshee

Banshee supports the importing of music from a digital audio player to your music library. Simply drag and drop the songs from the digital audio player to your Music Library. You can also import all of the music on your digital audio player by right-clicking your player in the source list and selecting Import.

Figure 20.9. Importing Music from Your Digital Audio Player to Banshee

Synchronizing Your Library

To keep your digital audio player up to date with your Banshee Library, select your player in the source list, disable Manually manage this device, then click Synchronize in the upper right corner.

Banshee also synchronizes the ratings and cover art in your tracks to your iPod.

Creating Audio and MP3 CDs

Insert a blank CD into the CD or DVD drive.

Select the songs you want to burn, then click Edit+Write CD.

Click Burn. Brasero starts where you can set additional options. For more information about Brasero, see Chapter 23, Burning CDs and DVDs With Brasero.

You can track the status of the burn in the bottom left corner of Banshee. A message box appears when the burn is complete.

Click OK.

Sharing Your Music

You can automatically update your online Scrobbler profile with the music you listen to in Banshee. This lets others see what you are listening to, and gives you access to charts detailing your listening history. If you join groups such as the Banshee Group, you can also see what other people are listening to.

Before you can share your music, you need to enable the Srobbler plug-in and enable song reporting.

In Banshee, click Tools+Last.fm+Configure.

If you have already registered with Last.fm, click Enable song reporting, then specify your Last.fm username and password.

If you have not previously registered with Last.fm, click Create an account. This opens the Last.fm website, where you can register. Click Enable song reporting, then specify your Last.fm username and password.

Click Save and Log In. Banshee starts reporting with the next song you play.

After Scrobbler is configured, use the options on the Tools+Last.fm+Enable Song Reporting menu to enable or disable song reporting, visit your user profile Web page, or visit the Web site of any Scrobbler groups you belong to.

Configuring Banshee Preferences

Click Edit+Preferences.

For example, choose from the General tab:

Music Library

Specify a music folder location. This location is used when you import music. Click Copy files to music folder when importing to place a copy of the files you import in your Banshee music folder.

File System Organization

Determine folder hierarchy in the music library, and how filenames are displayed.

Miscellaneus

Disable features requiring Internet access.

For example, choose from the Audio CD tab:

Audio CD Importing

Determine encoding profiles for CD ripping. Select the output format you want, then click Edit to configure advanced options for that format.

Use error correction when importing

The error correction tries to work around problem areas on a disk, such as surface scratches, but can substantially slow down the time it takes to import.

In the Extensions tab enable or disable features such as Cover Art Fetching or Internet Radio.

Click Close to save your changes.

Chapter 21. Playing Videos with Totem

Totem is the default movie player for the GNOME desktop. Totem provides the following multimedia features:

Support for a variety of video and audio files

A variety of zoom levels and aspect ratios, and a full screen view

Seek and volume controls

Playlists

Complete keyboard navigation

Video thumbnailer for GNOME

Nautilus properties tab

To start Totem, click Computer+More Applications+Multimedia+Totem.

Using Totem

When you start Totem, the following window is displayed.

Figure 21.1. Totem Movie Player Start Up Window

Opening a Video or Audio File

Click Movie+Open.

Select the files you want to open, then click Add

You can also drag a file from another application (such as a file manager) to the Totem window. Totem opens the file and plays the movie or song. Totem displays the title of the movie or song beneath the display area and in the titlebar of the window.

Unrecognized File Format

If you try to open a file format that Totem Movie Player does not recognize, the application displays an error message and recommends a suitable codec.

You can double-click a video or audio file in the Nautilus file manager to open it in the Totem window by default.

Opening a Video or Audio File By URI Location

Click Movie+Open Location.

Specify the URI location of the file you want to open, then click Open.

Playing a DVD, VCD, or CD

To play a DVD, VCD, or CD, insert the disc in the optical device of your computer, then click Movie+Play Disc.

To eject a DVD, VCD, or CD, click Movie+Eject.

To pause a movie or song that is playing, click the Totem Pause button, or click Movie+Play/Pause. When you pause a movie or song, the statusbar displays Paused and the time elapsed on the current movie or song.

To resume playing a movie or song, click the Totem Play button, or click Movie+Play / Pause.

To view properties of a movie or song, click View+Sidebar to make the sidebar appear, then click Properties in the drop-down list. The dialog contains the title, artist, year, and duration of movie or song, video dimensions, codec, framerate, and the audio bitrate.

Seeking Through Movies or Songs

To seek through movies or songs, use any of the following methods:

To skip forward

To skip forward, click Go+Skip Forward.

To skip backward

To skip backward, click Go+Skip Backward.

To move to next movie or song

To move to the next one, click Go+Next Chapter/Movie, or click the Totem Next button.

To move to previous movie or song

To move to the previous movie or song, click Go+Previous Chapter/Movie, or click the Totem Previous button.

Changing the Zoom Factor

To change the zoom factor of the display area, use any of the following methods:

To zoom to full screen mode

Click View+Fullscreen. To exit fullscreen mode, click the Leave Fullscreen button or press Esc.

To zoom to half size (50%) of the original movie or visualization

Click View+Fit Window to Movie+Resize 1:2.

To zoom to size (100%) of the original movie or visualization

Click View+Fit Window to Movie+Resize 1:1.

To zoom to double size (200%) of the original movie or visualization

Click View+Fit Window to Movie +Resize 2:1.

To switch between different aspect ratios, click View+Aspect Ratio. The supported aspect ratios include:

Auto

Square

4:3 (TV)

16:9 (Widescreen)

2.11:1 (DVB)

The default aspect ratio is Auto.

Showing or Hiding Controls

To hide Totem window controls, click View+Show Controls and deselect the Show Controls option. To show the controls on the Totem Movie Player window, right-click the window, then select Show Controls.If the Show Controls option is selected, Totem Movie Player shows the menubar, time elapsed slider, seek control buttons, volume slider, and statusbar on the window. If the Show Controls option is not selected, the application hides these controls and shows only the display area.

Managing Playlists

To show the playlist, click View+Sidebar, then click Playlist at the top of the sidebar. The Playlist dialog box is displayed.

You can use the Playlist dialog box to do the following:

To add a track or movie:  Click the Add button. Select the file you want to add to the playlist, then click OK

To remove a track or movie:  Select the filenames from the filename list box, then click Remove.

To save a playlist to file:  Click the Save button, then specify a filename

To move a track or movie up the playlist:  Select the filename from the filename list box, then click the Up button.

To move a track or movie down the playlist:  Select the filename from the filename list box, then click the Down button

To hide the playlist, click View+Sidebar, or click the Sidebar button.

To enable or disable repeat mode, click Edit+Repeat Mode. To enable or disable shuffle mode, click Edit+Shuffle Mode.

Choosing Subtitles

To choose the language of the subtitles, click View+Subtitles, then select the subtitles language you want to display.

To disable the display of subtitles, click View+Subtitles+None.

By default, Totem Movie Player chooses the same language for the subtitles that you use on your computer.

Totem Movie Player automatically loads and displays subtitles if the file that contains them has the same name as the video file and has an asc, txt, sub, smi, or ssa file extension.

Taking Screenshots

To take a screenshot of a movie or a visualization of song that is playing, click Edit+Take Screenshot. You can save a screenshot to either of the following:

File:  Select Save screenshot to file, then click the Browse button to specify a filename.

Desktop:  Select Save screenshot to the desktop.

Modifying Totem Movie Player Preferences

To modify Totem Movie Player preferences, click Edit+Preferences. You can modify the following:

General Preferences

The Totem General Preferences let you select a network connection speed, specify a TV-out connection type, and change the font and encoding used to display subtitles.

Figure 21.2. Totem General Preferences

General Preferences include the following:

Networking

Select network connection speed from the Connection speed drop-down list box.

Text Subtitles

Lets you change the font and encoding used to display subtitles.

Display Preferences

The Totem Display Preferences let you choose to automatically resize the window when a new video is loaded, change the color balance, and configure visual effects when an audio file is played.

Figure 21.3. Totem Display Preferences

Display Preferences include the following:

Automatically resize the window when a new video is loaded

Select this option if you want Totem Movie Player to automatically resize the window when a new video is loaded.

Also disable the screensaver when playing audio

Select this option if you want Totem Movie Player to automatically disable the desktop screensaver while an audio file is playing.

Visual Effects

You can choose to show visual effects when an audio file is playing, select the type of visualization you want to show, and the visualization size.

Color Balance

Specify the level of color brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue.

Audio Preferences

The Totem Audio Preferences dialog box lets you select the audio output type.

Figure 21.4. Totem Audio Preferences

Chapter 22. Burning CDs and DVDs With K3b

Abstract

K3b is a comprehensive KDE program for writing data and audio CDs and DVDs. Start the program from the main menu or by entering the command k3b. The following sections brief you on how to start a basic burning process.

Creating a Data CD or DVD

To create a data CD or DVD, proceed as follows:

Select File+New Project+New Data Project. The project view appears in the lower part of the window.

Drag and drop the desired files and directories from the file list to the project folder.

Save the project under a name of your choice with File+Save as.

Select Project+Burn from the menu or hit Ctrl+B. A dialog opens with four tabs offering various options for writing the CD or DVD (see Figure 22.1.)

Figure 22.1. Customizing the Burning Process

Select the Burn Medium. The detected medium and writer are displayed under this pop-up menu. If you have more than one writer installed, choose which one you want to use here.

Choose the burning speed, usually Auto.

Select the Writing Speed with Care

Normally, you should select Auto, which chooses the maximum writing speed possible. However, if you increase this value but your system is not able to send the data fast enough, you possibly get faulty disks due to buffer underruns. If you get these kind of errors, choose a lower writing speed to be on the safe side.

Set the name of the medium under Filesystem+Volume Name. If you need more detailed information, set your additional data with More fields.... In most cases you can leave the options as there is.

Start the process with Burn.

Creating an Audio CD

Basically, there are no significant differences between creating an audio CD and creating a data CD. Proceed as follows:

Select File+New Audio CD Project from the main menu.

Drag and drop the individual audio tracks to the project folder. The audio data must be in WAV or Ogg Vorbis format. Determine the sequence of the tracks by moving them up or down in the project folder.

If necessary, change the start and end offset of the audio source. Right-click and choose Edit Source.... Correct the start and end offset and proceed with Ok.

Click Burn to open the dialog window.

Specify the parameters to adjust burning speed and other options. When burning audio CDs, choose a lower burning speed to reduce the risk of burning errors and improve longevity of your media.

When you mix your audio CD with tracks from different albums, in most cases recording levels vary. You can adjust the volume in the Advanced tab with the Normalize volume levels option.

Start the actual burning process using Burn.

The previous procedure is useful in most cases. However, you can improve your audio CD with the help of CD Text. With the help of CD Text, you are able to add certain text information to a CD (such as CD title, artist name, and track name). CD players that support this feature can read and display this information. To add CD text information to your audio tracks, select the track first. Right-click and select Properties and enter your information in the window that opens. You can also download track information from the Internet by clicking Query Cddb.

Copying a CD or DVD

To copy a CD or DVD, proceed as follows:

Insert the medium you want to copy.

Click Tools+Copy Medium... from the main menu. A dialog box appears as shown in Figure 22.2.

Figure 22.2. Copying a Medium

Specify the source drive you want to copy.

Check Create image to cache data to the hard disk before writing them on a target medium.

Check Only create image to create an image in the path specified in the Image tab in the Write Image Files To option and burn the image later.

Click Start to begin with the process.

Writing ISO Images

If you already have an ISO image, go to Tools+Burn Image or Tools+Burn DVD ISO Image. Enter the location of the Image to Burn in the window that opens. K3b calculates a check sum and displays it in MD5 Sum. Make sure to compare the ISO files you downloaded from the Internet with the MD5 sum provided by the source of the image. If the sums are different, the image has not been downloaded correctly.

Choose the medium and writer to use in Burn Medium. Select the writing speed. Set your preferences, such as number of copies in Settings. Use the tool tip to display a short note. To burn the disk, click Start.

Creating a Multisession CD or DVD

Multisession disks can be used to write data in more than one burning session. This is useful, for example, for writing backups that are smaller than the media. In each session, you can add another backup file. The interesting part is that you are not only limited to data CDs or DVDs. You can also add audio sessions to a multisession disk.

About Storage Space on Multisession Disks

Be aware that multisession disks need space to keep an account of all the entries from your sessions. This leads to a smaller amount of available space on your disk. The amount depends on the number of sessions.

To start a new multisession disk, do the following:

Create your data disk first as described in Section “Creating a Data CD or DVD” and add all your files. You cannot start with an audio CD session. Make sure that you do not fill up the entire disk, because otherwise you cannot append a new session.

Click Import Session.

Start the burning session with Burn.

After a successful burning process, you have created a multisession disk. As long as the media contains enough space, you can append more sessions if you like. Finish disks with Finish Multisession (in the multisession tab) only if you are sure you do not need any new sessions or the space is occupied.

For More Information

Apart from the functions described above, K3b offers other functions, such as ripping music from audio CDs, rewriting CDs, and more. You can find more informations about K3b at http://k3b.org/.

Chapter 23. Burning CDs and DVDs With Brasero

Abstract

Brasero is a GNOME program for writing data and audio CDs and DVDs. Start the program from the main menu or by entering the command brasero. The following sections brief you on how to start a basic burning process to get your first Linux-made CD or DVD.

Creating a Data CD or DVD

After starting Brasero for the first time, the main window appears as shown in Figure 23.1.

Figure 23.1. Main View of Brasero

To create a CD or DVD, proceed as follows:

Click Data project or select Project+New Project+New Data Project... from the main menu. The project view appears.

Drag and drop the desired directories or individual files either from your file manager or by clicking on Add. To show your directory structure directly in Brasero, select View+Show Side Panel.

Save the project under a name of your choice with Project+Save As....

Name your medium. The original label is Data disc (...).

Choose the method: on CD/DVD, or in an ISO image file.

Click Burn.... A new dialog box appears, depending on what type you have selected in the last step:

CD/DVD.  You can define some parameters. like the burning speed or where to store temporary files. Futhermore, Brasero lets you activate, if you want to burn it directly and eject the medium after burning.

ISO Image.  You can decide how to name your ISO image file.

Start the process with Burn.

Creating an Audio CD

Basically, there are no significant differences between creating an audio CD and creating a data CD. Proceed as follows:

Click Audio Project or select Project+New Project+New Audio Project from the main menu. The project view appears.

Drag and drop the individual audio tracks to the project folder. The audio data must be in WAV or Ogg Vorbis format. Determine the sequence of the tracks by moving them up or down in the project folder.

Name your audio CD. The textfield is under the project folder.

Click Burn to open the Disc burning setup dialog box.

Specify the parameters to adjust burning speed and other options. When burning audio CDs, choose a lower burning speed to reduce the risk of burning errors.

Click Burn.

Copying a CD or DVD

To copy a CD or DVD, proceed as follows:

Click Disc Copy or select Project+New Project+Copy Disc... from the main menu. The CD/DVD copy options dialog box opens.

Specify the source drive you want to copy.

Specify a drive or image file to write to.

If necessary, change the burning speed, the temporary directory and other options in Properties.

Click Copy.

Writing ISO Images

If you already have an ISO image, click on Burn image or go to Project+New Project+Burn Image.... Choose the medium and writer and change parameters, if necessary, by clicking Properties. Choose the location of the image file with the popup menu, labeled Path. Start the burning process and click Burn.

Creating a Multisession CD or DVD

Multisession discs can be used to write data in more than one burning session. This is useful, for example, for writing backups that are smaller than the media. In each session, you can add another backup file. One note of interest is that you are not only limited to data CDs or DVDs. You can also add audio sessions in a multisession disc.

To start a new multisession disc, do the following:

Start with a data disc first as described in Section “Creating a Data CD or DVD”. You cannot start with an audio CD session. Make sure that you do not fill up the entire disc, because otherwise you cannot append a new session.

Click Burn. The Disc Burning Setup opens.

Verify if Leave the disc open to add other files later is checked to make the disc multisession capable. Configure other options if needed.

Start the burning session with Burn.

At any later time, reinsert the CD/DVD and choose a new data project.

Import the last session with Edit+Import .... All the files from the previous sessions are shown in the project folder in gray.

Append files and directory as described in Section “Creating a Data CD or DVD”.

Start the next session with Burn.

For More Information

Find more information about Brasero at http://www.gnome.org/projects/brasero/.

Part VII. Appendix

Chapter 24. Getting to Know Linux Software

Linux* comes with a wealth of applications, often offering more than one solution to specific needs. The difficulty is finding the application that suits your needs best. The next few sections introduce some of the most powerful Linux counterparts of common Windows software. Each section is dedicated to one particular field of application and presents an overview of the Windows applications and Linux equivalents for several tasks. Below each table, find further information about the Linux applications with links to more information. This list is by no means complete, because software development is an evolutionary process and new applications are constantly being created.

Applications not Installed by Default

Not all applications mentioned below are installed on your system by default and some may not be shipped with your product. If the application you want to use is missing, ask your system administrator. If the application is provided by your product, you can install it with YaST. Use the search function of the YaST software management tool to find the name of the wanted package.

Office Applications

This section features the most popular and powerful Linux office and business software solutions. These include office suites, databases, accounting software, and project management software.

Table 24.1. Office Software for Windows and Linux

Task

Windows Application

Linux Application

Office Suite

Microsoft* Office

OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, KOffice

Word Processor

Microsoft Word, WordPerfect

OpenOffice.org, StarOffice Writer, KWord

Spreadsheet

Microsoft Excel

OpenOffice.org, StarOffice Calc, Gnumeric, KSpread

Presentation

Microsoft PowerPoint

OpenOffice.org, StarOffice Impress, KPresenter

Data Plotting

Microsoft Excel

OpenOffice.org, Calc, Kst, Gnuplot, Grace (Xmgr), LabPlot

Local Database

Microsoft Access

OpenOffice.org, Base, Rekall, kexi, Mergeant, PostgreSQL

Financial Accounting

Microsoft Money, Quicken

GnuCash, KMyMoney

Project Management

Microsoft Project

Planner, Taskjuggler

Mind Mapping

MindManager, Free Mind

VYM (View Your Mind), Free Mind, KDissert

Office Suites

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a stable open source equivalent to Microsoft Office including a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), a database manager (Base), a presentation manager (Impress), a drawing program (Draw), and a formula editor for generating mathematical equations and formulas (Math). The user interface is similar to the Microsoft Office suite. For more details, see http://www.openoffice.org/ or read Chapter 1, The OpenOffice.org Office Suite.

StarOffice

StarOffice, a proprietary office suite software developed by Sun Microsystems, is similar to OpenOffice.org. It is available on multiple platforms like Linux, Windows and Solaris. It contains the same modules as the OpenOffice.org suite. It also includes certain advanced features not available with the open source version. For more details, see http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/.

KOffice

KOffice is the fully integrated office suite designed for the KDE desktop. It comes with various modules, like word processing (KWord), spreadsheets (KSpread), presentations (Kpresenter), several image processing applications (Kivio, Karbon14, Krita), a database front-end (Kexi) and many other applications. For more details, see http://www.koffice.org/.

Word Processing

Writer

Writer is the stable word-processing and desktop publishing module of the OpenOffice.org and StarOffice. The StarOffice Writer features some advanced functionalities not available with OpenOffice.org. For more details, see http://www.openoffice.org/product/writer and http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice.

KWord

KWord is the stable frame-based word-processing module of the KOffice Suite. KWord's easy-to-use features help you to create professional looking documents and it can handle large amounts of texts. For more details, see http://www.koffice.org/kword/.

Spreadsheets

Calc

Calc is the spreadsheet and data plotting module of the OpenOffice.org and StarOffice suites. It is easy to learn and offers a wide range of features. For more details, see http://www.openoffice.org/product/calc.html and http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice.

KSpread

KSpread is the spreadsheet module of the KOffice Suite. It is a scriptable spreadsheet program which provides both table-oriented sheets and support for complex mathematical formulas and statistics. For more details see http://www.koffice.org/kspread/.

Gnumeric

Gnumeric is a spreadsheet solution for the GNOME desktop environment that can also read files created with other spreadsheets. It's built-in functions and tools are extremely accurate. For more details, see http://www.gnumeric.org.

Presentations

Impress

Impress is the presentation module of the OpenOffice.org and StarOffice suites. Impress lets you create multimedia presentations with 2D and 3D clip art, special effects, animation, and drawing tools. Impress can create PDF files from your presentations, and it is able to view, edit and save files in several file formats, including the *.ppt format, which is used by Microsoft PowerPoint. For more details, see http://www.openoffice.org/product/impress.html. and http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice.

KPresenter

KPresenter is the presentation module of the KOffice Suite. KPresenter can prepare complete sets of slides containing text and graphics in a variety of formats, and embed all sorts of objects. KPresenter is also able to load presentations from Microsoft PowerPoint, MagicPoint and OpenOffice.org Impress documents. For more details see http://www.koffice.org/kpresenter/.

Data Plotting

Calc

See Calc.

Gnuplot

Gnuplot is a very powerful and portable command line controlled data plotting software. It is also available for MacOS and Windows platforms. Plots created by Gnuplot can be exported to various formats, such as PostScript, PDF, and SVG, allowing you to process these plots easily. For more details see http://www.gnuplot.info/index.html.

Grace

Grace is a 2D plotting tool for many platforms including Linux. It can create and edit plots with a graphical user interface. Grace supports an unlimited number of graphs per plot. For more details, see http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/

Kst

Kst is the data plotting module for the KOffice suite. It allows for real-time data viewing and plotting with basic data analysis. For more details, see http://kst.kde.org/.

LabPlot

LabPlot is a plotting tool for creating and managing 2D or 3D data plots and was written for KDE. Graphs can be produced both from data and functions and one plot may include multiple graphs. It also offers various data analysis methods. For more details, see http://labplot.sourceforge.net/.

Local Databases

Base

Base is the database module of the OpenOffice.org and StarOffice suites. It can be used to create “self-contained” database documents with all relevant data, table definitions, reports, and forms. For more details, see http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html and http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice.

Gnome-DB

GNOME-DB provides a unified data access architecture to GNOME. It is useful for any application that accesses persistent data. It consists of a data abstraction layer (Libgda), a database widget library and a database front-end (Mergeant). For more details, see http://www.gnome-db.org/.

Kexi

Kexi is an integrated data management application. It can be used for creating databases, inserting data, performing queries, and processing data. Forms can be created to provide a custom interface to your data. For more details, see http://www.koffice.org/kexi/.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, and user-defined types and functions. For more details, see http://www.postgresql.org/.

Rekall

Rekall is a database management tool that supports many database applications like MySQL,PostgreSQL and Xbase. Rekall can be used for many tasks such as reports, forms, queries and others. For more details, see http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/.

Financial Accounting

KmyMoney

KmyMoney is a personal financial manager for the KDE desktop. It enables users of open source operating systems to keep track of their personal finances and offers a broad array of financial features and tools. For more details, see http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net.

GnuCash

GnuCash is a software tool to control personal and business finances. It enables users to keep track of income and expenses and it is also used to manage bank accounts, and stock portfolios. For more details, see http://www.gnucash.org/.

Project Management

Planner

Planner is a project management tool for the GNOME desktop aiming to provide functionality similar to the project management tools used under Windows. Amongst its features are Gantt charting and different display types for tasks and resources. For more details see http://www.imendio.com/projects/planner/.

Taskjuggler

Taskjuggler is a project management tool that enables the user to control projects using Gantt charting features. It can also be used to generate reports in different formats (XML, HTML or CSV). Taskjuggler can be controlled from the command line but also offers a graphical front-end. For more details see http://www.taskjuggler.net.

Mind Mapping

FreeMind

FreeMind is a mind-mapping like tool for structuring ideas, thoughts and concepts. It can copy nodes (or the style of nodes) and paste texts from sources such as HTML, RTF, and mails. The mind maps can be exported into various formats, such as HTML and XML. For more details, see http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page.

VYM

VYM (View Your Mind) is a mind-mapping like tool for structuring ideas, thoughts and concepts. VYM mind maps are created in XML which can be exported to HTML. For more details see http://insilmaril.de/vym.

Semantik

Semantik (previously KDissert) is a mindmapping-like tool for structuring idea. Users can generate various outputs from the mind map, such as PDF files, text documents and HTML files. For more details see http://freehackers.org/~tnagy/kdissert/.

Network

The following section features various Linux applications for networking purposes. Get to know the most popular Linux browsers and e-mail and chat clients.

Table 24.2. Network Software for Windows and Linux

Task

Windows Application

Linux Application

Web Browser

Internet Explorer, Firefox*, Opera

Konqueror, Firefox, Opera, Epiphany

E-Mail Client/Personal Information Management

Microsoft Outlook*, Lotus Notes, Mozilla Thunderbird*

Evolution, Kontact, Mozilla Thunderbird

Instant Messaging/IRC Clients

MSN, AIM*, Yahoo!* Messenger, XChat, Gaim

Gaim, Empathy, Kopete, Konversation, XChat

Conferencing (Video and Audio)

NetMeeting, LifeMeeting

Ekiga

Voice over IP

X-Lite

Ekiga, Skype

FTP Clients

leechftp, wsftp

gftp, kbear

Browsers

Epiphany

Epiphany is a lean, but powerful Web browser for the GNOME desktop. Many of its features and extensions are similar to Firefox. For more details, see http://projects.gnome.org/epiphany/.

Firefox

Firefox is a Web browser that runs on various platforms, including Linux, MacOS, and Windows. Its main features include customizable searches, pop-up blocking, RSS news feeds, password management, tabbed browsing, and some advanced security and privacy options. For more details, see http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ or read Chapter 14, Browsing with Firefox.

Konqueror

Konqueror is a multiple application created for the KDE desktop. It acts as web browser, file manager and document viewer. It supports most common web standards, such as CSS(2), Java applets, JavaScript and Netscape plug-ins, DOM, and SSL. For more details, see http://www.konqueror.org/ or read Chapter 13, Browsing with Konqueror.

Opera

Opera is a powerful web browser with an optional e-mail client and a chat module. Opera offers pop-up blocking, RSS feeds, built-in and customizable searches, a password manager, and tabbed browsing. For more details see http://www.opera.com/.

E-Mail Client / Personal Information Management

Evolution

Evolution is a personal information management application for the GNOME desktop. It includes e-mail, calendar, and address book functionalities. For more details, see http://projects.gnome.org/evolution/ftp or read Chapter 6, Evolution: E-mailing and Calendaring.

Kontact

Kontact is the personal information management suite for the KDE desktop. It includes e-mail, calendar, address book and Palm sync functionalities. For more details, see http://www.kontact.org/ or read Chapter 5, Kontact: E-Mailing and Calendaring.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is the e-mail client of the Mozilla suite. It is also available for Microsoft Windows and MacOS. For more details, see http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/.

Instant Messaging / IRC Clients

Empathy

Empathy is an instant messenger tool for the GNOME desktop. It consists of a rich set of reusable instant messaging widgets, and a GNOME client. For more details, see http://live.gnome.org/Empathy .

Konversation

Konversation is the IRC client of the KDE desktop with many functionalities. For more details, see http://konversation.kde.org.

Kopete

Kopete is an easy-to-use instant messenger tool supporting many protocols. For more details, see http://kopete.kde.org/ or read Chapter 10, Instant Messaging with Kopete.

Pidgin

Pidgin (previously Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client supporting many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various different services from a single application. For more details, see http://pidgin.im/ or read Chapter 11, Instant Messaging with Pidgin.

VoIP, Video and Audio Conferencing

Ekiga

Ekiga (previously GNOMEMeeting) is a free and open source video conferencing and VoIP application. Ekiga supports both the SIP and H.323 protocols, and is fully interoperable with Microsoft NetMeeting and LifeMeeting. For more details see http://www.ekiga.org/ or read Chapter 12, Using Voice over IP with Ekiga.

Skype

Skype is an application for several platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac Os X) that can be used for phone calls over the Internet with a good sound quality and with end-to-end encryption. When using Skype, configuring the firewall or router is not necessary. For more details, see http://www.skype.com/. Information on Skype and openSUSE is avaiable from http://en.opensuse.org/Skype_HOWTO.

FTP Clients

gftp

gftp is an FTP client using the GTK toolkit. Its features include simultaneous downloads, resume of interrupted file transfers, file transfer queues, download of entire directories, FTP proxy support, remote directory caching, passive and nonpassive file transfers, and drag and drop support. For more details, see http://gftp.seul.org/ or read Chapter 15, Transferring Data From the Internet.

KBear

KBear is a graphical FTP client that can connect to multiple hosts simultaneously. The user can copy or move files or directories between the hosts by drag and drop or cut and paste. It also has a dynamic site database. For more details, see http://sourceforge.net/projects/kbear/.

Multimedia

The following section introduces the most popular multimedia applications for Linux. Get to know media players, sound editing solutions, and video editing tools.

Table 24.3. Multimedia Software for Windows and Linux

Task

Windows Application

Linux Application

Audio CD Player

CD Player, Winamp, Windows Media Player

KsCD, Amarok, Grip, Banshee

CD Burner

Nero, Roxio Easy CD Creator

K3b

CD Ripper

WMPlayer

KAudioCreator, Sound Juicer

Audio Player

Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes

Amarok, XMMS, Rhythmbox

Video Player

Winamp, Windows Media Player

Kaffeine, MPlayer, Xine, XMMS, Totem, RealPlayer

Audio Editor

SoundForge, Cooledit, Audacity

Audacity

Sound Mixer

sndvol32

alsamixer, Kmix

Music Notation

Finale, SmartScore, Sibelius

LilyPond, MusE, Noteedit, Rosegarden

Video Creator and Editor

Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere, Media Studio Pro

Kino

TV Viewer

AVerTV, PowerVCR 3.0, CinePlayer DVR

xawtv, motv (analog), tvtime, kdetv, zapping, Kaffeine

Media Players

Amarok

Amarok is a powerful media player for the KDE desktop. It handles various audio formats and plays streaming audio broadcasts of radio stations on the Internet. For more details, see http://amarok.kde.org/ or read Section “Amarok Music Player”.

Banshee

Banshee is a media player that can encode and decode various media formats. Banshee can play, import, and burn audio CDs. For more details, see http://banshee-project.org/ or read Chapter 20, Playing and Managing Your Music with Banshee.

Grip

Grip is a CD-player and ripper for the GNOME desktop. It has the ripping capabilities of cdparanoia built in, but can also use external rippers. For more details, see http://www.nostatic.org/grip/.

Kaffeine

Kaffeine is a multimedia application that supports many audio and video formats. For more details, see http://kaffeine.kde.org/.

KsCD

KsCD is a CD player application for the KDE desktop. Its user interface is very similar to that of a normal hardware CD player. For more details, see http://docs.kde.org/en/3.3/kdemultimedia/kscd/.

MPlayer

MPlayer supports many media formats and can also save all streamed content to a file. For more details, see http://www.mplayerhq.hu/.

RealPlayer

RealPlayer is a proprietary cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats. For more details, see http://uk.real.com/player/.

Totem

Totem is the default multimedia player for the GNOME computer desktop environment. Totem is fully integrated with GNOME Nautilus. For more details, see http://projects.gnome.org/totem/ or read Chapter 21, Playing Videos with Totem.

Xine

Xine is a multimedia player for Linux that supports different front-end player applications. Another important feature is the ability to manually correct the synchronization of audio and video streams. For more details, see http://xinehq.de/.

XMMS

The X Multimedia System 2 (XMMS2) is an audio player for Linux systems that supports audio and video formats. For more details, see http://wiki.xmms2.xmms.se/wiki/Main_Page/.

CD Burners

Banshee

See above for Banshee.

Brasero

Brasero is a disc-burning program for the GNOME Desktop allowing users to burn audio and data CD/DVDs on the fly. For more details, see http://projects.gnome.org/brasero/ or read Chapter 23, Burning CDs and DVDs With Brasero.

K3b

K3b is a CD and DID authoring application for the KDE desktop environment for Unix-like computer operating systems. It provides a graphical user interface to perform most CD/DVD burning tasks and contains a built-in DID ripper. For more details, see http://www.k3b.org/ or read Chapter 22, Burning CDs and DVDs With K3b.

CD Rippers

Grip

See above for Grip.

KAudioCreator

KAudioCreator is a front-end tool for ripping audio CDs and encoding WAVE files. For more details, see http://www.icefox.net/programs/?program=KAudioCreator.

Sound Juicer

Sound Juicer is a front-end application to the cdparanoia CD ripping library. It allows the user to extract audio output from compact discs and convert it into audio files that a personal computer or digital audio player can understand and play. It supports ripping to many audio codecs. For more details, see http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/sound-juicer.

Audio Editors

Audacity

Audacity is a digital audio editor application. Its cross-platform allows users to mix tracks, apply effects to them, and export the results to WAV or Ogg Vorbis. For more details, see http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.

Sound Mixers

ALSA mixer

ALSA mixer is the mixer program for the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). It is used to configure sound settings and to adjust the volume. It has an ncurses user interface and does not require the X Window System. It supports multiple sound cards with multiple devices. For more details, see http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page.

Music Notation

LilyPond

LilyPond is a music sheet editor. Because the input format is text- based, the user can work with any text editor to create note sheets. Users do not need to tackle any formatting or notation issues, like spacing, line-breaking, or polyphonic collisions. For more details, see http://lilypond.org/web/.

MusE

MusE is at the moment a MIDI/Audio sequencer with recording and editing capabilities. The project works on a complete multitrack virtual studio for Linux. For more details, see http://www.muse-sequencer.org/.

Noteedit

Noteedit is a powerful score editor for Linux. It creates sheets of notes and exports and import scores to and from many formats. It features a graphical user interface. For more details, see http://noteedit.berlios.de/.

Rosegarden

Rosegarden is a free music composition and editing environment. It features an audio and MIDI sequencer and a score editor. For more details, see http://rosegardenmusic.com/.

Video Creators and Editors

Kino

Kino is an easy and reliable digital video editor with export to many formats. The program supports many basic video editing and assembling tasks. It captures video to disk in Raw DIV, AVI, and Quicktime formats. For more details, see http://www.kinodv.org.

TV Viewers and Editors

xawtv

xawtv is a TV viewer and recorder suite. It supports both analog and digital audio and video broadcasts using either a TV tuner or a Satellite receiver card DB-S. For more details, see http://linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/.

kdetv

kdetv is a TV viewer and recorder application for the KDE desktop supporting TV using a tuner card. For more details, see http://www.kdetv.org.

Graphics

The following section presents some of the Linux software solutions for graphics work. These include simple drawing applications as well as fully-fledged image editing tools and powerful rendering and animation programs.

Table 24.4. Graphics Software for Windows and Linux

Task

Windows Application

Linux Application

Simple Graphic Editing

Microsoft Paint

KolourPaint

Professional Graphic Editing

Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Corel PhotoPaint, GIMP

GIMP, Krita

Creating Vector Graphics

Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Freehand

OpenOffice.org Draw, Inkscape, Dia

SVG Editing

WebDraw, Freehand, Adobe Illustrator

Inkscape, Dia, Kivio

Creating 3D Graphics

3D Studio MAX, Maya, POV-Ray, Blender

POV-Ray, Blender, KPovmodeler

Managing Digital Photographs

Software provided by the camera manufacturer

DigiKam, f-spot

Scanning

Vuescan

Vuescan, GIMP

Image Viewing

ACDSee

gwenview, gThumb, Eye of Gnome, f-spot

Blender

Blender is a powerful rendering and animation tool available on many platforms, including Windows, MacOS, and Linux. For more details see http://www.blender.org/.

Dia

Dia is the Linux equivalent of Visio. It supports many types of special diagrams, such as network or UML charts. Export formats include SVG, PNG, and EPS. To support your own custom diagram types, provide the new shapes in a special XML format. For more details see http://projects.gnome.org/dia/.

digiKam

digiKam is a smart digital photo management tool for the KDE desktop. Create albums, add tags to spare you from copying images around different subdirectories, and eventually export your images to your own Web site. For more details see http://www.digikam.org/ or read Chapter 17, Managing Your Digital Image Collection with DigiKam.

Eye of Gnome (eog)

Eye of Gnome is an image viewer application for the GNOME desktop. For more details, see http://projects.gnome.org/eog/.

f-spot

f-spot is a flexible digital photograph management tool for the GNOME desktop. It lets you create and manage albums and supports various export options like HTML pages or the burning of image archives to CD. You can also use it as an image viewer on the command line. For more details, see http://f-spot.org/Main_Page or read Chapter 18, Managing Your Digital Image Collection with F-Spot.

gThumb

gThumb is an image viewer, browser and organizer for the GNOME desktop. It supports the import of your digital images via gphoto2, allows you to carry out basic transformation and modifications, and lets you tag your images to create albums matching certain categories. For more details, see http://gthumb.sourceforge.net/.

Gwenview

Gwenview is a simple image viewer for KDE. It features a folder tree window and a file list window that provides the easy navigation of your file hierarchy. For more details, see http://gwenview.sourceforge.net/home/.

Inkscape

Inkscape is a free SVG editor. Users of Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, and Visio can find a similar range of features and a familiar user interface in Inkscape. Among its features, find SVG-to-PNG export, layering, transforms, gradients, and grouping of objects. For more details, see http://www.inkscape.org/.

Kivio

Kivio is a flow-charting application that integrates into the KOffice suite. Former users of Visio find a familiar look and feel in Kivio. For more details, see http://www.koffice.org/kivio/.

KolourPaint

KolourPaint is an easy-to-use paint program for the KDE desktop. You can use it for tasks such as painting or drawing diagrams and editing screen shots, photos, and icons. For more details, see http://kolourpaint.sourceforge.net/.

KPovmodeler

KPovmodeler is a POV-Ray front-end that integrates with the KDE desktop. KPovmodeler does not require a detailed knowledge of POV-Ray scripting because it translates the POV-Ray language into an easy-to-understand tree view. Native POV-Ray scripts can be imported to KPovmodeler as well. For more details, see http://www.kpovmodeler.org.

Krita

Krita is KOffice's answer to Adobe Photoshop and GIMP. It can be used for pixel-based image creation and editing. Its features include many of the advanced image editing capabilities you would normally expect with Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. For more details, see http://www.koffice.org/krita.

OpenOffice.org Draw

See OpenOffice.org.

POV-Ray

POV-Ray (Persistence of Vision Raytracer) creates three-dimensional, photo-realistic images using a rendering technique called ray tracing. Because there is a Windows version of POV-Ray, it does not take much for Windows users to switch to the Linux version of this application. For more details, see http://www.povray.org/.

GIMP

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open source equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. It is a raster graphics editor used to process digital graphics and photographs. For more details, see http://www.gimp.org/ or read Chapter 16, Manipulating Graphics with GIMP.

VueScan

VueScan is a scanning software available for several platforms. You can install it parallel to your vendor's scanner software. It supports the scanner's special hardware, like batch scanning, autofocus, infrared channels for dust and scratch suppression, and multiscan to reduce scanner noise in the dark areas of slides. It features simple and accurate color correction. For more details, see http://www.hamrick.com/vsm.html.

System and File Management

The following section provides an overview of Linux tools for system and file management. Get to know text and source code editors, backup solutions, and archiving tools.

Table 24.5. System and File Management Software for Windows and Linux

Task

Windows Application

Linux Application

File Manager

Windows Explorer

Dolphin, Nautilus, Konqueror

Text Editor

NotePad, WordPad, (X)Emacs

kate, GEdit, (X)Emacs, vim

PDF Creator

Adobe Distiller

Scribus

PDF Viewer

Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader, Evince, Okular, Xpdf

Text Recognition

Recognita, FineReader

GOCR

Command Line Pack Programs

zip, rar, arj, lha, etc.

zip, tar, gzip, bzip2, etc.

GUI Based Pack Programs

WinZip

Ark, File Roller

Hard Disk Partitioner

PowerQuest, Acronis, Partition Commander

YaST, GNU Parted

Backup Software

ntbackup, Veritas

KDar, taper, dump

Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader for Linux is the exact counterpart of the Windows and Mac versions of this application. The look and feel on Linux are the same as on other platforms. The other parts of the Adobe Acrobat suite have not been ported to Linux. For more details, see http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.

Ark

Ark is a GUI-based pack program for the KDE desktop and supports common formats. You can view, select, pack, and unpack single files within an archive. For more details, read “Displaying, Decompressing, and Creating Archives” (Chapter “Working with Your Desktop”, ↑KDE User Guide).

Dolphin

Dolphin is the default file manager for KDE 4. Dolphin offers several view modes, file previews and split views. For more details, see http://dolphin.kde.org/ or read “Using Dolphin File Manager” (Chapter “Working with Your Desktop”, ↑KDE User Guide).

dump

The dump package contains both dump and restore. dump examines files in a file system, determines which ones need to be backed up, and copies those files to a specified disk, tape, or other storage medium. The restore command performs the inverse function of dump—it can restore a full backup of a file system. For more details, see http://dump.sourceforge.net/.

Evince

Evince is a document viewer for PDF and PostScript formats for the GNOME desktop. For more details, see http://www.gnome.org/projects/evince/.

File Roller

File Roller is a GUI-based pack program for the GNOME desktop. It provides features similar to Ark's. For more details, see http://fileroller.sourceforge.net/home.html.

GEdit

GEdit is the official text editor of the GNOME desktop. It provides features similar to Kate's. For more details, see http://www.gnome.org/projects/gedit/.

GNU Parted

GNU Parted is a command line tool for creating, deleting, resizing, checking, and copying partitions and the file systems on them. If you need to create space for new operating systems, use this tool to reorganize disk usage and copy data between different hard disks. For more details, see http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/.

GOCR

GOCR is an OCR (optical character recognition) tool. It converts scanned images of text into text files. For more details, see http://jocr.sourceforge.net/.

gzip, tar, bzip2

There are plenty of packaging programs for reducing disk usage. In general, they differ only in their pack algorithm. Linux can also handle the packaging formats used on Windows. bzip2 is a bit more efficient than gzip, but needs more time, depending on the pack algorithm. For more details about gzip and tar, refer to “File Administration” (Chapter “Shell Basics”, ↑Start-Up).

Kate

Kate is a module of the KDE suite. It has the ability to open several files at once either locally or remotely. With syntax highlighting, project file creation, and external scripts execution, it is a perfect tool for a programmer. For more details, see http://www.kate-editor.org/.

KDar

KDar stands for KDE disk archiver and is a hardware-independent backup solution. KDar uses catalogs (unlike tar), so it is possible to extract a single file without reading the whole archive and it is also possible to create incremental backups. KDar can split an archive into multiple slices and trigger the burning of a data CD or DVD for each slice. For more details, see http://kdar.sourceforge.net/.

Konqueror

Konqueror is a file manager that can also be used as a Web browser, document and image viewer, and CD ripper. For more details, see http://www.konqueror.org/ or read Chapter 13, Browsing with Konqueror to learn about Konqueror's Web browsing functions.

Nautilus

Nautilus is the default file manager of the GNOME desktop. It can be used to create folders and documents, display and manage your files and folders, run scripts, write data to a CD, and open URI locations. For more details, see http://www.gnome.org/projects/nautilus/ or read “Managing Folders and Files with Nautilus” (Chapter “Working with Your Desktop”, ↑GNOME User Guide).

Okular

Okular is the document viewer for KDE 4 which is replaces KPDF. Apart from PDF files, Okular allows you to view a great number of file formats. Its functionality can be easily embedded in other applications. For more details, see http://okular.kde.org/ or read “Viewing PDF Files and Other Documents with Okular” (↑KDE User Guide).

taper

Taper is a backup and restore program that provides a friendly user interface to allow backup and restoration of files to and from a tape drive. Conversely, files can be backed up to archive files. Recursively selected directories are supported. For more details, see at http://taper.sourceforge.net/.

vim

vim (vi improved) is a program similar to the text editor vi. Users may need time to adjust to vim, because it distinguishes between command mode and insert mode. The basic features are the same as in all text editors. vim offers some unique options, like macro recording, file format detection and conversion, and multiple buffers in a screen. For more details, see http://www.vim.org/.

GNU Emacs and XEmacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor. XEmacs is based on GNU Emacs. Both offer nearly the same functionality with minor differences. Used by experienced developers, they are highly extensible through the Emacs Lisp language. They support many languages, like Russian, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. For more details see http://www.xemacs.org/ and http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html.

Xpdf

Xpdf is lean PDF viewing suite for Linux and Unix-like platforms. It includes a viewer application and some export plug-ins for PostScript or text formats. For more details, see http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/.

Software Development

This section introduces Linux IDEs, toolkits, development tools, and versioning systems for professional software development.

Table 24.6. Development Software for Windows and Linux

Task

Windows Application

Linux Application

Integrated Development Environments

Borland C++, Delphi, Visual Studio, .NET

KDevelop, Eric, Eclipse, MonoDevelop, Anjuta

Toolkits

MFC, Qt, GTK+

Qt, GTK+

Compilers

VisualStudio

GCC

Debugging Tools

Visual Studio Debugger

GDB, Valgrind

GUI Design

Visual Basic, Visual C++

Glade, Qt Designer

Versioning Systems

Clearcase, Perforce, SourceSafe

CVS, Subversion

Anjuta

Anjuta is an IDE for GNOME/GTK+ application development. It includes an editor with automated formatting, code completion, and highlighting. As well as GTK+, it supports Perl, Pascal, and Java development. A GDB-based debugger is also included. For more details see http://anjuta.sourceforge.net.

CVS

CVS (Concurrent Versions System) is one of the most important version control systems for open source. It is a front-end to the Revision Control System (RCS) included in the standard Linux distributions. For more details, see http://ximbiot.com/cvs/.

Eclipse

The Eclipse Platform is designed for building integrated development environments that can be extended with custom plug-ins. The base distribution also contains a full-featured Java development environment. For more details, see http://www.eclipse.org.

Eric

Eric is an IDE optimized for Python and Python-Qt development. For more details, see http://www.die-offenbachs.de/eric/index.html.

GCC

GCC is a compiler collection with front-ends for various programming languages. Check out a complete list of features and find extensive documentation at http://gcc.gnu.org.

GDB

GDB is a debugging tool for programs written in various programming languages. For more details, see http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/gdb.html.

Glade

Glade is a user interface builder for GTK+ and GNOME development. As well as GTK+ support, it offers support for C, C++, C#, Perl, Python, Java, and others. For more details, see http://glade.gnome.org/.

GTK+

GTK+ is a multi platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is used for all GNOME applications, GIMP, and several others. GTK+ has been designed to support a range of languages, not only C/C++. Originally it was written for GIMP, hence the name “GIMP Toolkit.” For more details, see http://www.gtk.org. Language bindings for GTK+ are summarized under http://gtk.org/features.html#LanguageBindings.

KDevelop

KDevelop allows you to write programs for different languages (C/C++, Python, Perl, etc.). It includes a documentation browser, a source code editor with syntax highlighting, a GUI for the compiler, and much more. For more details, see http://www.kdevelop.org.

MonoDevelop

MonoDevelop is an open source integrated development environment for the Linux platform, primarily targeted for the development of software that uses both Mono and Microsoft .NET framework. MonoDevelop integrates features similar to that of Eclipse and Microsoft's Visual Studio such as Intellisense, source control integration, and an integrated GUI and Web designer. For more details, see http://www.monodevelop.com/.

Qt

Qt is a program library for developing applications with graphical user interfaces. It allows you to develop professional programs rapidly. For more details, see http://trolltech.com. Language bindings for Qt development are summarized under http://developer.kde.org/language-bindings/.

Qt Designer

Qt Designer is a user interface and form builder for Qt and KDE development. It can run as part of the KDevelop IDE or in stand-alone mode. QtDesigner can be run under Windows and even integrates into the Visual Studio development suite. For more details see http://trolltech.com/products/qt/designer.html.

Subversion

Subversion does the same thing CVS does but has major enhancements, like moving, renaming, and attaching meta information to files and directories. For more details, see http://subversion.tigris.org/.

Valgrind

Valgrind is a suite of programs for debugging and profiling x86 applications. For more details, see http://valgrind.org/.

Appendix A. GNU Licenses

This appendix contains the GNU General Public License and the GNU Free Documentation License.

GNU General Public License

Version 2, June 1991

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation’s software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author’s protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors’ reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed at all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

0.  This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The “Program”, below, refers to any such program or work, and a “work based on the Program” means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term “modification”.) Each licensee is addressed as “you”.

Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

1.  You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program’s source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.

2.  You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a).  You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

b).  You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.

c).  If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.

In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License.

3.  You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

a).  Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

b).  Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

c).  Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

4.  You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

5.  You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.

6.  Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients’ exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.

7.  If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.

If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.

It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.

This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this License.

8.  If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.

9.  The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and “any later version”, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

10.  If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

NO WARRANTY

11.  BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

12.  IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the “copyright” line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

one line to give the program’s name and an idea of what it does. Copyright (C) yyyy name of author

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
   as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
   of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
   GNU General Public License for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
   Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:

   Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
   Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details
   type `show w’. This is free software, and you are welcome
   to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c’
   for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w’ and `show c’ should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may be called something other than `show w’ and `show c’; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a “copyright disclaimer” for the program, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:

   Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright
   interest in the program `Gnomovision’
   (which makes passes at compilers) written
   by James Hacker.

   signature of Ty Coon, 1 April 1989
   Ty Coon, President of Vice

This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License.

GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.2, November 2002

Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

PREAMBLE

The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document “free” in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.

We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.

APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The “Document”, below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.

A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.

A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document’s overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.

The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.

The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.

A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.

Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.

The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, “Title Page” means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work’s title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.

A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, “Endorsements”, or “History”.) To “Preserve the Title” of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a section “Entitled XYZ” according to this definition.

The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

VERBATIM COPYING

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

COPYING IN QUANTITY

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.

If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.

It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.

MODIFICATIONS

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

A.  Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.

B.  List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.

C.  State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.

D.  Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.

E.  Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.

F.  Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.

G.  Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document’s license notice.

H.  Include an unaltered copy of this License.

I.  Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled “History” in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.

J.  Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the “History” section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.

K.  For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.

L.  Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.

M.  Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.

N.  Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.

O.  Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version’s license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

COMBINING DOCUMENTS

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise combine any sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”, and any sections Entitled “Dedications”. You must delete all sections Entitled “Endorsements”.

COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an “aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

TRANSLATION

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “History”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

TERMINATION

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License “or any later version” applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:

   Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME.
   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
   under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
   only as published by the Free Software Foundation;
   with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license.
   A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU
   Free Documentation License”.

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the “with...Texts.” line with this:

   with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the
   Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.