Getting Started with GNOME Desktop

GNOME Desktop is a graphical environment for everything you see on the screen, like the login and home screen. It also offers several applications you need for your daily tasks like mail client, calendar, file browser, and many more.

Certain versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server ship with as many as four different session configurations based on GNOME. These are:

The version described here is the default configuration of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, which is GNOME. The main difference between the configurations is the look and feel of the home screen and the main menu. Most of what is described in the following applies to all four configurations.

Note: Wayland vs. Xorg

Both are full-featured, open source implementations of the X Window System, which provides the foundational graphical interface for Unix-like operating systems, including Linux. Xorg is a mature, highly compatible, but complex solution. Whereas Wayland is newer, using a simpler architecture, but it does not yet offer the wide range of compatibility and maturity as Xorg. Both protocols have their strengths and weaknesses. The choice between them depends on specific needs, including hardware compatibility, performance requirements, and the specific applications being used.

In GNOME Desktop, you can find and open any application in the Activities overview. The settings of the desktop can be configured in the Application and System menu.

GNOME Desktop is a free, open source and easy-to-use desktop environment offering a variety of applications to help you organize and complete your daily tasks.

The Activities overview shows a preview of all open windows and icons for favorite and running applications. It also integrates searching and browsing functionality.

Figure 1: GNOME desktop with activities overview #

 

Click the clock icon on the top bar to see the current day of the week and time. If you are using the calendar function from Evolution, the Calendar itself or any other calendar application that is supported by Calendar, it also shows your upcoming appointments and notifications.

To customize your system settings, click the system menu in the top-right corner. Here you can quickly lock the screen, switch users or shut down your computer. For more information, refer to Section 3.3, “Pausing or finishing your session”.

When starting your SUSE Linux Enterprise Server system, you first see a login screen, as all users must authenticate to start a session. The authentication step helps protect your personal information and data from unauthorized access.

Figure 2: Default GNOME login screen #

 

Note: Enabling Auto Login

If a computer is used by a single person only, it is possible to enable Auto Login for this particular user at the system start. This saves time, but also impacts account security. Auto Login can be enabled or disabled during installation or at any time using the YaST User and Group Management module. For security reasons, Auto Login is not recommended.

On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, you can choose between the session types described above in Section 1.1, “What is GNOME Desktop?”.

To try one of the additional GNOME session configurations or another desktop environment, follow the steps below.

After switching to another session type once, the chosen session becomes your default session. To switch back, repeat the steps above.

To pause or close your session, open the System menu in the upper-right corner of the top bar, click the Power Off button and choose one of the options listed.

When starting your SUSE Linux Enterprise Server system, you first see a login screen, as all users must authenticate to start a session. The authentication step helps protect your personal information and data from unauthorized access.

To access devices like USB flash drives or CDs and DVDs, insert or attach the medium. An icon for the medium is automatically created on the desktop. For many types of removable media, a GNOME Files window pops up automatically. If GNOME Files does not open, double-click the icon for that drive on the desktop to view the contents. In GNOME Files, an item for the medium in the sidebar appears.

Warning: Unmount to prevent data loss

Do not physically remove devices immediately after using them. Even when the system does not indicate that data is being written, the drive may not be finished with a previous operation.

To safely remove a device, proceed as follows:

The GNOME desktop includes assistive technologies to support users with helpful impairments and special needs, and to interact with common assistive devices. This chapter describes several assistive technology applications designed to meet the needs of users with physical disabilities like low vision or impaired motor skills.

The desktop background is the image or color that is applied to your desktop. You can also customize the image shown when the screen is locked.

To change the desktop background:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server can be configured to use any of several languages. The language setting determines the language of dialogs and menus and can also determine the keyboard and clock layout.

To configure your language settings, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now choose Region & Language.

Here you can choose:

Note: Settings made using ibus-setup do not take effect

On GNOME, settings made using ibus-setup do not take effect. ibus-setup can only be used to configure IceWM. Instead, always use the Settings application:

• To change input methods, select Keyboard in the navigation pane of the Settings dialog.

• To change the key combination that switches between input methods, use Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts. Then select the category Typing and the entry Switch to next input source.

Refer to Section 3.9, “Assistive technologies” for additional settings, such as key auto-repetition and cursor blink rate, and accessibility features. To configure your keyboard layout, refer to Section 3.9.4, “Keyboard and mouse”.

To modify keyboard shortcuts, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now select Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts.

This dialog shows the keyboard shortcuts that are configured for your system. To edit a key combination, click the entry that you want to change. To set a new key combination, press the respective keys. To disable a shortcut, press <— instead.

GNOME supports fast input source (keyboard layout) switching (Section 4.2, “Configuring language settings”). However, if you are using xmodmap to create custom keymaps, it may not work correctly when you switch between multiple input sources. For example, you have two input sources, English and German. Your xmodmap commands work fine in the first input source you select, but when you switch to the second input source, the same xmodmap commands produce incorrect output. xmodmap is an older protocol and does not have a full view of the keyboard layout, so in more complex situations it causes errors.

An alternative method is to use xcompose to assign special symbols to sequences of key presses. This should work with any input source. Install xcompose by installing the libX11-devel package.

Next, assign a compose key with the Tweaks tool in the Activities overview. Press this key in sequence with one or two additional keys to print a special character. The keys must be pressed in the correct sequence, starting with the compose key.

In the Tweaks tool, navigate to Keyboard & Mouse › Compose Key and select your command key (Figure 6, “Enabling the compose key in tweaks”).

Figure 6: Enabling the compose key in tweaks #

 

Next, create a ~/.XCompose file. This is the default per-user configuration file. Enter your key mappings in this file, as in this example:

include "%L"

<Multi_key> <a> : "α"
<Multi_key> <b> : "β"
<Multi_key> <exclam>  : "¡"

include "%L" includes the default compose file for your locale, for example /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8.

The remaining lines specify the compose key, the other key presses, and the symbols they are intended to print. After you make changes to your compose file, you must log out of your session and log back in to activate the changes.

Your key assignments are case-sensitive. ~/.XCompose overrides the system files. Use the compose file for your locale to see what is already configured, and to copy symbols from it into your personal compose file. (These files may have a lot of whitespace at the beginning but they are not empty, so keep scrolling.) As always, watch out for conflicts with the other keymaps on your system.

For additional information, see man xcompose.

The Bluetooth module lets you set the visibility of your machine over Bluetooth and connect to available Bluetooth devices. To configure Bluetooth connectivity, follow these steps:

To connect to a paired Bluetooth device, select the device in the list. In the dialog that appears, turn the Connection switch on. You can send files to the connected device by using the Send Files button. If you are connected to a device such as a mobile phone, you can use it as a network device by activating the appropriate option.

To remove a connected device from the list on your computer, click Remove Device and confirm your choice. To remove the pairing, you also need to do so on your device.

Settings available in this dialog depend on your hardware. In the following, the options that are typically available when using a laptop are described. On a workstation, many of the described options are not available.

To modify mouse and touchpad options, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Then select Mouse & Touchpad.

Figure 7: Mouse and Touchpad settings dialog #

 

For configuration of mouse accessibility options, refer to the Section 3.9.4, “Keyboard and mouse”.

The Printers dialog lets you connect to any available local or remote CUPS server and configure printers.

To start the Printers module, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now choose Printers. For detailed information, refer to https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/printing.html.en.

To specify resolution and orientation for your screen or to configure multiple screens, right-click the desktop and choose Display Settings. The configuration options available in this dialog depend on whether you have a single or a multiple monitor setup.

4.9.1 Configuring single monitor setup #

 

Figure 8: Single monitor settings dialog #

 

Orientation

If you use a monitor which can change its orientation, you need to adjust the display before turning the monitor. Use Orientation to do this. Choose the orientation your monitor supports, close the selection box and click Apply.

Resolution

To change the screen resolution, click Resolution. Choose a new value and click Apply.

Night Light

If you are working in a dark environment, your eyes can easily be strained by the monitor. To prevent this, change the screen's color palette to a warmer tone by turning on Night Light. Under Schedule, you can automate this setting by specifying at which time Night Light should be turned on and off.

The Sound tool lets you manage sound devices. Here you can select the general output volume or turn the sound off.

To open the sound settings, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now choose Sound.

Figure 9: Configuring sound settings #

 

Use the Output category to select the device for sound output. Choose the Balance setting you prefer.

Use the Input category to set the input device volume or to mute the input temporarily. If you have more than one sound device, you can also select a default device for audio input in the Input Device list.

You can also choose an Alert Sound.

To open a configuration dialog for allowing remote logins via SSH, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Then choose Sharing.

Before you can share anything, you need to turn on the switch in the upper part of the dialog. The switch also helps you if you quickly need to disable all sharing options.

To enable logging in via SSH, click Remote Login and enter the administrator password.