When starting up your system, you will normally be asked to select your user name and enter your password. If someone else installed your system, ask your system administrator for your user name and password.

The GNOME desktop appears after you first log in. Its appearance depends on whether openSUSE® could activate the 3D functions of your graphics card. Optics and functionality in both cases are the same, only the operation differs slightly.

If openSUSE® could activate the 3D functions, the GNOME desktop notifies you. The largest part is taken up by the initially still empty desktop with the green background image. You will see a narrow black bar on the top edge of the screen. This so-called panel allows you to access all functions and applications. Specifically, it has the following elements:

Time, calendar, and schedule planner:  The current time is ticking in the middle. When you click on it, a small calendar appears which lists all pending appointments and events on the right hand side. You can call up time and date settings via the relevant buttons or start the calendar application directly (Open calendar).

Settings for accessibility:  Clicking on the icon with the stylized little man opens different settings for accessibility. You can, for example, increase the contrast, switch on a screen keyboard or enlarge the font. To activate one of the functions, you must only right-click beside the slide switch. An illuminated blue i marks a currently active function. Further settings for accessibility are behind the similarly named point.

Volume:  The icon with the loudspeaker represents media volume. The more semicircles you can see, the louder your loudspeaker becomes. You can adjust the volume by clicking on the icon and dragging the white slider which appears when you press down the mouse button to the left or the right. To silence the sound, push the control all the way to the left. A little cross will be added to the loudspeaker icon. You can find additional settings for audio playback via the Sound Settings under the control.

Network:  Clicking on the icon directly to the left beside the user name brings up a list with all network connections. The individual connections are sorted here according to their access type. For wireless connections (Wi-fi), small curved lines display the connection quality. A white lock icon indicates that use is only possible after entering a password. You enter it by clicking on the corresponding connection. Whether a connection is active at all and is used by openSUSE® is indicated by the illuminated blue I beside to the right. Click on the black switch in order to switch off a connection or explicitly switch it on again. If special settings for your hardware are needed or if problems appear, you can also quickly switch to Network Settings on the bottom edge of the list.

User menu:  If you click on your name on the top right corner, a menu appears where you manage your user profile and your computer. If you use the immediate news program Empathy, you can change your availability status directly below your name. You can turn off the status messages with the switch underneath. This is useful if, for example, you want to concentrate on your work. You can save your access data for Google and Twitter under Online Accounts. You can reach the System Settings via the following menu points, where you can, for example, lock the screen for the duration of your lunch break, change to another user account, log off GNOME, or switch off the computer. You can also restart your PC via the last point. If openSUSE® can use the energy-saving functions of your computer, the last menu item is called Readiness. This is how you switch your PC to hibernate mode. To go to the Switch Off menu item, hold down the Alt button.

Activities:  Clicking Activities on the top left corner of the screen takes you to the so-called activities overview where you start programs and manage those already running. You also reach this view by placing the mouse pointer on the top left corner of the screen or pressing the Windows key (also called the Super key). You return to the normal view by clicking on Activities.

Notifications panel:  Whenever you insert a flash drive, finish downloading or some other important thing happens in your system, a corresponding message appears on the bottom edge of the screen. Some of these messages disappear quickly by themselves, others offer equally suitable actions. You can, for example, eject an inserted data CD immediately or open your content in a new window. If you do not wish to do any of the actions, simply click on the title of the message and it will then disappear from the bottom edge. Some messages deliver only a fragmentary short text. To find out more, slide the mouse pointer over the message and it will then expand completely. You can retrieve messages which have been clicked away or which have disappeared too early by clicking on Activities in the top left and then hovering the mouse pointer in the lower-right corner of the screen for a few seconds. The so-called notifications panel then appears. Clicking on one of the messages saved there is enough to retrieve the list with the matching actions.

3.2.1. Start Programs ¶

To start an application, first switch to the activities view (click on Activities or press the Windows button). You now have three options:

About the Dash (Favorites bar):  Either click on the program icon in the bar on the left edge of the screen, the so-called Dash (sometimes also inconsistently called a Dock). If you hover over one of the icons with the mouse pointer, GNOME will tell you the name of the pertaining application.

Via the applications view:  If the desired program is missing in Dash, click on Applications. GNOME will then show all the installed programs. You can move downwards in the list by pulling the ruler which is rather difficult to recognize in the narrow black bar slowly downwards with the left mouse button depressed. If you have installed a lot of programs or the list appears unclear to you, simply click on one of the categories on the right edge. GNOME then filters the diagram according to the corresponding field of application. For example, if you decide on the Graphics category, you see only all the available graphics programs.

Via the search box:  If you cannot find what you are looking for or when things have to get done quickly, the small search box on the right top will help. As soon as you enter a term there, GNOME will show all the matching applications and system settings. At the same time, you can also consult Wikipedia or Google via the corresponding buttons on the bottom edge. By the way, you do not have to click on the search box first, you can just simply begin typing directly.

3.2.2. Manage Window¶

After you start an application, GNOME automatically switches back to the workplace. The name of the program and its icon appear in the panel. You can end the application by clicking on it. The X on the title bar of its window does the same thing.

Procedure 3.1. Maximize Window¶

To enlarge a window to the screen size, proceed as follows:

1. Bring the mouse to the title bar of the window (with the program name) and hold and press the left mouse button.

2. Pull the window on the top edge against the panel.

3. As soon as GNOME turns the screen blue, let the mouse button go.

To minimize the window again, follow the same steps but vice versa: Using the mouse, pull away the title bar of the window from the top edge. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the title bar. A menu with the corresponding options then appears. But beware: Differently from other operating systems, Minimizing the window changes to Activities view.

You can switch quickly between open windows via the Ctrl+Tabshortcut. Activities view gives an overview of all currently open windows. You may need to first click to the Window area. Clicking on one of the windows brings it into the foreground, the X symbol closes it.

3.2.4. Using Virtual Desktops¶

GNOME allows you to organize your program window into several virtual desktops. If you often run a lot of programs simultaneously, this minimizes the number of windows to arrange on your screen. You might, for example, use one desktop for e-mails and the calendar and another for word processing and graphics applications.

Procedure 3.2. Move an Application to Another Virtual Desktop¶

To move an open window to another virtual desktop, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Activities view.

2. Bring the mouse pointer to the corresponding window and drag it by pressing and holding the left mouse button on the right edge of the screen.

3. A bar with all existing virtual desktops now opens there. Drag and drop the window to the desktop where you would like it to be.

4. Release the left mouse button.

Procedure 3.3. Switch Virtual Desktops¶

You can switch between all existing desktops via Alt+Ctrl+Arrow up and Alt+Ctrl+Arrow down. Alternatively, you can also pull up the activities view:

1. Open the activities view (for example, with the Windows key).

2. Bring the mouse to the right edge of the screen. The bar with all existing virtual desktops opens again.

3. Click on the desired virtual desktop on the bar. GNOME now shows all the windows that are there.

4. Click on the virtual desktop once again to finally switch to it.

Procedure 3.4. Show Window on All Desktops¶

You can also show a currently open application on all virtual desktops:

1. Right-click on the title bar of the application.

2. Click on Always on the Visible Desktop.

3. You can also very quickly move the window to an entirely specific desktop via the small menu. To do this, select Move to Another Desktop and then the corresponding desktop.

If openSUSE® cannot find or activate any 3D graphics card in your computer, GNOME will start in the so-called fallback mode. After Closing the corresponding warning instruction, the GNOME desktop then appears with the following elements:

Bottom Panel:  The desktop includes a panel at the bottom of the screen. All applications currently open on the desktop appear here. You can access these applications by clicking on their name. Right-clicking on the icon in the bottom-right corner takes you to the virtual desktop's Settings. Provided you have created more than one, a single icon appears for every virtual desktop. In fallback mode, every window has three buttons in its title bar. Through it you can close the window (from right to left), blow up to the screen size or minimize. In the last case, the bottom panel takes up the window.

Applications menu:  Click on Applications on the top left corner to open a menu with all the installed programs. These are classified under different categories for a better overview. Sub-items open automatically as soon as you place the mouse above them.

Places menu:  There is also a small menu behind Places. Its entries open especially important folders (such as your personal folder or the Download folder), show content of connected data carriers and establish a connection to another computer (connection to server).

The Panel:  The remaining elements on the top black bar function like their counterparts in the normal GNOME mode already described above. Clicking on the time opens a small calendar while the name itself leads to the profile and system settings.

Press Alt+F2 to open a small dialog box. Enter a command, for example libreoffice, and press Enter to start the application. The command to start is often (but not always) the application name written in lower case letters.

Use the Nautilus File Manager to create and view folders and documents, run scripts and create CDs of your data. To open Nautilus, change to the Activities view (with the Windows key for example) and click on the icon with the filing cabinet in Dash. In fallback mode, instead you open Places followed by Personal Folder. In any case, a new window appears with the content of your home directory.

The elements of the Nautilus window include the following:

Menu.  Lets you perform most tasks.

Path bar.  Lets you find files and folders.

Side bar.  Lets you navigate or display information about the selected file or folder.

View pane.  Displays folders and files. Use the options in the View menu to increase or decrease the content in the view pane and to display items as a list or as icons.

3.5.4. Using Bookmarks¶

Use bookmarking feature of Nautilus to highlight your favorite folders. A matching entry then appears for quick access in the side pane.

1. Switch (with a double-click) to the folder for which a bookmark should be created.

2. Click on Bookmark+Add bookmark. The bookmark is added to the list. The folder name is used as the bookmark name.

3. To select an item from the bookmarks list, click on Bookmark then click on the desired bookmark in the list.

You can also organize your bookmarks list by clicking on Bookmark+Edit bookmarks and making your selection in the dialog box.

To change the order of your bookmarks, click a bookmark shown in the Edit bookmarks dialog box and drag it to the desired location.

You can find more precise settings to adjust the overall appearance and behavior of your desktop in System Settings. There you can also change keyboard and mouse configurations, regional and language settings, parameters for your Internet and network usage, and more.

To open System Settings, click on your name in the (top) panel and then on System Settings.

Firefox* is one of the most popular Web browsers. It works like all other browsers, but offers additional functions such as tools for security and data protection.

To start Firefox, switch to the activities view (such as via the Windows key) and click on the icon with the globe and the fox in Dash. In fallback mode, you instead open Applications+Internet+Firefox.

Firefox awaits with all modern web technologies, such as use of tabs, pop-up blockers and download and image management. Its easy access to different search engines helps you find the information you need. Enter an Internet address (URL) in the address bar to start browsing.

To open a new empty tab in Firefox click on Ctrl+T or on the “+” beside to the last tab. Type a new Internet address to browse. To open the page behind a link in a new tab, click on the link with the middle mouse button. Right-clicking on the tab displays a small menu. You can create a new tab, reload the content of a specific tab or all existing tabs, or close a single tab or all tabs. You can also change the order of the tabs by dragging & dropping them to a new position.

3.7.2. Downloading Files from the Web¶

If you download a file with Firefox, the Firefox download manager starts automatically. It then saves the file in the folder previously set in the Firefox Preferences. By default, it uses the Downloads folder in your home directory. Firefox shows the finished downloads in the Downloads window.

Open the downloaded files directly from the Downloads window or from the destination folder. Click on Clean List to clean up the history of downloaded files.

3.7.3. Configuring Preferences¶

If you change the standard folder for downloaded files, or activate or want to change the pop-up blocker, click on Edit+Preferences.

You can configure advanced settings here, such as the appearance, the language, data protection and the tab options. Click on the icons and set the options on each page according to your preferences. To apply the changes click on Close.

GNOME allows you to store your passwords and encryption keys in a Keying. This is especially useful if you want to store passwords for different websites.

To create a new key ring, proceed as follows:

You can create as many key rings as you like. For example, you can create one for private use and a second one for business. To store passwords in your key ring, proceed as follows:

To read and manage your mails, contacts, appointments, and tasks, openSUSEcontains the program Evolution™, which allows you to conveniently save, organize, and call up your personal information.

With its extensive support for communications and data interchange standards, Evolution can work with existing corporate networks and applications, including Exchange*.

To start Evolution, switch to the activities view (for example, via the Windows key) and click on the letter icon. In fallback mode, select Applications+Internet+Evolution E-Mail and Calendar.

If you are starting Evolution for the first time, you will be asked to answer a series of questions. The queried information is needed to set up your e-mail account and helps you import e-mail messages from your old e-mail client. It shows you how many new messages you have and lists upcoming appointments and tasks, as well as the current weather and news from news feeds. The calendar, address book and e-mail tools are available on the toolbar on the left side of the program window.

Press Ctrl+N to open a new item in the area of Evolution where you are working. This creates a new message in e-mail. In the address book Ctrl+N creates a new contact card and a new appointment in the calendar.

If you would like additional information, click in any window on Help+Content.

Empathy is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging (IM) client. It is compatible with AOL* Instant Messenger (AIM), Google Talk, GroupWise® Messenger, ICQ, IRC, MSN Messenger, Jabber/XMPP, Yahoo!* and other networks.

With Empathy, you can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. Empathy also supports many features of various networks such as video chat, file transfer, away messages and typing notification.

To start Empathy, switch to the activities view (for example, via the Windows key) and click on the icon with the speech balloon and the blue smiley in the Dash. In fallback mode, try Applications+Internet+Empathy Instant Messenger Service.

To add an account to Empathy, use the configuration assistant, then select Edit+Accounts. Click on the plus symbol, select the desired protocol and enter your registration information into the relevant fields. Click on Apply and Close, in order to activate your IM account.

Add contacts by clicking on Chat+Add Contacts. Select the account, the Identifier (ID), and the alias information that is relevant to the new content, and confirm with Add. However, you must be online and connected to the selected messaging service to add a contact to your list.

To start a chat, double-click on the desired contact and type your message in the lower part of the chat window. Press Enter to send the message. The upper part of the window displays the messages you have sent and received.

LibreOffice offers comprehensive and powerful office programs, including a text processing program, a table calculation application, a program for the creation of presentations, a vector graphic program and a database application. Because LibreOffice is available for a number of operating systems, you can use the documents across different operating systems.

To start LibreOffice switch to the activities view (for example, by pressing the Windows key) and then click on the blue document. Alternatively, type writer in the search box and press Enter. In fallback mode, click on Applications+Office+LibreOffice Writer. If you would like to create a new document, click on File+New and select the document type. To open an existing document, select Open, then select the file you want from the file system.

Documents that need to be shared or printed across platforms are often saves as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. PDF files can be created using the LibreOffice suite or other applications. The PDF viewer of GNOME is called Evince. It can be used to view PDFs and many other document formats like PostScript, DjVu, DVI, and multi-page TIFFs.

To start Evince, press Alt+F2 and enter evince.

Shotwell is a management tool for digital image collections. You can assign various category tags to your images. It also offers many practical image editing options. For example, you can remove red eye, crop an image to size as well as adjust brightness and colors. Shotwell supports all important file formats, such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF and various manufacturer-specific RAW formats, for example. With Shotwell, you can also export photos to your Flickr, Picasa or Facebook account.

To access Shotwell, open the activities view (for example, by pressing the Windows key) and then click on the icon with the images in Dash. In fallback mode, you can find Shotwell via Applications+Graphics+Shotwell Photo Manager. After you pass through the welcome window by clicking OK, Shotwell immediately runs through your image folder and automatically add all the images stored in it to its library.

Shotwell shows thumbnails of the images to the right in the window. As soon as you click one of them, you can rotate it, re-edit it (enhance it) or publish it in an Internet service with the buttons on the lower edge. The side bar to the left offers different views of your photo portfolio. Provided the photos were stamped with a date, you can limit the display to photos from a specific year via Events for example.

You import new photos via File+Import from Folder. Shotwell always copies them to your image folder. If you would like to set another folder for this, go to Edit+Preferences and choose the corresponding folder under Import Photos to.

Use Banshee to import CDs, synchronize your media collection to a digital media player, play music directly from a digital media player, create playlists with songs or videos from your library, create audio and data CDs from subsets of your library, and subscribe to, download, and listen to your favorite podcasts. Banshee also has an Internet Radio plug-in that allows you to listen to audio streams.

To open Banshee switch to activities view (for example, via the Windows key) and click on the icon with the b in the form of a note. In fallback mode click on Applications+Multimedia+Banshee Media Player.

When you start the Banshee for the first time, you need to import your media to make them available in the library. From the menu, call up Media+Import Media. Select an import source and click on Choose Files or Choose Folders. After successfully importing your media, you can access them from your library.

To play a song or a movie, simply select it in the library and click the play button. You can also use the buttons in the upper left corner to pause a song or play the next or previous song. Use the loudspeaker button on the right to adjust the volume.

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 on the Play button to play your full CD.

To create Audio and MP3 CDs, select the desired song and then click on Edit+Write CD in the menu .

Once you have finished your work on the computer, you can log out. However, you can also restart the system or shut down the computer.

Additional information on GNOME and GNOME applications can be found under http://www.gnome.org/.