E17 Basics
[click on any image to enlarge]
Virtual Desktops organize your tasks
Depending on the theme you selected during the initial setup, you may or may not currently have a Pager Gadget on your desktop. Regardless, you still do have Virtual Desktops. Virtual Desktops can be handy for organization, as they allow you to keep applications of a certain type grouped together on one desktop, and those of another type on another desktop.The opaque graphic on the desktop is a representation of all desktops in use, and each will have a smaller graphic depicting the applications running on each.
There are several ways to switch among them: 1) Click on the graphic of the Desktop you wish to switch to; 2) Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Alt + Arrow in the direction you wish to move.
The entire desktop is the menu
Clicking anywhere on an empty space of the desktop will bring up the Main Menu where you can launch applications, adjust settings, shutdown the system, and so on. Right-clicking an empty space on the desktop will bring up the Favorites Menu.
Gadgets show system info
Gadgets are items that display system information, such as battery level, time, etc. Gadgets also allow you to interact with the system in some way, such as adjusting the volume. There are many Gadgets that provide a wide variety of functions. More than one instance of a Gadget can be running at one time and placed in different locations such as Shelves (see below) or directly on the Desktop. They can be found under Main Menu -> Settings -> Gadgets.
Modules control Gadget availability
Which Gadgets are available for use are controlled by which Modules are loaded. To put it simply, Gadgets are simply an instance of a Module in use. Bodhi comes with a wide selection of Modules installed by default but even more can be installed at your discretion.You can load/unload Modules under Main Menu -> Settings -> Modules.
Themes to suit your style
Bodhi ships with several Themes to choose among.You can select one you like under Main Menu -> Settings -> Themes. Bodhi's Artists have created many more themes and wallpapers which you can view and download in our Art section
(see: Resources).
Profiles - Themes with More
While Themes will change the look of your Desktop they will not handle the extra Gadgets and layouts provided by Profiles. After you have chosen the profile during installation you may decide you want more (or less) Gadgets and features. It's not too late! Just go under Main Menu -> Settings -> Settings Panel -> Settings tab and click Profiles. Here you will be able to pick from all the Bodhi Profiles that were offered during install.Shelves - the taskbar/systray/dock/launcher on steroids
E17 provides Shelves to handle your Gadgets and launchers if you prefer not having them on the Desktop. Any Gadget that has its Module loaded can be added to a Shelf, or you may have multiple Shelves anywhere around the border of your Desktop. Managing the number of shelves you have and their location/size (among other attributes) is done under Main Menu -> Settings -> Shelves. To manage the content of a Shelf, simply right click on one and select Contents.
Window Shading - an Alternative to Minimizing
Want to get a window out of your way but don't want to minimize it to the taskbar? Then Shade it! Just double click the title bar of any window to "roll it up", and double click the title bar to "roll it down" again.The screenshot here shows two instances of LXTerminal, one that is Shaded and one that is not.
Some handy keyboard shortcuts:
Keyboard shortcuts are fully configurable underMain Menu -> Settings -> Settings Panel -> Input tab -> Key Bindings
These are some of the default ones: Alt + left click
allows you to grab and move a window that is partially off screen
Ctrl/Alt + X
closes a window
Ctrl/Alt + Arrow
switches to the Virtual Desktop in the direction selected
Ctrl/Alt + M
brings up the Main Menu
Shift + F10
maximizes a window vertically
Alt/Shift + F10
maximizes a window horizontally
Alt + Tab
switches between windows on the same desktop
The Bodhi Guide to Enlightenment
For a much more comprehensive guide to using and customing E17 we have created "The Bodhi Guide to Enlightenment" Starting with Bodhi Linux 1.2.0 the guide is locally installed as an HTML document: file:///usr/share/bodhi/e17guide| Prev: | Contents: | Next: |
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