2 <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC
"-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
4 <!ENTITY % addindex
"IGNORE">
5 <!ENTITY % English
"INCLUDE" > <!-- change language only here -->
8 <book lang=
"&language;">
10 <title>The
&kcontrolcenter;</title>
13 <author>&Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;
</author>
14 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
17 <legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
19 <date>2005-
03-
05</date>
20 <releaseinfo>3.4.0</releaseinfo>
23 <para>This documentation describes
&kde;'s control center.
</para>
27 <keyword>KDE
</keyword>
28 <keyword>kcontrol
</keyword>
29 <keyword>configuration
</keyword>
30 <keyword>settings
</keyword>
31 <keyword>module
</keyword>
36 <chapter id=
"introduction">
37 <title>The
&kcontrolcenter;</title>
40 The
&kcontrolcenter; (from now on referred to simply as
<quote>the
41 control center
</quote>) provides you with a centralized and convenient
42 way to configure all of your
&kde; settings.
46 The control center is made up of multiple modules. Each module is a
47 separate application, but the control center organizes all of these
48 programs into a convenient location.
53 Each control center module can be executed individually
57 See section entitled
<link linkend=
"control-center-run-indiv">Running
58 individual control center modules
</link> for more information.
63 The control center groups the configuration modules into categories, so
64 they are easy to locate. Within each category, the control center shows
65 all the modules in a list, so it is easier to find the right
70 <chapter id=
"control-center">
71 <title>Using the
&kcontrolcenter;</title>
74 This next section details the use of the control center itself. For
75 information on individual modules, please see
<link linkend=
"module">Control
79 <sect1 id=
"control-center-starting">
80 <title>Starting the
&kcontrol;</title>
82 <para>The
&kcontrolcenter; can be started in
3 ways:
88 By selecting
<menuchoice><guimenu>K Button
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Control
89 Center
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the
&kde; Panel.
95 action=
"simul">&Alt;<keycap>F2
</keycap></keycombo>.
99 This will bring up a dialog box. Type
100 <userinput><command>kcontrol
</command></userinput>, and click
101 <guibutton>Run
</guibutton>.
107 You can type
<command>kcontrol
&</command> at any command prompt.
113 All three of these methods are equivalent, and produce the same result.
118 <sect1 id=
"control-center-screen">
119 <title>The
&kcontrolcenter; Screen
</title>
122 When you start the control center, you are presented with a window,
123 which can be divided into
3 functional parts.
127 <screeninfo>Screenshot
</screeninfo>
129 <imageobject> <imagedata fileref=
"screenshot.png" format=
"PNG"/>
131 <textobject> <phrase>Screenshot
</phrase> </textobject>
133 <para>The
&kde; Control Center Screen
</para>
139 Across the top is a menubar. The menubar will provide you with quick
140 access to most of
&kcontrolcenter;'s features. The menus are detailed in
141 <link linkend=
"control-center-menus">The
&kde; Control Center
146 Along the left hand side, is a icon tree. Here you can choose which
151 The main panel shows you some system information.
155 In this example, we are running
&kde; 3.4.0, we started
&kcontrolcenter;
156 as user
<systemitem class=
"username">newkde
</systemitem>, the computer is
157 named
<systemitem class=
"systemname">turtle
</systemitem>, it is a
158 &Linux; system running the
2.6 kernel, on a i686 processor.
163 <sect1 id=
"control-center-menus">
164 <title>The
&kcontrol; Menus
</title>
167 This next section gives you a brief description of what each menu item
171 <sect2 id=
"control-center-menu-file">
172 <title><guimenu>File
</guimenu> Menu
</title>
175 The
<guimenu>File
</guimenu> menu has a single entry.
183 <keycombo action=
"simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q
</keycap></keycombo>
185 <guimenu>File
</guimenu>
186 <guimenuitem>Quit
</guimenuitem>
190 <action>Closes the control center.
</action>
198 <sect2 id=
"control-center-menu-view">
199 <title><guimenu>View
</guimenu> Menu
</title>
202 These options determine how the module selection looks and behaves.
207 <term><menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Mode
</guimenuitem>
212 Determines whether to use
<guimenuitem>Tree
</guimenuitem> view,
213 or
<guimenuitem>Icon
</guimenuitem> view for your modules.
217 With
<guimenuitem>Tree
</guimenuitem> view, each submenu appears as an
222 With
<guimenuitem>Icon
</guimenuitem> view, when you click on a category,
223 the categories disappear and are replaced with the module list. You
224 then use the
<guiicon>Back
</guiicon> button to return to the categories.
231 <guimenu>View
</guimenu><guisubmenu>Icon size
</guisubmenu>
236 Using this option, you can choose
237 <guimenuitem>Small
</guimenuitem>,
<guimenuitem>Medium
</guimenuitem>, or
238 <guimenuitem>Large
</guimenuitem> icons to select your modules.
242 This menu item only controls the icon size if you are in
243 <guimenuitem>Icon View
</guimenuitem>. If you choose
244 <guimenuitem>Tree View
</guimenuitem>, the
<guimenuitem>Small
</guimenuitem>
245 icon size will be used, no matter what size was previously selected in
246 <guimenuitem>Icon View
</guimenuitem>.
255 <sect2 id=
"control-center-menu-settings">
256 <title><guimenu>Settings
</guimenu> Menu
</title>
259 The
<guimenu>Settings
</guimenu> menu has a single entry,
260 <menuchoice><guimenu>Settings
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Configure Shortcuts...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. From here you can map keyboard shortcuts to the
266 <sect2 id=
"control-center-menu-help">
267 <title><guimenu>Help
</guimenu> Menu
</title>
269 &help.menu.documentation;
275 <sect1 id=
"control-center-exiting">
276 <title>Exiting The
&kde; Control Center
</title>
279 You can exit the control center one of three ways:
285 Select
<menuchoice><guimenu>File
</guimenu>
286 <guimenuitem>Quit
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the menu bar.
291 <para>Type
<keycombo action=
"simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q
</keycap></keycombo>
298 Click on the
<guiicon>Close
</guiicon> button on the frame surrounding
306 <sect1 id=
"control-center-run-indiv">
307 <title>Running Individual Modules
</title>
310 You can run individual modules without running kcontrol using the command
<command>kcmshell
</command> from
&konsole;. Type
<userinput> <command>kcmshell
</command><option> --list
</option></userinput> to see a list of the available
&kcontrolcenter; modules. You can also access individual
&kcontrol; modules through adding the
<guilabel>Preferences
</guilabel> button to either
&kicker; or the
&kmenu; through their respective configuration dialogs.
317 <!--*****************************************************************-->
319 <chapter id=
"module">
320 <title>The
&kcontrol; Modules
</title>
323 In order to make it as easy as possible, the
&kcontrol; has organized
324 similar options into groups. Each group is called a module. When you
325 click on the name of a module in the left window, you will be presented
326 with the options of the module on the right.
330 Each module will have some or all of the following buttons:
339 This button will give you help specific to the current module. The
340 button will show you a short summary help page in the left window. At
341 the bottom of that window, you can click on a link to get more detailed
348 <term><guilabel>Defaults
</guilabel></term>
351 This button will restore this module to its default values. You must
352 click
<guibutton>OK
</guibutton> to save the options.
358 <term><guibutton>Apply
</guibutton></term>
361 Clicking this button will save all changes to
&kde;. If you have
362 changed anything, clicking
<guibutton>Apply
</guibutton> will cause the
363 changes to take effect.
369 <term><guibutton>Reset
</guibutton></term>
372 This button will
<quote>Reset
</quote> the module to the previous settings.
381 You must save the options of the current module using
382 <guibutton>Apply
</guibutton> before you can change to a different
386 If you try to change without saving your options, you will be asked if
387 you want to save your changes, or discard them.
392 Commented until fixed arrangement is made
393 <sect1 id="module-intro">
394 <title>Navigating Modules</title>
397 This is a list of the <emphasis>standard</emphasis> configuration
398 modules (sorted by category) provided by the <application
399 role="package">KDE base</application> package. Please note that there
400 may be many more modules on your system if you have installed additional
406 <term>File Browsing</term>
409 <link linkend="file-assoc">File Associations</link>,
410 <link linkend="file-manager">File Manager</link>,
416 <term>Look and Feel</term>
419 <link linkend="background">Background</link>,
420 <!- - <link linkend="borders">Borders</link>,- ->
421 <link linkend="color">Colors</link>,
422 <link linkend="desktop">Desktop</link>,
423 <link linkend="fonts">Fonts</link>,
424 <link linkend="icons">Icons</link>,
425 <!- - <link linkend="iconstyle">Icon Style</link>, - ->
426 <link linkend="key-bindings">Key Bindings</link>,
427 <link linkend="launch-feedback">Launch feedback</link>,
428 <link linkend="panel">Panel</link>,
429 <link linkend="screensaver">Screensaver</link>,
430 <link linkend="style">Style</link>,
431 <link linkend="sys-notify">System Notifications</link>,
432 <link linkend="taskbar">Taskbar</link>,
433 <link linkend="theme-manager">Theme Manager</link>,
434 <!- - <link linkend="numbername">Virtual Desktops</link>,- ->
435 <link linkend="window-behavior">Window Behavior</link>,
436 <link linkend="window-deco">Window Decoration</link>.
445 <link linkend="e-mail">E-Mail</link>,
446 <link linkend="lan-browsing">LAN Browsing</link>,
447 <link linkend="timeouts">Preferences</link>, <!- - FIXME - ->
448 <link linkend="socks">SOCKS</link>,
449 <link linkend="talk">Talk Configuration</link>
450 <link linkend="windows-shares">Windows Shares</link>
456 <term>Peripherals</term>
459 <link linkend="kbd">Keyboard</link>,
460 <link linkend="mouse">Mouse</link>
466 <term>Personalization</term>
469 <link linkend="accessibility">Accessibility</link>,
470 <link linkend="locale">Country & Language</link>,
471 <link linkend="crypto">Crypto</link>,
472 <!- - <link linkend="kblayout">Keyboard Layout</link>, - ->
473 <link linkend="passwords">Passwords</link>
474 <link linkend="spell-checking">Spell Checking</link>.
480 <term>Power Control</term>
483 <link linkend="battery-monitor">Battery Monitor</link>,
484 <link linkend="energy">Energy</link>,
485 <link linkend="powerctrl">Laptop Power Control</link>,
486 <link linkend="lowbatcrit">Low Battery Critical</link>,
487 <link linkend="lowbatwarn">Low Battery Warning</link>
496 <link linkend="midi">Midi</link>,
497 <link linkend="mixer">Mixer</link>,
498 <link linkend="sndserver">Sound Server</link>,
499 <link linkend="bell">System Bell</link>
508 <link linkend="datetime">Date and Time</link>,
509 <link linkend="konsole">&konsole;</link>,
510 <link linkend="login-manager">Login Manager</link>,
511 <link linkend="print-manager">Printing Manager</link>,
512 <link linkend="sessions">Session Manager</link>,
518 <term>Web Browsing</term>
521 <link linkend="cookie">Cookies</link>,
522 <link linkend="ebrowse">Enhanced Browsing</link>,
523 <link linkend="konq-browsing">Konqueror Browser</link>,
524 <link linkend="nsplugins">Netscape Plugins</link>,
525 <link linkend="proxies">Proxies & Cache</link>,
526 <link linkend="stylesheets">Stylesheets</link>,
527 <link linkend="user-agent">User Agent</link>,
537 <!-- commenting this section out until I figure out what to do with it :)
538 <chapter id="laptop">
539 <title>Laptop Modules Notes</title>
542 In order to use the laptop modules, you must have the kernel
543 <acronym>APM</acronym> package installed in your kernel. Useful information
546 how to do this can be found at
547 <ulink url="http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/apm.html">
548 http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/apm.html</ulink> and
549 in the Battery Powered Linux mini-HOWTO at <ulink
550 url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Battery-Powered.html">
551 http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Battery-Powered.html</ulink>.
555 If you want the <guimenuitem>suspend</guimenuitem> and
556 <guimenuitem>standby</guimenuitem> menu commands to work then you should
557 install the &Linux; <application>apmd</application> package (version 2.4
558 or later). If you want to use them from non-root accounts you must mark
559 the <application>apm</application> command <quote>set uid root</quote>.
563 To do this, log on as <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> and
568 <prompt>%</prompt><userinput><command>chown</command> <option>root
569 /usr/bin/apm</option>;<command>chmod</command> <option>+s
570 /usr/bin/apm</option></userinput>
575 By doing this you will allow any user of your system to put it into suspend
577 standby states - if you are the only user, this should not be a problem.
581 Also note that any program which has <systemitem
582 class="username">root</systemitem> access, can be a potential security
583 problem. You should carefully determine if there are any security
584 concerns <emphasis>before</emphasis> giving any program <systemitem
585 class="username">root</systemitem> permissions.
591 <chapter id=
"credits">
592 <title>Credits and License
</title>
594 <para>&kcontrol;</para>
595 <para>Program copyright
1997-
2001 The
&kcontrolcenter; Developers
</para>
596 <para>Contributors:
</para>
599 <listitem><para>Matthias Hoelzer-Kluepfel
600 <email>hoelzer@kde.org
</email></para></listitem>
601 <listitem><para>Matthias Elter
602 <email>elter@kde.org
</email></para></listitem>
605 <para>Documentation
<trademark class=
"copyright">copyright
2000 Michael
606 McBride
</trademark> <email>mpmcbride7@yahoo.com
</email></para>
608 <para>Contributors:
</para>
611 <listitem><para>Paul Campbell
<email>paul@taniwha.com
</email></para></listitem>
612 <listitem><para>Helge Deller
<email>deller@kde.org
</email></para></listitem>
613 <listitem><para>Mark Donohoe
</para></listitem>
614 <listitem><para>Pat Dowler
</para></listitem>
615 <listitem><para>Duncan Haldane
<email>duncan@kde.org
</email></para></listitem>
616 <listitem><para>Steffen Hansen
<email>stefh@mip.ou.dk
</email>.
</para></listitem>
617 <listitem><para>Matthias Hoelzer-Kluepfel
<email>hoelzer@kde.org
</email></para></listitem>
618 <listitem><para>Martin Jones
<email>mjones@kde.org
</email></para></listitem>
619 <listitem><para>Jost Schenck
<email>jost@schenck.de
</email></para></listitem>
620 <listitem><para>Jonathan Singer
<email>jsinger@leeta.net
</email></para></listitem>
621 <listitem><para>Thomas Tanghus
<email>tanghus@earthling.net
</email></para></listitem>
622 <listitem><para>Krishna Tateneni
<email>tateneni@pluto.njcc.com
></email></para></listitem>
623 <listitem><para>Ellis Whitehead
<email>ewhitehe@uni-freiburg.de
</email></para></listitem>
626 <!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->