Mdk 9.0 Up & Running - Now What ???

[OldBob]

I have Mandrake 9.0 up & running and using KDE 3.0 most everything [sound, printer, CD player, web browser and Email] are all working.

Now What !!! --

The desktop has only 6 icons and 4 of them are Mandrake promotional.
The taskbar at bottom of screen is "jammed" with icons.
My browser is Mozilla 1.1
I have 4 or 5 browsers, total.
6 Email programs.
8 Editors.

What I need is a "Master Plan" on how to get organized.

I have heard of things like "themes" and "compiling the kernel" but I have no idea how to do them.

I need to put more icons on desktop and get it organized.

I have a copy of Netscape 7.02 and don't know how to install it.

I guess what I'm looking for is a guide to "Phase 2".

Can anyone recommend books or web sites ?

[Hayl]

www.kde-look.org
www.themes.org

(don't bother with NetSCRAPE - Mozilla is the same but better)

[sonofwheel]

Just right click on the desktop, Create New, Link to Application and go from there to put Icons on the desktop.

[drummerboy195]

just use it for what you would be using it for normally, emailing, surfing, writing papers, chatting........ try all the differnt programs for each function, and after a week or so you should be noticing that you prefer some applications over others. i woulndt customise my toolbar or desktop until i knew which apps i was going to use most often. i only have for that have icons, mozilla, kppp, star office, and eterm. everything else i either access through the alt-f2 command line, or through the k menu.

[arioch]

configure URPMI - It's a must.

http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/urpmiweb.php

[homey]

Whatever you do, Don't just try to enjoy the system for what it is!
You must tweak it, compile it or somehow mess things up! Then come back here and see if anybody can figure out what the heck you did. :)

[Darksamurai]

I did a write up on sprucin' up Red Hat 9... It should translate across...

It's not in-depth or anything, but it might help...

article 1 (http://www.pimprig.com/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=5391&postid=61708)
article 1 is really basic for manipulating the GNOME desktop.


article 2 is a little more in-depth on the beginnings of Linux...

article 2 (http://www.pimprig.com/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=5863&postid=69464)

[flowrider]

Hmmm.

Now that you've got mdk9 installed I think that it is time that you upgraded to mdk 9.1!!:D

Seriously though. Listen to the other guys and start to play with all the different programs and see what you "would" use first. I am in the same sort of position as you are. I have been playing with Linux for about 5 years on and off, always going back to window because of certain programs, hardware incompatibility, or for file compatibility with other people. One thing I have found now is that for me, mdk 9.1 is finally ready for full time.

Here's my list of what to do:
1. Figure out what different programs are
2. remove anything you don't need (thin is better)
3. alter the bottom launch bar to what icons I would use
4. make it all look pretty with diff. themes,sounds or cool docked bars like Gkrellm
5. D/l programs that make life better for you be it games, progs, or utilities.

[OldBob]

Thanks for all the responses, I have a lot to think about.

Right now I'm running a real hybrid setup.
1) I booted up on Win98SE.
2) Used my new Linux ISP.
3) Browsing with Mozilla 1.3.1 which I just downloaded this morning.

I need to figure out how to replace Mozilla 1.1 with ver. 1.3.1 sea.tar.gz
which is now sitting in
/home/oldbob/mozilla.i686.pc.linux.gnu

Specific items:

darksamurai - I printed out your article and will try it on my Gnome desktop.

The reason I booted up on Windows is I want to be able to "copy & paste" which I still can't do with Mandrake.

Things like "URPMI" still scare me, because I have downloaded Windows "stuff" that started loading before I knew what was happening.

I guess what I'm looking for is things like Win98's "Create shortcut" - and being able to "drag" the Quick Launch bar from the bottom of screen to top.

If I screw up too badly. As Arnold says "I'll be back !!"

[Runescaper]

Hi im exactly in your same position execpt for the fact that im still trying to get my winmodem to work. This is my first time ever using linux and i want to experiment with it as much as i can(md 9.1 here), i got to install a theme even tought its been kindah ard finding one i like, most themes for kde tend to be light when i like dark themes and i cant find dark themes, guess ill eventually end up learning to do one myself. Im also trying to find a good icon set and how to install it.

Anyways so far i have changed the theme and have a partition in Fat32 to keep my documents from both linux and xp. I downloaded a couple programs but havent tried installing them yet since i havent got my modem working.

I know what you are going trought theres so much i want to do that i dint know where to start. I know i will end up reinstalling it after i get myself set to clean up my mess and start from scratch.