> > What is slab menu .Are you saying it looks like windows? Windows has a the > taskbar ,Start button and menu and the Windows Explorer ( file manager ) > > It has Plug and Play and device manager . >
A slab menu has one cascading menu that has slabs that slide out from it. When you click on what a Windows user would call the start button, you get a menu. Then you see groups in a traditional or classical menu. In slab menu you get tabs that say things like favourites, applications, computer, recently used, leave and when you click on a tab you get another menu that replaces the old one which you can no longer see.You can still see the tabs and arrows with the various sub menus. Some people find slab menus faster once you get used to them. I like the Search box which allows you to launch any application just by typing part of the name. Just start typing open and before you get to the p open office appears in the menu. With KDE you can switch to slab or classic menu with one mouse click. > > It is highly configurable and not > > locked down like Windows. KDE has a Control Panel like Windows but it > allows > > you to change just about everything, unlike Windows. KDE has its own > window > > manager, Kwin, and it has built in compositing. > > > > What do you mean by it has its own window. > > Own window manager. The GUI is in parts and most are interchangeable and have different effects on the user interface. The desktop environment is what the user uses, but how things are displayed depends on the window manager. It controls the windows and what they look like. Each window has a border around it with a bar at the top with various controls on them to minimize maximize etc. They can all be changed in both KDE and GNOME. You can even make it look like Windows XP, or Mac OS/X by changing the decorations and theme. You can change a lower powered window manager for a more powerful one, such as Compiz which gives 3D effects (if your graphics card supports it). This allows the virtual desktops (which are unique to Linux that give you more than one desktop that you can switch between) to rotate in acube or other fancy effects like wobbly windows. Some people like lots of eye candy and others think that it is unnecessary and over the top. > You mean the taskbar and Start button is at the top. > > > Taskbar and start button are Windows-speak. They are called panels in Linux and you can have more than one. GNOME comes with two one at the top and one at the bottom with the main one being at the top. What you call the start button is the menu button or application launcher (KDE). The system tray in Windows is called the notification area, but sometimes is still the system tray. Generally things in Linux do not run from the notification area or system tray unless you ask them to. Usually when you close something it does just that whereas in Windows it often is still running in the system tray. > GNOME has its own > > window manager, Metacity, and it does not have compositing. Like Windows > you > > have to add applications to add features. > > > > You mean by window manager Windows Explorer ( file manager ) > > We don't use words like window manager in windows. > You don't use window manager in Windows, but you have one. The reason you don't know about it is that in Windows is locked down. You do not have any choice but to get what Microsoft wants you to have. This makes Windows GUI harder to modify than Linux which is why Microsoft does it this way. They want all Windows machines to look the same. Windows Explorer is both a file manager and window manager. The GNOME file manager, Nautilus, is a bit like this. It controls the desktop as well as managing files. However it needs more to be a desktop environment, such as panels and controls. So GNOME has a window manager that does this. KDE has its own window manager and its file manager does not do any double duty which is different from GNOME giving it a different look and feel. KDE has a different file manager and different applications for most things. > > People say I should get some thing that is windows like in feel and look. > > > I disagree. The way all desktop environments work is basically the same whether it is in Linux, Windows or Mac OS. You have icons, windows, menus and controls. Sometimes you single click and sometimes you double click and sometimes the controls are on the left or the "taskbar" is in a different place, but essentially they work the same way. By making it look like Windows you are deceiving yourself and it can come back to bite you. You need to remember that you are in a different environment or you can get lost more quickly. There have been several attempts to make Linux look and work like Windows and all have failed because it is all just smoke and mirrors. Linux and Windows are fundamentally different, from the ground up. They have a different history and different philosophy and you cannot disguise that. Linux is modular. The file system is different. It is meant to work on multiple levels from either the GUI or the commandline. It is meant to be flexible and it has built in security that you had best not try to circumvent. At first you are a stranger in a strange land. You cannot try to change the land. It just is what it is. You learn to adapt and it is easier if you embrace the differences rather than pretend they do not exist. You can put a McDonald's in Paris, but that does not mean that you are in America. Once you step outside you are apt to get lost unless you learn how to get around Paris and speak some rudimentary French. If you go to France and expect it to be like America then you are likely to be disappointed, but if you go there expecting it to be different then you are more likely to have an enjoyable trip. > > You mean taskbar at the bottom? > > Yes. Mint has one panel or "taskbar" and it is at the bottom. However, it uses the aforementioned slab menu. > > > > > To start with it should look like windows.I'm used to windows. > > > This makes a false assumption. Just because it looks like Windows it will not behave like Windows. It is Linux. It also assumes that the Windows way is better just because you are familiar with it. Let's look at passwords and file permissions as an example. The Windows way is to almost do away with passwords or at least to minimise their use in the name of convenience. This has meant that users must spend more time managing their computers than Linux users. We do not need to run anti-virus software or anti-malware or update AV signatures or re-boot our computer or defragment our hard drives. Linux security is built in. In this respect Windows is becoming more like Linux. W7 has more security than XP built in. It encourages the use of passwords. However, it still does not have the security of even the most basic Linux machine. Linux has separate user space and separate OS space. There are different user levels and files that belong to one person cannot be modified by another. Each file knows the user and the permissions attached to it. Files that are executable cannot be executed unless you make it permissible to do that by changing the permissions. This sounds complicated, but it really isn't. The bottom line is that by making Linux like Windows you would be weakening it and by pretending otherwise you are asking for trouble. Millions of former Windows users successfully migrate to Linux. It is not that hard. The best thing to do is to think of it as an adventure and learn to laugh at your mistakes. We all make them, but learning is easier if we make light of it and face things head on. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email [email protected] & you will be removed.Yahoo! 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