a doubt one of the most sophisticated, complex, and complete GUIs for the X Window System. It has many features that other window managers lack:

• drag-and-drop actions (such as copy, move, or delete) for files and devices
• point-and-click dialog configuration of the desktop display colors, window borders, and themes
• programs and other data represented as icons on the desktop, or in windows with folder icons
• graphic configuration of your system's keyboard, mouse, and sound
• double-click convenience to edit files or graphics
• a desktop trash can for safer file deletions
• pop-up menus and built-in help for nearly any desktop action
• a suite of personal productivity tools, crafted to take advantage of the desktop interface and features, each with context-sensitive help and the ability to import and export data to other tools

CDE is a licensed product, based on Motif, that must be purchased from a vendor (see Figure 8.2). You can find CDE distributions for Linux from Red Hat Software, Inc., and Xi Graphics, Inc. You'll need nearly 50 megabytes of free disk space to run CDE comfortably, as well as at least 32 megabytes of RAM (without using swap space).

Figure 8.2.
The Common Desktop
Environment is a
commercially licensed
X11 desktop environ-
ment with a suite of
integrated personal
productivity tools,
including a calendar,
mail, and an appoint-
ment reminder system.

Unlike other window managers that you run by entering the window manager name in the .xinitrc file in your home directory, CDE generally requires you to use the xdm client, or X Display Manager. This means that you must run X11 right after you start Linux, and have to log into your system through the xdm host chooser.

Fortunately, you also can start the Red Hat distribution of CDE, from Triteal, Corp., from a console, or non-X11 display. To do this, create a text file containing the following line:

xinit /usr/dt/bin/Xsession

Save this with a filename like startcde, then make it executable by using the chmod command:

# chmod +x startcde

When you want to run CDE, use startcde on the command line. For more information about CDE, which was developed by Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Novell, and Sun Microsystems, browse to the following sites:

http://www.opengroup.org



http://www.triteal.com

For objective opinions about CDE, browse the comp.unix.cde Usenet newsgroup.

Obtaining, Building, and Installing KDE

One of the newest and most popular of the free software window managers for Linux and X11 is the K Desktop Environment. Like CDE, this window manager is more than just a window manager: it's a complete graphical environment for X11. KDE supports many of the same features as CDE, including the following:

• Network Transparent Access, or NTA, so you can click on a graphic document in an FTP listing and have a program on your computer automatically download and display the graphic.
• Mouse-click mounting of other file systems, such as CD-ROMs
  

• Menu control of terminal window scrollbars, fonts, color, and size
• "Sticky Buttons" to put an application or window on every desktop
• Pop-up mini-command-line windows for one-time single commands, in lieu of a terminal window
• JPEG graphic formats for background wallpaper graphics for the root display
• More than 100 integrated programs and games
• Session management, so open applications and window positions are remembered between sessions (like CDE)

In order to use KDE, you must install the free QT graphic software libraries from Troll Tech. You can download a copy from the following site:

http://www.troll.no/dl

After you install this package of libraries, you must then download the KDE distribution, found in eight different compressed archives. You can find copies at the following site:

http://www.kde.org

Download the KDE packages, then decompress and unarchive the file packages. If you download the files in RPM package format, make sure you're logged in as the root operator, and use the rpm command (discussed in Hour 22, "Red Hat Tools") to install the software:

# rpm -i kde*.rpm

For KDE you need about 13 megabytes of free hard drive space (less than one-third of CDE's requirement). You also need to make sure that your system's /etc/profile file contains the PATH environment variable pointing to the path for the KDE binary files, and the directory under /opt/kde:

PATH=/opt/kde/bin:$PATH

KDEDIR=/opt/kde

Insert the command startkde in your .xinitrc file and use the startx command to start X11 and run KDE (see Figure 8.3).

You'll be pleasantly surprised by how polished and feature-laden this desktop environment is, but you should know that KDE is a work in progress. Some documentation may be missing, and not all programs may work to your satisfaction. Even so, this is a usable X11 environment, and you'll definitely look forward to future versions.

Figure 8.3.
The K Desktop
Environment sports
many advanced
features, including
Network Transparent
Access, desktop icons
and folders, and drag-
and-drop actions.

While you're waiting for the next version, you also can play some of the games that come with KDE:

• asteroids—the classic space shoot-em-up
• mahjongg—provocative tile solitaire
• minesweeper—guess where the mines aren't
• patience—solitaire card game
• reversi—tile flip game
• samegame—unique scoring puzzle game
• shisen-sho—solitaire tile game
• snake race—evade the winding snake
• tetris—falling puzzle game

Documentation for KDE and its programs is under the /opt/kde/share/doc/HTML/en directory, and you can get help in each application and the desktop. Find out more about KDE by browsing to the following site:

http://www.kde.org

This site has the latest releases, along with documentation and bug fixes.