Fedora Linux

Getting Started Using the Fedora Graphical User Interfaces

Fedora Core provides two attractive and easy-to-use graphical user interfaces (GUIs): KDE and GNOME. Each of these GUIs should be a comfortable adjustment for the majority of Windows and Mac users because basic operations are similar. However, there are some capabilities that are unique to Linux, and learning to use these features will enable you to take full advantage of the Fedora GUIs.

How Do I Do That?

Fedora Linux can boot into graphical mode or text mode, depending on the default runlevel (see Lab 4.5, “Using Runlevels”); when installed using the graphical installation program, Fedora’s default is to present the graphical login display shown in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1. Fedora default login screen

In the middle of the screen are four clickable controls:

Language

Displays a dialog enabling you to select the default language for the session. This will not change the messages on the login display, but it will change the default for messages after you successfully log in. Where possible, messages will appear in this selected language, but when no translation for the selected language is found, messages will appear in the default language for the application (usually English). After you enter a username and password, you will be given the choice of making the selected language the permanent default for that username, or ...