Tips & Tricks

How to restart KDE without rebooting computer?
How to turn Num Lock On or Off, upon KDE startup?
How to run programs automatically upon KDE startup?
How to switch to Console mode in KDE?
How to open each folder in a separate window in Konqueror?
How to show all hidden files/folders in Konqueror?
How to show Trash icon on Desktop?
How to change default file type "Open with" program?
How to edit text files as root user?
How to disable beep sound in Terminal mode?
How to load programs faster (prelink)?
How to load web sites faster in Konqueror?
How to load web sites faster in Firefox?
How to import Firefox plug-ins into Konqueror?
How to disable beep sound for link find function in Firefox?
How to rename all files in directory at once?
How to read "man" and "info" documents in Konqueror?
How to save "man" outputs into file?
How to generate MD5 checksum of a file?
How to check MD5 checksum of files?
How to mount/unmount Image (ISO) files without burning?
How to hide GRUB menu on boot-up?
How to change the timeout seconds for GRUB menu on boot-up?
How to change default Operating System boot-up for GRUB menu?
How to temporarily skip boot-up services?
How to permanently disable/enable boot-up services?
Which KDE config files change by a given Control Center setting?
How to run custom startup scripts upon base system boot?
How to run custom startup/shutdown script upon full system boot?
How to print?
How to fax "anything printable"?
How to convert "anything printable" into PDF format?
A trade-off to improve graphics performance.

General matters go here...
See "General Notes" before applying the answers in this chapter.

How to restart KDE without rebooting computer?

Log-out of KDE (get to main -KDM- login screen),
Press '([Ctrl]+[Alt])+[Backspace]', i.e. while holding [Ctrl] and [Alt] keys down, press the [Backspace] key, just like the way you would press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to logout/reboot.

How to turn Num Lock On or Off, upon KDE startup?

Click through...

How to run programs automatically upon KDE startup?

Kubuntu is already saving your session status upon logout, and restoring your previous programs on the next login, by default. All you need to do is, logging out from KDE while the applications you want to be auto-restored are still open (make sure their contents are saved).

But if you want to start each KDE session always with the same set of programs, regardless of how you logged out from the previous session:

Click through...
Select in KDE Session Manager. This will cause a button appear on the K-Menu. Other choices are:
- Restore previous session: Will save all applications running on exit and restore them on the next start up. This is default Kubuntu behavior.
- Restore manually saved session: Allows the session to be saved at any time via "Save Session" in the K-Menu. This means the currently started applications will reappear on the next start up.
- Start with an empty session: Do not save anything. Will come up with an empty desktop on the next start.
Open the applications you want to be auto-restored at each KDE start up. Close others.

Note: The default Kubuntu behavior of automatically restoring previous session status may also restore residual "run away" processes from the previous session. Moreover, some of these run away processes may never die off, so they may continually inherit from one session to the next, creating an unnecessary burden on system resources, without you being aware of it. For this reason, I would suggest either using Start KDE always with a definite set of applications

Start KDE always with a definite set of applications

or adding the "Runaway Process Catcher" applet to the panel (right click on panel -> Add to Panel -> Applet -> Runaway Process Catcher)

How to switch to Console mode in KDE?

To switch to Console mode, press '([Ctrl]+[Alt])+[Fn]'
(Where "Fn" is "F1" through "F6" for 6 different virtual consoles)
To switch back to KDE, press '([Ctrl]+[Alt])+[F7]'

How to open each folder in a separate window in Konqueror?

Click through to "Konqueror Behavior" tab via either one of the routes below,
- :: __
- Konqueror ::

How to show all hidden files/folders in Konqueror?

While Konqueror in a directory tree (i.e. not displaying a file content),

Konqueror ::

How to show Trash icon on Desktop?

Right-click on (trash.desktop) icon, select "Open with..." from the pop-up menu, and open it with "kwrite" as below:
Find the line,
Hidden=true
And change it to,
Hidden=false
Exit from kwrite, saving the file.

How to change default file type "Open with" program?

Simplest method: While you're opening a file with a non-default application, set it as default by the way.
For example, to set kwrite as the default application to open files with ".desktop" extension, do the same as in "How to show Trash icon on Desktop"...
...except, additionally check the box. This basically does the same thing below, except it just establishes the file-type <-> program relation, leaving all the rest to defaults.

Powerful method: Set all behavioral preferences for a given file extension.
1. From within Konqueror, right-click on a file with the extension you want to set the defaults for.
2. Select "Properties":
3. In Properties window go to the __ tab, then click on the (Edit file type) button.
4. This will bring up mime-type editor for this file extension. Set your preferences as described below.
5. Exit by clicking on button.

Involved method: Mime-type editor.
1. Navigate to "Konqueror File Associations" via one of the routes below...
  - Konqueror ::
2. Select your file type from the "Known Types" menu at left, or press button right below it, to enter a new file type,
3. Select __ tab at right pane,
4. Optional: Add or remove file types associated with this mime type in "Filename Patterns" menu, at the upper side of the "General" tab,
5. Optional: Select the description and icon to be shown in Konqueror file manager for this mime type,
6. At "Application Preference Order", define which programs will be tried in which order, to open this file type. (you'd be presented with the K-Menu applications tree to select an app from) , , and programs in the list as necessary. These programs will also show up in the "Open With" item on right-click pop-up menus, along with the "Other..." item.
7. You can also "Edit" the applications' properties here, such as its K-Menu properties (Description, Command to run, Run as different user, Run in terminal, Place to sys-tray, etc.), or their reverse mime-type properties (i.e. which mime-types a given app supports, as opposed to the normal way of specifying which apps support a given mime-type, as we've just been doing above). These are just alternative/reverse routes to doing the same things with usual means, i.e. the K-Menu Editor (kmenuedit) and here, the mime-type editor (kcmshell filetypes).
8. Select __ tab to choose by which means this file type should be opened: In a separate application you've just specified in the "General" tab, or in an embedded Konqueror plug-in you will soon specify below. You can specify a particular behavior (external app vs. plug-in) for this specific file type, or you can choose to inherit the behavior of the parent group. Additionally you can specify whether the content will be (dis)played right away upon clicking, or you will be asked what to do with the clicked file: Whether (dis)play as you've specified here, or save to disk, or open with another program.
9. In the "Services Preference Order" section at lower part of the "Embedding" tab, select which embedded plugins should be tried in which order, when this file type is to be (dis)played as plug-in. Again Add, Remove, Move Up/Down the plug-ins in the list, as necessary. There are 36 different plug-ins provided in a default Kubuntu 5.04 installation, sufficient for most embedded viewing needs
10. Press to save all the selections you have done.

How to edit text files as root user?

Throughout this document occasionally we need to edit a file as root user. Here is the summary of several ways of how to do this. It's assumed that you need to edit "/etc/foo/bar.conf" file.

From within Konqueror File Manager:
2. Navigate to "/etc/foo/" directory within Konqueror,
3. Right click on the file "bar.conf" and select on the pop-up menu:

From K-Menu:
2. Either,
  - Or, press button:
    (You will enter below your own personal user password, not 'root's. There's no password defined for 'root' in default Kubuntu installation, anyway.)

From Konsole:
2. ```
kdesu kwrite /etc/foo/bar.conf
```

How to disable beep sound in Konsole?

Konsole :: Disabling bell in Konsole

How to load programs faster (prelink)?

Install package: prelink

sudo cp /etc/default/prelink /etc/default/prelink.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`

Edit "/etc/default/prelink" as root, and find this line:
```
PRELINKING=unknown
```
Change it to:
```
PRELINKING=yes
```
Exit from kwrite, saving the file.

sudo prelink -avmR
sudo /etc/cron.daily/prelink

How to load web sites faster in Konqueror?

sudo -i
cp -a /etc/environment /etc/environment.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`
echo "KDE_NO_IPV6=true" >> /etc/environment
logout

How to load web sites faster in Firefox?

Firefox address (URL) bar: [about:config ]

Filter : [network.		]
	...	...	...			...
network.dns.disableIPv6				true
network.http.pipelining				true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests		8
network.http.proxy.pipelining			true

Right click anywhere and select "New" then "Integer". Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and make its value "0" (zero).

How to import Firefox plug-ins into Konqueror?

Konqueror :: :: __ ::

How to disable beep sound for link find function in Firefox?

Firefox address (URL) bar: [about:config ]

Filter : [access		]
	...	...	...			...
accessibility.typeaheadfind.enablesound		false

How to rename all files in directory at once?

Download and install "krename" program. (http://www.krename.net/)

How to read "man" and "info" documents in Konqueror?

For man pages,
- ```
Konqueror :: Location: [man:/			]
```
For info pages,
- ```
Konqueror :: Location: [info:/dir		]
```

How to save "man" outputs into file?

Konqueror :: Location: [man:/command		]

```
man command | col -b > file.txt
```

How to generate MD5 checksum of a file?

md5sum file.iso > file.iso.md5

How to check MD5 checksum of files?

The "file.iso.md5" file contains one or more pairs of file names and their md5 values. At least one (usually all) of the files mentioned in "file.iso.md5" should also exist in the current directory, along with "file.iso.md5" file.

md5sum -cv file.iso.md5

How to mount/unmount Image (ISO) files without burning?

Mount image (ISO) file,

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/iso
sudo modprobe loop
sudo mount file.iso /mnt/iso -t iso9660 -o loop

Unmount Image (ISO) file,
```
sudo umount -d /mnt/iso
```

How to hide GRUB menu on boot-up?

sudo cp -a /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`

Edit "/boot/grub/menu.lst" as root, find this line:
```
#hiddenmenu
```
Uncomment it, i.e. change it to:
```
hiddenmenu
```
Exit from kwrite, saving the changes.

How to change the timeout seconds for GRUB menu on boot-up?

To chage the timeout from 3 to 10 seconds:

sudo cp -a /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`

Edit "/boot/grub/menu.lst" as root, find this line:
```
timeout		3
```
Change it to:
```
timeout		10
```
Exit from kwrite, saving the changes.

How to change default Operating System boot-up for GRUB menu?

To chage the default OS from the first entry in GRUB menu to the 5th (note that counting starts from 0):

sudo cp -a /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`

Edit "/boot/grub/menu.lst" as root, find this line:
```
default		0
```
Change it to:
```
default		4
```
Exit from kwrite, saving the changes.

How to temporarily skip boot-up services?

Press '[Ctrl]+[C]'

How to permanently disable/enable boot-up services?

Kubuntu inherits the Debian policy of disregarding non-executable scripts in initialization sequences, cron jobs, etc. (system triggered tasks). So, you can disable/re-enable a given script (of which, execution is controlled by Kubuntu) without removing it.

To permanently disable a boot-up service,
```
sudo chmod -x /etc/init.d/service_name
```
To permanently re-enable it,
```
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/service_name
```
To add a new boot-up service,
1. Basically this is the same as "How to run custom startup/shutdown script upon full system boot", except its execution sequence in start-up / shut-down. For custom scripts you would want it run on top of full system boot sequence. For services, it may be necessary to run it at a specific time during boot-up and shut-down, depending on the service. E.g. if you're running Compiere ERP+CRM suite on top of Oracle, you would start Oracle service before Compiere starts, and stop it after Compiere stops. Oracle, in turn, might need NFS filesystems to be mounted before starting, and NFS naturally needs networking to be already up before starting. Kubuntu already takes care of the start/stop sequences of networking and NFS. So in such a scenario, you would probably want to start Oracle service after NFS starts, and stop it before NFS stops. And you would start/stop Compiere as a "custom script". In order to see at which sequence a particular service is started during boot-up and stopped during shut-down, see the contents of /etc/rc2.d/ directory (for the default run-level 2). For more information see,
  - /etc/init.d/README
  - http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s-sysvinit
2. Copy/move the start/stop script "servis" into /etc/init.d/ directory,
3. To execute it at the default sequence of "20" during both boot-up and shutdown,
```
sudo update-rc.d servis defaults
```
  To execute it at sequence 60 during boot-up, and sequence 15 during shut-down,
```
sudo update-rc.d servis defaults 60 15
```
  See man:/update-rc.d (in Konqueror) for details.

Which KDE config files change by a given Control Center setting?

This only works for settings that don't need root privileges, i.e. settings only affecting the user, which are kept in '$HOME/.kde/' directory hierarchy. That being said, if you want to know which parameter in which file in the '~/.kde/' hierarchy is deciding a particular behavior:

```
cd
rm -rf dot.kde
cp -a .kde dot.kde
```
...do your settings, modifications, etc. in Control Center (kcontrol).
```
diff -r dot.kde .kde | less
```
This gives you the laundry list of precisely what has been changed in what way by the modifications you've just done in Control Center.

As an exception,

K Menu

...settings are kept in '$HOME/.kderc' file.

How to run custom startup scripts upon base system boot?

```
sudo mkdir /etc/rc.boot
```
Copy your boot scripts to /etc/rc.boot directory and make sure they are executable. Assuming that they're in a hypotethical ${MY_BOOT_SCRIPTS} directory:
```
sudo cp ${MY_BOOT_SCRIPTS}/* /etc/rc.boot
sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.boot/*
```

They will be executed in alphanumerical collating order, after '/etc/init.d/rcS' script is run, and before any script in /etc/rc2.d/* (which are just symbolic links -shortcuts- to actual scripts in /etc/init.d/*) is run, i.e. just before "Entering run level 2..." boot message.

How to run custom startup/shutdown script upon full system boot?

Name your post-boot script as -e.g.- "zzboot" or something similar which sorts last. If you need to run several scripts, then call them all from within "zzboot".
Copy it to /etc/init.d directory, make sure that it is executable, then make it part of boot process so as to run it last while booting up, and first while shutting down:
```
sudo cp zzboot /etc/init.d
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/zzboot
sudo update-rc.d zzboot defaults 99 01
```

How to permanently disable/enable boot-up services

Note that,

Your "zzboot" script will be passed a parameter ($1), 'start' while booting up, and 'stop' while shutting down, so you can take different actions depending on in which context your script is called.
Having the last collating sequence order is a very weak requirement as it is already going to be prefixed with "99", giving it the last sequence order, anyway. However, if there are other boot scripts with sequence "99" in your run-level, then you can make sure that yours is executed even after them by naming it like "zzboot". See contents of /etc/rc2.d/ directory to see which scripts run in which order while booting into runlevel 2 (default Kubuntu runlevel).

How to print?

How to fax "anything printable"?

How to convert "anything printable" into PDF format?

For all KDE applications, just click on the icon in toolbar, or press [Ctrl]+[P] and then,
- To print, select a printer from the list;
- To send as fax, select
  FIXME : Add answers for efax install/setup and KdePrintFax setup (invoked by "Send to Fax")
- To generate PDF, select
For non-KDE applications, use "kprinter", KDE's usual print dialog, as your print command:
- For Mozilla & Firefox, get to printer settings and change the print command as: "kprinter".
- For OpenOffice.org,
  1. Edit '/etc/openoffice/openoffice.conf' and insert (if there's one commented out, then uncomment) this line:
```
export SAL_DISABLE_CUPS=1
```
  2. ```
  kdesu oopadmin
```
3. Select "Generic Printer (Default Printer)", then press
4. In __ tab change the print command as "kprinter".
5. While you're at it, optionally set your particular preferences in __ and __ tabs, and in case you've installed MS TT Core Fonts then get into __ tab and remove the font substitutions below (as they are provided by 'msttcorefonts' package):
```
  Arial -> Helvetica
  Courier New -> Courier
  Times New Roman -> Times
```
- For other non-KDE applications, similarly get into that app's printer setup and set the print command as "kprinter".

A trade-off to improve graphics performance.

Use 16-bit color depth (64K colors), instead of 24-bit (16M colors). This may affect color quality a bit, but usually almost doubles graphics performance, depending on driver specifics.

sudo cp -a /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`

Edit'/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as root, and change this line,

Section "Screen"
	...		...
	DefaultDepth	24

to this one:

Section "Screen"
	...		...
	DefaultDepth	16

Restart X by logging out of KDE and pressing ([Ctrl]+[Alt])+[Backspace]

Run glxgears before and after the change, to see the effect on graphics performance (the higher FPS the better):

glxgears