ScreenSaver

ScreenSaver

The Screensaver dialog box of the Control Center enables you to select a screensaver for your system and customize its setting. You can configure global options, such as the time before the screensaver kicks in, as well as options specific to the individual screensaver that you choose. The Screensaver dialog box is divided into three major areas:

• A preview monitor
• A Screensaver list
• Some general screensaver setting

To choose a Screensaver, select the screensaver from the Screen Saver list. To customize the Screensaver you have chosen, click the Setup button and edit the entries in the dialog box that appears. Each setup dialog box includes a preview window so that you can see the effect of your setting before you accept them.

 To configure the amount of time before the screensaver starts, enter the number of minutes in the Wait for field of the dialog box. If you want the screensaver to lock the screen when it is activated so that a password is required to regain access to your machine, select the Require password option. You can also select whether you want KDE to echopassword characters as stars as they are typed by selecting the Show password as stars option. If this option is not selected, the characters of the password are not echoed at all when the password is typed. To allow the use of the root password a well as your regular user password to unlock the screen, select the accept root password to unlock option.

The Priority setting controls how much processor time is devoted to the screensaver when it is active. This corresponds to the Linux nice value of the screensaver process. If you want the screensaver to run at a higher priority than other processes on your machine (so that the animation is smooth, for example), drag the slider to High. If you want other processes to have priority, slide it to Low.

To test the screensaver setting on the full screen, click the Test button. After adjusting the screensaver setting, click OK or Apply to save you changes.

Configuring System Notifications

The Look&Feel, System Notifications dialog box enables you to specify how you would like to be notified when various events happen. To associate a notification with a particular event, select the event from the nested menus in the Application/Event list. Then select one or more notification types:

• Log to file - KDE will append a message to the file you specify in the Filename text box.
• Play sound - KDE will play the sound file your specify in Filename text box. Click the button beside the Filename text box to test the sound.
• Show messagebox - KDE will open a message box.
• Standard error output - KDE will output a message to standard error (stderr). This generally will go to your text console. Generally this is only useful for debugging purposes.

After you have made your changes, Click OK or Apply to save.

ScreenSaver

Setting Window Manager Policies

Setting in the Look & Feel, Window Behavior, Actions dialog box of the Control Center enable you to adjust window policies. These policies affect the appearance of windows when they are moved and resized, as well as how windows are maximized, placed, and selected (receive focus) by the window manager. The options in the top part of this dialog box determine how windows look while they are being moved or resized, and how the Maximize operation works on a window. During a resize or move operation, you can choose to have windows appear with their contents intact, or as transparent rectangles. When windows are drawn with their contents during these operations, it requires more time to update the display during the move or resize operations. If you are on a slow machine, this can result in the operation appearing choppy or jerky.

To display the contents of windows during move or resize operations, select the appropriate options on this dialog box. However, if you want faster (smoother) performance for move or resize operations, deselect these options.

If you choose to display contents in resizing windows, you can also choose to have windows update their contents while they are being resized, using the resize animation setting. Use the slider to specify a speed. If you select a value other than None, when you resize a window its contents are redrawn while it is being resized. This gives you a visual indication of how the program will lay out the window contents at various window sizes, so you can select the best size. However, it it also makes the resize operation slower, and it can be choppy looking.

The Placement policy drop-down menu allows you to configure where windows are placed on the desktop. The following policies are supported:

• Smart - minimizes overlap between windows.
• Cascade - The first window is displayed in the upper left. The next window is placed slightly to the lower right so it mostly overlaps, and so on. The result is similar to how you might lay down a hand of playing cards.
• Random - Windows are placed on the screen randomly.

Focus policy is perhaps one of the most personal decisions in configuring KDE. Focus policy is how KDE determines which window is currently active, and what to do when a window becomes active. The policies are as follow:

• Click to focus - Windows gain focus only when you click on them. The window is automatically raised, or put on top of any other desktop windows. This is the default and is the focus policy of Microsoft Windows.
• Focus follows mouse - Windows gain focus when you move into them (using the mouse pointer or using Alt+Tab or otherwise). This might or might not raise the window. Moving the mouse pointer onto the desktop does not cause the currently active window to lose focus. If Auto Raise is selected, the window will be raised after the mouse pointer is in it for the number of milliseconds set by the Delay slider. If Click Raise is selected, clicking anywhere in the window will raise it. Otherwise, only clicking on the border will raise it. This is an incredibly useful focus policy, because it enables you to type in one window while reading another window that might obscure it.
• Focus under mouse - Windows gain focus whenever the mouse pointer moves into them. Keyboard shortcuts like Alt+Tab will probably not work correctly. This focus policy is really only provided for true purists.
• Focus strictly under mouse - Windows gain focus whenever while the mouse pointer is within them. If the mouse points to the desktop, no window will have focus. This is generally not useful and is only provided for nearly masochistic old-time purists.

Tip - If you have experience in other operating systems, you might be most comfortable using Click to focus, which is the default. But you should try Focus follows mouse. It really separates UNIX-based desktops from less feature-rich ones.

Screensaver