In the following sections you will find examples of how to configure some system aspects of your GNOME desktop like language settings, power management, preferred applications, session (and session sharing) preferences, Beagle search options and audio preferences.
openSUSE can be configured to use any of a number of languages. The language setting determines the language of dialogs and menus and can also determine the keyboard and clock layout.
You can set the following language settings:
Primary language
Whether the keyboard language setting should correlate to the primary language
Whether the time zone should correlate to the primary language
Secondary languages
To configure your language settings:
Click
+ + + .
Enter the root
password.
If you do not know the root password contact your system administrator. You cannot continue without the root password.
Specify the primary language, whether you want to adapt the keyboard layout or time zone to the primary language, and any secondary languages you need to support on the computer.
Click
.The language configuration settings are written to several configuration files. This process can take a few minutes. The new settings take effect immediately after they are written to the configuration files.
The Network Proxy Configuration tool lets you configure how your system connects to the Internet. You can configure the desktop to connect to a proxy server and specify the details of the server. A proxy server is a server that intercepts requests to another server and fulfills the request itself, if it can. You can specify the Domain Name Service (DNS) name or the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the proxy server. A DNS name is a unique alphabetic identifier for a computer on a network. An IP address is a unique numeric identifier for a computer on a network.
Click
+ + + .For more information on the individual options, click
.The Power Management module lets you manage your system's power-saving options. It is especially useful for extending the life of a laptop’s battery charge. However, several options also help to save electricity when you are using a computer that is plugged in to an electrical power outlet.
Sleep mode shuts down the computer when it is dormant for a specified period of time. Whether you are using battery or AC power, you can specify the period of time that the computer remains dormant before it is put to sleep. You can also put the computer’s display to sleep without shutting down the computer, saving the power required by the display.
Sleep mode is especially important when the computer is operating under battery power. Both the screen and the computer draw power from the battery, so you can save a significant amount of battery power by shutting down one or both. It is common to put the display to sleep after a shorter period of time. Then, if the computer remains dormant for an additional period of time, it is also put to sleep.
There are several sleep modes or actions you can set in the Power Management module:
The computer does not shut down or automatically go into any kind of power-saving mode. If you have a laptop, the laptop continues to run normally when the lid is closed.
The screen is blanked, reducing power consumption.
Suspend mode turns off power-consuming computer components such as the display and the hard drive without saving the contents of RAM. Any unsaved data is lost.
The computer saves the contents of RAM to the hard disk and shuts down. When you turn the computer on again, the saved data is put back into RAM, restoring your computer to its previous state.
requires an amount of free hard disk space equal to the amount of RAM installed on the computer.To open the Power Management module, click
+ + + .Procedure 3.4. Specifying Your Computer's Sleep Settings
Click the tab for the type of power you are using: if your computer uses AC power click
. If your computer runs on battery power click . If your computer operates on both AC and battery power, you can configure the settings on both tabs.Use the drop-down lists to set the amount of inactive time that passes before the display and computer go into sleep mode.
When the display is in sleep mode, the computer continues to run. When the computer is in sleep mode, power to the display and hard disk is shut off and the computer uses only the power needed to maintain the contents of RAM.
If the computer is a laptop, set the actions you want taken when the laptop lid is closed.
You can also save some energy by enabling the hard disk to spin down during idle times.
If you configure how a laptop manages battery power, specify the action you want taken if battery power reaches a critical level.
Choose the option you prefer by selecting it from the menu. If you have sufficient free disk space,
is the best choice.In the
pane, specify the amount of time after which the display will enter the sleep mode. You can set other options for idle mode here as well, like dimming the display or reducing backlight brightness.On the
tab you can set further options, for example the action to take when the power button is pressed or the sleep type to use when the computer is inactive. The options available there depend on the type of computer you use (laptop or other computer).You can also define when and how to display the power icon in the notification area.
When all options are set according to your wishes, click
. The options you selected go into effect immediately.The Preferred Applications module allows you change the default application for various common tasks such as browsing the Internet, sending mails or transferring data with FTP.
Click
+ + + .Click the tab for the type of application you want to set.
Select one of the available applications from the drop-down list or enter the command used to start the application.
Click
.The changes take effect immediately.
The
dialog box lets you share a GNOME desktop session between multiple users and set session-sharing preferences.![]() | Sharing Desktop Sessions Affects System Security |
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Be aware that sharing desktop sessions can be a security risk. Use the restriction options available. If you need to adjust the options to a lower security level, do not forget to switch back to a higher security level as soon as possible. |
Click
+ + + .![]() |
To share your desktop session with other users activate
. All keyboard, pointer and clipboard events from the remote user are ignored.If you want or need to allow other users to access and control your session from a remote location, activate
. Click the highlighted text below to send the system address by e-mail to a remote user.Make use of the security options available. If
is activated, remote users require your confirmation before they can connect to your session. To achieve a higher security level, activate (if authentication is used).Beagle is the search engine used on the GNOME desktop. By default, Beagle is configured to start automatically and index your home directory. If you want to change these settings, specify the number of results displayed after a search or change the Beagle privacy settings, click
+ + + .For more information, see Section 6.4, “Setting Search Preferences” and Section 6.6, “Preventing Files and Directories from Being Indexed”.
The
tool lets you configure the frequency of update checking, automatic updates and update notifications.Click
+ + + to open the tool.In the
section, set the frequency of update checking and whether updates should be installed automatically. You can limit automatic installation to security updates.Click
.