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This chapter teaches basic skills for interacting with the Desktop using a mouse and keyboard. It also discusses the appearance and behavior of the Desktop features.
As we describe using the Desktop, we assume that you already know how to perform a basic set of actions, including:
Most the Desktop actions are designed for mouse-based operation, but all the Desktop features are accessible from the keyboard as well. This section describes the Desktop mouse behavior. The term mouse refers to any kind of pointing device used to control your workstation.
When the Caldera Network Desktop is installed, you can choose either a single-button or multi-button mouse. The default is the standard multi-button mouse. For further information on setting your preference for your mouse, refer to "Changing Operation Preferences."
The table below describes mouse button behavior for a three-button mouse.
Note that if you are using a two-button mouse, the functionality described in the table is as follows for most cases:
Table 2. Mouse behaviors for a three-button mouse.
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Action Button
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Select and optionally drag items; open a menu 1
Toggle selection Ctrl+1
Extend selection Shift+1
Drag selection 2
Drag selection to copy Ctrl+2
Drag selection to move Shift+2
Display a pop-up menu of available actions for an item 3
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Many windows and dialogs in the Desktop provide several common actions from which users select one. The following lists describe the actions that are likely to occur in windows and dialogs.
These actions appear in approximately this order in windows. The actions and meanings are:
The Desktop is designed to be controlled primarily with a mouse. However, you can also use a key or key combination to perform various Desktop operations.
An accelerator key is a single key (such as F1) or a key combination (such as Ctrl+Y) that is assigned to a command in a menu. Using an accelerator key has the same effect as selecting the associated command from the menu with the mouse.
Many commands in the Desktop can be selected with accelerator keys. When a command can be selected with an accelerator key, the key sequence is displayed to the right of the command in the menu.
The accelerator keys in the Desktop are abbreviated in the menus. For example, when you see ^Y in the Windows Menu in the Desktop Window, you hold down the Control key and press Y.
Here is an example of a menu with commands and their keyboard equivalents:
The following table lists the commands in the Desktop that can be executed with accelerator keys.
Table 3. Accelerator keys used from the Desktop
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Window Command Menu Accelerator
Key
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Desktop Clean Up View ^U
Window
Command Line Run ^R
Open File ^O
Open Directory Windows ^Y
Print File ^P
Show File ^H
Terminal Emulator Run ^T
Directory Change to Directory File ^Y
Window
Clean Up Sort ^U
Close File ^W
Command Line Run ^r
Directory Create ^N
Find Select ^F
Group Selected Objects Sort ^G
Icon View ^K
Information File ^I
Link File ^L
Open File ^O
Print File ^P
Select All Files Select ^A
Select By Pattern Select ^S
Terminal Emulator Run ^T
Wide View ^E
Jobs Close Jobs ^W
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For information about the commands executed by these keystrokes, refer to the sections in this manual that explain the task associated with the command. For example, for information about the Link command, refer to the chapter "Managing Directories and Files."
Information on the accelerator keys you can use when running the Icon Editor is also available in a separate table.