The K Desktop Environment

Chapter 8. The file manager

The file manager of choice for 1.x is while for 2 is . The home page is located at http://www.konqueror.org where a -specific FAQ can be found.

8.1. How do I use or as a web browser with proxy?
8.2. How can I change the appearance of a directory in and ?
8.3. How can I do non-anonymous transfers with and ?
8.4. What causes KFM cannot connect to "localhost"?
8.5. What are %i and %m in the Execute line?
8.6. How do I specify the startup directory for and ?
8.7. How do I import bookmarks?
8.8. Is there a "Save As..." function in and ?
8.9. How do I fool a site into believing is or some other browsers?
8.10. How do I configure to run applets?
8.11. Why can't render images?
8.12. How do I rename files?

8.1. How do I use or as a web browser with proxy?

Both and can be used via and proxies. You can set the proxy server in by selecting Options followed by Configure Browser and then the Proxy tab from the menu. Please make sure to save the changed settings with Options followed by Save settings to make the proxy settings persistent.

As for , just select Settings->Configure->Proxies from the menu. Please make sure to save the changed settings with Settings followed by Save settings to make the proxy settings persistent.

8.2. How can I change the appearance of a directory in and ?

When displaying a directory, both and look for a hidden file called .directory inside the directory. You can create such a file yourself to modify the way in which the directory is displayed. The file is simply a kdelnk (or .desktop for 2) file. For example:

 # KDE Config File
 [KDE Desktop Entry]
 Name=Settings
 Name[de]=Einstellungen
 Name[pl]=Ustawienia
 MiniIcon=kcontrol.xpm
 SortOrder=Desktop,Input_Devices,KWM,Network,Information,Sound
 Icon=kcontrol.xpm

This is the file used to describe the Settings directory. It changes the icon used to display the directory, sets the (displayed) name of the directory according to the national language, and fixes the order in which the subdirectories are displayed.

For the directories that build up the K menu, you can also use to change the appearance.

8.3. How can I do non-anonymous transfers with and ?

Normally, if you enter a like ftp://ftp.somehost.com, and will attempt an anonymous login to the server. If you want to login as a particular user, enter a like ftp://username@ftp.somehost.com instead. and will ask for your password and connect to the server.

8.4. What causes KFM cannot connect to "localhost"?

In most cases, this is due to an incorrectly configured loopback route on your system.

How to check for problems

Check if ping localhost returns similar output:

 PING localhost (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.3 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.2 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.2 ms 
...

If it does not, your loopback interface or route is not properly configured.

The output of the /sbin/route command should contain lines like the following:

 Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags MSS    Window Use Ifac
loopback        *               255.0.0.0       U     3584   0       13 lo

The important fields are the Destination, Gateway, Genmask, and Iface. The above means that the system is properly configured to route all loopback traffic through the loopback interface (lo).

The output of the /sbin/ifconfig command should contain the following lines:

 lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Bcast:127.255.255.255  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP BROADCAST LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:3584  Metric:1

This indicates that the loopback interface is up and running.

Your /etc/hosts file should contain the following line:

 127.0.0.1       localhost

This ensures that the "localhost" hostname is associated with your system loopback address (127.0.0.1).

Fixing these problems

Execute /sbin/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 followed by /sbin/route add -net 127.0.0.0. Both commands should, on a healthy system, be executed for you at the bootup of your computer. If this is not happening, check your network startup files in /etc/rc.d.

If it still does not work

If none of these work, please send a full report to the bug tracking system. Do not forget to mention that you have checked all these things.

8.5. What are %i and %m in the Execute line?

They are used by all applications (since they are implemented in KApplication and all good programs create a KApplication object before they even look at the command line arguments).

A standard line for a application looks like this: foo ... %i %m -caption \"%c\". Pretty confusing, but it has been designed in that way so that it can integrate legacy, non- applications as smoothly as possible. and when executing the line above will extend the command to foo -icon something.xpm -miniicon something_mini.xpm -caption \"The Foo\". Both the icon and the mini-icon as well as "The Foo" are properties defined in the .desktop file. If the icons are not defined, they simply default to the executable name "foo".

This way a user can change these things in for his or her applications. -caption is important, because no user will accept that the menu item Editor starts something called kedit-0.9pl4-build47. Instead, he expects a window called Editor. Furthermore these names are localized, i.e. an American user launches CD-Player and gets a window called CD-Player while a German user launches CD Spieler and gets a window called CD-Spieler.

8.6. How do I specify the startup directory for and ?

Right click on the (or ) icon and choose Properties. Under the Execute tab you would probably find something like kfmclient folder %u file:/root; just change /root to wherever you would like (or ) to start.

8.7. How do I import bookmarks?

Take a look at the full list of applications (not just those in the distribution) at http://www.kde.org/applications.html. Under the NETWORK section you will find knsbookmark, the tool you need.

If you are using 2, however, you are in luck! There is no need to import anything at all! bookmarks are automatically available under the Bookmarks menu in with no configuration on your part necessary.

8.8. Is there a "Save As..." function in and ?

There is something close: View followed by View Document Source opens with the source code, which you can then save. This works well for text/html files, but not for graphics. For graphic files, you can right click on the image, and choose to open the file in an image editor that way.

8.9. How do I fool a site into believing is or some other browsers?

Fire up the Control Center and select Web Browser->User Agent. Add the desired user agent accordingly.

8.10. How do I configure to run applets?

Choose Settings->Configure->Browser from 's menubar. Note that you have to be viewing a web page for the Settings menu not to be greyed out.

8.11. Why can't render images?

It is because you did not enable support in . Please see Q: 4.24. for more details.

8.12. How do I rename files?

Simply right click on the file and select Properties. You can rename the file there.