Red Hat 8 Settings

Some of the most useful programs are already available in the Activities Menu - this list also includes programs which are running.

To open a terminal, click on the Activities button in the top left corner of the tool bar and then click on the monitor button (circled) in the menu which opens down the left hand side.

At the bottom of the list, click on the "9 dots" to view all the other programs available over several pages - use the vertical line of white dots on the right-hand side of the screen to scroll through the pages.

It is possible to add useful programs to the Activities Menu by right-clicking on the program icon and selecting "add to favourites".

It is easy to change the layout and functionality of the desktop.

Click on Activities to bring up the “Overview” and start typing Tweaks

This is automatically typed into the search box

Then click on the Tweaks icon

Under Appearance, you can change the background image – there are a few default options but you can add your own picture if you would rather (a sensible place to store it would probably be …/home/Pictures)

There are limited choices for other display options but feel free to investigate.

Under Extensions, there is the very handy option to display items on the desktop – toggle the Desktop Icons switch from OFF to ON.

This has the added advantage of enabling the option to open a terminal via the right click menu from the desktop.

If the icons are very large, this can be fixed by typing the following into a terminal (tabbing through various bits of text will work)

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.icon-view default-zoom-level small

If not already set, switching the Window list button from OFF to ON, will show which windows you have open in a bar along the bottom. 

If you have two (or more!) monitors, it is worth checking the settings in Workspaces to enable the workspaces to work across multiple monitors.

This is also the place to determine whether you want a fixed number of workspaces or for them to be created/removed as needed.  By default the workspaces are numbered but if you regularly use different workspaces for different applications, e.g., one for the GDA, one for the synoptic and one for Albula you can give your workspaces names using the following command, typed into a terminal (change the workspace names as appropriate to you):

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences workspace-names "['GDA', 'EPICS', 'Albula', 'Cameras']"

1.  I would recommend going through the menus and seeing what happens when you change the settings until you end up somewhere you feel happy.

2.  One of the options under Extensions (in Tweaks) is Dash to dock - this will lock the Activities menu onto the screen so you can easily access programs. 

3.  Double clicking in the top name bar of any window will resize it to fit the screen.  Double click again to reduce it to its original size (or right click on the app in the window list to unmaximise).

4.  To move windows around workspaces, drag and drop them while you are in the “overview” mode (the mode you reach by clicking on Activities) or by right clicking on the window and selecting the workspace you want to move it to.

5.  If your session is inactive for a period of time, you will be locked out.  Press the ESC key to bring up the log in screen.

6.  To log out when you have finished, click on the right-hand side of top menu bar, click on your surname in the menu which pops up, and select Log Out.