Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Step By Step Guide
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# 2.3. Using Nautilus

The graphical desktop includes a file manager called Nautilus that gives you a graphical display of your system and personal files. Nautilus is designed to be much more than a visual listing of files, however. It allows you to configure your desktop, configure your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, browse your photo collection, access your network resources, and more all from one integrated interface. In essence, Nautilus becomes a shell for your entire desktop experience.

Working in Nautilus is efficient and provides an alternative to searching through the various sub-menus connected to the Main Menu or using a shell prompt to navigate the file system. The following sections explain how to use the Nautilus to enhance your desktop experience.

To start Nautilus as a file manager, double-click on your home directory icon:

Once Nautilus appears, you can navigate through your home directory or the rest of the file system. To return to your home directory, click the Home button.

The browser window contains folders and files which you can drag with your mouse to move and copy into new locations. You can open another Nautilus window by selecting File => New Window. Once you have another Nautilus window, you can drag and drop files to different directories. By default, dragging a file from one directory to another moves the file. To copy the file to another directory, press the <KEYCAP >[Ctrl]</KEYCAP > key while dragging and dropping the file.

By default, image files in your home directory are seen as thumbnails. For text files, this means you see a portion of the actual text in the icon. For images, you see a scaled-down (or thumbnail) version of the image. To turn off this feature, select Edit => Preferences. Select the Preview tab, then select Never in the drop down for Show thumbnails. Disabling this (and other) previewing features increases the speed of Nautilus.

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