# The &systemsettings; Handbook

&Richard.Johnson; &Richard.Johnson.mail;
2007
&Richard.Johnson;
&FDLNotice;
2008-05-26
1.01.00

This documentation describes &kde;'s system configuration and administration center.

KDE
System
Settings
configuration
administration
config
admin

## Introduction

The &kde; &systemsettings; provides the user with a centralized and convenient way to configure all of the &kde; settings.

&systemsettings; is made up of multiple modules. Each module is a separate application, however the &kde; &systemsettings; organizes all of these applications into a single location.

Each &systemsettings; module can be executed individually

See section entitled Running individual &systemsettings; modules for more information.

&systemsettings; groups all of the configuration modules into two basic categories:

- General

- Advanced

The modules that make up &systemsettings; fall under one of the above categories, making it easier to locate the correct configuration module.

## Using &systemsettings;

This section details the use of &systemsettings; itself. For information on each individual module, please see &systemsettings; Modules.

### Starting &systemsettings;

The &kde; &systemsettings; can be started in one of three ways:

1. By selecting K Button Applications System Settings.

2. By pressing &Alt;F2. This will bring up the KRunner dialog. Type `system settings`, and click Launch.

3. Type `systemsettings &` at any command prompt.

All three of these methods are equivalent, and produce the same result.

### The &kde; &systemsettings; Screen

When you start &systemsettings;, you are presented with a window, which is divided into three functional parts.

Across the top is a toolbar. The toolbar provides the user with the ability to go back into the main view from within a module, or to search for something within all of the modules.

Underneath the toolbar are two tabs, General and Advanced.

Underneath the tabs is an icon view of the individual modules that make up &systemsettings;.

### &systemsettings; General Tab

The General tab consists of modules that allow you to make changes to typical &kde; settings. This section is divided into the following subsections:

Look & Feel

  This section covers the settings related to configuring the way you want your &kde; system to look and feel. Settings include the appearance, desktop, notification, and window behavior customizations.

Personal

  This section covers the settings related to the user. Settings include personal information about the user, accessibility, default applications, as well as regional and language settings.

Network & Connectivity

  This section covers the settings related to network and sharing configuration.

Computer Administration

  This section covers the settings related to typical system administration. Settings include data and time, display, fonts, game controllers, keyboard and mouse, as well as system sound.

### &systemsettings; Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab consists of modules that allow you to make changes to more advanced &kde; settings. This section is divided into the following subsections:

Advanced User Settings

  This section covers the settings related to the more advanced system settings for the user. Settings include digital cameras, file associations, input actions, resources, services, sessions, and hardware management.

System

  This sections covers the settings related to specific system settings such as configuration of the login manager.

### Exiting the &kde; &systemsettings;

&systemsettings; can be exited in one of two ways:

1. Press &Ctrl;Q on the keyboard.

2. click on the Close button located in the top right hand corner of the window.

### Running Individual &systemsettings; Modules

Individual modules can be run without running &systemsettings; using the command `kcmshell4` from the command line. Type `kcmshell4 --list` to see a list of the available &kde; &systemsettings; modules.

## The &kde; &systemsettings; Modules

In order to make it as easy as possible, the &kde; &systemsettings; has organized options into General and Advanced categories. In the main window, under each category, there are icons grouped together under subcategories. Each icon is called a module. When you click on a module icon, you will be presented with the options of the module in the main window.

Each module will have some or all of the following buttons:

Help

  This button will provide help specific to the current module. Clicking the button will open &khelpcenter; in a new window providing detailed information on the module.

Defaults

  Clicking this button will restore this module to its default values. You must click Apply to save the options.

Reset

  This button will "Reset" the module to the previous settings.

Apply

  Clicking this button will save all changes to &kde;. If you have changed anything, clicking Apply will cause the changes to take effect.

You must either "Reset" or "Apply" the any changes before changing to another module.

If you try to change without saving or resetting your options, you will be asked if you want to save your changes, or discard them.

## Credits and License

&systemsettings;

Program copyright 2007 Benjamin C. Meyer.

Contributors:

- Will Stephenson wstepheson@kde.org

- Michael D. Stemle, Jr. manchicken@notsosoft.net

- Matthias Kretz kretz@kde.org

- &Daniel.Molkentin; &Daniel.Molkentin.mail;

- &Matthias.Elter; &Matthias.Elter.mail;

- Frans Englich englich@kde.org

- Michael Jansen kde@michael-jansen.biz

Documentation Copyright © 2008 &Richard.Johnson; &Richard.Johnson.mail;

&underFDL; &underGPL;

&documentation.index;