Hands on: Change your PC's graphical look

To create a new archive right-click on a file and select ‘Create archive’ from the menu.

A pop-up window asks you to name the archive, which defaults to the name of the file or the folder for multiple items.

You must then select the type of compression, which defaults to tar.gz. I would recommend tar.bz2 for files to be used with Linux and Unix systems and zip for those to be used with Windows.

Once the archive is created you can add or remove more files and folders by using the appropriate icons in the archive utility or by dragging the files into the File Roller window.

Creating CDs and DVDs
Gnome lets you create a data CD or DVD directly, with no need for bloated applications. Open CD/DVD Creator from the Places menu or from a Nautilus window, the ‘Go -> CD/DVD Creator’ menu. You are greeted with a blank file window, with a banner at the top and a greyed-out Write to Disc button. All you need to do is drag files and folders into this window; don’t worry about duplicating and wasting space, as no files are actually copied.

You can create folders in this window too in order to set up a folder structure on the CD or DVD. Once you are happy with the layout, click the write button. You don’t need to worry about the kind of disc in the drive ­ the utility will write appropriately. It will even tell you what kind of disc is required if the drive is empty.

You can write CD and DVD images directly from Gnome. These image files are universally used to distribute Linux distributions (as well as other software) over the internet, and are regularly included on magazine cover discs too.

Do not use the CD/DVD Creator for writing images, instead right-click on the .iso file’s icon and select Write to Disc from the menu.

If you try to write an image using the CD/DVD Creator, a clever warning pop-up appears to ask if you want to burn the image instead ­ it is small things like this that make Gnome incredibly user-friendly.

Network folders & bookmarks
Gnome lets you use network folders transparently. It supports FTP (both public and with login), Windows shares, WebDAV and ssh servers. One way to connect to a server is to enter the server name in a Nautilus or file requester window, using a URI such as ftp://username@servername.com or smb://server/share. This is identical to the KDE behaviour.

For connections you want to use more than once a better method is to use the Connect to Server menu option. Select this from the Places menu and enter the appropriate details, using a name to identify this connection (such as My Webspace). This adds the network folder in the Places menu, as well as the Places pane in any Nautilus or file requester window.

With this pane item you can open and save files to the folder directly from any Gnome application, and browse the folders on the remote connection, just as you would from your home folder. If the connection requires a password, you can choose to have Gnome remember it just for that login session, permanently, or to forget it immediately.