Linux has a reputation in some quarters for being tough to use, something mainly for technical people. This somewhat undeserving reputation no doubt comes from the early history of the operating system, where it was most certainly true.

Some who tried Linux many years ago can be forgiven for believing that things are more or less the same, but anyone who gives a release such as Ubuntu a try will find that it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Many aspects of a modern Linux desktop are just as easy as to get to grips with as Windows Vista or Mac OSX, with some things possibly a bit easier.

Here we’re going to look at some of the day-to-day tasks you might want to do using an Ubuntu Linux desktop. If you haven’t used Linux before, or for a long time, it may be surprising how straightforward much of this is. If you are an experienced user, there may still be many desktop features you haven’t come across before, including some of the things here.

Appearance
Ubuntu comes with a fully configured Gnome desktop, with a brown-coloured theme. The theme may not be to everyone’s taste, although it isn’t difficult to tweak or change it completely. The wallpaper can quickly be changed by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting ‘change desktop background’, or by loading up the ‘Appearance’ utility under Preferences.

This utility is also used for controlling other parts of the desktop look. The first tab is for selecting the overall theme – this means the colour scheme, window border style, buttons and interface control style, and the desktop icons.

Ubuntu’s standard choice is ‘Human’, while the Gnome default is ‘Clearlooks’, which can be selected here, along with several other alternatives.

The next tab along is for choosing the desktop background. Next up is the font settings. Here you can set the type and size of application fonts, and configure how they are rendered on screen.

If you are not a fan of sub-pixel smoothing, try switching to ‘Best shapes’. Clicking the ‘Details’ button gives more advanced control, away from the four presets offered.

The Interface tab is for configuring how icons and text appear in applications. If you have a small display you may want to switch ‘toolbar button labels’ to ‘text beside items’ or simply ‘icons only’, as this will make applications a little more compact.

The final tab is for switching on and off 3D desktop effects. You can fine tune these effects by installing the ‘Compiz config settings manager’.

You may have noticed that there isn’t much choice when it comes to changing the desktop background. Install ‘gnome-backgrounds’ using the Synaptic Package Manager to add a few extra.