Comparitive Desktop Environments

[JB]

Aaron Konstam <akonstam <at> sbcglobal.net> writes:

> ...
> So this morning I tried to get around in LXDE and KDE. I found I quickly
> got lost in both.

Will try to help :-)

> In LXDE I could not get LXTerm (I think that its name)
> to be anything but transparent, rather than black letters on a white
> background.

LXTerminal.
start it
Edit-Preferences
click Background, move Opacity slider to the very right (transparency OFF)
select Color name for your background
OK
click Foreground
select Color name for your foreground
OK
OK

Yes, the trick with Opacity caused me some grief too ...

> I could never get any of the Background Images displayed in
> the Background program to actually appear as backgrounds.

Fedora menu - Preferences - Desktop

Yes, there seems to be a problem (here in F15) - file BZ report.

> I managed to
> put Xterm in  the Application menu but I could not get it as an option
> in a panel.

Right click on panel
select Add/Remove Panel Items
on Panel Applets on right side press Add
from Add Plugin To Panel scroll down, select Application Launch Bar, press
Add, this placed it at bottom of Panel Applets
select Application Launch Bar, on right side press Edit, which should open
a window for Applications selections
in available applications expand System Tools, click on XTerm, press Add, and
this will place XTerm in Applications
you can repeat the above step for other apps as well, and order them with Up
and Down
then click Close to close Applications Selections window
back to Panel Preferences, click on Application Launch Bar, and click on Up
as many time as you wish to move it to a desired position, e.g. below
Minimize All Windows
click Close
Your Application Launch Bar with XTerm should be on left of the panel.

Btw, I believe it is very similar to XFCE.

> The way to shut down was fairly well hidden.

Click Fedora menu in left corner of the panel
click Logout
click Shutdown

Why ? No problem.

KDE ?
I left it some 10 years or so ago (too resources hungry, too "heavy", too
different soul).

> ... 
> In each case, some time must be spent initially
> to figure out how to do things.
> ...

Yes, it applies to every DE, but some are more intuitive than others.
JB