Removed lower panel

[Bill cloonan]

Hello all,

I removed the panel on the bottom of the screen by mistake. The one with the entire menu, on/off, internet connection, etc. In Windows it is the Task Bar. How do i retrieve it. Thanks.

[oz]

If you are running KDE4, right click on the desktop and unlock widgets if necessary, then click on "add panel".

[Bill cloonan]

If you are running KDE4, right click on the desktop and unlock widgets if necessary, then click on "add panel".

Thanks for your reply OZ, i am running KDE4 under Mandriva 9, this i should have first mentioned. I was able to unlock widgets and add a panel though the panel only has a few items on it. When i right click on the desktop i am given a choice to open a command prompt. Though i hestate doing this as i am not well versed in Linux at all.

[oz]

Try right-clicking on the panel (unlock widgets again if necessary) and it should give you the option to start adding widgets back to the panel. If you should add something that you don't want you can delete it by right-clicking it.

Be sure to relock the widgets when done.

[Bill cloonan]

I did what you recommended. The widgets menu popped up. Am i supposed to be able to drag and drop these onto the task bar? i tried adding a panel and i am not given much of a choice. What am i missing here? Should i try reinstalling Mandriva? i was pleased that mandriva recognized my hardware to include my wifi connection. is there a place where i can get a step by step guide for installing and mounting the objects on the desktop. i downloaded the ISO image and burned to CD. Thanks again.

[oz]

You'll probably want at least the following widgets on the panel:

Application Launcher
System Tray
Device Notifier
Pager
Task Manager
Digital Clock

To add them, you can highlight the widget, then click "Add Widget", or you can drag them to the panel.

Install more or less of the available widgets at your leisure.

[Bill cloonan]

I have the lower panel back and am able to click on it and the standard menu pops up. As mentioned earlier, i am new to Linux. Why do my drives not show up on the desktop. How do i put a shortcut for Firefox on the desktop.

[oz]

Why do my drives not show up on the desktop. How do i put a shortcut for Firefox on the desktop.

The desktop in KDE4 works differently from previous Linux desktop environments in that it is plasma oriented and does not allow icons on the desktop unless you enable the Folder View widget by placing it on the desktop. Once enabled, you can name the folder whatever you like and then create links to various items by right-clicking within the widget (folder) and then setting up your icons. It's basically a right-click in the folder, then click "create new", then choose what you want to link to.

You can find various KDE4 documentation that might be helpful to you here:

KDE - KDE Documentation

Hope it helps.