The desktop background is the image or color that is applied to your desktop. You can also customize the image shown when the screen is locked.

To change the desktop background:

openSUSE Leap can be configured to use any of several languages. The language setting determines the language of dialogs and menus and can also determine the keyboard and clock layout.

To configure your language settings right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now choose Region & Language.

Here you can choose:

Note: Settings made using ibus-setup do not take effect

On GNOME, settings made using ibus-setup do not take effect. ibus-setup can only be used to configure IceWM. Instead, always use the Settings application:

• To change input methods, select Keyboard in the navigation pane of the Settings dialog.

• To change the key combination that switches between input methods, use Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts. Then select the category Typing and the entry Switch to next input source.

Refer to Section 4.4, “Keyboard and mouse” for additional settings, such as key autorepetition and cursor blink rate, and accessibility features. To configure your keyboard layout, refer to Section 3.2, “Configuring language settings”.

To modify keyboard shortcuts, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now select Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts.

Figure 3.2: Keyboard shortcut dialog #

This dialog shows the keyboard shortcuts that are configured for your system. To edit a key combination, click the entry that you want to change. To set a new key combination, press the respective keys. To disable a shortcut, press <— instead.

GNOME supports fast input source (keyboard layout) switching (Section 3.2, “Configuring language settings”). However, if you are using xmodmap to create custom keymaps, it may not work correctly when you switch between multiple input sources. For example, you have two input sources, English and German. Your xmodmap commands work fine in the first input source you select, but when you switch to the second input source the same xmodmap commands produce incorrect output. xmodmap is an older protocol and does not have a full view of the keyboard layout, so in more complex situations it causes errors.

An alternative method is to use xcompose to assign special symbols to sequences of key presses. This should work with any input source. Install xcompose by installing the libX11-devel package.

Next, assign a compose key with the Tweaks tool in the Activities overview. You will press this key in sequence with one or two additional keys to print a special character. The keys must be pressed in the correct sequence, starting with the compose key.

In the Tweaks tool, navigate to Keyboard & Mouse › Compose Key and select your command key (Figure 3.3, “Enabling the compose key in tweaks”).

Figure 3.3: Enabling the compose key in tweaks #

Next, create a ~/.XCompose file. This is the default per-user configuration file. Enter your keymappings in this file, like in this example:

include "%L"

<Multi_key> <a> : "α"
<Multi_key> <b> : "β"
<Multi_key> <exclam>  : "¡"

include "%L" includes the default compose file for your locale, for example /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8.

The remaining lines specify the compose key, the other keypresses, and the symbols they are intended to print. After you make changes to your compose file, you must log out of your session and log back in to activate the changes.

Your key assignments are case-sensitive. ~/.XCompose overrides the system files. Use the compose file for your locale to see what is already configured, and to copy symbols from it into your personal compose file. (These files may have a lot of whitespace at the beginning; they are not empty so keep scrolling.) As always, watch out for conflicts with the other keymaps on your system.

For additional information see man xcompose.

The Bluetooth module lets you set the visibility of your machine over Bluetooth and connect to available Bluetooth devices. To configure Bluetooth connectivity, follow these steps:

To connect to a paired Bluetooth device, select the device in the list. In the dialog that appears, turn the Connection switch on. You can send files to the connected device by using the Send Files button. If you are connected to a device such as a mobile phone, you can use it as a network device by activating the appropriate option.

To remove a connected device from the list on your computer, click Remove Device and confirm your choice. To completely remove the pairing, you also need to do so on your device.

Settings available in this dialog depend on your hardware. In the following, the options that are typically available when using a laptop are described. On a workstation, many of the described options are not available.

To modify mouse and touchpad options, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Then select Mouse & Touchpad.

Figure 3.4: Mouse and Touchpad settings dialog #

For configuration of mouse accessibility options, refer to the Section 4.4, “Keyboard and mouse”.

The Printers dialog lets you connect to any available local or remote CUPS server and configure printers.

To start the Printers module, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now choose Printers. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 6, Managing printers.

To specify resolution and orientation for your screen or to configure multiple screens, right-click the desktop and choose Display Settings. The configuration options available in this dialog depend on whether you have a single or a multiple monitor setup.

3.9.1 Changing settings: single monitor setup #Edit source

Figure 3.5: Single monitor settings dialog #

Orientation

If you use a monitor which can change its orientation, you need to adjust the display before turning the monitor. Use Orientation to do this. Choose the orientation your monitor supports, close the selection box and click Apply.

Resolution

To change the screen resolution, click Resolution. Choose a new value and click Apply.

Night Light

If you are working in a dark environment, your eyes can easily be strained by the monitor. To prevent this, change the screen's color palette to a warmer tone by turning on Night Light. Under Schedule you can automate this setting by specifying at which time Night Light should be turned on and off.

The Sound tool lets you manage sound devices. Here you can select the general output volume or turn the sound off completely.

To open the sound settings, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Now choose Sound.

Figure 3.6: Configuring sound settings #

Use the Output category to select the device for sound output. Choose the Balance setting you prefer.

Use the Input category to set the input device volume or to mute the input temporarily. If you have more than one sound device, you can also select a default device for audio input in the Input Device list.

You can also choose an Alert Sound.

To open a configuration dialog for allowing remote logins via SSH, right-click the desktop and choose Settings. Then choose Sharing.

Before you can share anything, you need to turn on the switch in the upper part of the dialog. The switch also helps you if you quickly need to disable all sharing options.

To enable logging in via SSH, click Remote Login and enter the administrator password.