The main menu, consisting of three seperate menus (Applications, Places, and System) that are across the top panel by default, give you access to your applications, various places and drives on your computer, and system settings respectively. These menus give you easy access to important features of your computer.
Menus[]
Applications[]
Furbuntu's Applications menu. Non-default submenus which contain user-installed programs can be seen.
The applications menu gives the user access to most programs with a Graphical User Interface; such as office, internet, sound, and video tools. Of course, there are quite a selection of games as well.
Examples of Preinstalled Programs:
- OpenOffice.org Suite: An excellent alternative to Microsoft's Office suite.
- Evolution: Outlook anyone? Another excellent alternative to a Microsoft product, this email client/organizer (which includes a calendar, task list, contacts, and memos) will help make sure that your tail is in the right place at the right time.
- The Gimp: An intricate image editor, and basic Photoshop alternative.
- Mozilla Firefox: Arguably the most secure web browser on the market. Plus, who can ignore the fact that it's a fox?
- Pidgin: An instant messaging client, compatible with all common instant messaging services, including IRC.
- Rhythmbox Music Player: A music player that includes access to two built-in, DRM-free music stores; links to many internet radio stations, and dynamic playlists to sort and play your tunes. Your roommates will be sick of your furry-inspired playlists in no time!
- Much More: These are just a few of all of the programs that come with Furbuntu.
The "Add/Remove Programs" tool will help you do just that, and much more than its Windows counterpart. (This will be explained in another page, and will be linked to that page once it is located.)
Places[]
Furbuntu's Places menu. Quick links to places on your computer, plus a search utility and a CD/DVD burning tool can be seen.
The Places menu provides you with links to various locations on your computer. Folders such as "Home" and "Desktop" are represented, plus links to your documents, music, and pictures. "Computer," a folder that lists all mounted drives on your computer (much like Microsoft Windows's "My Computer), gives you access to the various disk drives that are actively connected to your system.
A CD/DVD creator, within its simplest interface, is linked here. All that you need to do is drag and drop your files into this folder, and click "Write to Disc". For more advanced options, look under Applications > Sound & Video > Brasero Disc Burning.
The "Connect to Server" tool is a very useful tool for connecting to network backup drives, FTP servers, and the like. This tool will create a link to said network drive or FTP server on your desktop, giving you easy access to your remote and backed up files.
Of course, a desktop search tool is included, which will allow you to search through your personal files (and system files, if designated) quickly and easily. Finally, a "Recent Documents" menu. This will display and link to recently opened files, so that you can easily find those documents which you just had open. And don't worry too much, a link to clear the history is right on the menu.
System[]
Furbuntu's System menu. Easy access to all of your system settings.
The System menu gives you access to all of your system setttings. The tools for changing these settings are divided into two categories: Preferences, and Administration. The Preferences submenu contains tools for changing aspects of your own user interface, without interfering with other users' settings. Also, when using tools listed under the Preferences menu, there is little to no worry of messing up administrative settings. But for basic tweaks such as Appearance; mouse, keyboard, and sound settings; not to mention screen saver and screen resolution settings; Preferences is the submenu that you would want to look under.
As for the Administration submenu, it contains more advanced settings that you may want to take a bit more seriously. Mind you, this doesn't mean that even the newest of Furbuntu users should feel afraid of changing an administrative setting. Keep in mind that most tools within the Administration submenu will require a password.