Network applets are all applets that allow your work on a network or the internet to be monitored or enhanced. Network applets range from checking mail to monitoring the time you have spent on the internet.
The Mailcheck applet will check mail on your system and let you know if there is some new mail waiting for you. At this point it will only check your local system mail. It will not query another server for your mail. To access the properties for the Mailcheck applet right mouse click on the applet and select the Properties menu item from the pop-up menu. The Mail check properties dialog box will appear and you may change the following properties. If you would like to execute a program before each update you may enter a command in the Execute text box. This can be useful if you want to run fetchmail to retrieve your mail from another server. You may also specify how often you check for mail and select which animation style you would like displayed in the applet.
The PPP Dialer is an applet that will start your ppp connection. This is a simple applet that requires you to have a ppp connection set up properly on your system. Once you have your ppp connection configured properly you may press the On button(which displays play/ pause icons on it. This will launch your ppp connection.
The WebControl applet allows you to launch your web browser with the URL you indicate in the URL text box. If you would like to launch a new window instead of using the active one you may check the Launch new window checkbox. To clear the URL textbox, press the Clear button. To access the properties right mouse click on the WebControl applet and select the Properties menu item from the pop-up menu. The Mail check properties dialog box will appear and you can select whether you want to Display the URL text label and the launch new window options on your applet.
The Clock applet is the only applet which is loaded by default when you install GNOME for the first time. To access the clock properties right mouse click on the clock and select the Properties menu item from the pop-up menu. The Clock Properties dialog box will appear allowing you to specify whether you would like 12 or 24 hour time to be displayed.
The Printer Applet is represented by a small printer icon that lives on your Panel. If you drag a file to the Printer Applet it will print the file for you. To set up the Printer Applet right mouse click on it and select the Properties menu item from the pop-up menu. This ill bring up the Printer properties dialog box. In this dialog you may specify a printer name and the Print Command. For most systems the Print Command will be
lpr |
Figure 8-2. The Printer Applet Properties
The GNOME Pager is an applet that will show you all of your virtual desktops and the applications within them. There are two main areas on the GNOME Pager, the desktops view and the applications view. In the desktop view all of your desktops will be represented as a small rectangle. If there are any applications on the desktops, they will show up as small outlines according to their position on the desktop. The Applications view will show you the applications on your active desktop in a list view. If you press the button in the middle that contains the arrow it will show you a view of all desktops and list the applications that are currently on them.
Figure 8-3. The GNOME Pager
You may access the GNOME Pager properties dialog with a right mouse click on the Pager and select the Properties menu item from the pop-up menu. On the left side of the GNOME Pager properties you may adjust: the maximum width of the task list, the number of rows in the task list, the number of columns in the task list and the number of rows in the pager. On the right side of the GNOME Pager properties you may turn on and off certain views on the Pager including: a view of all applications on all desktops, the tasks list, and the Pager view. You may also choose to use small pagers and include icons in the task list.
Figure 8-4. The GNOME Pager Properties