Updated: 23-Oct-2007
On initial installation, Linux KDE 3 desktops look familiar to the user converting from Windows. The openSuSE distribution, for example, has the equivalent of the Recycle Bin (Trash), My Computer, My Documents, and various application icons. However, when you first install Kubuntu from a CD, there are no desktop icons at all! For former Windows users, this can be disconcerting. It's simply an unfamiliar sight for the average user switching from Windows to Linux. Certainly you can use either operating system, Windows or Linux, with a clean, icon-less desktop, but let's assume you like the icons and want to know how to create your own. Look at the empty Kubuntu desktop as an opportunity to choose exactly the icons that YOU want!
Linux, like Windows, lets you put icons for your favorite applications, documents and websites where you want them, including on the desktop. This article provides step-by-step instructions for easily creating desktop icons for applications--Linux calls them "application launchers"--on your KDE desktop. You can create desktop application launchers from the Gnome menu in a similar manner. (If you are looking for how to create a desktop link to a web page, see this article. If you want to create desktop "system" icons such as ""My Computer", "Trash" and "Printers" see this article.)
That's it. Hey, nobody said that all step-by-step instructions had to be difficult!
Theme music for the Going Linux podcast is generously provided by Mark Blasco. https://www.podcastthemes.com
Going Linux Podcast by Larry Bushey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.