More dumb newbie questions

[Alan Dacey]

alan c wrote:
> John Desmond wrote:
>> Salutations, gentlefolk !
> 
> Welcome to Linux World!
> 
>> I recently switched from Windows to Kubuntu Linux 8.04.1, kernel 
>> 2.6.24-14, KDE 3.5.10, and am wondering how to deal with the following 
>> annoyances.
>>
>> 1 - Desktop icons - I'd like to change the icons so that 'file folder A' 
>>   is represented by one icon on my Desktop, while 'File Folder B', File 
>> Folder C', and so on, have different icons.  But when I click on 
>> 'Properties' for that folder, then 'Select Icon - K Desktop', and pick a 
>> new icon for that folder, the system uses _that_ icon for _all_ file 
>> folders on the desktop.  How do I change that ?
> 
> Easy, if I understand you correctly:
> With the folder icon on the desktop, right click Properties,
> then left click the icon area at the top left of the properties 
> window.....
> 
> There is a bunch of choice, and if you really want to, there is a way 
> of creating your own icon, I looked it up once.
> hth
> 

For custom icons on different folders:  Right-click on the folder to get to the 
properties and click on the icon itself like the other Alan said.  There are 
many system icons but if you do not want to use them pick the "Other Icons".
All those icons live in /home/<your_user _name>/.local/share/icons/
You can place any PNG image in that hidden folder and it will be available for 
use.  It is much easier to keep all the icons in one place because you will 
eventually forget that you used a certain file for an icon and then move it - so 
there goes your nice custom icon (trust me).  By clicking on the picture of the 
icon in the top left off the properties, you will be able to pick an icon for 
that one folder.
To create an icon you can get any picture from wherever and use gimp to save it 
as a PNG file.  To get the invisible background, you have to add an alpha 
channel {Layer --> Transparency --> Add Alpha Channel} and then add color to it 
{Colors --> Color to Alpha}.  It's not intuitive but it usually works.


Alan

-- 
"The second most satisfying thing in life is to totally understand a complicated 
concept.  If you are very lucky you may attain *the* most satisfying thing in 
life and actually grok it."