Getting Started

This chapter covers the basics of using Photon. Topics include:

• How to start Photon
• A typical workspace
• Using the mouse
• Pointers
• Anatomy of a Photon window
• Using the Window Menu
• Using the Taskbar
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Using the clipboard
• How to exit Photon

How to start Photon

To start Photon, enter the following at the QNX system prompt:

ph

If your Photon system has been set up to start automatically at power up, you won't need to enter the ph command. But you may need to enter your user ID and password in the Photon login dialog.

If Photon has just been installed...

When Photon starts for the first time, you'll see a dialog for selecting display preferences:

Choose a graphics setting that best suits your desired working environment. The default setting is a "safe" choice determined by Photon when scanning your hardware. Typically, you'll choose the highest resolution and color depth that your hardware supports. For detailed instructions, see "Changing the graphics resolution and color depth" in the Customizing Photon chapter.

A typical workspace

After Photon has started, it displays a workspace, an area in which you can run applications and display windows. Here's a typical Photon workspace, with some sample applications:

Photon actually works with a much larger area than your screen; your desktop consists of nine workspaces or consoles. This is somewhat like your physical desk-the entire desktop is usually bigger than the area you're currently using.

Near the bottom of the screen you see the Photon Desktop Manager (PDM), a convenient tool for launching applications, navigating around the Photon desktop, and more. For more info on using this tool, see the chapter on the Photon Desktop Manager.

At the very bottom of the screen, you see the Taskbar, which shows you at a glance all the applications running on your entire desktop and lets you quickly switch from one application to another. To learn how to use the Taskbar, see "Using the Taskbar" in this chapter.

Using the mouse

Two common mouse operations are:

clicking

pressing and releasing a mouse button.

dragging

holding down a mouse button, moving the mouse, and then releasing the button.

Whenever you see the word "click" or "drag" in Photon documentation, and no mouse button is specified, use the LEFT mouse button. When you're supposed to use the right button, you'll be explicitly instructed to do so.

For a two-button mouse

You use the left mouse button for most operations (such as clicking on a button or dragging an object).

You use the right mouse button to bring up a context-sensitive menu in most applications. For example, you use it to bring up:

• an application's Window menu by clicking on the application's label in the Taskbar; the Window menu lets you modify or close its window.
• the Workspace menu by clicking anywhere on the backdrop; this menu lets you open a QNX shell, start the Desktop Manager, set workspace options, and shut down Photon.

For a three-button mouse

When running the Photon Desktop Manager and Window Manager with a three-button mouse, use the far-left button as "left" and the far-right button as "right." Applications that make use of the middle button will tell you how to use it.

Pointers

As you move the mouse, the pointer sometimes changes to give you feedback on your actions. Here are the pointers you'll see most often:

Basic pointer-lets you select objects.

Help pointer-appears when you click on a question-mark help button in some applications; simply position the help pointer on an object you want to know about and click on it, and the appropriate section of text will appear in the Helpviewer.

Busy pointer-tells you to wait until an operation is finished before you can resume working.

Resize pointer-appears when the pointer passes over a window frame; the two arrows indicate the direction you can stretch or shrink the window.

Move pointer-appears when the pointer passes over a window title bar; simply hold down the mouse button and drag the window to a new location.

I-beam pointer-appears in text-entry fields to indicate that the application is ready to accept keyboard input.

No-input pointer-tells you the window isn't accepting input.

Anatomy of a Photon window

Here's a typical Photon application window:

Most windows include these elements:

• Application help button-brings up online help.
• Close button-some simple applications may use this convenient method of closing the window.
• Frame-changes color to indicate the focus window (i.e. the one that's ready for input) on your workspace. The frame is also the area you grab when you want to resize the window.
• Maximize/Restore button-expands the window to fill your current workspace, or restores it to its previous size after maximizing.
• Minimize button-reduces the window to an application button in the Taskbar. To bring the window back up, just click on the button in the Taskbar.
• Resize corners-let you shrink or stretch the window.
• Title bar-shows the name of the application. The title bar is also where you position the pointer in order to move the window.
• Window menu button-lets you do several things to a window (Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, Lower, and Close).

Using the Window Menu

To bring up an application's Window menu:

• Click on the Window menu button in the window's upper left corner:

  

  Or

• Move your pointer onto the application's button in the Taskbar and click the right mouse button.

The Window menu lets you:

• Restore the window's size (after maximizing or minimizing it).
• Move the window-the window will track your pointer until you click.
• Size the window-as you move your pointer outside the frame, an outline will track your pointer until you click.
• Minimize the window-reduces the window to an application button in the Taskbar. To bring the window back up, just click on the button in the Taskbar.
• Maximize the window-expands the window to fill your current workspace.
• Send the window To Back-pushes the window behind any other windows that are open on the workspace.
• Close the window-closes the application. You can also close the window by double-clicking on the Window menu button.

Selecting the Close item may immediately terminate the application running in that window without prompting you to confirm. Always remember to save your work before you click on Close!

Using the Taskbar

The Taskbar provides a quick and easy way to switch from one application to another, to restore applications to their normal size on the workspace, to get help, and to tell the time.

The Taskbar includes the following:

• Window Manager menu button-displays the Photon Window Manager's menu. For more information, see "Setting workspace options" in the Customizing Photon chapter.
• Application buttons-Whenever you open an application in Photon, you'll see a labeled button appear in the Taskbar.
• Help button-displays online help for the Window Manager.
• Clock window-displays the time.

As you run more and more applications, the Taskbar fills up. When there's no more room for a button, all the buttons get smaller, down to a set minimum width. Then they start on another row, which is hidden. To see the other row:

1. Point at the top of the Taskbar. There's a 2-pixel gap on the top where your pointer will change into a resize pointer.
2. Drag the top of the Taskbar upward to enlarge it.

The expanded Taskbar looks like this:

To switch to any running application:

Click on the application's button in the Taskbar. The application's window will be restored if minimized, brought to the front, and become the focus window.

If you click on the button of the application that's in focus, the application is minimized.

If you hide the Taskbar (see "Setting workspace options" in the Customizing Photon chapter), it will reappear temporarily whenever you move the pointer to the very bottom of your workspace.

Setting the time

To set the time, double-click the clock button on the Taskbar.

The time is separated into three fields: hours, minutes, and seconds. To change the time:

1. Click on the field that you wish to change.
2. Click the scroll up or down arrows, or type the time.
3. Select either AM or PM.
4. Click Apply&Save to save, or Cancel to quit.

The RTC option sets the clock chip. This option may be disabled on your system. The hh:mm:00 button sets the seconds field to 00.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following tables summarize the keyboard shortcuts you can use for:

• Workspace operations
• Window operations
• CUA operations

If the Alt keychords listed below don't work, it may be because some character-based applications need to receive Alt key presses. To run such an application successfully, you need to configure its pterm window to pass the Alt to the application. See "Configuring pterm" in the Terminal Window chapter. To use the following keychords after doing this, press Ctrl -Alt instead of just Alt.

Workspace operations

Window operations

All of these commands affect the focus window:

CUA operations

Common User Access (CUA) is a standard that defines how a user can change the keyboard focus within a window.

Here are two of the more common CUA keys:

Using the clipboard

Photon is equipped with a very versatile and easy-to-use clipboard. It lets you cut, copy, and paste between text fields and pterm. You can also copy from the Helpviewer, but it supports only full-line copying.

You can use either the mouse or keyboard to cut, copy, and paste to and from the clipboard.

Operations in text fields

Operations in a pterm

You can also press the right mouse button that invokes the pterm menu containing the copy and paste options. For more information, see "Using the pterm menu" in the Terminal Window chapter. See the pterm utility in the Photon Installation & Configuration guide for a the complete list of pterm-specific keychords.

How to exit Photon

There are two ways to exit Photon: via the mouse or the keyboard.

Exiting Photon will close all the windows, terminating the applications running in them without prompting you to confirm. If this is a problem, you should exit your applications one at a time before exiting Photon.

Using the mouse

To exit Photon with the mouse:

1. Bring up the Workspace menu:
   • Click on the Photon Window Manager button (the one with the QNX logo) on the Taskbar.

     Or

   • Point to any blank area of the workspace and click the right mouse button.
2. Click on the Shutdown item. You'll see a dialog asking you to confirm the shutdown.

   ---

   The shutdown dialog doesn't appear if the PHWMEXIT environment variable is set. For more information, see your system administrator.

   ---

Using the keyboard

You can also use the following keychord to exit Photon:

Ctrl -Alt -Shift -Backspace

The shutdown dialog doesn't appear when you use this keychord.