Prepare Your Linux Desktops In Less Time

Linux Desktop implementation on large scale takes a longer time. Facilitating users with there specific needs is even more time-consuming. For eg. in any enterprise when openoffice is installed along with Linux there are many macros, shorcut keys and formatting styles which are, many times, common for almost all users. We can simply do it by copying user profiles.

We can create those facilities in one users PC and apply them to all other users’.

You can Follow these easy steps to save your time on same :

Create  all your macros, shortcut keys and formatting styles in openoffice on one desktop.

Thereafter open nautilus (file browser) and go to home folder of the user

Note : all the operations performed here-after are to be performed as a root or an administrative user.

Example :

if user xyz have customized openoffice elements then go to “/home/xyz/”

Note : “.(d0t)” indicates that file is hidden. To see hidden files in nautilus press ctrl + h

or if user root have customized openoffice then go to /root/

copy .openoffice.org folder

Paste .openoffice.org folder to different users folder (on a same computer or different computer doesn’t matter)

Example :

if the other user is abc then go to “/home/abc”

rename .openoffice.org to .openoffice.org.old

and paste .openoffice.org folder there (in /home/abc)

so now you will have two folders .openoffice.org and .openoffice.org.old in /home/abc

Important note :

You will have to change ownership of newly pasted folder

We can do it from nautilus (file browser) but it doesn’t affect all the enclosed folders so it will unnecessarily be a lengthy process.

So its better to do it from pseudo terminal

Press alt + F2  –  type gnome-terminal  –  press enter (or click on run button)

type following command in pseudo terminal

chwon -R abc:abc /home/abc/.openoffice.org

do it in same way for other users

You can also follow same procedure for other applications also

Applications like mozilla firefox and evolution also have their profile folders in user’s home folder.

In case of Mozilla firefox we can provide smiliar themes, bookmarks and toolbar buttons to all users

In case of evolution we can provide similar structure of folders and rules to all users.

Have a happy migration. Have fun. Your comments and feedback are welcome. Read more at technology blog.