Preface

The Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User's Transition Guide helps you make the transition from the OpenWindows^TM environment to the Solaris^TM Common Desktop Environment (CDE).

Solaris CDE is an implementation of the CDE standard developed by Sun Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Novell. It makes applications running on UNIX® systems portable and easy to use. CDE applications are more intuitive and consistent with other operating environments than the OpenWindows environment is.

Solaris CDE is web-enabled, allowing you to seamlessly view and manipulate web pages, files, and mail messages. This book discusses the CDE graphical operating environment under the following standard headings:

• Desktop

• Windows and objects

• User preferences

• Login sessions

Where helpful, the differences in behavior between the OpenWindows and CDE platform features are identified. The answers to frequently asked questions have been integrated into the relevant topics.

This book gives only an overview of CDE features and functions. For a detailed discussion of any aspect of CDE mentioned in this book, see Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User's Guide and the CDE online help volumes.

---

Note -

Solaris Common Desktop Environment is generally referred to as CDE hereafter in this book.

---

Accessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun.com^SM Web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online. You can browse the docs.sun.com archive or search for a specific book title or subject. The URL is http://docs.sun.com.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic changes used in this book.

Table P-1 Typographic Conventions

Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
AaBbCc123	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your .login file. Use ls -a to list all files. machine_name% you have mail.
AaBbCc123	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	machine_name% su Password:
AaBbCc123	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type rm filename.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words, or terms, or words to be emphasized.	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P-2 Shell Prompts

Shell	Prompt
C shell prompt	machine_name%
C shell superuser prompt	machine_name#
Bourne shell and Korn shell prompt	$
Bourne shell and Korn shell superuser prompt	#