BeOS Basics

Introduction

T his chapter is the starting point for anyone who's new to BeOS. It describes the fundamental BeOS desktop components:

"The Desktop" describes the layout of the BeOS desktop, tells you how to mount other disks (or partitions), how to empty the trash, how to shut down the BeOS, and so on.
"The Deskbar" is an ever-present menu that shows you the time, tells you when you have mail, lets you switch between applications, and provides a handy way to get to recent documents and applications.
"Tracker" displays windows that let you navigate the file system and organize your files.
"Finding Files and Folders" tells you how to use the Find panel to search for files and folders based on the characteristics that you supply.

As you use the BeOS, you'll notice that the windows and menus are comfortably similar to those of operating systems that you may be more familiar with. However, if you're unsure about how windows and menus work, you should visit Windows and Menus before continuing here.

Similarly, the user "drives" BeOS through familiar operations on the mouse and keyboard: To open a file or folder, you double-click it. To replace text, you drag across it and type. For more on these topics, see Mouse and Keyboard.