Configuring Devices and Editors
Devices are things like dvdrom drives and usb-pens. Different Linux distros vary enormously in how they deal with these; some, especially recent ones,
automatically mount them as soon as they're found; others, especially older versions, do nothing automatically, leaving you to do the work.
When 4Pane first runs, it tries to work out which choices your distro makes, and work with them. When it gets it wrong, this is where you can sort things out.
For each attached device 4Pane adds an icon on the righthand side of the toolbar. In automounting distros, this can be clicked to display the device's
contents in the current pane; in non-automounting distros, this will also mount the device. For read-write devices like usb-pens, you can
also drag files onto the icon to move or copy them to the device.
To the left of the device icons in the toolbar are "editor" ones. Each has a program associated with it e.g. kwrite, gedit; when you click the icon,
4Pane launches that program. More usefully, you can drag a file onto the icon; the program will launch that file.
Though these programs are called "editors" and often are, they don't have to be. You can add other types of program too; Firefox and OpenOffice are suitable examples.
The Configuring Devices and Editors dialog has four buttons, each of which brings up another dialog. They are:
- Devices General
This deals with things that aren't specific to a particular device. The first section just asks whether your distro automounts; the next how it's detected. Until the 2.4 kernel, usb pens and similar weren't detected at all.
2.4 kernels introduced the usb-storage method. More recent distros with 2.6 kernels usually use the sys/hal system. 4Pane should have got this right automatically; if not, use trial and error.
The next section applies mostly to non-automounting distros, some of which insert information about devices directly into either /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab.
A few distros (eg Mandriva 10.1) use Supermount to help manage disk-changes; if so, the fstab entry may start with "none" instead of the device name, so tick the Supermount box.
The next section is about Multicard usb readers. These are usually treated as if each slot were a separate device. By default 4Pane only adds a button to the toolbar for the slots with a card inserted.
If you tick here, each empty slot will get a button too, so a 13-slot device will always have 13 buttons!
Finally, there's an "Advanced" button that produces yet another dialog. You are very unlikely to need any of the first section, but if you do, read the tooltips.
However you might want to make changes in the second section. You can decide what, in a non-automounting distro, you want to do when 4Pane
has mounted a removable device, and then you exit 4Pane; do you want to leave the device mounted? You can also change how often 4Pane checks
to see if any devices have been inserted or removed; by default this is every 3 seconds.
- Configure Fixed Devices
Fixed devices are things like floppy disc drives, dvdrom drives. 4Pane should have autodetected these when it first started, but if it got it wrong,
or you add a new device, this is where you can configure things.
You will see a list of known drives. To the right of this are buttons for adding a new device, and editing or deleting the current selection.
Note that Delete doesn't actually delete the device's information, it just ignores the device. If you reattach it, you can use Edit to 'undelete' it.
Add and Edit invoke similar dialogs. You will need to provide or change the device node (e.g. /dev/dvd) and mount-point (e.g. /media/dvdrom).
Next provide a label to call the device (e.g. "dvd") and select the most appropriate device type. Then say whether it is read-only: the answer is usually
"Yes" except for floppies. You can also choose to Ignore or Unignore the device.
If a device has an entry in the file /etc/fstab, you should be able to mount it without needing superuser privileges. For this to work in
4Pane, the device node and mount point entries here must be the same as in /etc/fstab. Beware device node symlinks: it's common to find that e.g.
/dev/dvd is a symlink to /dev/hdb. You must use whichever is written in the /etc/fstab entry.
At the bottom of the dialog are two tick-boxes, where you can say whether your distro automounts these devices.
- Configure Removable Devices
Removable devices are things like usb-pens, usb-readers. 4Pane should autodetect these the first time they are plugged in.
If not, or if it gets it wrong, this is where you can configure things.
The dialog is much the same as the Fixed Devices one; however these devices are likely to be read-write, and the tick-boxes aren't there.
- Configure Editors etc
The Configure Editors dialog is similar to the device ones. You can Add a new editor, or select an existing one and click Edit or Delete.
If you Add or Edit, another dialog appears, asking for the program's name, and the launch command. For kwrite, both will be "kwrite"; other programs may need the full path to the command.
Some editors e.g. gedit, accept multiple files, each opening in a new tab. Others e.g. kwrite, don't. Set the tick-box accordingly.
You can also "Ignore" the editor, so that it doesn't get an icon.
To the right of the Name box is the "Icon to use" bitmap-button, which shows the current/suggested icon. If you don't like it, clicking it
brings up a dialog where you can select a different one from those available, or browse to add one of your own.
Any changes should take effect immediately, but sometimes (I don't know why) they don't show until you restart 4Pane. This is especially likely if you change icons.