The file manager, Nautilus, is a graphical interface on Linux which provides a consistent way of accessing files and applications. It can show you the files within folders, and display or process the contents of files by launching applications. You can use it to create folders and files, and to search and manage them.
It can be used to navigate file systems and devices on your computer, including reading and creating DVDs and CDs, external discs and USB memory sticks, and to access files on remote computers.
Nautilus is a GNOME application. See Introductory Note 302 for a general introduction to the GNOME Graphical User Interface on Ubuntu 10.04 Linux - the version of Linux in the School's Open Source Software Laboratory.
Nautilus displays files and folders (directories) as icons or lists. If you double-click the mouse left button on a file, it opens to show its contents (either within Nautilus or by invoking an external application).
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You can start Nautilus by opening it on a
specific location in the Places menu.
Click the left mouse button on Places to expand it and choose a location, for example Home Folder. |  |
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In the Nautilus window, files and folders
within the current folder are shown in the right pane,
represented by icons.
Double-clicking on a folder icon makes Nautilus open the chosen directory in the pane. If you double-click on a file icon, Nautilus will start an application to display, process, edit or execute the file. In the pane on the left, there's a list of folders or places. Click the left mouse button once on one of these to view that location in the right pane. |  |
| The Computer menu item in the Places menu also starts Nautilus. This time it shows the file system - the top of the Linux file hierarchy, and gives you access to the machine's DVD drive. |  |
In the Nautilus window of your home folder, you can see the files and sub-folders in your home file space.
| Browse into a sub-folder, for example Documents, by double-clicking the left mouse button on the sub-folder's icon. |  |
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Nautilus will show you the contents of
the chosen folder in a the right-hand pane.
In this example, you can see a file that is on your Documents folder. |  |
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There are several ways to return Nautilus to your home folder. You can click
any of
the
Back or Up arrows in the menu bar at the top of the window,
the home folder name in the Places menu in the left pane (the folder's name is the
same as your user name - exampleu in this case),
or the home folder name in the location button bar above the right pane.
Typing the keyboard backspace key has the same effect as clicking on the Up arrow. |  |
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If you right click on the icon of a file, you can choose
an application to open the file, to display it, edit it, process it or run it, if appropriate.
Move the mose over Open With to see suggested applications or
access other applications.
Generally, Nautilus recognises the type of each file, and it will open it with a default application if you double-click the left mouse button on the icon. The default action is shown as the first item in the menu above Open With. |  |
| The Wastebasket is an instance of Nautilus used to delete files. It's unusual in that its icon appears on the left of the bottom edge panel. |  |
| You can drag files or directories from other Nautilus windows into the wastebasket icon. |  |
| If there are files in the wastebasket, its icon changes to indicate that there's something in it. |  |
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If you click the left mouse button on
the wastebasket icon, it will open as a Nautilus window.
Click on Empty Wastebasket to remove the files permanently. |  |
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A warning dialogue comes up before the
files are deleted.
If you're sure you want to delete the files, click on Empty Wastebasket in the dialogue window. |  |
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You can delete an individual file, or group of files, in the
wastebasket by clicking the right mouse button to get a menu of optons.
As well as Delete Permanently, one of the options is Restore which will return the file to its original location. |  |
| The Computer window has icons which you can use to access removable media such as USB sticks, data CD or DVDs. | |
| A USB stick, CD or DVD should mount automatically when it is inserted into the drive. The icon in Computer will change to show mounted volume, for example a CD or DVD. |  |
| An appropriate icon will appear on the desktop. |  |
If a window hasn't opened automatically, double-click on either the desktop icon or the one in Computer to see the contents of the CD or DVD.
| To un-mount and eject a CD or DVD, choose Eject from the menu obtained by right clicking on either icon. |  |
| If you insert a blank writable CD or DVD, the icon on the desktop will show you this. |  |
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A message window informs you that you have inserted a blank DVD or CD.
Click the OK button to open the CD/DVD Creator application. |  |
| You can drag files and directories from other windows into the Creator window and then Write to Disc by clicking on the button. |  |
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If you insert a USB memory device into a USB socket on the PC, it will mount, and icons for it will appear in Computer and on the Desktop.
If a window hasn't opened automatically, double-click on the icon to open a Nautilus window on the contents of the device. |  |
| Unmount the USB memory device by using the right click menu to Safely Remove Device it before you remove it from the PC. |  |
| You can open a Nautilus window on a specific location or folder by choosing Open Location from the Go pull-down menu. |  |
| Type the folder path in the Location field in the bar above the left pane. |  |
| Choose Connect to Server... from the Places meny in the top edge panel, or from the File pull-down menu in a Nautilus window to create a connection to a remote file server. |  |
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In the Connect to Server window, click on the selection field next to Service type to specify the server protocol.
For example, you can select SSH to connect to server driveh in the School. SSH is another name for the SFTP protocol. |  |
The SSH protocol is useful on the
Computer Science & Informatics network. You can use it to connect to other file servers where you
have file space:
| driveh.cs.cf.ac.uk | your University Windows H: drive |
| machome.cs.cf.ac.uk | your Macintosh home directory |
| usersite.cs.cf.ac.uk | your Users website file space |
| projectsite.cs.cf.ac.uk | your Project website file space |
| shares.cs.cf.ac.uk | filespace for School administration. |
See Introductory Note 832.