Hello,

I'm using ubuntu (and compiz, though I'm not sure it's relevant) and I've been wondering something : how to display the desktop, as you would in windows using windows key+D ?
In system-> preferences-> keyboard shortcuts there's an action called "hide all normal windows and set focus to the desktop".
What does "normal windows" mean ?
When I press this shortcut (which seems to have the same effect as if you press the bottom left corner), the desktop is displayed, but there are some small squares in the corners that seem to be pieces of windows. What are these exactly, and if they're not useful, how can I make them disappear ?
Plus, if I press this shortcut twice, all windows disappear from the bottom panel (I don't know the proper name). Is that a bug ?

Thanks

up.

There's documentation comes with Ubuntu all about the Gnome desktop environment. Have you read any of it?

No, quite honestly, it's long and I was wondering if one of you knew the answer and could spare me the trouble. I'm just a beginner and I want to learn little by little. Even if I read it all I wouldn't remember 1% of it ...

I think everyone here is willing to help if you are willing to help yourself some. Read the information, it WILL help you with more than just this problem. Linux is a whole other animal from Windows and you will need a little knowledge to get it to do what you want. Everyone here will help you with what they can, but please try and help yourself.


compizconfig settings manager under General options -> Key bindings -> Show Desktop and set a key combination.

Yes thanks, it's just the same as system-> preferences-> keyboard shortcuts-> hide all normal windows and set focus to the desktop (which I did find by myself and helping myself by the way).
But my questions remain the same :
- What does "normal windows" mean ?
- When I press this shortcut (which seems to have the same effect as if you press the bottom left corner), the desktop is displayed, but there are some small squares in the corners that seem to be pieces of windows. What are these exactly, and if they're not useful, how can I make them disappear ?
It just feels like this shortcut does something else than just minimizing all windows, which is weird for such a shortcut.

in the show desktop plugin appearance tab. Set window part size to 0