README                        TkDesk 1.2                        13.11.1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

       TkDesk - a Desktop and File Manager for UNIX's running X11

       
Changes since 1.1:

   o TkDesk now supports Tcl/Tk 8.x and itcl 3.0!  The older
     combinations (Tcl/Tk 7.5/4.1 and 7.6/4.2) are also still supported,
     though this is likely to change in the next release.
   o Small balloon help windows (a.k.a. screen tips) are displayed when
     the mouse pointer is over files that have an annotation, whose names
     are longer than the listbox's width, or which are symlinks.
   o Editor enhancements:
       - Status bar
       - Search backwards
       - New "Selection" menu to pipe selection, and to shift it left/right
       - Choice between old and nedit-like shortcut bindings
   o Configuration files may now be reloaded selectively.  It's no longer
     required to use the built-in editor to edit these.
   o Find dialog now gets updated while search is in progress.
   o Bug and memory leak fixes.  Thanks to all who sent in bug reports.
   o TkDesk is now maintained by J. Chris Coppick.  See paragraph
     "Maintenance Change" below for details.


*** IMPORTANT: Maintenance Change ***

   Starting with this release TkDesk will be maintained by J. Chris Coppick.
   Please send any sort of feedback like bug reports, feature requests,
   code donations and offers to help directly to him at:

                              jchris@znet.com
   
   Thanks Chris for taking this on!

         
What is TkDesk?

   TkDesk is a graphical desktop and file manager for several types
   of UNIX (such as Linux) and the X Window System.  It offers a very
   rich set of file operations and services, and gives the user the
   ability to configure most aspects of TkDesk in a powerful way.  The
   reason for this is the use of Tcl/Tk as the configuration and (for
   the biggest part of TkDesk) implementation language.

   This is a brief overview of the most prominent features of TkDesk:
 
   o Arbitrary number of automatically refreshed file browsers and file
     list windows,
   o Configurable file-specific popup-menus,
   o Drag and drop,
   o Keyboard navigation,
   o Files and directories may also be dropped onto the root window,
   o Configurable application bar, with several displays and cascadable
     popup menus for each button, files can also be dropped here,
   o History of visited directories, opened files, executed commands
     and many other things, which is automatically saved to disk,
   o Find files through their annotation, name, contents, size or age,
   o Trash can for safe "deletion" of files and directories,
   o Calculation of disk usage for directory hierarchies,
   o All file operations (find, copy, disk usage, etc.) are carried out
     in the background,
   o Traversal of directory hierarchies through recursive cascaded menus,
   o Bookmarks, create menu entries for often used files/directories,
   o Comprehensive hypertextish online help,
   o Built-in multi-buffer editor, providing virtually unlimited undo,
   o Remote control of Netscape and Emacs/XEmacs,
   o Sound support,
   o Powerful on-the-fly configuration of nearly all aspects of TkDesk
     using Tcl/Tk, allowing for unlimited extensibility,
   o Free of charge! But see the file COPYING, or menu entry
     Help/License for information on usage and redistribution of TkDesk.
   o TkDesk is free software, as defined by the GNU General Public License.

How do I install TkDesk?

   See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to install TkDesk.
   Usually the steps are: Install Tcl/Tk 8.0 and itcl 3.0 if you don't 
   have them, and then run "./configure", "make", and "make install".

Is there a Web page for TkDesk?

   Yes, please take a look at:
   http://people.mainz.netsurf.de/~bolik/tkdesk/

   Latest bug fixes, new versions and (in the future) binaries will be
   available first from there, or from the TkDesk mailing list.  You may
   also find some additional icons for use with TkDesk here, so make
   sure you stop by!

Oh, there is a mailing list for TkDesk?

   Yes there is, thanks to Gerald Willmann.
   To subscribe, please send an email to majordomo@lists.stanford.edu
   with an empty subject, and the body "subscribe tkdesk".  There is
   also an archive of this list available on the web at
   http://www.findmail.com/list/tkdesk
   
   
Hope you enjoy TkDesk!

     Christian
     
     (...and please remember: the maintainer of TkDesk, starting with
     this release is J. Chris Coppick, jchris@znet.com)