By default, the 1:1 laptop’s launcher dock bar has nine icons. The launcher is fully user customizable, it is possible to easily add apps and folders to it and rearrange and remove icons to make it suit your liking. Read on for an overview of the default apps that are “pinned” to your launcher and how to customize it:
The topmost icon on the launcher is the Unity dash icon, which is similar to the Start menu on a computer running Windows.
Here you can find a search function, recently used items, a full application list, and your files and folders on the computer’s hard drive.
Second down on the launcher dock is a shortcut to your user home folder which resides locally on your 1:1 laptop’s hard drive.
Next, is a shortcut to the Student Network Share, Atlas, where students can save and access their files from school network computers; keep in mind Atlas is only accessible from the school’s network, when your 1:1 laptop is on the building wireless network “students”.
Two internet browsers, Google Chrome and Firefox are next on the dock.
Finally, the last app on the launcher is LibreOffice, an open source productivity software suite, which compares to the paid variants of Microsoft’s Office suite and Apple’s iWork applications.
The seventh icon on the launcher dock is a shortcut to the computer’s settings control panel. Here you will find all settings pertaining to the many aspects of your laptop, including user and personalization settings. Be aware to not mess with certain settings, as changing some options may cause your computer to become unusable or lose data.
After the system settings icon, you will find a workspace switcher, which allows you to move apps and windows around on separate “workspaces” if you find yourself utilizing many apps at one time. When activated, you can click and drag windows around to different workspaces in the workspace switcher. To go to another workspace, click on the workspace switcher icon and then the workspace you would like to switch to.
Lastly, you will find the system trash icon at the bottom of the launcher.
To add icons to the launcher dock, you must first find the app or folder you wish to add. This is achieved through clicking on the Applications Menu (the Unity “dash” icon) at the top of the launcher and searching for what you want to add.
After you find what you would like to add to the launcher, click and hold the mouse button on its icon and drag it over to the launcher. The icon will appear in the launcher wherever you drag it to.
To rearrange icons on the launcher, simply click and hold the mouse button on the icon which you would like to move and drag it to the desired location.
Removing icons from the launcher is also straightforward. Right click on the icon that you want to “unpin” from the launcher and click “Unlock from Launcher”.
If you would like more information on customizing your laptop’s user interface to suit your needs, please contact student tech support.