Linux Dummies 9th

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Part III: Getting Things Done
Although Google Desktop Gadgets are popular in the Windows world, they
haven’t caught on as quickly in the Linux world. That may change with the
increasing popularity of the gOS Linux distribution — which includes not
only the Google Desktop Gadgets, but also links to the various Google applications
online.
Finding Google Gadgets with gOS
The gOS Linux distribution includes the Linux version of Google Gadgets
installed on a GNOME desktop, as shown in Figure 15-1.
Figure 15-1:
The gOS
desktop
with Google
Gadgets.
The Gadgets appear directly on the desktop, so you don’t have to hunt through
menus to start them. At the bottom of the gOS desktop is a separate toolbar
that contains icons that start various applications you can use in gOS. This
includes installed applications, such as the OpenOffice suite (see Chapter 12),
as well as Google applications that you can access from anywhere you have an
Internet connection (which we talk more about a little later).
Installing Gadgets in Other Distributions
If you don’t have the gOS Linux distribution, you can still play with Google
Gadgets. Depending on which Linux distribution you’re using, you may or