My understanding is that you really can't do this. If not, how can you easily access your documents, photos etc? I'm demoing several Linux distros for my wife. I plan to lure her away from Windows before W7 EOL in 2020. She likes to clutter up her desktop with all kinds of icons, so she can quickly open her stuff. I love this OS, it's quickly becoming my favorite. For me, I like the simplicity and order of the desktop, and I find it to be a very stable and easy to use OS. But this could be an issue for her.

Thanks,

Mike

It depends very much on which desktop environment you are using. Window managers, such as Fluxbox, generally don't work and play well with icons (though there is a Fluxbox add-on you can get to enable them; I think it's called fbdesk). Desktop environments, such as Gnome, KDE, and XFCE do offer the capability.

A web search for "desktop icons Linux" will turn up a number of links you might find helpful. This one might be a good starting point.

Personally, I loathe desktop icons, so I have little personal experience to share. I stopped using them when I a Windows XP user. I like pretty pictures for my wallpaper, and don't like my pretty pictures to have spots all over them.

ElementaryOS. From my understanding of it. Locks out the user from certain customizations.

If wanting Desktop Icons and a good community support. I would suggest for your wife

>>>>>>Debian Based but better in my opinion for begineers.

and or


https://www.linuxliteos.com/download.html >>>>>>>>>> Based On Ubuntu but better in my opinion


The manual for the above is here

Either distro uses the xfce desktop and will let your wife occupy the whole screen with icons if she so wishes.

This may answer your question for ElemenatryOS

you mean on elementary os?
i wouldn't know; but plenty of linux desktop environments have that option.
it varies; some allow limited creation of shortcuts, for others it's just like another folder in your file manager.
for the latter i'd recommend XFCE, or LXDE.

Thanks for the replies. I can see that putting icons all over the desktop is counter to the Elementary OS philosophy, which I agree with. I also like the beauty of the uncluttered desktop (I use the lake picture myself). I did try installing Elementary tweak, mainly to get the transparent feature, but it didn't go well and I uninstalled it. I like to leave things in the default mode. This is why I like EL OS. It's basic, simple and beautiful. But the wife is different. I think I need to find a Linux that allows her to be her herself. Fortunately, I have plenty of time. I currently also have Deepin and Ubuntu 14, but I just installed Ubuntu 16 on an old drive, and it went well. Maybe tat one will be the one for her. Although Deepin is also very impressive. I have used the Cinnamon and XFCE desktops on Mint also. That's another option. So much to consider!

Please let us know what you finally decide.

Well, it appears that I have broken my Elementary OS (Freya) by attempting to install the Tweaks package. Should have known better. Now it won't update. I get a message that not all updates can be installed. It gives me the option of doing a partial update. However, I would like to know if there's a way to fix this. If not, I have no problem reinstalling. A I said, this OS has really been growing on me. I want to fix this asap.

If I want to reinstall, what is best way? Just reinstall over current OS on same partition, keeping swap as is? Or should I delete both Linux partitions, and reinstall alongside Windows? (I forgot to mention, this a dual boot system).

Just reinstall over old partitions though I am not familiar with ElementaryOS installer capabilities.

I know AntiX/MX installer has a check box for using existing /swap and /home but I cannot speak for ElementaryOS installer since I never tried it out. Not my cup of tea type distro is all. Too many restrictions for this loosey goosey scooter tramp linux user.

Yeah, I had to make the install partition root, and specify the boot menu location (the hard drive - default). When it reinstalled, I was surprised to find that Firefox and Thunderbird, after I installed them, were all set up as I had them. Also had all my documents in place. Pretty cool.

elementary os seems to be slightly fishy.
have a look at this thread.
just saying.

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