Creating application shortcuts, and converting .deb and .rpm packages

KDE and GNOME support a two-click way to create links and shortcuts. For KDE, you open the main menu, find your program, right-click, then click + Add to Panel (Widget) or + Add to Desktop – and there it is. For GNOME, again right-click and select Pin to Dash.

For Xfce, selecting +Add to Panel adds an icon for the application at the end of the list of elements in the given panel. This isn’t ideal, but it’s easily solved by right-clicking the application icon and selecting ->Move to move it on the panel. The other option is to click anywhere on the panel, select the Panel option at the bottom of the right-click panel, select Panel Preferences, then go to the third menu tab, Items, and reorder all elements the way you want. The only problem is that you will see the application icon twice – once as a launcher and one more time if the application is running (the ancient Windows style...