diff --git a/app/Base.java b/app/Base.java
index 26ac1bed5..a64dba915 100644
--- a/app/Base.java
+++ b/app/Base.java
@@ -759,6 +759,15 @@ public class Base {
   }
 
 
+  static boolean openFolderAvailable() {
+    if (Base.isWindows() || Base.isMacOS()) return true;
+
+    //gnome-open, kde-open
+    if (Preferences.getString("
+    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime.exec(new String[] { "gnome-open" });
+  }
+
+
   /**
    * Implements the other cross-platform headache of opening
    * a folder in the machine's native file browser.
diff --git a/app/Editor.java b/app/Editor.java
index d6ffe2989..2c8ff3b77 100644
--- a/app/Editor.java
+++ b/app/Editor.java
@@ -642,18 +642,21 @@ public class Editor extends JFrame
 
     menu.add(sketchbook.getImportMenu());
 
-    if (Base.isWindows() || Base.isMacOS()) {
-      // no way to do an 'open in file browser' on other platforms
-      // since there isn't any sort of standard
-      item = newJMenuItem("Show Sketch Folder", 'K', false);
-      item.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
+    //if (Base.isWindows() || Base.isMacOS()) {
+    // no way to do an 'open in file browser' on other platforms
+    // since there isn't any sort of standard
+    item = newJMenuItem("Show Sketch Folder", 'K', false);
+    item.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
         public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
           //Base.openFolder(sketchDir);
           Base.openFolder(sketch.folder);
         }
       });
-      menu.add(item);
+    menu.add(item);
+    if (!Base.openFolderAvailable()) {
+      item.setEnabled(false);
     }
+
     //menu.addSeparator();
 
     item = new JMenuItem("Add File...");
diff --git a/build/shared/lib/preferences.txt b/build/shared/lib/preferences.txt
index 032816e5f..8f9581150 100755
--- a/build/shared/lib/preferences.txt
+++ b/build/shared/lib/preferences.txt
@@ -266,6 +266,9 @@ preproc.imports.jdk14 = javax.xml.parsers,javax.xml.transform,javax.xml.transfor
 # set the browser to be used on linux
 browser.linux = mozilla
 
+# set to the program to be used for launching apps on linux
+#launcher.linux = gnome-open
+
 # coloring for the editor line number status bar at the bottom of the screen
 linestatus.bgcolor = #66665a
 linestatus.font	   = SansSerif,plain,10