I have installed Mandriva 2010.1 on several machines thus far. The biggest problem (serious) that I have bumped into is the option right-click "Unlock Widgets" in the taskbar. Some of my users are older/younger and they have already, after only 2 weeks of usage, inadvertently deleted their taskbar from their desktop. Note that if you inadvertently right-click on the taskbar it is extremely easy to unlock the widgets after which you can inadvertently pick "Remove this System tray".

It would seem to make more sense to make the choice of "Unlock Widgets" to be made more of a deliberate choice rather than allow for an inadvertent choice from the user (whether new to the KDE desktop or regular user). The "Unlock Widgets" should be put in a sub-choice when right clicking on the taskbar and the "Delete this System tray" should also be put in an other location in the following choices rather than the first option on the list.

KDE4 should never allow an inadvertent/non-deliberate choice that is so destructive to the first-time or even long-time user experience. This needs be fixed.

BTW 1: re-installing the System tray for someone who has inadvertently removed it is difficult to find on any lists/sites and it may prove too complex for first-time users. This also adds to the frustration level of both first-time and long-time users of KDE.

BTW 2: great job overall on the KDE4.4.XXX desktop. Pretty nice. A big thanks to the KDE developer team.

Cheers

Marc

KDE 4.5 will include functionality that allows one to quickly restore the default panel setup.

Please note that attempting to remove the Panel causes a warning dialog which requests the user to confirm their selection. Unfortunately this doesn't help in this case as they are removing the applets.

You may wish to file a feature request to make it harder to accidentally unlock the configuration however ( how you do that however, I'm not sure )

Thanks for the reply. Where would I go to submit a feature request?

I still think that having the "Unlock Widgets" and "Remove this System tray" options for the taskbar should not be in these locations as the disruption to the system is too great. It should be a deliberate choice with no possibility of "by chance" or "by mistake" error.

Is there a quick way of restoring the original original panel without using a console? I have used the "delete the .kde4" option over the telephone to some who were desperate to have it returned but, as you know, this will zero their configurations on many KDE packages.

Marc

marc@marcpare.com wrote:<snip>

Is there a quick way of restoring the original original panel without using a console? I have used the "delete the .kde4" option over the telephone to some who were desperate to have it returned but, as you know, this will zero their configurations on many KDE packages.

Marc

removal of ~/.kde4/share/config/plasma*rc will reset the desktop to the default (panel and widgets). There's 3 (or 4) plasma rc files

Additionally plasma shouldn't run while those files are deleted, else it would restore the files after deletion, because the last version is kept in memory.

marc@marcpare.com wrote:Thanks for the reply. Where would I go to submit a feature request?

I still think that having the "Unlock Widgets" and "Remove this System tray" options for the taskbar should not be in these locations as the disruption to the system is too great. It should be a deliberate choice with no possibility of "by chance" or "by mistake" error.

Marc

I'm sorry - I know I have posted about this elsewhere but I still think this is a big usability issue with KDE 4. I have accidentally deleted my own taskbar while distracted/busy. More to the point, however, I have had to try and help friends via the phone who have accidentally deleted theirs in KDE 4.3.4. This has been quite traumatic!

Perhaps this could be resolved by identifying certain key elements of the KDE desktop (taskbar, trash icon) which people are unlikely to want to delete except under unusual circumstances - and then set things up so that someone who moves to delete them gets to see a second pop-up window, asking them if this is what they REALLY want to do!

I got this message from the Mandriva listserv re: using the following in Konsole:

kquitapp plasma-desktop
rm -fv ~/.kde4/share/config/plasm*
plasma-desktop &

I imagine that this could be scripted and sent to people who have lost their taskbar. This seems to work.

Marc

As bcooksley mentioned it will be easier to restore the default panel in 4.5 - there will be a menu option along with create a new (empty) panel.

Personally I agree with your point and think it would nice if Plasma had an undo feature.

Sorry, I meant to say for the 4.4 and lesser versions, this script would be useful for those who were too unfamiliar with routines to restore their lost/messed-up taskbar.

Marc

For those who want more info., use Kwrite and copy the following in a new file:

#!/bin/bash
clear
kquitapp plasma-desktop
rm -fv ~/.kde4/share/config/plasm*
plasma-desktop &


Save it as a name that you would recognize (I called my file "ReinstallTaskbar". Once you have saved it, right click on the file itself and go to properties->Permissions and check the box "is executable". You can then run this as a programme to reinstall your taskbar. Unfortunately, you will also have to reinstall your wallpaper, but at least you will have your taskbar back.

Marc

I have added this problem to the KDE Bug Tracker pages. Maybe the KDE team can come up with a suitable fix for this. You can find it here:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=245622

Marc