I decided to pick up my Win 7 taskbar thread here since I am now using Kubuntu and KDE4.8 and have more questions then I previously did. I didn't get to post this as soon as I would have liked, so I am dead tired. Therefore I will be splitting the lower priority things in to a srcond post tomorow and focus on the most important things here in this post.

First, the icon based launcher/task bar should be built in but I can not find itl Where is it?

Secondly, when using KDE(4.3? just going from memorey) on Debian I had a window decoration named KDE2 or KDE3. Now in Kubuntu(KDE 4.8.3) it is not present in the stock decorations or the built in kde-look browser. I found a deceration called laptop that is similar but slightly different..Can provide screen shots tomorow if needed,

Next, my maximize, minimize, and close buttons are set up oddly. The close button is in the top left by itslef. The minimize and maximize are on the right. How can I get it back to minimize,maximize,and close?

Last major thing for the moment, it seems like all my apps keep trying to align themselves side by side when I launch them or bring them up from the task bar.How can i disable this?

Oh and my taskbar is transparent, can I change that or is it embeded in to themes?

First, the icon based launcher/task bar should be built in but I can not find itl Where is it?

See if you can find a package called kdeplasma-addons or something similar.

Secondly, when using KDE(4.3? just going from memorey) on Debian I had a window decoration named KDE2 or KDE3. Now in Kubuntu(KDE 4.8.3) it is not present in the stock decorations or the built in kde-look browser. I found a deceration called laptop that is similar but slightly different..Can provide screen shots tomorow if needed,

It's probably been removed then. See if you can find something similar on http://kde-look.org.

Next, my maximize, minimize, and close buttons are set up oddly. The close button is in the top left by itslef. The minimize and maximize are on the right. How can I get it back to minimize,maximize,and close?

System Settings -> Workspace Appearance -> Window Decoration -> Configure Buttons...

Last major thing for the moment, it seems like all my apps keep trying to align themselves side by side when I launch them or bring them up from the task bar.How can i disable this?

Not sure what you mean. Do they take up half the screen space each?

Oh and my taskbar is transparent, can I change that or is it embeded in to themes?

It depends on the theme (System Settings -> Workspace Appearance -> Desktop Theme). Aya and Fushigi are two themes with non-transparent panel that I personally like.

If you don't like transparency and desktop effects you can also disable compositing, Alt+Shift+F12. You can disable it permanently in System Settings -> Desktop Effects.

"Last major thing" alignment at app startup: systemsettings-> window behavior -> window behavior -> advanced -> disable tiling

for icon-only task manager check package plasma-widgets-addons, I think the actual file is plasma_applet_icontasks.so

Hans wrote:

Xplorer4x4 wrote:Last major thing for the moment, it seems like all my apps keep trying to align themselves side by side when I launch them or bring them up from the task bar.How can i disable this?

Not sure what you mean. Do they take up half the screen space each?

Sorry I was tired and stuggling to come up with a good way to describe it. Yes, basicly I would restore a minimized app, say firefox, and assuming kriwte was open before maximizing firefox from the taskbar, they would suddenly both be taking up 50% of the screen. I have to admit, I could find this feature to be very usefull at times, just not all the time.

If you don't like transparency and desktop effects you can also disable compositing, Alt+Shift+F12. You can disable it permanently in System Settings -> Desktop Effects.

Well I like pretty/fancy stuff in some cases. Of course I recognize the times a plain/basic GUI app might just be the best thing for a purpouse. So what I ma getting at is this disabled pretty much all the fancy effects doesn't it?

google01103 wrote:for icon-only task manager check package plasma-widgets-addons, I think the actual file is plasma_applet_icontasks.so

It is included in Kubuntu already but thanks for the tip.

Ok I *think* my OP was clearly answered now, but as I said, that was part 1. Past 2 is not as long though. Actually I should have written some notes to remind me what to ask for part 2. So off hand the only thing I can think of that I am lacking in Kubuntu/KDE is a sidebar with some gadgets. In win 7 my sidebar lay out consisted of:
Simply Weather- Simple weather gadget seen here.
All CPU Meter - In case you are unable to check the link, it shows graphs indicating the cpu usage and temp for each individual thread(seeing as I have a Quad Core i7 2600K, it showed "8 Cores"). It used the Core Temp app, a separate app, to do the actual temp monitoring.
Drives Meter - Again, the link illustrates the gadget in great detail, but for those unable to check the link, it illustrates the drive letter, used drive space, free drive space, total space , and more. I actually disabled the graph display in the gadget options, and all I am trully looking for here is a simple, but good looking(preferably dark,blackish) widget to tell me how much free space is on the drive.
GPU Meter - This link does not quite break down the gadget in as much detail as the other links from www.addgadget.com, but the picture is still pretty self explanatory. GPU Usage, GPU Temperature, Video Card RAM Usage, and gpu cooling fan speed. For the temperature function it relied on RivaTuner to do the actual monitoring. The GPU Meter gadget, like the All CPU Meter gadget was, more or less, just a fancy front end for a monitoring applications.

Anyways, I still have one or two inquiries on tweaking my desktop, I just do not remember them for now. Also, on a side note, it is great to find another Linux community full of users willing to help, in detail, other users, rather then vague elitist type answers like my previous Distro's forum was.

KDE doesn't have a dedicated side panel like Win 7 has; instead you can add the gadgets (plasmoids) directly to the desktop however you want to (and there are a couple of different options for laying out the plasmoids on the desktop). If you want a dedicated side panel, you can always add a second panel, move it to along the side of the screen, make it wider and add your gadgets there.

As for specific gadgets, you should be able to find most of what you want from the add widgets dialog (you may have to use the Get New Widgets installer to find and download a gpu monitor).

Thanks airdrik, I will give that a shot although I cant seem to figure out how to move the panel to the right side of the screen. When I add one, it goes to the top of the screen, and I can;t seem to figure out how to move the panel itself..Also, foir some reason apps are not respecting the boundary set by the panel. Apps keep going underneath it making it hard to get to the minimize and maximize buttons. Maybe it is because the panel does not strech the entire right side of the screen? There is maybe a half inch between the bottom of the side panel and my bottom panel because the side panel kept over lapping the bottom panel.

To move the panel, (unlock widgets and ) click on the panel settings button on the end of the panel (or right-click on the panel -> panel settings), then click-and-drag the Screen Edge button to move the panel.
To make the panel go behind the windows, open the panel settings -> more settings -> set windows can cover (and unset windows go behind)

airdrik wrote:To move the panel, (unlock widgets and ) click on the panel settings button on the end of the panel (or right-click on the panel -> panel settings), then click-and-drag the Screen Edge button to move the panel.

Thanks for the tip.

To make the panel go behind the windows, open the panel settings -> more settings -> set windows can cover (and unset windows go behind)

That's exactly opposite of what I want apps to do, but it seems to be working better now.

You may use the visibility settings "Always visible" and "Windows go below" which should prevent windows from covering the panel. Panels will not allow windows to go underneath them if "Always visible" is selected.

bcooksley wrote:You may use the visibility settings "Always visible" and "Windows go below" which should prevent windows from covering the panel. Panels will not allow windows to go underneath them if "Always visible" is selected.

Yeah the settings are obvious, thats why I mentioned it. It seems fine now but for some reason windows kept wanting to creep up under it but now it seems to be working as it should and the only windows that get under it are the ones I drag under it manually. Also, I had the panel set where there was about a half inch gap between the "side" panel and the bottom "default panel. I expanded the panel to use that gap so the panels are just touching with out the side one over lapping the bottom, and I think that may have helped.