I just "updated" to kubuntu 8.10 with kde4.1 and find the themes, plasmoids, etc are constantly getting in the way, causing video corruption and reducing productivity aside from being fugly (my subjective opinion)

So how the hell do I totally remove them and revert a kde classic look & feel?

The Plasma environment is completely based on Plasmoids, therefore Plasmoids cannot be removed.

Which Plasmoids are "constantly getting in the way", and why?

The Plasma theme can be changed through Upper Right Icon > Desktop Settings > Theme. You would probably find Aya more to your taste. You probably also want Icons on the desktop ( a la KDE 3 ) so set the Desktop Activity Type to "Folder View".

Also, you may wish to upgrade to KDE 4.2, which has most of those corruption issues ( assuming system tray ) resolved. It can help not to use 3D effects ( in particular Transparency ) unless running Qt 4.5

bcooksley wrote:The Plasma environment is completely based on Plasmoids, therefore Plasmoids cannot be removed.

Which Plasmoids are "constantly getting in the way", and why?

most specifically the plasmoid (or is it plasma itself) that prevents access to the facility to cascade open windows - I have a couple of apps that put up a splash screen (locked to always on top) as they start then place a dialog underneath the splash and cant proceed until the dialog is satisfied. with kde2 & 3 cascade moved the dialog to a visible are of the screen.

bcooksley wrote:Plasma theme can be changed through Upper Right Icon > Desktop Settings > Theme. You would probably find Aya more to your taste. You probably also want Icons on the desktop ( a la KDE 3 ) so set the Desktop Activity Type to "Folder View".

I would prefer to completely remove all traces of plasma and oxygen and revert to the kde2 & 3 look, I'm not interested in eye candy for its own sake.

bcooksley wrote:Also, you may wish to upgrade to KDE 4.2, which has most of those corruption issues ( assuming system tray ) resolved. It can help not to use 3D effects ( in particular Transparency ) unless running Qt 4.5

I've been burned too many times already to try to upgrade KDE outside the distribution (with redhat and debian)

cheifchimp wrote:most specifically the plasmoid (or is it plasma itself) that prevents access to the facility to cascade open windows - I have a couple of apps that put up a splash screen (locked to always on top) as they start then place a dialog underneath the splash and cant proceed until the dialog is satisfied. with kde2 & 3 cascade moved the dialog to a visible are of the screen.

If you are running KWin you can close splash screens just by clicking on them.

cheifchimp wrote:I would prefer to completely remove all traces of plasma and oxygen and revert to the kde2 & 3 look, I'm not interested in eye candy for its own sake.

Removing Plasma means you will be left with a black background. No desktop, no panel, no right-click menu, nothing. Are you sure you want to do that?

You can change the widget theme: System Settings > Appearence > Style
Best change the color theme at the same time: System Settings > Appearence > Colors
Not to mention the Window decoration: System Settings > Appearence > Windows
The splash screen possibly as well: System Settings > Appearence > Splash Screen.

The closest to earlier KDE's Plasma can get is another theme, such as Aya. Having files on the desktop is not possible with KDE 4.1, only 4.2

I don't see the connection of Plasma to cascaded windows and splash screens, could you elaborate please?