[font=Lucida console]Hi,

I am new to KDE 4.1.3, having just installed it alongside KDE 3.5, on openSUSE 11.1 Linux.

Had a few questions on KDE 4.1.3, as this release of KDE is much different than the 3.x series:

- What is the plasmoid (cashew-shaped thing near the right-side of the panel and top right of desktop) ? How can I get rid of this extra 'plasmoid' functions and revert to the 'classic looks' KDE 3.5 desktop (with which I am familiar)

- The Panel: I find that I cannot move widgets (previously called applets/application launchers). The small widget/app-launcher icons are stuck to their locations. It was easy to move app launchers in KDE 3.5 -right-click and select 'Move'.

- Also can't seem to add new app launchers (want to add shortcuts for kysmonitor, Thunar file manager, kedit, etc). This was very easy in KDE 3.5.x[/font]

In KDE 4.2 ( not sure about 4.1 ) you can drag applications from the menu to the panel without problem.

Widgets can be moved when the Panel configurator is open ( at least in KDE 4.2 ). The Panel can be configured by clicking on the Cashew associated with that panel.

The panel cashews are hidden whenever the Desktop Widgets are locked.

> How can I get rid of this extra 'plasmoid' functions and revert to the 'classic looks' KDE 3.5 desktop (with which I am familiar)

No, it is not because anything is better or worse, it is because no one came out to write a kdesktop+kicker for KDE4. So it is impossible to get 'classic looks' of KDE 3.5 desktop.

Only if any volenteers came out to port kdesktop+kicker stuffs from KDE3 to KDE4, most users can have a classic looks of KDE 3.5

> What is the plasmoid (cashew-shaped thing near the right-side of the panel and top right of desktop) ?

That is called the cashew, plasmoid is a generic name for any applet or widget on the desktop or panel. The cashew is used for configuration. Clicking it open a configuration pane for that panel that allows you to configure panel settings, move around widgets, configure widgets, etc.

> How can I get rid of this extra 'plasmoid' functions and revert to the 'classic looks' KDE 3.5 desktop (with which I am familiar)

What specific functions are a problem for you? Plasma is not that hard to learn if you are only using basic functions, maybe ten minutes. If you want to do complicated things it could take a bit longer.

> Also can't seem to add new app launchers (want to add shortcuts for kysmonitor, Thunar file manager, kedit, etc). This was very easy in KDE 3.5.x

I do not know about KDE 4.1.3 (you should not be using KDE 4.1.3, use KDE 4.2 if you possibly can). In KDE 4.2 you can simply drag and drop an application from the application launcher to the panel. You can also use the quicklauncher widget, which I don't recommend because it is really hard to get icons to go where you want.