Hi All,

I'm writing this on a Fedora 14 KDE live CD. I'm one of those KDE 3.x refugees that fled the early 4.x releases for Gtk or Windows. It's been about 2 years since I've had KDE on a linux box. I'm checking out the interface to see if I can use it again.

It looks pretty nice for this live cd. I have a question about virtual desktops and activities.

1. I notice that there is no longer a zoom out in the cashew menu?

2. I get it that I can create activities based on actual computer-use activities I might have. This is such an AWESOME idea! However, doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose if the same applications remain in the desktop forefront if I switch to another activity? Is there some way to tie applications to activities? Otherwise when I switch to a new activity the apps from the old activity are still there in the way!

3. Is there anyway to create bookmarks that can be accessed from the mouse clicking on the desktop or keyboard? Bookmarks like those available in 3.x, which could be links to applications, folders, web sites, fish/ftp folders, terminal sessions? This was the killer feature for me and it looks like activities is a more graphical layout implementation of this, except for the afore-mentioned issue with previous activity applications in the way.

Cheers,

kilolima

kilolima wrote:1. I notice that there is no longer a zoom out in the cashew menu?

The ZUI, as it was called, never really worked very well. It has been replaced with the activity bar starting in 4.5. The activity bar is still somewhat rough in 4.5, it has seen some imporvements in 4.6, due out early next year.

kilolima wrote:2. I get it that I can create activities based on actual computer-use activities I might have. This is such an AWESOME idea! However, doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose if the same applications remain in the desktop forefront if I switch to another activity? Is there some way to tie applications to activities? Otherwise when I switch to a new activity the apps from the old activity are still there in the way!

There was not time to implement this for 4.5, since it required some significant changes to how windows were handled. This feature will be available in 4.6.

There are also plans to make applications aware of what activity they are currently in so they can change their behavior based on the activity. I am not sure if this will be available in 4.6, but if it is few if any applications will make use of it. Expect to see this feature become more prominent over the next few released after 4.6.

kilolima wrote:3. Is there anyway to create bookmarks that can be accessed from the mouse clicking on the desktop or keyboard? Bookmarks like those available in 3.x, which could be links to applications, folders, web sites, fish/ftp folders, terminal sessions?

There are several ways to do this. One, if you right-click on the desktop and select Settings then mouse action, you can assign a mouse button press (or mouse+keyboard press) to bring up the application launcher. Second, you can put a "Shelf" widget in your panel, then assign a keyboard shortcut to it. You can point it to your dolphin, places, favorite application, removable drives, local drives, a folder where you have placed shortcuts to whatever you want, or some combination of these. Then you can trigger it with a keyboard shortcut or mouse click on the icon.

TheBlackCat wrote:

kilolima wrote:2. I get it that I can create activities based on actual computer-use activities I might have. This is such an AWESOME idea! However, doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose if the same applications remain in the desktop forefront if I switch to another activity? Is there some way to tie applications to activities? Otherwise when I switch to a new activity the apps from the old activity are still there in the way!

There was not time to implement this for 4.5, since it required some significant changes to how windows were handled. This feature will be available in 4.6.

Actually the basics already work in 4.5, but you have to assign them manually. Right click on the window title bar (or Alt-F3) -> Activities -> check the activities the window should appear on.

Hi, thanks for your replies!

There was not time to implement this for 4.5, since it required some significant changes to how windows were handled. This feature will be available in 4.6.

When I remember how great KDE > 3.5 was compared to earlier versions I'm starting to think that 4.6 will be THE version of KDE...

There are several ways to do this. One, if you right-click on the desktop and select Settings then mouse action, you can assign a mouse button press (or mouse+keyboard press) to bring up the application launcher. Second, you can put a "Shelf" widget in your panel, then assign a keyboard shortcut to it. You can point it to your dolphin, places, favorite application, removable drives, local drives, a folder where you have placed shortcuts to whatever you want, or some combination of these. Then you can trigger it with a keyboard shortcut or mouse click on the icon.

Thanks, I'm going to give this a try with my live-cd.