Hi!

I've been using KDE for a while now and only just signed up to the forums... I love the visions of the KDE project! =)

I recall reading in the KDE Bug Tracking System about having different plasmoids/wallpaper in KDE4 and from what I remember it's been put in to 4.2. I've noticed a feature that allows you to 'zoom out' of the desktop and I've managed to add another workspace etc. to it, but I'm at a loss as to what it does as when I try to change my virtual desktop after zooming back in to my main workspace it doesn't change to the new workspace.

Am I being mistaken on the zooming out feature being the different plasmoids/wallpaper per desktop feature or is it not in the beta 2 version yet?

Thanks!

xeriouxi wrote:Am I being mistaken on the zooming out feature being the different plasmoids/wallpaper per desktop feature or is it not in the beta 2 version yet?

Not sure about the different wallpapers, but it is certainly already possible to set different plasmoids per virtual desktop. However, it is still regarded as a highly experimental feature and can not be configured through the GUI yet. IIRC, that is not a feature that will be part of 4.2.0. The GUI part that is, you can still enable it by manually editing the plasmarc and/or plasma-appletsrc files. I'm not in front of a computer where I have the information necessary, but if you want to give it a try I can find the information necessary.

That being said, if you just want different wallpapers and/or plasmoids you can achieve that by using different activities without editing the above mentioned rc-files. However, that only changes when you change the activity (or, zooming in or out). It won't change when you switch virtual desktops. To accomplish that, you need to manually alter the rc-files.

Just let me know if you want me (or someone else...) to find the information necessary. Just make backup copies of the files just in case...

You can have different activities with different wallpapers, plasmoids, you name it. Think of them (at least I do) as new instances of KDE. afaik you can have sixteen different activities, each of which have sixteen different desktops.

Kryten2X4B wrote:and/or plasma-appletsrc files. I'm not in front of a computer where I have the information necessary, but if you want to give it a try I can find the information necessary.

For anyone interested, it's in the Tutorials section. The tip will also be in the 4.2 version of the Plasma FAQ (already online but not linked anywhere in UserBase).

toad wrote:You can have different activities with different wallpapers, plasmoids, you name it. Think of them (at least I do) as new instances of KDE. afaik you can have sixteen different activities, each of which have sixteen different desktops.

So many possibilities boggles my mind a bit.

I'm looking for something like the old KDE facility of having a separate wallpaper image for each desktop.

I can't find that the term "activity" is defined on the Plasma KDE User Base, but it seems to refer to the "thingies" accessed via zoom in and out. Fine. I can use them to define different Plasma configs and I can set separate wallpapers for each. But whether I choose acitivity A or B, I get the same set of applications.

What I would really like would be either different wallpapers for different desktops, or different applications (browser, email, editor, etc.) in different activities. Is this either possible or planned?

Or is there another way to do this?

P.S. This is not just for eye candy. It makes it clear to me where I am. One might even imagine a visible label for each activity/desktop.

@joneall: See the link einar posted above. It's close to what you requested but the other way around: different activities in different virtual desktops. (Note that it's still experimental).

Hans wrote:@joneall: See the link einar posted above. It's close to what you requested but the other way around: different activities in different virtual desktops. (Note that it's still experimental).

After reading that, I think I'll wait until it becomes a wee bit less experimental.

Thanks for the pointer. I'll keep an eye on it.

interesting concept...and it does boggle the mind a bit with the possibilites.

however, what determines how many workspaces i have? ive noticed sometimes on some sessions i have 6 and others (such as now) i have up 8.

will it be possible to adjust the number the workspaces i have or perhaps even disable this feature in the future?

i'm just thinking how much resources these extra workspaces would be consuming, and i'd think 90% of users probably wouldn't be aware of them, let alone utilising them

kavorka wrote:interesting concept...and it does boggle the mind a bit with the possibilites.

however, what determines how many workspaces i have? ive noticed sometimes on some sessions i have 6 and others (such as now) i have up 8.

will it be possible to adjust the number the workspaces i have or perhaps even disable this feature in the future?

i'm just thinking how much resources these extra workspaces would be consuming, and i'd think 90% of users probably wouldn't be aware of them, let alone utilising them

It's possible to customize how many virtual desktops you have (if that's what you mean with 'workspaces'). Right click on pager (the widget you use to switch virtual desktop) -> Configure Desktops... (or something similar). Just set it to 1 to "disable" the feature.

As for activities, you only have one by default, but you can add more if you want to.

Hans wrote:It's possible to customize how many virtual desktops you have (if that's what you mean with 'workspaces'). Right click on pager (the widget you use to switch virtual desktop) -> Configure Desktops... (or something similar). Just set it to 1 to "disable" the feature.

As for activities, you only have one by default, but you can add more if you want to.

ah ok, i've gotcha...i guess i was referring to 'activities'....i didn't realise when i was zooming out i was looking at an entire different entity....i thought i was looking at all my current virtual desktops in the one go. but also, for some reason i had inadvertandly added 10 activities. and i must be blind, i've just noticed the big green tick and red cross that lets you add or remove them

this is actually when i think about it, quite a cool concept....in some acitvites you can remove all the clutter such as panels and widgets etc and dedicate it to one application...i'm thinking my vmware session which i use to connect to work would be perfect for this.