What exactly is the dashboard? When I click on the "Show Plasma Dashboard" widget, it shows the desktop plus a "Widget Dashboard" label on the top. Other than that label, what makes it any different from "Show Desktop"? Dashboard also takes twenty seconds and a big spike of system load, and show desktop doesn't. So it must be doing something. But what?

It's a way to interact with the widgets without minimizing all windows. Optionally, it can be decoupled from the desktop you are using, and instead show a completely different activity..

einar wrote:It's a way to interact with the widgets without minimizing all windows. Optionally, it can be decoupled from the desktop you are using, and instead show a completely different activity..

Except it does minimize/hide all windows. It would be nice if it was Mac OSX like, and moved the widgets to the top. But it doesn't. I still don't see the difference from show desktop. Is this another unfinished feature? How do you make it show a different activity? Is there any documentation for this? Sorry, still confused.

Have a look on here Aaron's blog.

Since I never see my desktop anymore, I have nothing on it except the wallpaper. Everything else (just a bunch of Folder Views, actually) is on the dashboard.

Brandybuck wrote:

einar wrote:It's a way to interact with the widgets without minimizing all windows. Optionally, it can be decoupled from the desktop you are using, and instead show a completely different activity..

Except it does minimize/hide all windows. It would be nice if it was Mac OSX like, and moved the widgets to the top. But it doesn't. I still don't see the difference from show desktop. Is this another unfinished feature? How do you make it show a different activity? Is there any documentation for this? Sorry, still confused.

I agree with you. Show desktop also "hides" and "shows" the windows if clicked. Exactly like "show dashboard". So alternatively if you want to interact with your widgets you can use the Show Desktop button. Why to use dashboard?

Brandybuck wrote:Except it does minimize/hide all windows. It would be nice if it was Mac

Do you have compositing enabled? That's how it looks on my eeePC right now (since it's openSUSE perhaps there is a modification, though):

[align=center][/align]

As you can see, the window is seen under the dashboard.

It looks the same in Gentoo, if the compositing is enabled.

No, I don't have compositing enabled. The KDE compositing works, but it is problematic. When I have it enabled I can't run any OpenGL app, nor several (non-KDE) Qt apps.

But at least I know what this is now.

Alec wrote:Have a look on here Aaron's blog.

Way too complicated for the average user. I'll have to file this under unfinished feature.

Just to add something up for the interested reader, only an example.

I have dvbt running with Kaffeine (yes, under KDE4.2, but Kaffeine is KDE3 version). Well, if i use "Show Desktop" Kaffeine gets minizimed. And the default reaction of Kaffeine is to stop playing TV (or movie).
But i am okay to only hear the sound without seeing anything, i would like to still hear what is happening in TV
So with "Show Dashboard" the Dashboard itself gets an overlay OVER all running programs, Kaffeine doesn't get minimized and it will continue to play. Really nice