Everything I read about it seems to imply that it is a very sensitive subject that easily degrades in a flame war, but I'll take my chances anyway: I really don't "get" the Plasma Toolbox (a.k.a. the "Cashew").

The KDE developers seem to consider it a vital part of the "KDE Experience," but some users go so far as to declare that they "hate" it.

Personally, I simply don't understand its function. I really wouldn't know whether to "love" it or to "hate" it, because I don't know what it is there for. Granted, it does display a menu when I left-click it, but most of the menu options are also included in the menu that appears when I right-click anywhere on the desktop (including the cashew). The only "unique" options are "Shortcut Settings" and "Zoom Out"--which are not exactly the most vital functions that I could possibly imagine (and, if they really must be provided, could go into the desktop right-click menu just as well).

In fact, I configured my openSUSE system to use its "Plain" desktop activity, which doesn't display the cashew, and I really, honestly don't miss it.

There's also the issue that the cashew cannot easily be removed or added dynamically--which feels awfully awkward to me. I mean, even the "Panel" can be removed in the blink of an eye... even though the Panel is far more essential for "normal," everyday desktop use (and much harder to get back into its default state). It's fine that the Panel can be removed--it makes the system all the more versatile--but what's so special about the cashew that should make it impossible to remove?

So, all the flaming doesn't bring any sort of answer to the essential question any closer: What exactly is the purpose of the cashew?

Heh, a kindred spirit at last! Check out my brainstorm about the possibility of an auto-hide option (currently 10 yes votes to 5 no votes) and Aaron Seigo's rather unconvincing attempt to explain why it can't be changed. I'm effectively staging a sit-in at #plasma (at irc.freenode.org/#plasma, join the party!) until it either goes away or I'm actually convinced that it needs to sit there, visible, 27 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (and even on the 29th February!).

To be honest, I have been convinced that the Plasma Toolbox does actually have a purpose in life (the developers did point out that not all platforms KDE may find itself on will have a 'right-click' ability), and its presence begins to make sense once you understand what Plasma is and how it works. But the irony is that Aaron accidentally shot down the official FAQ line of "What has been suggested is, since the destkop itself (a containment) is handled by plugins, to write a plugin that would draw the desktop without the cashew itself" saying that everyone who attempted to remove it or create a containment without it have realized that it needs to be there. I am one of those who tried to kill it but has been convinced that is the wrong way, so what other option is left for those who'd rather not look at the cashew all the time?

If we can't work around the cashew, modifying it is the only way forward. We need an auto-hide option. The cashew goes nowhere, but it's no longer the obtrusive eyesore that it is now. You get the best of both worlds, and it's hardly a new concept with the very slick panel hiding that KDE now has. So why the objections? I could speculate all day, but I think I'll just end this here now.

You can move the cashew, to where you keep your task manager panel is and it will cover it up.

hi here i am providing you brief over view of plasma tool box.


Discussions about the usefulness of the Plasma desktop toolbox arise regularly. Usually it focus on the "Zoom Out"/Activities feature which as also Plasma developers admit is not as far implemented and nicely integrated as of KDE 4.1 as everyone wants it to be. If one removes (maybe even irreversible) the "Zoom Out" button, nothing is left in the desktop toolbox which is not also available in the panel/desktop context menus. So why not make it optional completely? For openSUSE 11.0 we offered that as a hidden option.

For openSUSE 11.1 we decided to ship with the desktop toolbox disabled by default. This takes effect with Beta 4 (it's not announced/released yet because of the week-end but ISOs are propagating to mirrors). Technically this is done by adding a desktop containment implementation without toolbox (as possible since Plasma/KDE 4.0) and backporting the desktop containment swicher from KDE 4.2. As result users who want to experiment with Plasma activities can easily switch the desktop toolbox on again:

unik999 wrote:For openSUSE 11.1 we decided to ship with the desktop toolbox disabled by default. This takes effect with Beta 4 (it's not announced/released yet because of the week-end but ISOs are propagating to mirrors).

I'm sorry, but this seems like a very strange remark: openSUSE 11.1 is "old," so to speak--but you are right that it shipped with the desktop toolbox disabled by default. The current release is openSUSE 11.2--which comes with an active desktop toolbox by default, but includes a desktop activity that doesn't have the toolbox.

Are you, perhaps, talking about the next openSUSE release--11.3, I would guess?

The toolbox has some good uses:
* Interfaces without secondary clicks.
* Life saver when a containment fails (dissappears or dies) and you do not have access to the secondary menu.
* A containment without free space for clicking (I have not seen it but I think it is possible).

I wish it was a plasmoid so that I could put it on the panel so that I could use it. Since I rarely see the desktop, it's totally useless.

Alec wrote:I wish it was a plasmoid so that I could put it on the panel so that I could use it. Since I rarely see the desktop, it's totally useless.

I have thought the same thing myself. I spend ~99% of my time with maximized applications, so I can't even see the cashew. I've designed my setup so I do everything with my two panels, the desktops are completely decorative in nature. This is a system that works well for me, and I have no intention of changing it.

Then I'm told I can place a panel (which is transparent with the theme I use) over the cashew. So now I can see the cashew, but not use it. What's the bloody point of that?

But the cashew seems needlessly limited in more ways than one. It must always be visible, it must be on a screen edge or corner, and it must be on the desktop rather than being on the panels. Aaron already tried to address this with his "configure every bloody pixel with a config option", but looking at the rest of Plasma these days, it seems I can practically do this with everything that's not the cashew.

Serenity wrote:Then I'm told I can place a panel (which is transparent with the theme I use) over the cashew. So now I can see the cashew, but not use it. What's the bloody point of that?

There's a really nice plasmoid called "I HATE the Cashew"

It's probably a good idea to drop this discussion. We know that the whole usability business of the cashew has been reviewed, and will be very different in 4.4 (due in February). Let's wait until we can see what it's like then. Nothing is going to change before that so further discussion at the moment is indeed pointless.

From reading another thread, it appears that I'm wrong on the version - and that the changes are from 4.3.4, now making their way into distros.

annew wrote:We know that the whole usability business of the cashew has been reviewed, and will be very different in 4.4 (due in February). Let's wait until we can see what it's like then.

annew wrote:From reading another thread, it appears that I'm wrong on the version - and that the changes are from 4.3.4, now making their way into distros.

Thank you very much for this info! I'll keep quiet on the subject now, until I get a chance to evaluate the reviewed cashew (and, of course, the rest of the KDE4 desktop as well).

Alec wrote:There's a really nice plasmoid called "I HATE the Cashew"

I've known about that for some time, and have been using it a lot. But then I opened up the toolbox, came back to my desktops, and found that I can now only hide the cashew on one desktop at a time. I don't know why it broke, or how to fix it. All I know is that such an easily broken solution is not a long-term fix.

Besides, having the remove the plasmoid in order to be able to use the toolbox is very cumbersome when it actually comes to doing so. I would assume the same problem would be present when using a modified desktop containment. Aaron is right that both solutions are worse than the problem they solve, but all that means is that we need a better solution, not that there isn't a problem.

annew wrote:From reading another thread, it appears that I'm wrong on the version - and that the changes are from 4.3.4, now making their way into distros.

Really? All I found with regards to Plasma in the 4.3.4 changelog was the pixmap caching bugfix. I don't doubt that there are changes, but I've heard nothing about the ones you're talking about.