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When an (usb) device is plugged in, the computer now only responds correctly if the right software is installed. For example, it might propose to import photos when a camera was attached or to sync music files when a mp3 player was connected.

But if this software is not installed, the computer does not know what to do with it and the user might not know what software to install.

In most cases, the user will know what to install, but it would be very handy if the computer would suggest a few drawing programs (Krita for example) when plugging in a tablet or if the computer would suggest to install spacenavd when a 3DConnexxion SpaceNavigator was installed.

There could be written an addition to the Device Notifier Plasmoid (possibly based on solid and packagekit?) that has a list of devices and a list of corresponding packages that might be interesting for the user that plugs in such a device. This addition might then list the device that is plugged in and add an action to the plasmoid that lets the user install the software.

Another idea is to notify the user via the Notification Plasmoid, like this is already done for Konqueror (which proposes to install extra packages for multimedia functionality).

The device list should probably be based on usb ids and not on device classes, because some cameras or mp3 players are recognised as hard drives, while they are more than that.

This idea is filed as bug 497092 in Ubuntu Launchpad.

Again - unfortunately (fortunately, actually) package management is kept separate from the KDE plasma desktop. It would be different depending on what is available in the distribution's package repository.

However - I'll take this idea as a "generic" one - eg: if it can't find the Krita application, it'll suggest it, not caring whether or not it is available for the user's distribution.

Won't different distributions prefer different programs sometimes? It sounds more of a distribution thing than a general KDE one.

Though, maybe this can be done in KPackageKit in a different tab, by having the "generic" list of applications and searching the packages automatically?