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DESKTOP

The KDE User Guide (Part 2)

6/7/2013 9:08:36 AM

Virtual desktops

One of the oldest Linux desktop innovations, virtual desktops, still have a prominent position on KDE 4. Although KDE 4 has introduced the Desktop Activities feature, which takes virtual desktops to the next level, this golden feature is useful for assigning different tasks to their own separate virtual desktop.

KDE’s netbook interface is designed to make best use of the limited screen real estate

KDE’s netbook interface is designed to make best use of the limited screen real estate

By default, the task manager in KDE 4 will display all windows open on all virtual desktops. I find this particularly irritating because it clutters up the task manager. To tweak this behavior, right-click in the task manager and select Task Manager Settings from the Context menu. In the Settings dialog, select the options that will only show tasks from the current desktop, and from the current activity.

If your workflow involves working with multiple instances of an application, you can select the Do Not Group option from the Grouping pull-down menu. This will ensure that each instance of every open app shows up individually in the task manager. To further separate the virtual desktops, right-click on the pager and click on Pager Settings. In the General tab are options to alter the look of the pager, as well as its behavior when you click on the current desktop in the pager. I prefer the Shows Desktop option, and then removing the redundant Show Desktop widget. Head to the Virtual Desktops tab and select the Different Widgets for Each Desktop option. This lets you decorate each virtual desktop with different widgets, wallpaper and layout types.

Desktop activities

The task manager in KDE 4 will display all windows open on all virtual desktops

The task manager in KDE 4 will display all windows open on all virtual desktops

If you really wish to create different desktops for the same user on the same machine, you can do so with KDE 4’s Desktop Activities. The feature has been improving through the various KDE 4.x release and is very usable in KDE 4.9.

Think of Activities as different instances of your desktop, each with its own set of windows dressings and set up to perform different tasks. So, for example, I have a writing Activity that runs LibreOffice Writer, and has the Dictionary widget. A second social Activity that automatically signs me in to Google Talk, and a custom Jabber server, with widgets on the desktop that display status updates and let me change my presence on these networks. And a third picture Activity that displays the contents of the folder that houses all my pictures, and w widget that cycles through all the images.

The name of the current activity is displayed in the top-right corner of the desktop. To create a new Activity or to switch to another one, bring up the Activity Manager by clicking the three colored dots next to the pager.

This will bring up a list of all the activities you have on your installation. Most KDE distros ship with only the default Activity, called the Desktop Activity. Use the Create Activity button to create another Activity based on templates installed in your installation, or you can fetch more from the web with the Get New Templates option.

Most KDE distros ship with only the default Activity, called the Desktop Activity.

Most KDE distros ship with only the default Activity, called the Desktop Activity.

When creating Activities based on a template, remember that they might require some apps. For example, the Photos Activity uses the Gwenview image viewer and the DigiKam photo manager, as well as the Picture Frame widget. The Activity will display a list of apps associated with it when you first run it.

 Every Activity that has apps associated with it will also ask if you want to run these apps every time that Activity is started. Although you can use an Activity even if you don’t have the associated apps, it’s best to install these apps to take full advantage of the Activities.

The obvious question now is, what happens to all the apps running in an Activity when they are not in use? To save resources, you can stop any or all Activities that are not currently in use. This preserves the state of the apps and files, and you can quickly access them later by clicking on the activity in the Activity Manager.

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