[kde-linux] Desktop widget like Windows Vista sidebar/clock thing?

[Thierry de Coulon]

On Wednesday 07 October 2009, Anne Wilson wrote:
> Right - so I decided it was time to test this.  I changed my desktop to
> folderview.  I then created an fstab line like this:
>
> 192.168.0.40:/Data2 /mnt/mntpoint_Data2 nfs noauto,user,bg,soft,intr,nolock
> 0 0
>
> Then I created a desktop icon pointing to this share.  I can mount and
> unmount on it.  Isn't that what you wanted?
>
> Maybe this is a version difference?  I'm running 4.3.1.

Thanks for trying. Does not work in 4.3.0 on OpenSuSE. I upgraded to 4.3.1 
(release 163) through "Factory" - still does not work. However I don't know 
exactly what was upgraded and which libraries are used. Maybe 11.2 is more 
up-to-date. What distro are you running?

> > My problem is simply that I don't get a choice (if you don't have the
> >  notifier and won't use the dolphin panel you can't mount/unmount
> >  anything!). Why doesn't the notifier have an option to say "don't pop
> > up"? If I respect those who like it, they can respect that I don't.
>
> SystemSettings > System Notifications > System Notifications > Applications
> tab.  Uncheck 'Show a message in a popup'.  That wasn't hard, was it?

Actually it is much harder: I have no "System Notifications" in "System 
settings". I do have a "Notifications", with "System notifications" and 
an "Applications" tab, but the device notifier is not listed as an 
application, so I can't uncheck anything....

Maybe this is OpenSuSE's implementation, or lack of...

> There are no plans to drop konqueror, although its development for file
> managing has stopped.  Meanwhile, you would not have set a profile in
> konqueror unless you frequently wanted to use that directory, so drag that
> directory folder onto Places, and a single click will take you there.  OK,
> that's one more click than you would have done in the past, but surely
> that's not the end of the world?

But then I have to use Places.... No it's not the end of the world, it' just 
annoying.

> So far you've shown us little that is impossible.

So far I don't agree

> > The folderview desktop could be an ersatz for the KDE 3 desktop but that
> >  would require a real will of the developers to make it working, while I
> >  feel it is obvioulsy a case of "we made it because you asked for it but
> >  this is not the way we want it".
>
> Be thankful that they listened and gave you what you asked for, then.

Hmm, let's look at this: you had a car working very well. Someone takes it 
away and replaces it with a new one, that only partly works as you where used 
to. You feel you should thank him for working hard to improve the new car or 
unhappy because he removed the old one?

> > On a less important level, it would be nice to be again able to have
> >  different backgrouds on different workspaces, it made easier to know
> > where you are
>
> I see that Duncan has tackled that one.

Well, yes, that's really not obvious, but it does work.

> For the last time, it misses a few, but not many of the features of KDE 3,
> and every release brings yet more in.  Frankly, you have no right to be
> angry about how someone else uses their time, and you should be thankful
> that they give it freely.

We won't agree on that one. Unfortunately, the ones I require happen to be the 
few that it misses (at least up to the version I'm able to run - it seems 
that if I wait a little this will be cured). I do run a KDE 3 distro, but how 
could I count on it retaining for long a non-supported desktop?

> Considering that thousands of people find it perfectly adequate, perhaps
> you should open your mind and see where things are not so much missing as
> done differently to get the same or similar result.

This is really the type of argument I hate. I don't see why I should play the 
lemming. I was able to do things the way I like, and now I am required to do 
them a way I don't like and get no advantage when doing it, so however I open 
my mind I see  that I miss something and win nothing to compensate.

You asked me to state what I want. OK, I did it. Can you tell me what, from 
your point of vue, the KDE 4 desktop does that the KDE 3 desktop did not? Why 
are we required to change, what do we gain by that change?

I expect from a desktop that it lets me open my applications, mount and 
unmount my partitions and shares, organise, copy and open my files, give me a 
little information (on the current time for example) and let me shutdown 
easily. I see no improvement in KDE 4 over KDE 3 in all these aspects.

> Anne

Thierry