[kde-linux] KDE - What is 'Meta'?

[Mark Knecht]

On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 5:43 PM, Thomas Taylor <linxt at comcast.net> wrote:
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> On Sat, 4 May 2013 15:16:51 -0700
> Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I want to enable keyboard shortcuts for moving windows from screen to
>> screen. (monitor to monitor on the same desktop) When searching around
>> on the web I see people doing it with Meta+F1, Meta+F2, etc., but
>> somehow I am not discovering what Meta is.
>>
>> What's 'Meta'?
>>

>
> Hi Mark,
> Meta is just a label used to identify a key you have configured.
>
> To configure a "meta" key go to "start > Configure Desktop > Input
> Devices > Keyboard > Advanced > click on Alt-Win key behavior > choose
> the meta key choice you prefer in that list.
>
> Let us know if you have any problem with that.  (I have KDE version
> 4.10 but prior versions had similar settings)
>
> Tom

<SNIP>

Tom, Pable & Duncan,
   Thanks for the responses. They make sense and I'm attempting to
implement. This is mostly just a thank you + status report.

1) Found the place to set the meta key behaviour. Chose the very
simple Meta-F1/F2/F3 to move between screens. Unfortunately nothing
happens when I use those key combinations.

2) As per Duncan's response, I do already have the
Move-to-Desktop/Move-to-Screen options available when right clicking
the application's title bar, and those options do work.

3) Interestingly, I do not at this time have the options in System
Settings for identifying screens. I seem to remember some button you
could push that popped big numbers up on each screen but I no longer
have it or at least cannot find it right now. None the less the
Move-to-Screen implies my screens are 1-2-3 left-to-right which is
consistent with the way I wrote my xorg.conf file.

4) I do have Xinerama turned on in xorg.conf

c2RAID6 ~ # cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep Xinerama
    Option         "Xinerama" "1"
c2RAID6 ~ #

5) From memory, turning off Xinerama resulted in each screen acting
like a completely disconnected desktop. I don't think I was able to
move apps from screen to screen or get my multi-monitor Virtualbox
Windows VMs working on separate screens without Xinerama on. Unless
I'm wrong & someone can correct me on those items then likely things
need to stay more or less the way they are, at least for now.

6) With two separate and different model Nvidia cards, at least when
using the nvidia-drivers package, none of the really nice KDE OpenGL
features like Alt-F8 (I think) where I get a picture of all desktops
work right now. I think that's because OpenGL only supports the first
adapter and there's no way to virtualize the video from the second
card, but that's just a guess on my part.

7) Sort of contrary to Duncan's response, I'd actually _LOVE_ it if
new apps appeared where the mouse pointer was. In my case ALL new apps
come alive from the KDE task bar start menu which is on the bottom of
Screen 1 only. I'd like all new apps to start on Screen 1 as it would
feel natural to me but they actually show up where the most recent
active app was and not where the cursor is. For instance, if I have a
VMWare VM on Screen 3, I move my mouse to Screen 1 and start a copy of
konsole, it shows up on Screen 3. (Sometimes below the maximized
VMWare VM so I cannot even see it.

8) And yes, guilty as charged, I love Gentoo. ;-) I've been Gentoo for
over a decade but a KDE user (which I love almost as much as Gentoo
and far more than the Windows VMs that pollute my screens all day
long) for only about 2 years.

   Anyway, I'll keep poking around at this. Thanks again for the inputs.

Cheers,
Mark