[kde-linux] Multiple konsoles side-by-side please?

[Mark Knecht]

On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 10:07 PM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan at cox.net> wrote:
> Mark Knecht posted on Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:04:55 -0800 as excerpted:
>
>> In a recent update to KDE on my Gentoo machine it seems that a
>> second copy of konsole no longer comes up to the side of the existing
>> konsole but rather is directly on top. What "More Actions->Special
>> Windows Setting" feature might I set so that they come up side-by-side?
>>
>> Currently nothing seems to be set but that's also true for all
>> other apps I've looked at and I do get side-by-side or at least spread
>> out for all other apps. (Chrome, Dolphin, etc.)
>>
>> This is stable KDE on Gentoo - kde-meta-4.11.2-r1
>
> (As you probably remember) Gentooer here too, but ~arch by default, and
> for kde I run the latest live-branch ebuilds from the gentoo/kde overlay,
> so currently (gentoo version) 4.12.49.9999 or (kde) 4.12-live-branch.
>
> I regularly use side-by-side konsole windows and would find it hugely
> disruptive if that failed to work correctly, so I can definitely identify
> with your problem!
>
> Here's my general purpose konsole window rules settings.  You won't need
> all of these to get side-by-side, but what ones apply to your case should
> be reasonably apparent (obviously my active opacity setting doesn't apply
> to your case, for instance, but I'm including it in case someone might be
> interested).
>
>
> Window matching tab:
>
> Window class: Exact Match: konsole
> Match whole window class *NOT* checked.
>
> Window role: Substring Match: mainwindow#
>
> Window types: Normal
>
> Window title and machine hostname: Unimportant
>
> That should match konsole main-windows, without matching for example
> settings dialogs, etc.
>
>
> Size & Position tab (only listing checked/active):
>
> Size: Apply Initially: 956,1080
>
> Maximized vertically: Force: Yes
>
> Initial placement: Force: Default
>
> Minimum size: Force: 956,530
>
> Obey geometry restrictions: Force: No
>
> The one of interest to you here (and probably the only one other than the
> window matching tab settings) is initial placement, force, default.  I
> believe konsole remembers its size and placement and requests the same
> thing each time, which obviously isn't what you want since that will put
> multiple konsole windows on top of each other.  This forces standard
> placement, which is normally "Smart", unless you've set kwin to use a
> different policy by default.  "Smart" attempts to maximize the viewable
> area of each window, which is what a lot of people (including me and it
> appears you) prefer by default.  Of course that means if your default
> window placement is NOT "smart", you can specifically select "smart"
> instead of "default" to get the desired behavior.
>
> I set the size options here for one reason:  That's what I prefer for a
> standard konsole window, but I have a special case (a bash-scripted menu
> system implemented in konsole popup windows, which I want smaller, always
> centered and always on top... with a special-case window-rules set that
> matches JUST those konsole windows, not my general purpose konsole
> windows) konsole setting that applies to SOME windows, and because konsole
> remembers its last size and position, without the general purpose size
> settings here, it would remember the special-case windows and try to use
> that size instead. =:^(  So I have the size settings here to prevent the
> special-case size memory from applying to this general case. =:^)
>
> And FWIW, I'm running full-HD monitors so 1920x1080, which makes the
> initial 956x1080 about half-size horizontal, maximized vertical.  Given a
> 2 px window frame and two sides thus 4 px of frame horizontally, that's
> 960 width, half of 1920, thus fitting two side-by-side windows per
> monitor screen.  Likewise, the 956x530 minimum size allows for 2x2
> quarter-size placement, with just a bit of vertical titlebar overlap.
>
> Forcing no-obey geometry restrictions likewise works around the problems
> konsole's placement memory triggers due to the special-case konsole
> session window size ratio memory interfering with this general case.
>
>
> Arrangement & Access tab:
>
> (I have no activated settings on this tab.)
>
>
> Appearance and Fixes tab (checked/active only, just one setting):
>
> Active Opacity: Force: 85%
>
> My default active window opacity is 99%, but I like just a bit more
> transparency for the konsole window.  85% opacity is the best compromise
> I've found so far, between the beauty of transparency and the
> practicality of actually needing to read the text.  (FWIW, my default
> inactive opacity is 80%, which works well for my konsole windows too.)
>
> --
> Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.


As always Duncan, thanks for the answer. Sorry it's taken me so long
to reply but I've messed with this a few times over the last couple of
days still with no positive & lasting results. I'll certainly keep at
it. I don't know what's wrong with KDE controlling konsole here but I
swear I think I've done the settings you suggested and I still get
inconsistent results. Sometimes it sort of works. Other times it
doesn't at all. A third konsole always comes up on top of the second
konsole even if I move the second konsole somewhere else.

I fear that the KDE upgrade has messed up the settings for this
permanently and I'll never get it fixed!

We'll see.

Cheers,
Mark