[kde-linux] Desktop widgets

[Duncan]

Thomas Taylor posted on Sat, 02 Jan 2016 10:28:32 -0800 as excerpted:

> Under previous version of KDE I was able to have each desktop display a
> different wallpaper.  Since installing (from DVD), OS 42.1 w/KDE 4.14
> and Plasma 5 that behavior doesn't seem possible.
> 
> Am I just missing something?

I'm still on kde4 as every time I've tried plasma5 I've had bugs that 
prevented me even getting a proper desktop, tho things are getting better 
over time, so I'm hopeful I can get it going sometime this year...

However, from what I know of the kde4 implementation, the way different 
wallpaper on each virtual desktop worked, with each activity having its 
own wallpaper settings, was by setting the different widgets for each 
desktop checkbox in kde system settings under workspace behavior, virtual 
desktops.  What that actually did is create a different activity for each 
virtual desktop and associate each activity with a virtual desktop, tho 
the two concepts were originally designed to be separate, virtual 
desktops and activities weren't tied together, and indeed, with that 
checkbox unchecked, switching activities and switching desktops were 
entirely different functions.

In plasma5, the activities functionality has been much "improved".  I'm 
not sure because as I said I've not actually been able to run it properly 
myself, but from what I've read, the option to link activities and 
virtual desktops has been removed, as activities are now considered an 
independent feature in their own right.  Now you switch activities, and 
thus the wallpaper on them, independently of switching desktops, just as 
kde4 worked with that option unchecked, except that activities should be 
far more developed in their own right as a feature, now.

(I'm putting "improved" in quotes as I'm sure that's what the plasma devs 
consider it, tho users may have a different idea; note that as I've not 
actually gotten it to run properly here, I don't have an experienced 
personal opinion on the matter and am reserving judgment, but I think 
it'll at least take some getting used to, tho I might /eventually/ find I 
like it better; I'm not sure I'll initially like it and I'm quite sure 
that not everyone will.)

> Also, why was the screen saver dropped in favor of screen locking with
> display disabled?

To my knowledge screen savers should still be an option, but screen 
locking with display disabled is considered more suitable as a default, 
given that many users will be on laptops and operating on battery a lot 
of the time, where display disabled will conserve battery and the screen 
locker is a security feature.

But screen savers, AFAIK, should still be available, likely as a 
separately installable package, and once installed, I'd think they'd show 
up in kde settings.

If that's not the case, hopefully someone will correct me, but it would 
surprise me.

Meanwhile, even if kde screen savers /have/ disappeared, X's screensaver 
mechanism should still work, and generic X screen savers should still 
work, tho as they aren't kde specific packages I wouldn't expect them to 
show up in kde system settings; you'd configure them using non-kde 
methods.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman