[Panel-devel] SuperKaramba plans

[Alexander Wiedenbruch]

Hi,

Am Mittwoch 07 Dezember 2005 00:12 schrieb Ryan:
> Let me provide some backstory.
>
> Plasma is the interactive desktop that goes above and beyond what
> SuperKaramba can do.  From what I understand, it will be composed of kparts
> and a "scripting glue" from one of the language bindings.  There will be
> some way for people to define their workspace layouts that others can also
> use simply by loading the config.

Nice idea, if the "kparts" can be embedded in other apps.
Anyone saw the Microsoft Channel 9 Video about Window Gadgets?
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=128231

> Current status.
>
> SuperKaramba is in 3.5.0.  It was ported to Qt4 and is in a bit of
> reorganization in /trunk/KDE/kdeutils/superkaramba.  My understanding is
> that Plasma will not be using any of the SK code, but instead expanding on
> SK's ideas and possibilities.  Plasma  plaslets, plasmoids or themes
> (whatever they end up being called) won't be written the same as how SK
> themes are currently written.  If that's the case, I would like to have
> SuperKaramba in /trunk basically become a Qt4 ported version of SK that
> people can run if they choose to not run Plasma themes, or would like to
> just keep running their favorite SK themes in KDE4.

Wouldn't it be better to create a compatibility-layer/converter-app so that 
the old themes can be run with plasma?

> Future.
>
> With the above mentioned goal, that means at some point SK development will
> discontinue.  That will probably occur when some efficiencies get worked
> out, which will be over the next month or so.  Other than bug fixes for
> 3.5.0, there won't be much to be done, except maybe change gears to work on
> Plasma. This brings me to what areas we should be looking into as far as
> functionality needing implemented and where in libs/base we should be
> scouring around. What will be handling language bindings?  What will be
> controlling the theme loading?  Where are the libs that will be modified to
> handle visual effects? What naming convention should we use for Plasma KDE4
> desktop(i.e. Plaslets, Workspaces, etc.)?
> Or a much simpler question, what needs help and where can I/we find a
> direction to move?

We had a little discussion about this on IRC and the consensus was that
we can not make comments or decision about these things until we know what 
happens somewhere else.
A few months ago we had a discussion about how SK can be modified to suite the 
needs for Plasma. Back then we had a good idea what has to be done and how.

I have no problem if we can not use these plans and start working on it,
but at least keep us in the loop, keep the discussion open.

> If the assumptions here are inaccurate please correct me.
>
> We should probably get some sort of document together stating what exactly
> we want to do for kde4 and maybe where the code that will effect those
> changes may reside.

That would be great.

> cheers,
> -Ryan

Ciao
Alex