Multiple Desktop Configuration

[mrossm]

Sorry if this is a repeat, not sure exactly how to word what I want to search for, so I may have missed it.

What I am looking for is a way to set up desktop "profiles", for lack of a better term, for different tasks I do. For instance, I use TeX frequently, which involves a shell, text editor, pdf viewer, etc... Is there a setting, or more likely, a third-party package, that would allow me to set up desktops with applications I need to do my stuff that automatically start up for me? I admit, I'm a bit OCD on these things, and would rather not leave all the apps open, nor want to waste resources.

So, is there an application that would allow me to go through a list of tasks I do, and when I select one, it opens up another desktop with all the apps I need for the task? Barring that, I could open up another desktop on my own, but would still want something to open all necessary apps in one go, save me the time of hunting them all down.

Using Jaunty BTW.

Thanks
Michael

[Nate]

Re: Multiple Desktop Configuration

The quick answer is that you want to use Activities, which can be accessed from that little cashew in the upper right corner of your screen. You zoom out and then add an activity, then add the widgets and apps you want to that specific activity.

If you don't want those applications running all the time you could create a little shell script which could launch all the programs you need at once. Then whenever you switch to that specific Activity you would just launch the script and off you go.

Here's a screencast which demonstrates some things you can do with Activities.
http://blip.tv/file/1640432/