KDE Tutorials --can not find how to zoom out to see all desktops and activities

[smile4yourself]

I am trying to understand kde.

tutorials talk about "activities" and "desktops" but are they the same?

I have more "activities" than "desktops" though... but can't seem to see the differences. It seems like two ways to do the same thing, but one ends up not knowing where they are... on a desktop or in an activity of a desktop.

If I change one desktop to a "folder view" I get stuck there and can no longer scroll through all the desktops.

Are "activities" specific to each individual desktop?

I managed to zoom out once so I could see al the desktops at once and then erase some, but don't know how I did it. Can't seem to find any menu for zooming.

is there an up-to-date tutorial on kde for kubuntu Lucid?

[smile4yourself]

[claydoh]

Re: KDE Tutorials --can not find how to zoom out to see all desktops and activities

the 'zooming' bit (the ZUI) is no longer in KDE in later versions. to get to your Activities, right-click somewhere on your desktop and select "Activities".

Here are some links with more up-to-date information for KDE 4.5 Activities:
(read some of the comments for some extra descriptions)

http://userbase.kde.org/Plasma/HowTo/4.5#Activities
http://maketecheasier.com/use-kde-pl...ies/2010/09/01
http://http://lifehacker.com/5668873...d-personal-use
https://www.ghacks.net/2010/08/16/kd...ies-explained/
http://userbase.kde.org/Plasma/HowTo/4.5#Activities

Now as to the differences between activities and desktopsm that is still somewhat fuzzy to me

Think of Activities as Virtual Desktops on steroids, where each Activity can have multiple virtual desktops. Activities can have much more individuality and unique looks and feel than desktops I think.

Clear as mud

[smile4yourself]

Re: KDE Tutorials --can not find how to zoom out to see all desktops and activities

Thankyou for your thoughtful response. Your links are very helpful to me. I re-optioned my KDE desktop to 1 Desktop (from 4) and to 4 activities, one of which is a folder view.

The "taskbar" widget in the default panel shows all open applications regardless from which activity they were opened, and when you open one of these applications you can change to a different "activity" but the application stays open in the new "activity" ...

It's as if the "activities" are not segregated from the working applications. Only desktop papers and activity widgets dragged into the desktop activity remain segregated within an "activity."

Is this the way KDE "activities" are supposed to work? I would have expected that the applications opened from within a specific "activity" (e.g. opening Firefox within the "Research" activity) would then be seen only when the user is in that "activity" (e.g. Research).

[smile4yourself]

[kubicle]

Re: KDE Tutorials --can not find how to zoom out to see all desktops and activities

Is this the way KDE "activities" are supposed to work? I would have expected that the applications opened from within a specific "activity" (e.g. opening Firefox within the "Research" activity) would then be seen only when the user is in that "activity" (e.g. Research).

By default, "activities" affect only the desktop (background and widgets), and not opened applications (like virtual desktops do).

But you can set, for example, 4 virtual desktops and create a separate activity for each one (This way each desktop will have their own widget sets and open applications). The setting can be found in SystemSettings>WindowBehavior>VirtualDesktops.

[kubicle]

Re: KDE Tutorials --can not find how to zoom out to see all desktops and activities

The "taskbar" widget in the default panel shows all open applications regardless from which activity they were opened.

I upgraded to KDE SC Beta1 and had to switch from smooth tasks to the "regular" taskmanager widget (because smooth tasks crashed plasma...I guess it needs rebuilding against new libs).

At least in the 4.6 beta, the task manager settings has an option to "only show tasks from current activity". it's likely a new feature that enables you to separate tasks shown by activity.

EDIT: also, in KDE 4.6, application windows are only shown in the activity they are started in by default. Of course you can move application windows to another activity or show them in all activities via the window menu.