What are KDE/Kubuntu "activities"?
To put it very simply, they are collections of virtual desktops to which the user has assigned a name and which the OS will call up for the user when the appropriate, named, button is clicked.
The inclusion of the "navigation" activity and the "picture on the desktop" activity, were a fine thing but it is the opinion of the author that they have lead a lot of people to wrong conclusions about what activities are.
Let us use an analogy.
Imagine that you are the captain of a starship which has a circular bridge. The various stations are in the wall of the circular bridge, like navigation, engineering, communication etc.
You sit in a chair which can swivel and you have a circular "desk" that is around you with displays which show you information from the various stations.
However, due to a virus all of the people are sick in sick bay and you are left alone to do everything.
The ship's computer reassigns the stations from the wall to various sections of your desk. And the ships computer has enabled a motor that will swivel the desk to the appropriate station on your desk and shine a light on it while dimming the other lights. This will allow you to concentrate on that station.
The ships computer says that some things need to be fixed in engineering. You push a button on the handle of your chair labeled engineering and the ship's computer swivels your chair, brings up the light over the engineering section of your desk and dims the other lights. You work on various things in engineering remotely.
The original engineering module on the wall is still there and engineering is still there, buried in the bottom of the ship.
Suddenly, the ship's computer says you have incoming messages. You push the communication button on the handle of your chair, the light over the engineering section dims, and the chair swivels to the communication section of the desk. The light comes up over the communication section and you can do your work there.
Let us now return to the discussion of activities.
Instead of the user swiveling a chair between activities; the user pushes a button in the panel for communications, the OS then "dims" the activity for say, multimedia, safely moves it out of sight, and brings up the communication activity so that the user can see it.
All of the links, documents, etc. that one was using or working upon in the communications activity are still there, stored, to be used again.
Just as when one moved between the original four virtual desktops of Gnome 2; all of the original folders for documents, downloads, pictures, etc. that are in the file system were always there when one moved between virtual desktops.
The difference between the original paradigm of four virtual desktops and the paradigm of activities is that with activities one can have multiple iterations of four virtual desktops.
Another thing that the author thinks has confused people; is that when the activities button is first invoked, the beloved desktop pictures, and previously carefully placed widgets DISAPPEAR!
That happened to the author it was scary! Had something wrong been done? Was the really important stuff like assignments for school gone?
No, everything was still there, but a new virtual desktop had been made available and the APPEARANCE was that maybe the important stuff was somehow gone.
Can one "go back", to the "original" setup? um....in a word, no. The only approximation to "going back" is to delete all of the new activies down to one, and set the number of virtual desktops as in the original presentation by Kubuntu.
Now, does someone that "does not do much" on a computer but check e-mail, maybe write a letter, browse the web and listen to Amarok need activities?
Probably not, the setup does take some time and so just go with the flow.
But, for the person who does a lot of disparate activities simultaneously on a computer; this author considers "activities" to be a major development.
How to set up activies.
a) again, the "navigation" activity, although beautiful and it works very well, this author thinks gives a wrong impression. It is "only one page" and is not easily re-configured.
b) the whole point of activities is that they make the user's life much easier after the configuration is done.
c) how does one configure/make the activity?
i) add an activity.
ii) change the number of virtual desktops to the desired number.
iii) place different widgets, folders, etc. wallpapers on the desired virtual desktop faces.
iv) add another activity, the previous is automatically saved.
So, in sum. An activity is just a collection of virtual desktops, or one desktop, which the user has customized with various backgrounds, widgets, applications, and to which the user has assigned a name which will be turned into a "clickable button" by the OS.
If there are any comments by people more knowledgeable than me please make them.
If there are any questions, please ask them and I will try to answer them.
woodsmoke
To put it very simply, they are collections of virtual desktops to which the user has assigned a name and which the OS will call up for the user when the appropriate, named, button is clicked.
The inclusion of the "navigation" activity and the "picture on the desktop" activity, were a fine thing but it is the opinion of the author that they have lead a lot of people to wrong conclusions about what activities are.
Let us use an analogy.
Imagine that you are the captain of a starship which has a circular bridge. The various stations are in the wall of the circular bridge, like navigation, engineering, communication etc.
You sit in a chair which can swivel and you have a circular "desk" that is around you with displays which show you information from the various stations.
However, due to a virus all of the people are sick in sick bay and you are left alone to do everything.
The ship's computer reassigns the stations from the wall to various sections of your desk. And the ships computer has enabled a motor that will swivel the desk to the appropriate station on your desk and shine a light on it while dimming the other lights. This will allow you to concentrate on that station.
The ships computer says that some things need to be fixed in engineering. You push a button on the handle of your chair labeled engineering and the ship's computer swivels your chair, brings up the light over the engineering section of your desk and dims the other lights. You work on various things in engineering remotely.
The original engineering module on the wall is still there and engineering is still there, buried in the bottom of the ship.
Suddenly, the ship's computer says you have incoming messages. You push the communication button on the handle of your chair, the light over the engineering section dims, and the chair swivels to the communication section of the desk. The light comes up over the communication section and you can do your work there.
Let us now return to the discussion of activities.
Instead of the user swiveling a chair between activities; the user pushes a button in the panel for communications, the OS then "dims" the activity for say, multimedia, safely moves it out of sight, and brings up the communication activity so that the user can see it.
All of the links, documents, etc. that one was using or working upon in the communications activity are still there, stored, to be used again.
Just as when one moved between the original four virtual desktops of Gnome 2; all of the original folders for documents, downloads, pictures, etc. that are in the file system were always there when one moved between virtual desktops.
The difference between the original paradigm of four virtual desktops and the paradigm of activities is that with activities one can have multiple iterations of four virtual desktops.
Another thing that the author thinks has confused people; is that when the activities button is first invoked, the beloved desktop pictures, and previously carefully placed widgets DISAPPEAR!
That happened to the author it was scary! Had something wrong been done? Was the really important stuff like assignments for school gone?
No, everything was still there, but a new virtual desktop had been made available and the APPEARANCE was that maybe the important stuff was somehow gone.
Can one "go back", to the "original" setup? um....in a word, no. The only approximation to "going back" is to delete all of the new activies down to one, and set the number of virtual desktops as in the original presentation by Kubuntu.
Now, does someone that "does not do much" on a computer but check e-mail, maybe write a letter, browse the web and listen to Amarok need activities?
Probably not, the setup does take some time and so just go with the flow.
But, for the person who does a lot of disparate activities simultaneously on a computer; this author considers "activities" to be a major development.
How to set up activies.
a) again, the "navigation" activity, although beautiful and it works very well, this author thinks gives a wrong impression. It is "only one page" and is not easily re-configured.
b) the whole point of activities is that they make the user's life much easier after the configuration is done.
c) how does one configure/make the activity?
i) add an activity.
ii) change the number of virtual desktops to the desired number.
iii) place different widgets, folders, etc. wallpapers on the desired virtual desktop faces.
iv) add another activity, the previous is automatically saved.
So, in sum. An activity is just a collection of virtual desktops, or one desktop, which the user has customized with various backgrounds, widgets, applications, and to which the user has assigned a name which will be turned into a "clickable button" by the OS.
If there are any comments by people more knowledgeable than me please make them.
If there are any questions, please ask them and I will try to answer them.
woodsmoke