Plasma Desktop Concept

[Oldtimmer]

I all
I am not new to Kubuntu (Linux) but I am no expert ether (by far).
I have an idea for a desktop environment that would work on desktop's, Laptop's and tablets.
The name of the desktop would be PFD (Picture Frame Desktop).
The idea is to have the desktop only show a slide show of pictures (Like a Picture Frame) after login.
With only a small tab at the bottom in the center to bring up a Rosa Launcher style launcher with some tweaks.
The launcher could have the clock, network, sound and extra at the bottom like a task bar has and a Search box at the top for searching programs, files and web.
Like Rosa Launcher have 3 buttons a the for Welcome, Applications and Time Frame.
Welcome: screen can be broke up into different category’s like Favorites, Recently opened and Web Favorites.
Applications: screen can be broke up into different category’s like Graphics, Internet, Multimedia, Office, System and Settings, Utilities and help.
Time Frame: have it work just as Rosa Launcher.
If the person wants a clock on the desktop then they can add a widget for the clock.
Wonce a program is selected a task bar can pop up at the bottom to show what programs are running.
All launcher icons should have a balloon with a brief description of what the program does.
When the Launcher is activated have it go right to the Welcome screen and have ReKonq, FireFox installer and Google Chrome installer in the favorites already .

This style desktop would be clean and user friendly.
I am not a programmer so to try this on my own would be near impossible.
I have been trying to get away from Windows for years but some programs I like ether do not run in wine or are choppy.
Gaming is a big one now that steam has a native linux client and Netfix is working better things are looking up.
Please give me the pros and cons of this concept.

[james147]

The name of the desktop would be PFD (Picture Frame Desktop).
The idea is to have the desktop only show a slide show of pictures (Like a Picture Frame) after login.

You can already do this in plasma: right click the desktop -> Wallpaper: Slideshow
And remove the panel if you don't want anything else on the desktop (or set it to auto hide).

Don't know why you would name it after that feature though...

With only a small tab at the bottom in the center to bring up a Rosa Launcher style launcher with some tweaks.

Then install the launcher and add it to a empty panel at the bottom of the screen

The launcher could have the clock, network, sound and extra at the bottom like a task bar has and a Search box at the top for searching programs, files and web.

Don't know why you would want them inside the launcher and not in the panel, where they currently are they are easy to glance at to find the status of apps, or the current time... moving it into the launcher makes this much more intrusive (I now need to interact with the computer when I want to look for passive info like the time or network status).

Like Rosa Launcher have 3 buttons a the for Welcome, Applications and Time Frame.
Welcome: screen can be broke up into different category’s like Favorites, Recently opened and Web Favorites.
Applications: screen can be broke up into different category’s like Graphics, Internet, Multimedia, Office, System and Settings, Utilities and help.
Time Frame: have it work just as Rosa Launcher.

From what I can tell you should just be able to use the rosa launcher in place of the normal one, but it also sounds similar to the homerun launcher (which is in the kde plasma addons package).

Wonce a program is selected a task bar can pop up at the bottom to show what programs are running.

So a panel with the launcher and taskmanager?

All launcher icons should have a balloon with a brief description of what the program does.

If rosa launcher does not support this then file a feature request, I know homerun does not, but you can file a feature request with them as well.

When the Launcher is activated have it go right to the Welcome screen and have ReKonq, FireFox installer and Google Chrome installer in the favorites already .

This can be done with homerun, just need to add the programs to your favorites list.

This style desktop would be clean and user friendly.

I don't see how using a slideshow background has anything to do with making the desktop clean or user friendly.

Removing the system tray and clock from the panel I would argue makes the desktop less user friendly, as it hides what is normally viable, and what most people want to just be viable so they can glance at it idly without having to click the launcher.

I am not a programmer so to try this on my own would be near impossible.

Most of what you asked for is already available, and does not need a separate desktop to do so I see no point in developing a new desktop to do this. That said, you can create a plasma script to setup the desktop with these settings if you wish (it is not very hard to do)

I have been trying to get away from Windows for years but some programs I like ether do not run in wine or are choppy.

Make sure you have the latest version of wine (the kubuntu repos are often fairly behind on their version) as wine progresses very rapidly.

Please give me the pros and cons of this concept.

I don't think you should hide the systemtray or clock, nor do I see the point in a slideshow background being linked to it at all (the user should be able to chose what ever background they want to use independent of the rest of the desktop). As for the rest it is basically just configuring plasma-desktop to behave like you want it to, maby with some features added to the application launcher.


It sounds like you want it to look like this:


With a launcher that looks similar to this:

[Oldtimmer]

Originally Posted by james147
You can already do this in plasma: right click the desktop -> Wallpaper: Slideshow
And remove the panel if you don't want anything else on the desktop (or set it to auto hide).

Don't know why you would name it after that feature though...

I use the SlideShow now on my Kubuntu Desktop
I am saying to have slideshow as the default setting on install (let the user add and change the wall paper as they do now)
As for the name (the layout would be more like a digital picture frame) but that is not set in stone.

Originally Posted by james147

Then install the launcher and add it to a empty panel at the bottom of the screen

I tried to install the Rosa Launcher several time with no success just could not get it to work.
The other launchers like it just do not have the features and layout I like.
As for adding a widget to an empty panel defeats the purpose of no panels on startup.
I would rather have a widget on the desktop on the bottom center but do not want the pop out on widgets.

Originally Posted by james147

Don't know why you would want them inside the launcher and not in the panel, where they currently are they are easy to glance at to find the status of apps, or the current time... moving it into the launcher makes this much more intrusive (I now need to interact with the computer when I want to look for passive info like the time or network status).

Originally Posted by james147

So a panel with the launcher and taskmanager?

Only have a panel pop up when an applications is running with no applications running no panel.

Originally Posted by james147

Most of what you asked for is already available, and does not need a separate desktop to do so I see no point in developing a new desktop to do this. That said, you can create a plasma script to setup the desktop with these settings if you wish (it is not very hard to do)

Yes most of what I want to do is already available.
Like Mandriva Rosa Launcher just does not seem to work in Kubuntu no matter what tutorial I fallow.


I will back off this for now and see if I can get Rosa to work properly.
Then work on the rest of the ideas one at a time.
Thank you for the feed back.

[james147]

I use the SlideShow now on my Kubuntu Desktop
I am saying to have slideshow as the default setting on install (let the user add and change the wall paper as they do now)
As for the name (the layout would be more like a digital picture frame) but that is not set in stone.

I don't see the point of having this as a default. You might like it but will everyone else? It also seems like an abortuary change to a plasma workspace based on personal preference (which is never a good reason for a change to defaults).

I tried to install the Rosa Launcher several time with no success just could not get it to work.
The other launchers like it just do not have the features and layout I like.

Have you tried homerun? It should work out the box in kubutu and is probably in the kubuntu repos. It looks basically the same as rosa, and if highly configurable. It can do everything you described before, at least that rosa can also do.

As for adding a widget to an empty panel defeats the purpose of no panels on startup.
I would rather have a widget on the desktop on the bottom center but do not want the pop out on widgets.

Not sure I under stand this... you don't want a panel but you want a widget at the bottom of the screen...
If you just place the widget in the bottom centre of the screen and lock the widgets you get no "pop out" so that can be done. But then what happens if you full screen a window? How do you now open applications? Without minimising all you open windows...
You can add the launcher widget to an empty panel at the bottom and set it to auto hide if you want, then no panel shows on startup but if you move your mouse to the bottom it appears. Or you can set it so that windows can cover the panel, then it is always shown except when a window covers it, then if you move the mouse to the bottom it will appear over the window instead.

I do not see why you do not want a panel, and do not want to place a widget on the desktop... how else are you going to interact with it? Note that you can also change the appearance of the panel to be nothing if you don't want a border around the launcher icon.

Basically, I fail to see what you are trying to achieve that is not already provided by a panel and/or the desktop.

Only have a panel pop up when an applications is running with no applications running no panel.

How does this interact with the launcher widget? is it next to the task manager? I don't see anyway you can have a launcher tab and an taskmanager overlaying so you may as well make them one panel... but in plasma you can have two panels at the bottom of the screen if you wanted.

I will back off this for now and see if I can get Rosa to work properly.
Then work on the rest of the ideas one at a time.
Thank you for the feed back.

No need to back off, but I think it would help if you drew up some concept art to better describe what you want/how you want it to work as currently there are a few aspects with the idea I am not entirely sure how it is meant to work (ie the launcher and task manager not in a panel)

[Oldtimmer]

I am working on getting it setup.
With some help I got Rosa Launcher to work(Very nice launcher).
I took your advice and added a blank panel then added 2 widgets the rosa launcher and the digital clock to it then resided it.
I have some screen shots of the progress I have made.

Main Screen


Launcher screen


Application Screen


I know that this may be personal preference.
Lets see what others think

[whatthefunk]

Personally, I dont find this setup all that useful for my purposes. For me, its much better to have launchers for frequently used programs on the desktop. Hiding them in menus just means more clicking.

[Oldtimmer]

Some people do not like a cluttered desktop and some don't mind.
I myself do not like a cluttered desktop so I don't mind 1 more click.

[Oldtimmer]

Ok I can see where just auto hide panel would work just as good.

[james147]

Considering you have a panel for the launcher, why not just add a task manager to that panel? When there are no applications open you will get what you currently see, a launcher and a clock, as you open applications the panel will expand with the tasks that are running. No need for an extra panel that auto hides when no applications are running.

[Jonas]

I agree with James, everyone have their personal preferences so dev team can't satisfy everyone. I think the main focus on the default setup is to have a over all visually attractive layout but most of all a bug free start scene, hence less bling bling.

If you wish to have a task manager that's slim and highly configurable I'd suggest Smooth tasks. It expands on active/inactive tasks and expands on mouse-over.

install with

sudo apt-get install plasma-widget-smooth-tasks

b.r

Jonas

[Oldtimmer]

Will give that a try Jonas
Thank you all for the input.