What Plasmoids would you like?

[dmeyer]

Plasmoids are one of the best components of KDE4 but sometimes I feel I can't find one that suits my purpose. Anyways, this week I looked at figuring out plasmoids and programmed my first one. So I would like to know what plasmoids people would like to see and I will try make some of them. They aren't going to be super beautiful (I will try) but they will be functional and they will be stable.

Just three rules:

1. It needs to be realistically achievable in a short period of time (aprox 8 hrs max for one but if I really like the idea I will compromise)
2. It needs to be implemented with the python bindings
3. I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

The third rule has particular importance. If there is a ready existing plasmoid that needs a feature then ask the orginal developer nicely, if you want a totally new reimplementation of an existing plasmoid we can discuss the merits of the idea. I really want to push plasmoids more. I use a few in my panel but most lie on my Widget dashboard (I don't have any on my desktop.) Even if I can't do something, lets still discuss it and maybe we can find somebody who can help us.

[dmeyer]

Just as an example of my first plasmoid here it is: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php...content=154575

Its not much but it serves a basic function especially if you edit an application to launch with optirun instad of doing so from a terminal. Its made for the panel and not much else, but it does its job quite well.

[james147]

You might be intrested in the inro widget I started a while back, but didn't have time to complete. It is written in qml/javascript which is what all the new plasmoids are doing and you might be intrested in if you want to do plasmoid development. Either way, its up to you just thought I would putit out there as it would be a nice project to finish, I just don't have the time right now. At the very least it can be an example of how to create a qml plasmoid (and there is a large movment to port all offical plasmoids to qml so you might want to look into it).

[dmeyer]

I forgot to mention that I have started with QML but I'm not very good with it (i.e. I suck at it!). Please post me a link to your intro widget and I'll definitely dissect it and learn what I can. If work with QML though then development will be a lot slower and I might have to bug people for ocassional help but so what, I want to mae this as much a community effort I can.

[NickStone]

Could you make me one that tells me what desktop I'm using (Gnome-shell, Gnome classic, KDE or Unity) please.

[james147]

Opps meant to put the link in https://github.com/james147/intro-widget

[dmeyer]

Could you make me one that tells me what desktop I'm using (Gnome-shell, Gnome classic, KDE or Unity) please.

This is a plasmoid therefore it will only work on Plasma which means you have to be running KDE4. In other words, if you can see this widget then you know you are using KDE4. It would be super pointless. I don't want to sound insulting but if you can't instantly recognize which desktop you are running then I fear you probably don't know what the different desktops are.

[dmeyer]

Opps meant to put the link in https://github.com/james147/intro-widget

That actually looks like it might be very useful. I really don't have much experience with javascript and qml but I did quite a bit of reading tonight and it seems quite accessible. It looks really helpful and I appreciate the work. . I'll see what I can do with what you have given me and learn as much as I can but I'll probably fall back to python in the beginning and then port to QML later. Maybe even do a hybrid, python-backend with qml gui to bridge the gap although that might be more work than all qml.

[GreyGeek]

Thanks for the fish!

My laptop has an Intel HD video and an Nvidia GT-650M. Kubuntu defaults to the nouveau video driver, which gives me up to 60 fps. The 650M hasn't been deployed. I plan to install Bumblebee. Your plasmoid will come in handy!

[dmeyer]

Thanks for the fish!

My laptop has an Intel HD video and an Nvidia GT-650M. Kubuntu defaults to the nouveau video driver, which gives me up to 60 fps. The 650M hasn't been deployed. I plan to install Bumblebee. Your plasmoid will come in handy!

Glad it can be useful. Just by the way, the icons are low res so they look fantastic in a panel but on the desktop it looks rather awful. I tried to use .svg but for some strange reason the wouldn't scale well i.e. the colours would go out of whack etc. So this .png work around is bad but functional.

[GreyGeek]

Oh noes!

Installing the package /home/jerry/Downloads/154575-Bumblebee_Plasmoid.plasmoid failed.

[claydoh]

A weather plasmoid like yawp (multiple locations that rotate at regular intervals) that offers a way to switch measurement units on the fly. I am sure this feature will not be a popular one, lol!

[james147]

That actually looks like it might be very useful. I really don't have much experience with javascript and qml but I did quite a bit of reading tonight and it seems quite accessible. It looks really helpful and I appreciate the work. . I'll see what I can do with what you have given me and learn as much as I can but I'll probably fall back to python in the beginning and then port to QML later. Maybe even do a hybrid, python-backend with qml gui to bridge the gap although that might be more work than all qml.

I think all QML would be easier to start with then tring to interface it with another language. But QML and javascript shouldn't be to hard to learn if you already know python. You might also want to read this if you haven't already.

[woodsmoke]

Hi dmeyer

Thanks for the offer, I actually had a desire for another widget a year or so ago, but can' remember what it was!!

However, you mentioned the widget dashboard, of which I had never heard.

So, I googled it and found this site;

http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/desktop.php

I tried ctrl+F12 on a Unity with KDE desktop and got a little black button at the top middle of the screen entitled "widget dashboard" but with a red x on it.

So, I put a widget on the desktop and tried again, but no luck, same black thingy with red x.

So,

a) could you discuss the "widget" dashboard a little for folks like me who are not up to speed.
b) any suggestions about why it isn't working for me?

woodsmoke

[james147]

The widget dash board is a place you can put widgets on like the desktop, but it will display over applications so you don't need to minimise windows to use widgets. It can share the widgets that are on the desktop, so when you open it it will show the same widgets that are on you desktop or you can configure it to show its own independent widget set.