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    What's the use of these activity things?

    This has been addressed, probably hundreds of times, but... still there are a "lot people" that just don't "understand" KDE/activities/widgets.

    So I'm not going to "explain it", I'm going to give a concrete, working, example.

    The real BIG thing about the KDE desktop is ......duuhhhh how many TIMES have you heard THIS......... customizability.

    Example:
    a) after a deluge of free money for the last six years the feds have now found .......won't say "religion" and want ALL THAT MONEY ACCOUNTED FOR!!
    b) that translated, last fall into "really encouraging" the profs to actually.......keep attendance ....on the college's attendance book: Pinnacle.
    c) Spring Semester it shouted at us..... USE PINNACLE!!
    d) Over the summer, during which I don't teach, it became mandatory..........
    e) THIS ....so that there can be an "administrative drop" for a student if a pin the tail on the donkey set of absence rules are met........more complicated than "just being absent".
    f) This semester.......... we get a WARNING from a gnome that sits on a high chair at a tall table warming his hands over a candle... :0

    that we are on the naughty list if we don't post the absences daily........:0

    So.......my life has changed I needed to customize Kubuntu.

    g) the PROBLEM is that to get to pinnacle from within Blackboard is ....convoluted.......... the easiest way is to type in an url for Pinnacle in a browser and one is done.......that is the way it has been for probably five years.

    So to make it easy........at home.........not on Windblows 8.1 !!!! :0

    h) I made a new activity and entitled it "Pinnacle".
    i) on the new desktop I placed the "quicklauncher" widget...(with the rocket) in the middle of the screen.
    j) I deleted the Dolphin link and in the properties of the FF launcher I went to "url" and pasted the previously copied url of Pinnacle.
    k) I changed the icon to an internet thingy.

    That is all that is on the desktop and the only use of the activity,....

    .. but I do not have to: i) Go to Menu, ii) Navigate to FF favourite iii) launch FF iv) go to the url box and type in the url of Pinnacle v) mouse to the login box. click the name box, enter it, hit enter and enter password.

    l) This way it is click the activity.... click the launcher, AND....since the copied URL already had the cursor in the name box..just enter name, hit return, enter password, hit return and done.........

    One could ALSO;........make another virtual desktop, or add a face to the cube..

    So...........a concrete example of the "use" of the "activity" and a "widget".

    I am sure that others can list similar situations.

    See note below:

    woodsmoke

    I am sure that there who would say that this almost Rube Goldberg......going to all that trouble when one could just...
    Last edited by woodsmoke; Aug 25, 2014, 09:19 PM.

    #2
    Thanks for the rundown! It's nice to see an example of actual use.
    Xenix/UNIX user since 1985 | Linux user since 1991 | Was registered Linux user #163544

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      #3
      lol

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        #4
        Good post.

        I wonder why you have not just create a link in the desktop folder which would launch things (pinnacle or whatever you want) in the default browser?
        You can see the options by right clicking on an area in the default folder view of the desktop folder.

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          #5
          Originally posted by anika200 View Post
          ... I wonder why you have not just create a link in the desktop folder which would launch things (pinnacle or whatever you want) in the default browser?
          That's what I would do, but I wouldn't use the Desktop folder, which I have deleted. First, unlock the widgets. Then, navigate the menu to the FireFox app and right mouse on it. Chose "Add to Desktop". A FireFox Icon will be dropped onto the desktop. While the widgets are unlocked hover over the FF icon on the desktop so the control panel on it opens up. Use the "resize" icon to set the desired size. Click on the "wrench" icon, then the Application tab and in the "command" text box replace "firefox %u" with "firefox http://whateverthelinktothedesiredsiteis". On the General tab is the FireFox icon. You can left click on it and select another icon, indicative of the website it will go to, and replace the FF icon with it. Lock the widgets.

          I have the Desktop plasma widget on my panel. When I want to minimize all open apps in order to access the desktop I click on the Desktop icon. It's a toggle. When I click on it again all the apps that were minimized open up again. Also, one can modify the number of desktops available and have various icons on various desktops, using the Cube to switch, or the desktop stack page widget on the panel, if installed. So, with the Desktop exposed, I right click on the icon I put on the desktop and fire up the FF browser, which automatically points to the website given in the command box. I can put as many FF icons on the desktop as I want. (Each will have a hidden label of "firefox-2", "firefox-3", etc...


          There are so many ways to skin this cat!
          Last edited by GreyGeek; Aug 28, 2014, 10:56 AM.
          "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
          – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

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            #6
            Thanks Anika for the question and thanks GG for the commentary.

            woodsmoke

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              #7
              I tried really hard to like activities, but they just seem like more trouble than they are worth. I have one activity and one desktop. I put an icon only taskbar on the bottom and load it with all the programs I use regularly. There are 21 icons there now, which sounds like a lot, but really isnt at all. I know what order they are in so I can launch and keep track of everything easily. One of these days I might give activities another whirl, but for now, Im perfectly happy with my single workspace

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                #8
                Activities are also extremely useful for making someone who doesn't use them regularly think his entire desktop has vanished -- because they somehow proliferate (new activites being created without user intent), then spontaneously switch to one that has nothing in it (often while the screen saver is active or user has an application maximized), leaving the user (who is also the administrator, on my system) deeply confused, at least the first time, as to why he suddenly has no desktop icons, different wallpaper, and no idea how things reached this pass...

                Honestly, I'd love to be able to completely disable "activities" (I've already gotten rid of all the extra desktops on all my systems), but I'm don't know what else will vanish if I try to get rid of that entry under the cashew in the upper right of the screen...

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by whatthefunk View Post
                  ... Im perfectly happy with my single workspace
                  Me too. While I mentioned it in a previous post, I do not have the desktop page widget installed. I run everything on one desktop and click on the panel representation for an app if I want to switch to it. Or, Alt-Tab. I rarely have more than five or six apps open at one time. KMail, FF, Kate or Kwrite and a Konsole or two.
                  "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
                  – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by GreyGeek View Post
                    Me too. While I mentioned it in a previous post, I do not have the desktop page widget installed. I run everything on one desktop and click on the panel representation for an app if I want to switch to it. Or, Alt-Tab. I rarely have more than five or six apps open at one time. KMail, FF, Kate or Kwrite and a Konsole or two.
                    It took me awhile to realize that "one desktop to rule them all" is the way to go.
                    Boot Info Script

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by verndog View Post
                      It took me awhile to realize that "one desktop to rule them all" is the way to go.
                      Each to their preference.
                      I can be drowned in windows on a single desktop; I've reached double digits in editing windows (some with multiple tabs, ), and use four different konsole profiles (with separate foreground colours to tell them apart). I use 7 point fonts to keep text small. I keep one desktop with a folder view, and often have another loaded with documentation windows, not all browser based. It depends how deep in a project I am. I suppose I really could use multiple large monitors.
                      Regards, John Little

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by jlittle View Post
                        I suppose I really could use multiple large monitors.
                        Or one REALLY BIG one: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post357593
                        Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                        Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                        "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

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                          #13
                          I think a 4K monitor could have some practicality, if they could package it in a 32 inch diagonal (or smaller) screen size. That 110 inch is the size of a living room picture window. Put it in a 32 inch screen, it'd be like a "retina" display sized for a busy, busy desktop.

                          Mind you, I'd have trouble finding the window I wanted even without overlaps if I had enough going on to fill a screen that resolution...

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Snowhog View Post
                            With a 9.1' diagonal that screen would be larger, in perspective, than what would one would see of a movie screen while setting in the first row of the second bank of seats in a theater.
                            Last edited by GreyGeek; Sep 02, 2014, 11:37 AM.
                            "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
                            – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by GreyGeek View Post
                              With a 9.1' diagonal that screen would be larger, in perspective, than what would would see of a movie screen while setting in the first row of the second bank of seats in a theater.
                              Yes. Wouldn't that be cool?

                              If you were coding... Talk about immersing yourself in it!
                              Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                              Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                              "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

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