Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Monday 29 December 2014 20:32:08 Mick wrote: > What's really missing is a big Undo button, that restores your desktop > configuration to its previous almost satisfactory settings, just before it > went sideways. No, I don't mean restoring from a back up. :-) Hah! Good luck with that. :-) -- Rgds Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Monday 29 Dec 2014 16:31:00 J. Roeleveld wrote: > On Monday, December 29, 2014 07:46:20 AM Daniel Frey wrote: > > On 12/29/2014 12:57 AM, Peter Humphrey wrote: > > >>> How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. > > >> > > >> I did it by the following (I think, anyway): > > >> > > >> 1. Open the Panel toolbox. (Click the cashew-looking thing to the > > >> right of the clock) > > > > > > That thing's so discreet I'd hardly noticed it. > > > > > >> 2. mouse over the three circles > > >> 3. Click Close (the 'X') > > >> 4. Close the Panel toolbox. > > > > > > Excellent! Well done that man! Thank you Dan > > > > No problem! > > > > I remember clicking on that Activities thing by accident and going > > "WTF?" and it did something strange to my desktop. It took me about 10 > > minutes to figure out how to close it, in the process I closed the > > kicker panel itself and really went "Oh shit!" until I figured out how > > to restore it (I didn't reboot, I found another way but it escapes me > > now.) > > > > Shortly after that frustrating experience I found that cashew thing. > > > > Dan > > To complete this: > > Another annoying thing: Accidentally removing or moving parts on the > bottom- bar around. > > To avoid that: Right-click on an empty part, then: > Panel Options -> Lock Widgets What's really missing is a big Undo button, that restores your desktop configuration to its previous almost satisfactory settings, just before it went sideways. No, I don't mean restoring from a back up. :-) -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Monday, December 29, 2014 07:46:20 AM Daniel Frey wrote: > On 12/29/2014 12:57 AM, Peter Humphrey wrote: > >>> How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. > >> > >> I did it by the following (I think, anyway): > >> > >> 1. Open the Panel toolbox. (Click the cashew-looking thing to the right > >> of the clock) > > > > That thing's so discreet I'd hardly noticed it. > > > >> 2. mouse over the three circles > >> 3. Click Close (the 'X') > >> 4. Close the Panel toolbox. > > > > Excellent! Well done that man! Thank you Dan > > No problem! > > I remember clicking on that Activities thing by accident and going > "WTF?" and it did something strange to my desktop. It took me about 10 > minutes to figure out how to close it, in the process I closed the > kicker panel itself and really went "Oh shit!" until I figured out how > to restore it (I didn't reboot, I found another way but it escapes me now.) > > Shortly after that frustrating experience I found that cashew thing. > > Dan To complete this: Another annoying thing: Accidentally removing or moving parts on the bottom- bar around. To avoid that: Right-click on an empty part, then: Panel Options -> Lock Widgets -- Joost
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On 12/29/2014 12:57 AM, Peter Humphrey wrote: >>> How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. >> >> I did it by the following (I think, anyway): >> >> 1. Open the Panel toolbox. (Click the cashew-looking thing to the right >> of the clock) > > That thing's so discreet I'd hardly noticed it. > >> 2. mouse over the three circles >> 3. Click Close (the 'X') >> 4. Close the Panel toolbox. > > Excellent! Well done that man! Thank you Dan > No problem! I remember clicking on that Activities thing by accident and going "WTF?" and it did something strange to my desktop. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to close it, in the process I closed the kicker panel itself and really went "Oh shit!" until I figured out how to restore it (I didn't reboot, I found another way but it escapes me now.) Shortly after that frustrating experience I found that cashew thing. Dan
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sunday 28 December 2014 20:42:57 Alan McKinnon wrote: > What might work if you want to pursue it, is find all the relevant KDE > config files that reference Activities, and I can show you mine. Might > be worth a shot I've set off a search in /usr in case anything simple turns up, but otherwise I think I'll be content with having neutered it, by which I mean deleting the short-cuts and removing that three-circles eyesore from the panel. -- Rgds Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sunday 28 December 2014 08:50:20 Daniel Frey wrote: > On 12/28/2014 07:16 AM, Peter Humphrey wrote: > > On Sunday 28 December 2014 11:54:11 Mick wrote: > >> I'm not sure I understand - what shortcuts cause problems with > >> Activities? I have removed the icon on a KDE desktop here and I don't > >> think users have noticed any problem with Activities; but they > >> wouldn't really know what Activities is, so any problem may go > >> unreported. > > > > It's impossible to say what key strokes cause the problems because I've > > only ever hit them by accident when rushing. But something dumps me > > into uncharted waters in the Activities sea, and at least once the only > > recourse was to reboot. > > > > How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. > > I did it by the following (I think, anyway): > > 1. Open the Panel toolbox. (Click the cashew-looking thing to the right > of the clock) That thing's so discreet I'd hardly noticed it. > 2. mouse over the three circles > 3. Click Close (the 'X') > 4. Close the Panel toolbox. Excellent! Well done that man! Thank you Dan -- Rgds Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On 28/12/2014 17:16, Peter Humphrey wrote: > On Sunday 28 December 2014 11:54:11 Mick wrote: > >> I'm not sure I understand - what shortcuts cause problems with Activities? >> I have removed the icon on a KDE desktop here and I don't think users >> have noticed any problem with Activities; but they wouldn't really know >> what Activities is, so any problem may go unreported. > > It's impossible to say what key strokes cause the problems because I've only > ever hit them by accident when rushing. But something dumps me into > uncharted waters in the Activities sea, and at least once the only recourse > was to reboot. > > How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. I have no idea what I did all those years ago to make Activities go away. It was a long time ago ;-) What might work if you want to pursue it, is find all the relevant KDE config files that reference Activities, and I can show you mine. Might be worth a shot -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On 12/28/2014 07:16 AM, Peter Humphrey wrote: > On Sunday 28 December 2014 11:54:11 Mick wrote: > >> I'm not sure I understand - what shortcuts cause problems with Activities? >> I have removed the icon on a KDE desktop here and I don't think users >> have noticed any problem with Activities; but they wouldn't really know >> what Activities is, so any problem may go unreported. > > It's impossible to say what key strokes cause the problems because I've only > ever hit them by accident when rushing. But something dumps me into > uncharted waters in the Activities sea, and at least once the only recourse > was to reboot. > > How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. > I did it by the following (I think, anyway): 1. Open the Panel toolbox. (Click the cashew-looking thing to the right of the clock) 2. mouse over the three circles 3. Click Close (the 'X') 4. Close the Panel toolbox. Dan
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sunday 28 December 2014 11:54:11 Mick wrote: > I'm not sure I understand - what shortcuts cause problems with Activities? > I have removed the icon on a KDE desktop here and I don't think users > have noticed any problem with Activities; but they wouldn't really know > what Activities is, so any problem may go unreported. It's impossible to say what key strokes cause the problems because I've only ever hit them by accident when rushing. But something dumps me into uncharted waters in the Activities sea, and at least once the only recourse was to reboot. How did you remove the icon? I haven't found a way yet. -- Rgds Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sunday 28 Dec 2014 10:35:48 Peter Humphrey wrote: > On Sunday 28 December 2014 09:19:22 Alan McKinnon wrote: > > What you can do is make Activities go away and never impinge on your > > life, that's what I do. I've had KDE here for years and like you never > > grokked what it even is when it first hit early in 4.x. I'm a grumpy old > > far, I like my 6 virtual desktops in 2 rows of three, I like to launch > > the apps myself I known I'm going to use now, and I like global session > > management for apps I always use all the time (like Konsole). I don't > > like Activities. > > > > I made them go away and have been using the same KDE config ever since > > quite happily. IIRC all it really took was to remove the icon[1] from > > the panel, and maybe disable some keyboard shortcuts. Activities hasn't > > appeared here for years now, I'd forgotten all about them till this > > thread showed up :-) > > > > Anyway, hope this helps > > > > [1] The icon is the one with three small overlapping circles IIRC > > Hmm. I can't see a way to remove that icon - only the whole panel, which > seems like a bad idea. This link shows a painless way to discover what > happens if you do that: > > http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/kde-running-without-pl > asma-desktop-activities-disabled-848517/ > > In short, an empty, black desktop. No panel, no way of starting a program > other than by name with KRunner. > > I did find some keyboard short-cuts though, under Plasma Desktop Shell in > Global Keyboard Shortcuts, which is under Shortcuts and Gestures in System > Settings. I removed all short-cuts that had Activities in the name. > > It seems likely that accidentally hitting one of those short-cuts is the > cause of much of the woe over Activities. > > So yes, Alan, you did help by setting me off again, but no you didn't > otherwise :-) I'm not sure I understand - what shortcuts cause problems with Activities? I have removed the icon on a KDE desktop here and I don't think users have noticed any problem with Activities; but they wouldn't really know what Activities is, so any problem may go unreported. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sunday 28 December 2014 09:19:22 Alan McKinnon wrote: > What you can do is make Activities go away and never impinge on your > life, that's what I do. I've had KDE here for years and like you never > grokked what it even is when it first hit early in 4.x. I'm a grumpy old > far, I like my 6 virtual desktops in 2 rows of three, I like to launch > the apps myself I known I'm going to use now, and I like global session > management for apps I always use all the time (like Konsole). I don't > like Activities. > > I made them go away and have been using the same KDE config ever since > quite happily. IIRC all it really took was to remove the icon[1] from > the panel, and maybe disable some keyboard shortcuts. Activities hasn't > appeared here for years now, I'd forgotten all about them till this > thread showed up :-) > > Anyway, hope this helps > > [1] The icon is the one with three small overlapping circles IIRC Hmm. I can't see a way to remove that icon - only the whole panel, which seems like a bad idea. This link shows a painless way to discover what happens if you do that: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/kde-running-without-plasma-desktop-activities-disabled-848517/ In short, an empty, black desktop. No panel, no way of starting a program other than by name with KRunner. I did find some keyboard short-cuts though, under Plasma Desktop Shell in Global Keyboard Shortcuts, which is under Shortcuts and Gestures in System Settings. I removed all short-cuts that had Activities in the name. It seems likely that accidentally hitting one of those short-cuts is the cause of much of the woe over Activities. So yes, Alan, you did help by setting me off again, but no you didn't otherwise :-) -- Rgds Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On 28 December 2014 10:26:26 GMT+00:00, Greg Turner wrote: > On Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 11:19 PM, Alan McKinnon > > wrote: > > > > What you can do is make Activities go away and never impinge on your > > life, that's what I do. I've had KDE here for years and like you > never > > grokked what it even is when it first hit early in 4.x. I'm a grumpy > old > > far, I like my 6 virtual desktops in 2 rows of three, I like to > launch > > the apps myself I known I'm going to use now, and I like global > session > > management for apps I always use all the time (like Konsole). I > don't > > like Activities. > > > > I made them go away and have been using the same KDE config ever > since > > quite happily. IIRC all it really took was to remove the icon[1] > from > > the panel, and maybe disable some keyboard shortcuts. Activities > hasn't > > appeared here for years now, I'd forgotten all about them till this > > thread showed up :-) > > > > > > Anyway, hope this helps > > > > > > [1] The icon is the one with three small overlapping circles IIRC > > > > It may, thanks for suggesting this. I can presumably resist the > allure of > the icon; but deactivating those shortcuts ought to save me from > those > "bridge troll" incidents, which invariably start with me accidentally > or > purposely mashing the keyboard or guessing at shortcuts in some > random, > hard-to-know-what-I-did-so-I-can-avoid-it-in-the-future way. > > -gmt I quite like the idea of activities and used to use them. I stopped not because of the idea but the implementation. Even when you want to use activities, you still have to negotiate the bridge trolls. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 11:19 PM, Alan McKinnon wrote: > > What you can do is make Activities go away and never impinge on your > life, that's what I do. I've had KDE here for years and like you never > grokked what it even is when it first hit early in 4.x. I'm a grumpy old > far, I like my 6 virtual desktops in 2 rows of three, I like to launch > the apps myself I known I'm going to use now, and I like global session > management for apps I always use all the time (like Konsole). I don't > like Activities. > > I made them go away and have been using the same KDE config ever since > quite happily. IIRC all it really took was to remove the icon[1] from > the panel, and maybe disable some keyboard shortcuts. Activities hasn't > appeared here for years now, I'd forgotten all about them till this > thread showed up :-) > > > Anyway, hope this helps > > > [1] The icon is the one with three small overlapping circles IIRC > It may, thanks for suggesting this. I can presumably resist the allure of the icon; but deactivating those shortcuts ought to save me from those "bridge troll" incidents, which invariably start with me accidentally or purposely mashing the keyboard or guessing at shortcuts in some random, hard-to-know-what-I-did-so-I-can-avoid-it-in-the-future way. -gmt
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Sunday 28 Dec 2014 07:19:22 Alan McKinnon wrote: > On 28/12/2014 06:08, Gregory M. Turner wrote: > > On Saturday 27 December 2014 09:43:47 Peter Humphrey wrote: > >> Morning list, > >> > >> Is there a way to build KDE without its concept of Activities? I find it > >> an unnecessary complication, which I never use. Any time I found myself > >> wrestling with it by accident it's caused little other than anger and > >> frustration. > >> > >> No doubt this is just as silly an idea as building KMail without its > >> database, which also has caused considerable grief. > > > > +1 > > > > Don't understand it. Don't want to. Really hate when I press the wrong > > button, it does some crazy inscrutable bullshit, and I have to figure out > > how to escape from it with my desktop intact. > > > > Probably I just want to check my email, or whatever, and all of a sudden, > > it's like some ridiculous bridge troll is posing riddles to me and > > threatening to blow up my desktop if I answer wrong. > > > > After quickly ducking this, I'm not optimistic. This is particularly > > discouraging: https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=91160 > > > > Sounds an awful lot like the cashew/virtuoso/etc. If history is any > > guide, they'll never change it, no matter how nicely we ask, nor how > > carefully we construct the patches to make it optional. > > You can't build KDE without activities as far as I can tell, like a > poster said in the link you provided it's a core feature much like tabs > in Firefox. You can't "just remove that code" and still have stuff work. > > What you can do is make Activities go away and never impinge on your > life, that's what I do. I've had KDE here for years and like you never > grokked what it even is when it first hit early in 4.x. I'm a grumpy old > far, I like my 6 virtual desktops in 2 rows of three, I like to launch > the apps myself I known I'm going to use now, and I like global session > management for apps I always use all the time (like Konsole). I don't > like Activities. > > I made them go away and have been using the same KDE config ever since > quite happily. IIRC all it really took was to remove the icon[1] from > the panel, and maybe disable some keyboard shortcuts. Activities hasn't > appeared here for years now, I'd forgotten all about them till this > thread showed up :-) > > > Anyway, hope this helps > > > [1] The icon is the one with three small overlapping circles IIRC I seem to recall that Fedora introduced some button/patch/whatever to remove or at least hide the desktop toolkit that provides Activities. I don't know if this was back when, or it is still current. I can see a use case for Activities, when the user undertakes consistently repetitive tasks which involve the same tools, files and widgets, in the same virtual desktop configuration. In my case the only applications that I use reliably are a multi-tabbed terminal and a mail client. Everything else pretty much 'depends' and invariably I would use it in parallel with my terminal, rather than instead of. I can see though that someone more disciplined than me, who thinks along the lines of one task at a time, would probably have use for dekstop Activities. I have commented before about the disappointment that the KDE4 application design has been for me, in terms of KDEPIM. Since I don't use the KDE desktop on my main machine, things like activities don't bother me. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On 28/12/2014 06:08, Gregory M. Turner wrote: > On Saturday 27 December 2014 09:43:47 Peter Humphrey wrote: >> Morning list, >> >> Is there a way to build KDE without its concept of Activities? I find it an >> unnecessary complication, which I never use. Any time I found myself >> wrestling with it by accident it's caused little other than anger and >> frustration. >> >> No doubt this is just as silly an idea as building KMail without its >> database, which also has caused considerable grief. > > +1 > > Don't understand it. Don't want to. Really hate when I press the wrong > button, it does some crazy inscrutable bullshit, and I have to figure out how > to escape from it with my desktop intact. > > Probably I just want to check my email, or whatever, and all of a sudden, > it's > like some ridiculous bridge troll is posing riddles to me and threatening to > blow up my desktop if I answer wrong. > > After quickly ducking this, I'm not optimistic. This is particularly > discouraging: https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=91160 > > Sounds an awful lot like the cashew/virtuoso/etc. If history is any guide, > they'll never change it, no matter how nicely we ask, nor how carefully we > construct the patches to make it optional. You can't build KDE without activities as far as I can tell, like a poster said in the link you provided it's a core feature much like tabs in Firefox. You can't "just remove that code" and still have stuff work. What you can do is make Activities go away and never impinge on your life, that's what I do. I've had KDE here for years and like you never grokked what it even is when it first hit early in 4.x. I'm a grumpy old far, I like my 6 virtual desktops in 2 rows of three, I like to launch the apps myself I known I'm going to use now, and I like global session management for apps I always use all the time (like Konsole). I don't like Activities. I made them go away and have been using the same KDE config ever since quite happily. IIRC all it really took was to remove the icon[1] from the panel, and maybe disable some keyboard shortcuts. Activities hasn't appeared here for years now, I'd forgotten all about them till this thread showed up :-) Anyway, hope this helps [1] The icon is the one with three small overlapping circles IIRC -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Saturday 27 December 2014 09:43:47 Peter Humphrey wrote: > Morning list, > > Is there a way to build KDE without its concept of Activities? I find it an > unnecessary complication, which I never use. Any time I found myself > wrestling with it by accident it's caused little other than anger and > frustration. > > No doubt this is just as silly an idea as building KMail without its > database, which also has caused considerable grief. +1 Don't understand it. Don't want to. Really hate when I press the wrong button, it does some crazy inscrutable bullshit, and I have to figure out how to escape from it with my desktop intact. Probably I just want to check my email, or whatever, and all of a sudden, it's like some ridiculous bridge troll is posing riddles to me and threatening to blow up my desktop if I answer wrong. After quickly ducking this, I'm not optimistic. This is particularly discouraging: https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=91160 Sounds an awful lot like the cashew/virtuoso/etc. If history is any guide, they'll never change it, no matter how nicely we ask, nor how carefully we construct the patches to make it optional. -gmt
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Saturday 27 December 2014 09:57:09 Mick wrote: > On Saturday 27 Dec 2014 09:43:47 Peter Humphrey wrote: > > No doubt this is just as silly an idea as building KMail without its > > database, which also has caused considerable grief. > > Peter, I can't advise on the Activities question, but can you please tell > me how you managed to build Kmail without its database? Is it fully > functional? I didn't realise I was being ambiguous - sorry. As far as I know, it's impossible to build KMail without its database. It's called progress. ;-) -- Rgds Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] KDE Activities
On Saturday 27 Dec 2014 09:43:47 Peter Humphrey wrote: > Morning list, > > Is there a way to build KDE without its concept of Activities? I find it an > unnecessary complication, which I never use. Any time I found myself > wrestling with it by accident it's caused little other than anger and > frustration. > > No doubt this is just as silly an idea as building KMail without its > database, which also has caused considerable grief. Peter, I can't advise on the Activities question, but can you please tell me how you managed to build Kmail without its database? Is it fully functional? -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
