2
Jun

We all love activities

   Stardate: 86420.09   Posted by: Siv   in informatica  PDF version Pdf version

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Edit: I’m sorry if the previous wallpaper contained in my second activity was somewhat offensive for any reader of this blog; I’ve changed it to a more appropriate “hacking” wallpaper.

Last week I decided to start using activities in a productive way: until then, I have just used them last year, for having the desktop configured for office work (read: with a quiet wallpaper), but I dismissed them when my office time ended.

Activities have been criticized here and there, with that useless button circle in the corner of your desktop; there even existed (and maybe still exists) a plasmoid which removes that circle.

I am between those people who think it is a useful thing (like lots of plasma features), and now I want to get accustomed with using it, and here there are my two current activities:

Default activity

Default activity

This one is configured for standard PC usage: my desktop and temp folder, email, weather, ktorrents…

Programming activity

Programming activity

This is the programming activity: my two current projects’ folders (GSoC and Master Thesis), plus CPU load and Kate sessions…

So: I think activities are useful, and I’m starting to productively use them, and for those of you who don’t (yet): try them!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm and is filed under informatica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

23 comments so far

Anon
 1 

Can you remove the Not Safe for Work picture, or maybe turn it into a link with a warning? Thanks :)

June 2nd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Anon
 2 

Can you post a link to the wallpaper you use for your programming activity please? I loved it!

June 2nd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Anon
 3 

If it only was easier to switch activities… these nasty zoom out zoom in thingies are getting on my nerves.

June 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Aaron Seigo
 4 

you can switch with keyboard shortcuts or with the “activity bar” plasmoid (put it on an autohiding panel somewhere -> taskbar for activities! :)

June 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
nixternal
 5 

@Anon – the GNOME logo in the top right isn’t safe for work? :P Just kidding of course :)

taskbar for activities sounds fun for sure :)

June 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
anon
 6 

That’s a man with long hair in pants? :D

June 2nd, 2009 at 8:56 pm
pano
 7 

@ Nr. 3 (Anon):
You might be interested in the following Idea on KDE brainstorm:
http://forum.kde.org/mouse-wheel-on-cashew-to-change-activity-t-61607.html

I think the URL says what it is about ;-)

June 2nd, 2009 at 9:04 pm
charly
 8 

she looks like a guy

June 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Chani
 9 

:) :)

@pano: my soc project will make that idea easy to implement :)

June 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
redm
 10 

Activities might actually be useful, if showing the plasma dashboard wouldn’t take several seconds… :(

June 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
MirzaD
 11 

can you please post link for wallpaper on your programing activity
2. post also required link…
post it please!

June 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 pm
MirzaD
 12 

can you please post link for wallpaper on your programing activity
2. post also required link…
post it please :)

June 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Siv
 13 

First of all: sorry if that wallpaper has offended any of you in any way… I’ve changed it now.

Anyway, the old wallpaper is here: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/girl_by_wolf?content=35794 (sorry if it’s gnome-look.org :)

June 2nd, 2009 at 11:28 pm
FiNeX
 14 

Activities are a good idea, but are not still usable on a real enviroments due to performance, stability and “configuration” issues, moreover activities and multiple monitor scenarios are not yet managed.

I’d like very much to see activities implemented soon.

A big thanks to everyone who is working on KDE! I’ve tried for a couple of days MacOSX, but now I’m using again KDE4: much better :-)

June 3rd, 2009 at 1:11 am
kap4lin
 15 

Now, You have 6 desktops, why do you need activities? Or, other way around, you have two activities, why do you need 6 desktops?

It of course depends from person to person, yet I’ll as it: How many desktops+activities are required for non-fancy usage?

June 3rd, 2009 at 3:41 am
kap4lin
 16 

forgot to add one more parameter to this optimization problem – suppose you have a dual monitor setup in twinview, now how many activities+desktop?

June 3rd, 2009 at 3:46 am
KenP
 17 

Hi,
Ideally, a short step-by-step tutorial on setting up activities would be helpful. With each iteration of KDE 4.2 and 4.3, I have tried but always end up with naught.
A config dialog to setup activities (preferably in systemsettings) would be perfect!

June 3rd, 2009 at 7:37 am
jospoortvliet
 18 

@KenP:
In KDE 4.3, setting up activities is simple:
use the cashew to zoom out,

choose ‘configure plasma’, select ‘different activity for each desktop’ and you’re done. It’s the easiest way – each desktop can now be configured independently.

June 3rd, 2009 at 9:03 am
Siv
 19 

@kap4lin: in my opinion, virtual desktops and activities are different: the things that change from an activity to another are the wallpaper and the plasmoids, different in relation of what you want to do/know from them.

I use many desktops because I’d like to have no more than 3 apps for each one, so I can switch via keyboard with as few key combinations as possible.
Yesterday, for example, I was recording some audio, and I had Firefox alone in a desktop, qjackctl and mixer in another, ardour in another, dolphin and some text files in another…

June 3rd, 2009 at 9:43 am
Burke
 20 

What the hell.

Just because one person was a bit annoyed because of you second wallpaper, you instantly altered that blogpost and removed it? Why? You did neither show any form of pr0n or something which is inappropriate. So why do you not use your freedom to show what is on your desktop? I thing it would have been enough to display a little warning of what is to come – and that enough.

June 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Imoffended
 21 

I’m still offended by wallpaper. Please replace it!

Things that offend me and you should avoid:

censorship
religion
stupidity

You can put porn I don’t mind!

June 3rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Matt Parry
 22 

Hi! Bruce Byfield has written a very good explanation of KDE’s implementation of activities compared to Gnome and the Sugar interface.

http://lwn.net/Articles/334911/

It was this artical that made me understand the concept and the difference between activities and virtual desktops. This type of documentation should be in kde userbase imho.

Thanks

June 4th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Dread Knight
 23 

Wish the cashew could be moved to the panel, or that there was a nice and small plasmoid usable in panels to switch between activities; the existent one is huge. I want something more like quickaccess, click and get list of activities :P because the cashew is really awful, coved up most of the time, not cool.

June 5th, 2009 at 10:56 pm

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