How to Use KDE Plasma Activities

The concept of activities is a new feature introduced with KDE 4. In the old desktop model of KDE 3, the desktop was a program called “kdesktop”, which gave users the ability to have a number of virtual desktops. Although other tools like Superkaramba could be used to add more features, the essential KDE desktop ended there.

When activities were introduced into KDE 4, they did not make much sense in isolation. In addition to having virtual desktops, there were activities, which the user could create and configure to have different wallpapers and different widgets. Much of the virtual desktop functionality of KDE 3 was absent and not directly connected to Plasma activities.

With the release of KDE 4.5, Plasma has reached a much higher level of maturity, and activities can now be integrated with virtual desktops, dual monitor screens, and with the Dashboard feature.

Desktops

By default, all virtual desktops operate on the same activity and look identical. If you add a widget on desktop 1, it will be the same on 2, 3, and 4. Similarly, icons, panels, and anything else you add will all be the same. With activities, however, you can separate each desktop into truly independent workspaces.

To have a unique activity for each desktop:

1. Open System Settings
2. Under the “Workspace Appearance and Behavior” section, click “Window Behavior”
3. Click the “Virtual Desktops” icon.
4. In the Layout section, check “Different widgets for each desktop”
5. Click “Apply”.

After you have enabled this feature, you can add unique icons, widgets, and wallpapers to each individual desktop.

Screens

KDE automatically recognizes dual monitor configurations and creates separate activities for each screen. Therefore, each screen has its own panels, widgets, icons, and wallpapers. Turn on the “different widgets for each desktop” feature, and each screen will additionally have separate activities for each desktop. For example, if you have a total of four desktops per screen, you would end up with eight activities, each of which can have its own set of widgets and wallpapers.

To configure your screens in KDE:

1. Open System Settings
2. Under “Hardware” click “Display and Monitor”
3. Click the “Multiple Monitors” icon
4. Check “Enable multiple monitor virtual desktop support”
5. Click “Apply”.

Dashboard

Those familiar will Mac OS X have most likely used the Dashboard feature. When the user presses a hot key, a dimmed, translucent layer appears over the screen, displaying widgets the user has selected. Since version 4, KDE has offered a similar feature.

The default hot key for KDE’s Dashboard is Ctrl+F8, but the Dashboard feature behaves like a “show desktop” button, only bringing to the foreground the widgets currently on the desktop. In order to have a separate activity for the Dashboard with unique widgets, you must do the following:

1. Open System Settings
2. Under the “Workspace Appearance and Behavior” section, click “Workspace”
3. Next to “Dashboard” select “Show an Independent Widget Set” from the dropdown menu
4. Click Apply.

FolderView

The default setting for the KDE 4 desktop is called “Desktop”, and it only displays widgets. Those widgets can be icons, Folder View, weather, taskbar, and many other types, but, in this mode, the desktop will never behave like the former KDE 3 desktop or similar desktops in Gnome, Windows, and other interfaces.

Some prefer this new feature and love KDE 4 because of it, while others have avoided KDE 4 because they prefer a traditional desktop. Fortunately, KDE has options for both. To change a desktop to a traditional interface:

1. Right click on the desktop
2. Click “Unlock Widgets” (If you see, “Lock Widgets”, leave it as-is)
3. Right click again and click “Desktop Settings”
4. Click “Activity”
5. In the dropdown menu for “Type” change it to Folder View.

Once selected, the entire desktop will become a Folder View, allowing you to specify which folder it will display. You can also repeat this for any of your virtual desktops, configuring each one to display a different desktop folder.

Activities

There are many possible other uses for activities, such as those used in the KDE Plasma Netbook interface. You can also create activities for any purpose you want and select them with Alt+D+A (or right click on the desktop and select Activities). Each activity can have a unique name and unique function, and you could even completely change over your desktop for working during the day and entertainment at night. The possibilities are only limited by the imagination. For more information about Plasma activities, visit KDE’s Userbase.

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Tavis J. Hampton

Tavis J. Hampton is a freelance writer from Indianapolis. He is an avid user of free and open source software and strongly believes that software and knowledge should be free and accessible to all people. He enjoys reading, writing, teaching, spending time with his family, and playing with gadgets.

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