Plasma
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Introduction
Plasma is the component of the KDE project that actually displays the desktop (i.e. wallpapers, panels, etc) using 'containments'. The containments are capable of containing other widgets called plasmoids.
Get new plasmoids
You can get new plasmoids from kde-look.org.
There are a large amount of plasmoids in the AUR, including kde-extragear-plasmoids which collects popular plasmoids from kde-look.org and places hem in a single package.
KDEmod users can easily install new plasmoids from the kdemod-extragear repository.
Tips & tricks
Decoupling the Dashboard from the Desktop
Introduction
The Dashboard is what shows up when you press the Ctrl+F12 keys (if Plasma is running and if you didn't change the shortcut of course). By default, this "brings forward" your desktop and helps address the "but I never see my desktop!" problem, explains Aaron Seigo in HOWTO: decoupling the dashboard from the desktop.
Create a new desktop
The first thing to do is create a new "Desktop" that will become our Dashboard:
- zoom out using the Cashew on the upper-right corner of your desktop
- find a button to add an Activity (you might have to unlock the plasmoids for this button to appear)
Quit plasma
The second step is to quit Plasma so it won't interfere while we are editing its configuration files:
- execute kquitapp plasma
Edit the files
We have 2 numbers to find in the following file, write them down:
[Containments][$desktop_activity_number] ... plugin=desktop # search for these lines to easily find the Desktops ... [Containments][$dashboard_activity_number] ... plugin=desktop ...
In this second file we will tell Plasma to use the new Activity as the Dashboard of our Desktop:
[ViewIds] ... # find the line below to find out the $desktop_view_id, if the line doesn't exist just add it using an unused view id $desktop_activity_number=$desktop_view_id ... [PlasmaViews][$desktop_view_id] # find or add this section ... DashboardContainment=$dashboard_activity_number # add this line
Re-start plasma
You can now re-start plasma and press Ctrl+F12 or whatever shortcut you gave for the Dashboard to check if you did things right.
Troubleshooting
If it doesn't work maybe this example with real numbers will help you find your error:
[Containments][13] ... plugin=desktop ... [Containments][25] ... plugin=desktop ...
[ViewIds] ... 13=8 ... [PlasmaViews][8] ... DashboardContainment=25
Decoupling the Dashboard from the Desktop - the plasma way
click on top right cashew - zoom out - (new screen, look at new menu top left) configure plasma - use a separate dashboard
Adding an OSX style or so-called "fancy" panel
Right click on the desktop - add panel - fancy panel
Having different wallpapers for each side of your cube
click on top right cashew - zoom out - (new screen, look at new menu top left) configure plasma - different activity for each desktop
Mixing desktop and folder view activities in one cube
click on top right cashew - zoom out - (new screen, look at new menu top left) configure plasma - different activity for each desktop