i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

You know, desktop widgets that work ...

...

Being a curmudgeon, I was skeptical of kde 4. But, being an early adapter, I couldn't not try it. So, I read all the rationalizations about why KDE 3.5 could not be maintained and why a completely new direction was necessary. But one of the compelling arguments was that the way we have been using desktops these past 20 years or so is stupid.

Sometimes when I looked at the jumble of files on my desktop, I had the same thought. Shouldn't I put all this stuff in a folder somewhere? Get rid of the clutter? But, I thought, what else would I use the desktop for then?

Plasma widgets sounded like a good idea. And, I had started experimenting with superkaramba widgets a bit before kde 4 anyway -- but I wasn't fond of the cpu usage.

Well, as chronicled here, I have not totally fallen in love with Plasma. The main reason being, I consistently crash plasma.

In one sense, it seems that this is not plasma's fault. If I put a couple of widgets on the desktop and a couple of icons on the panel, plasma seems to work okay. Well, okay other than that the KDE4/plasma implementation of NetworkManager will not properly manage wireless connections and won't properly manage static/manual connections on ethernet.

But, that is not the way I use the computer. I have surrounded the work area with panels and icons. Give me widgets and I want them all. More software! More software! Crash, crash, crash ...

Superkaramba is all right if you are interested in either 1,500 clocks or 3,500 system monitors. Or combination thereof.

Plasma has two sorts of widgets. Widgets that sort of work (as long as they have the computer to themselves) and widgets that just crash anyway. There are several I like, more or less for gimmicky reasons -- but there is just not enough there, there.

So, one day while I was searching through the YAST Software Manager, I noticed that we have an implementation of Google Gadgets. Try them I should. Why not?

As it turns out, there are a LOT of Google Gadgets, most of them redundant social tools of no meaningful value whatsoever. And, the obligatory 1500 clocks -- there must be some Programming 101 class somewhere that uses clock widgets as the "Hello World" of the RAD era.

But, I can name at least 20 or so that are not "of no meaningful value." These run the gamut from nonsensical eye candy (Eiffel Tower webcam, random web cams of the world) to translators, converters battery monitors, cpu monitors ip look-ups, google searches ... and some more clocks.

Yay! Full desktop of useful widgets that don't crash!

Now, there is a bit of a CPU penalty. CPU usage doesn't worry me much, I just like to keep the temp. down. So, I give up a couple of degrees.

There are some upsides that plasma does not have. First ... oh, yeah, they don't crash. But other than that, first, they are only displayed on one desktop. Very convenient -- though an option to display on "all desktops" would be good; as well as an option to have different sets of gadgets for different desktops.

Another upside is that, like superkaramba, you can shutdown google gadgets. So, if want an empty desktop, or you want to conserve CPU usage, turn google gadgets off.

Can't do this with plasma. Though, of course, I guess if you wait awhile plasma will crash, which in a way achieves the same thing. Well, that is, if you are running plasma on top of a Gnome login, on top of Kwin. Sounds complicated?

Okay, so I could be running plasma, but in fact, I'm not. I've chronicled here the many different configurations I've tried. For the moment, plasma is out of grace. And the reason is, when my cable internet is not plugged in -- which means I'm wandering about somewhere -- I need Network Manager to work right. Which it does, provided I am using a Gnome login. And, when I'm at my desk and have the ethernet plugged in, I still like to use static IP and DNS. Which works fine in Gnome, but not at all in a KDE 4 login.

That is not to say I'm specifically using Gnome. Though I waiver between IceWM (less resource use) and Kwin (3d effects), I seem to have stabilized with KWin as the windows manager -- and therefore with KDE oxygen windows decorations. And, I've got the KDE 3.5 kicker running with many, many icons -- not to mention the KIMA monitor, which is a lot more useful and compact than plasma widgets for the same purpose.

Also, KDE 3.5 gives me quickfolders and a viable quicklauncher. (Quicklanuchcer icons are so small I can't see them in KDE 4.)

Launching programs for which there are KDE 3.5 and KDE 4 versions will give me the 3.5 versions if I launch from the kicker panels, so I put those icons in the Gnome panels. In any event, with this hybrid setup, I have access to tools from KDE 3.5, KDE 4.2 and Gnome -- all simultaneously.

Well, all 0 regular readers will be bored because I have described these features before. But in any event my present setup is being very stable and user-friendly. (Don't forget to run compiz fusion-icon and "reload" KWin so that you will have windows decorations.)

Also, I have found that by running Krandr, I can switch from laptop monitor to external monitor. The trick seems to be (a) run Krandr manually, not automatically; and (b) "unify" and "ununify" the outputs to achieve the switch from internal to external monitor.

I should once again acknowledge what an extreme benefit it is to be able to pick and choose from the elements of multiple windows systems at login. Or alternatively, to login to clean versions of the various windows systems -- be it IceWM, KDE 3.5, KDE 4.2, Gnome or whatever. And -- kudos to OpenSUSE for keeping all of these current and readily available for install and update directly from YAST.

Hope someone finds this information helpful. Well, I guess I should just say, "hope someone finds this information."

It being 12:30 a.m., it's now officially "mucked-up Monday," so I imagine some bad software thing is about to happen to my computer. Well, I guess it won't be any more challenging than the big horse Outlaw leaping around trying to get permission to forage in the new spring greenery as went my Sunday.

Thank you for visiting and have a pleasant tomorrow.