I learned something new-to-me about KDE's panel today

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I’ve been using Solus GNU/Linux with the KDE Plasma (Wayland) desktop environment recently on my Desktop PC and my two laptops. While doing a few projects on my older laptop PC today, I noticed that when I minimize a window, it apparently disappears into oblivion, no highlight on the panel icon and no way to raise the window so I can continue my work. Not only that, but when I have one window open and I open another one that covers it, I have no way to bring the covered window to the top so I can continue working with it.

After a few Internet searches, a bit of reading, and some re-configuring I was easily able to fix my problem. Somehow (probably my fault) the Icons Only widget got removed from the panel. All I had to do to fix my problem was add it back on, pin the apps I want to see on my panel to the task manager, and remove them from the panel. I had seven apps pined to the panel, so all I had to do was remove them (one at a time) from the panel and pin them to the task manager.

If you use KDE and you have a similar problem, you can check to see if the task manager is installed by ALT+Clicking any icon in the Applications menu. If there is no option to ‘Pin to Task Manager’, it’s not installed.

To install the task manager widget, ALT+Click an empty space on your desktop and select ‘Add Widgets . . .’ from the context menu and the Add Widgets dialog will slide out from the left side of your screen. Enter ‘task’ in the search field at the top of the dialog and the list of widgets will be reduced to two task manager items. I clicked on the ‘Icons Only Task Manager’ item and it was installed to my panel.

I’m adding this item to the Discussion category. If anyone thinks it fits better elsewhere feel free to move it

I hope this helps others,

Ernie

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I have never found a use for minimize.
If I want some window out of the way without killing it, I move it to another workspace.
What do other people do?
Am I missing out on something?

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We all have our own way of doing things. I come to GNU/Linux from the Windows world dating back to my MS-DOS 3.3 days so I’m accustomed to using a single desktop/workspace, the minimize button, etc. If how you do things works for you, that’s all good, but it may not be for me :slight_smile:.

The concept of multiple work-spaces/desktops has always eluded me/felt a bit foreign to me, not to mention that I often forgot the other work-spaces I had in use and the applications I had running there. I never did get used to looking at the thingey that shows what’s running in all the work-spaces I had set up, so after trying to get used to using them for a few weeks, I gave up and reverted to using a single desktop/workspace.

I normally use only one workspace, so the ability to minimize/lower a window helps me keep things more orderly. With the Task Manager widget, I can see which apps are running, even when they’re minimized or covered up by another window. I don’t necessarily think how I do things is any better or worse than how others do them, but I do think that how I do things is the best way for me, and when I find something that makes my life easier or more efficient, I some how manage to work it into my methodology, so ‘how I do things’ is a continually evolving process/methodology.

Ernie

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I hardly ever use workspaces - I have 32" monitors on my main machines - my main Linux desktop has 2 x 32" monitors (and each MacBook has its own 32" curved monitor - that’s right - I have 4 x 32" QHD monitors on my desk, 3 are curved - but I also use the MacBook screens too)

I do occasionally minimise apps, but mostly I just resize if I need more room… I mostly use the gnome / pop! dash as a dock to find something that might be hiding under another window…

And this is why I hate working in the office in the CBD - I’m limited to 2 x 23" FHD monitors - it feels very CRAMPED… I went in yesterday for a few hours (in the arvo) - get this - they changed the WiFi and ethernet and you need a TLS cert to use them - took me 3.5+ hours to get online! I spent most of my time being online tethered over wifi to my phone!

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That is the best solution to all this shuffling of windows.
I only have 24 in monitors, but I can fit 4 terminal windows in
that because it is wide format.
Yes, you can resize, or minimize or shift workspaces, but that is all a substitute for not having a large enough desktop.

One of the habits I have is always make a superuser window small. I makes you careful.

Remember CRT monitors. They really only displayed one window at a time… narrow format and poor resolution.
The idea of overlapping windows arose in that scene.

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I’ve always been used to minimizing windows that I need to quickly get back to later but don’t actively need. Now that I have multiple monitors, I will just move them to a new monitor first, and if I happen to run out of space I’ll minimize the rest if I want to access them quickly later.

As for workspaces, I’ve never really used them. I played around with them a bit the past year or so but it didn’t click with me, for me it seemed slower and more complex, needing to keep track of what was on which workspace, as opposed to having the icon for the app/program that I minimized on the bottom of my screen to quickly see what apps I have open at a glance without needing to open an activities menu or similar.

I suppose in a way I’m using my other monitors as workspaces, since they serve the same purpose for me without adding complexity, even if not very much, to my day-to-day.

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. . . a well organized machine ):

. . . oooh . . . not good . . .

Events like this make me glad I’m retired. I don’t have to deal with poorly thought out systems. When/If I encounter anything like this, it’s usually due to a failure on my own part, and I can take steps to remedy the situation myself, because I have the power to do so. In most cases, I don’t have to rely on others. my life as a retiree is so much less stressful and complicated than when I worked. :slight_smile:

You have my sympathy,

Ernie

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At this point in my life, I’m so accustomed to working with a single 24" display that I’m not sure what I’d do with a second one. When/If I can save up the money to get a second display, I may do so, just to find out. (this is how most of my ‘adventures’ begin) :slight_smile:

Ernie

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Now that I have Plasma’s (K Desktop’s) task manager back on my panel, when I need to run a new app I just launch and use it. When I finish doing whatever I opened it for, if I don’t think I’ll need it again I close it, otherwise I click on the task manager icon for whichever app I want to work with next to put it on top and continue with my project. For me this is the easiest, most efficient, and most intuitive way of getting things done, but that’s the result of muscle memory and the habits I’ve developed over the years.

Way back when I first started using a GUI (my early post-MS-DOS days), desktop icons were my launchers of choice, and I still use them for a few purposes, but for the most part I pin the apps I use most to my task manager so I can easily launch them when needed.

As I’ve said before, that’s how I do things because it’s what works for me. What works for others may well be very different and that’s as it should be. What works best for each of us is based on the habits we’ve developed, how we think, our environment, and thousands of other influences. These are the things that make each of us unique individuals, and they all affect what works for us in all aspects of our lives, not just working with computers. [leaving soapbox] :slight_smile:

Ernie

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I am a retiree too and do not use workspaces. Old habit of minimizing my windows works well for me.

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Minimizing windows works for me (moves an icon to the panel), and I like virtual workspaces when I have two or more groups of apps in play. I just figured out how to use virtual deskops in KDE, with some generous help. That just about covers my uses, but I’d still like to experiment with tiling. I just can’t figure out how to do it. Sending up a flare for tiling basics help! It’s almost my birthday, if that stimulates any generosity.

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Hi Ernie,
I am the same.
I read that dual monitors require a graphics card with that ability, and that configuring X11 to drive them can be a challenge. Dont know about Wayland.

Regards
Neville

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Hi Bill,
I am not much help I am afraid.
I tried I3 tiling window manager once in Void/Xfce.
You can run I3 along with your DE… the login manager gives an option to choose which to start.
Tiling WM 's like I3 are intended to be keyboard driven (rather thsn mouse) so you have to learn a lot of keyboard shortcuts.
I found it OK for simple CLI work. When you add a windiw, it takes all available screenspace… if there is none, it shrinks the present windows to make space… so everything gets smaller. There is no overlapping… thats what tiling means

Thats about all I know, good luck and Happy Birthday.
Neville

PS
If you really want to try something unusual, try the NEXTSTEP
window manager. It is called windowmaker. You will find it in most Linux repos as a package. Be prepared to bend your mind.

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When/If I get a second monitor, I’ll find out. A second screen would work better for me than additional virtual desktops/work-spaces.

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Neville, I’ll try I3 in Xubuntu, since I already have that installed. And I’ll look for NEXTSTEP…bending my mind is something I remember from the 60s. Thanks!

[an hour later]

Remember being tossed off the pier and being told to swim back? i3 is so counter-intuitive for me that I reached for the BIG RED SWITCH/CTRL-ALT-DEL like I would for a life ring in deep water.

I’ll stick with xfce, thanks.

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I minimize windows too Ernie. There must be a significant number of people who don’t and thus they removed the minimize and maximize buttons from Gnome by default.

At home I use two 27" monitors. At work there are two 24" monitors. I have RoyalTS running on the right monitor. That is used for RDP and SSH connections to various servers. The left monitor is for Outlook, Teams, and a browser. Oh, I also run Firefox on the right monitor when managing AWS.

I do tile an editor (usually) when I’m comparing two pieces of code or configuration files. Normally that’s only a temporary situation. Things are typically maximized.

I use alt-tab, alt-esc, and other key combinations to navigate between application windows as well as the mouse.

I think I’d like to see what a third monitor would do for me, but none of my laptops, docking stations, or desktops support three monitors very well right now.

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I use one 24" curved ‘gaming’ monitor. I have three PCs all together, a desktop and two laptops. I dual-boot Windows 11 and Solus OS with the Plasma desktop environment from KDE on my desktop and newer laptop. the second laptop will never support Windows 11, so it dual-boots Windows 10 with Solus, at least until the end of next year, when Win-10 reaches end-of-life, and I decide whether to abandon Windows all together and just run Solus on all three machines, but that’s a different topic :slight_smile:

Solus-KDE has the panel at the bottom of my screen, and the Solus themes (I use the dark one) have minimize, maximize, and close buttons at the top-right of each window. I usually only use the close button because I don’t like to waste time minimizing windows when I can click the icons of running apps in the panel to put the one I want/need on top.

I’m a retiree with a fixed income so I don’t have a lot of money to spend on hardware and I spend most of my time engaged in the project of the day/week. I’m not sure how useful a second monitor would be for me, but there have been times when I get my screen so cluttered with open windows that I get lost in what I’m doing. When that happens, I have to just stop, sit back, and evaluate what I’ve done so far so I can get back on track. I’ve been thinking that a second display may help me to reduce the clutter when I’m engaged in one of those more demanding projects so I may bite the bullet and get a second display, just to see if it’ll do me any good. If nothing else, it’ll look cool in my computer room/home office where I have my desktop system. Maybe I’ll find a great enough deal around Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year to make it work :slight_smile:

Ernie

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What is the physical equivalent of minimize on your real desk?
I dont think it exists.
You can overlap papers, move them around, shift them to another desktop or remove them (to a file).
There is no option to shrink them

Those of us who still live in the real world may not like the idea of things being minimised.

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This has been an interesting discussion. I only recently discovered that Gnome got rid of minimize, maximize and was shocked. Who doesn’t use those?

When I was first only using Kubutnu (Plasma) on my desktop, I learned about workspaces. Did not really see the need on a 24" monitor as it made things cluttered. But once I got a 32" widescreen (which at first I did NOT like) I created workspaces: Mail & Research, Notebooks, Remote Desktop & SMS, Home Security Cams (I have 3) Gaming, Media, etc. So when I added LM as a dual boot on the desktop, I did the same.

For me, I do not trust exiting a window and assuming what I was currently doing doesn’t disappear or change. SO I occasionally use minimize.

I have to remote desktop to a few different places often and yet have to get back to my own open windows to accomplish the work on those remote desktops. So I find it easier to just move the cursor to upper left and select the alternate desktop.

The widescreen allows for 2 open apps on each desktop to be quite large and comfortable. I have sometimes needed 3 on a desktop and that gets a bit cramped.

Have not wanted to spend the money on docker to have two displays, but where would I put a 3rd? Because next to the desktop with the 32" monitor is the old Windows 11 laptop (needed for clients’ work who will not use Linux, etc.) and it has it’s own 24" monitor.

Then I have a workstation with a curved 27" monitor sitting on a different desk for when I need my Pop OS tablet or a client’s/relative’s computer to in order to resolve issues on a large screen vs. their tablet size screens.

I guess my DOS days and early Windows 3.1 is still with me in respect to minimize/maximize, but if copying mass amounts of files, creating links etc., I need to see the window where it is coming from and the windows where it is going to, etc, so I just have 2 windows. But writing markdown in my Notebooks as I am new to it–I need the open guide in a browser sitting beside it for quick reference. And several workspaces require my Linux Notebook for adding to as I learn.

So having workspaces has lessened the need for minimize/maximize in Linux.

Sheila

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Do you know about session saving?
In Xfce I can tell it to restore the content of my screen , after a reboot. All the windows come back, with their content, exactly as I left it.
I am not sure if other DE’s can do this? It is called X session saving. It is automatic, you just toggle it on.

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