FullMonty multiple desktop icons behave in unexpected ways -- any work-around?

[RonCam]

Hi! A search for the forum where 'FullMonty' questions are posted ... seems to indicate 'Software' and I can find nothing more specific.  So please advise if there is a 'FullMonty' thread, somethere ... 

I am now running the "FullMonty" version, live, to evaluate the multiple virtual Desktop function.  So ...
? How do I keep the Icons, generated by the applications launched for any particular Desktop's activities, on that same Desktop?  In this case, 'the Icons' means (for example) the file icon, for a word processing file created while on the Office Desktop, or, a bookmark icon, generated by an app on another ... you get the idea.

What I'm seeing is, when launching an app on a specific Desktop, and then exiting, and I select "Save", the file I created disappears to  somewhere out-of-sight.  I was hoping to see it appear on that same Desktop ... or if not that, at least to see an option for making that so.   

Perhaps even more discouraging, when I manage to drag a test Icon onto one desktop, hoping it will stay there, then I shift to another, the Icon keeps following -- now appearing on the inappropriate Desktop, as well. 

My initial impression -- is this just the way it works?  Or am I missing something?

I am coming from an older Sun Microsystems office suite where the Icons would 'stay put' on the Desktops where they were created, was hoping the FullMonty solution could recreate this, in PCLinuxOS, and am now confused because I don't see it happening ...

Any easy work-arounds, please, or am I using these Desktops all wrong?

[pinoc]

Hi,

testing many things in a live-session, esp. on FullMonty, is a bad idea because everything has to be done from the compresed live-cd image. Better to install the system.
In the Home folder is a note about the FullMonty system, please read this note as it contains important information. For example, we have a dedicated thread for FullMonty here.

To your question with the desktop. FullMonty is different and its desktop is a virtual desktop, which is why you can not save icons or whatever on it the way you used to do. The things you save to the desktop are on the desktop ($HOME/Desktop) but you can't see them because the actual desktop is not displayed in FullMonty. Just save your stuff in the directories in your $HOME, or if you need them on the desktop then you must put them in one of the desktop containers. Information on how to do this is in the readme note in your $HOME directory.
If all this is too complex then I suggest you use the normal KDE-version.

good luck,
-p.

[RonCam]

Hi pinoc,
I couldn't believe how fast you checked the forum and answered! Many thanks for that and the caution about judging uninstalled systems.  Sorry about not noting the location when FullMonty was running, and I now see the correct thread is in a 'sub-forum' and I did not look far enough.

To your question with the desktop. FullMonty is different and its desktop is a virtual desktop, which is why you can not save icons or whatever on it the way you used to do.

Ok, you are quite clear, and I guess ... a full installation now will not be necessary.  The Sun office suite used a separate 'real' directory for each desktop ... it called them 'Desktops' in the documentation, but that was 10+ years ago, and maybe by current definitions, perhaps the term 'Workspaces' would be better understood? 

If all this is too complex then I suggest you use the normal KDE-version.

Hmm ... I looked at the multiple virtual Desktops (or Workspaces -- whatever) in the standard KDE desktop environment, in a few moments, decided it was really a 'task switcher' and not what I was trying to recreate. 

[RonCam]

You've obviously given lots of thought to what I see in the FullMonty's desktop environment configuration.  So, if what I'm trying to recreate is not what the FullMonty virtual desktops are intended to do, can it be done in another way, as follows?

From what you said, and from the way the Sun suite worked, and from the way Dexpot works, do you think this is right ... to recreate independent multiple workspaces of the kind I had before, where you can save things, and Icons and Bookmarks 'stay put' ... you need a system that works with physically separate directories?

Could you please

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIRCpHIBueQ&feature=endscreen

take a look at this video and could you tell us if you think this can be duplicated in PCLinuxOS?  It shows different icons as well as different wallpaper, in each workspace.

The video shows four environments, but in looking at the scripts and required directory set-up to get it working, I don't think there are any (reasonable) limits to the number of workspaces that it will support. 

I have been testing the scripts and setup described this method's author, elrindell, and at this point I know it uses separate directories for each desktop.  However, it also involves a lot of manual configuration of the desktop environment, as well as having been developed on another distro.  But this may present a moving target, because I don't know which Gnome version elrindell got this to work with.  

At the moment, on my system, his scripts to trigger the desktop shifts are only momentarily blanking the icons, because in a command window, I can see they are looking for some file at a different location, (and that's not Gnome, either).  If I spend some time on pointing the scripts at the right location, maybe it will work.

Coming back now to this post's topic, I wonder if this general type of desktop is possible as a work-around, in PCLinuxOS?  I note this distro has the choice of KDE or Gnome versions, if that would be of any help.  

Personally, I've not found the 'task-switcher type' of multiple desktop environment to be terribly useful ... I always thought you could do that with <Alt><Tab> and then just stop when you see the desired application appearing.  On the other hand, I have found the type of desktop environment illustrated in the video to be quite useful.  

[Just17]

The video appears to show a fairly standard type of set up we see in KDE.

Some things to look for in KDE would be

Type of workspace ...  Desktop or Folder View
Icons and or widgets on the workspace
Enabling different widgets for each desktop
Activities (I don't use) which would essentially be groups of workspaces dedicated to one purpose

KDE is VERY configurable and consequently can be difficult to get the effect you want when first using it. There are a lot of settings so it takes a while to get to know where they are and exactly what they do.

I will leave a better answer to those who know more about such things 

[RonCam]

I have taken the liberty of slightly editing the quotation to match what is happening in the video, as I imagine that was the intent of Just17:

Some things to look for in [configuring] KDE would be ... [custom arrangement of] Icons ... on [each] workspace ...

I didn't know this was possible -- I have never seen where this can be done.  I believe what you see changing in the video are Icons representing files, or possibly bookmarks, etc., and not Icons representing Gadgets, Widgets, etc.

Run the video at full-screen with the highest resolution, and tell me if I am mistaken. 

I would very much like to know where the setting is located, that permits the above-quoted action to be accomplished. 

[Just17]

What I see on the video are icons representing files, folders and app launchers.

Each desktop has different icons.

Maybe for KDE you should look again at  "Type of workspace ...  Desktop or Folder View"


Else I am completely misunderstanding what you are attempting to point out.

[RonCam]

What I see on the video are icons representing files, folders and app launchers.
Each desktop has different icons.

And you say, this can be accomplished in KDE, simply by correctly configuring the desktop environment.

Maybe for KDE you should look again at  "Type of workspace ...  Desktop or Folder View"

Thanks for telling me where to look, and exactly what has to be 'turned on'.  I was was misled when I would switch Desktops/Workspaces in KDE, and only saw the running tasks shifting.  Then, in the FullMonty, I saw the behavior noted above.  I should have gone a bit farther, to reconfigure the "Type of Workspace".  

Actually, this has a parallel in Dexpot (not for GNU/Linux) where this behavior is not present by default, but only after finding the right checkbox.  This wasn't described in the documentation.  Only after searching through the forums, did I discover the check-box that turns this on -- in an answer to another user who (also!) couldn't find it.  

I wonder, is this a recent addition to KDE, or has it been this way for a long time?  

Thanks again.

[Just17]

KDE has two basic ways to shows workspaces .....  Desktop and Folder view.

Folder view displays on the screen the contents of whichever folder is chosen in the settings. It can be any folder you wish.
So I guess you could set up a few folders with specific content to display on the different workspaces.

Desktop view is more like what I *think* you are trying to achieve.

You would be best advised to go through the KDE CC (Configure your desktop) to choose the settings that do what you need.