

Diverging paths: KDE Plasma Desktop vs. Unity - Tsiolkovsky
http://netrunner-mag.com/?p=2541

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hartator
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:netrunn...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:netrunner-
mag.com/%3Fp%3D2541&hl=en&strip=1)

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glesica
FWIW, I installed the KDE version of Linux Mint on my desktop machine the
other day (Cinnamon was still a little too rough around the edges) and I've
been quite pleased. The only trouble I've run into is that KDE is still rather
resource-intensive, and this machine is quite old. I absolutely hated KDE 4
when it was first released, and I didn't love it when I gave it another shot
about a year ago. But it may have finally converted me now!

The ability to configure things is important to me. However, what is more
important is an efficient workflow that makes simple things quick and easy. I
don't want a giant, full-screen, tablet-style main menu on my desktop or
laptop. In fact, what I want is a Windows 95-style menu, even the "enhanced"
Vista/7-style menu is too bloated and weird to use. The default menu in KDE is
awful, but, and here's where configuration comes in, I can change it.

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reirob
I like the review. I did not read the KDE part, but I read through the Unity
part because I use it and am wondering if it is just me or if others are
annoyed by some weirdness of Unity. It turns out the author remarked
immediately the ergonomic gaps. I couldn't say it better so here the quotes:

"[..] Unity takes a very weird stance when it comes to Windows management: if
there’s more than a single instance [of a process/window] it will throw you
into an exposé-like view with the corresponding windows (the rest fades out).
[..] It’s a very disorienting interface that requires to travel long distances
with the cursor. Why is it disorienting? The position of the window preview
you selected in the exposé-view is not entirely related with the actual
position of the window, moreover, all other Windows pop back adding even more
noise.[..]" - this is exactly what I experience. And using Alt-Tab is NOT
better if you have several terminal windows opened!

"[..] Remember I mentioned Unity’s approach to menubars being like Apple’s? It
only appears on hover. Isn’t that a little cryptic? Moreover, it automatically
makes it impossible to know if there’s a menubar to begin with. Anytime a user
installs a new application he/she is forced to check manually if there’s a
menubar. It also makes it impossible to aim for the desired menu, you got to
move your mouse to the top, wait for the menubar, and then visually search for
the menu you want, then move your cursor again and then click on it. Why hide
it? Is not like Canonical is doing something with all that space[..] It also
cuts down the name of the application. Considering there’s no visual link
between the menubar and the app it corresponds to (let alone the window),
isn’t that just the exact opposite of what makes sense?[..]" - And some
applications do not follow the menu on the top and instead show the menu in
the window (LibreOffice, which I rely on daily).

I do not want to complain about customizability of Unity. Most of the things I
like. The standard experience just works. But the two points above are just
irritating. And because I am using only the LTS of Ubuntu I hope these issues
will be fixed in 1204 LTS.

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pekk
When I make a new instance of a window, I don't find that I am 'thrown' into
an expose-like view. The window comes up as it would in any case. If I click
on the dash icon for a program which already has multiple windows, I actually
find it helpful to be presented with a choice between them, which is what this
does.

Use alt-` to switch between windows of the same program, without using that
feature. With this minor adjustment from the Windows routine it is more
pleasant.

I agree it is a little cryptic, and overly concerned with space saving, only
to show menu bars on hover and otherwise to show the window title. But, I
think it is not an actual problem after a few seconds seeing how it works.

On the other hand: I still have problems with dash coming up very slowly, and
with windows nondeterministically moving to the wrong monitor, and with power
usage on laptops. It isn't as though it's perfect. But I think the design is
basically OK and Ubuntu is having more trouble on the technical end of things,
with endless technical papercuts that never get addressed but always get their
issues closed.

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nnq
> The third option is managing activities. I think the set of users that make
> any use of this features tends to zero

Hell yeah! _Does anyone know how to effectively use KDE's activities?_

When I tried to use it, I was expecting something that would remember opened
apps and the placement of their windows, which is what my intuition said
"activities" should be like, a set of programs and an arrangement of their
windows that represents a particular "activity", like having a PDF of SICP
opened on half of my screen, a Racket repl on the other and a browser with
some specific tabs on my other display, but if KDE's activities can give me
this, I haven't figured out any way in hell to get it to do this. And if it's
supposed to do something else entirely, then no documentation or tutorial ever
managed to explain to me what it does in a way I could understand. Don't get
me wrong, I love KDE and it's the single Linux DE I can stand besides xfce,
but it has a bunch of "wtf" features that I just stay away from, and they made
them attract the attention of new users in a way that makes them go through
hours of WTFs before finally abandoning the feature and deciding never to
touch that part of KDE again.

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Shamanmuni
It's strange, because your first description is exactly what it does. In each
activity you can add a set of widgets and use certain applications, you can
even configure the way the desktop is shown (Search and Run, Folderview)
differently for each view.

I usually use two different Activities named Work and Fun. In Work I have my
text editors, konsole with multiple tabs, a couple of widgets related to those
apps, my work email and maybe some books for reference. In Fun I have the web
browser, Ksudoku opened and widgets with jokes, rss feeds, email, weather
information, etc.

It's easy to notice what I have configured: a distraction-free environment to
focus on my work and a distraction-full one to relax; just two clicks between
the them! Couple this with the Pommodoro technique (25 minutes, 5 minutes
play) and KDE has made me a very productive and happy worker.

Hope my example helps.

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drivebyacct2
Man, KDE has come so, so, so, so far since a year or two ago. With a bit of
tweaking, with a few different Plamsa theme, Oxygen, and Oxygen color schemes,
you can customize it if you like and it looks great out of the box even if you
don't. Between that, Qt5, SDDM and plans shaping up for KF5, I'm really
excited about the direct of KDE Plasma.

KWin has more features than Mutter and is more stable than compiz. It has
several interesting features related to the application menus, Plasmoids are
actually fairly nifty and useful if you're into that sort of thing. And to top
it off, a default Kubuntu install uses a little less than .5GB of RAM at the
plasma desktop.

