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Where to find Linux panel applets?
I've been trying Ubuntu and Kubuntu Linux lately. I've settled on Kubuntu since I like the KDE window manager better than Gnome. However, I've found that at least a couple of features from Gnome are missing in KDE that I'd really like to have.
One such feature was the Dictionary Lookup applet, which could be added to desktop panels. Surely KDE has the ability to use that applet, but it's not included by default. Where can I find some more applets to install on a system running KDE? Back to top |
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:: Quote :: Where can I find some more applets to install on a system running KDE?:: Code :: apt-get install kdetoys
// installs some apt-cache search kde applet //will show you a long list of available applets But why torment yourself with ubuntu or kubuntu? that's a frozen snapshot of a restricted set of the debian sid [unstable] repositories. If you're going with debian go with debian. I've fully switched all my main systems to kanotix. Kubuntu is a half-hearted kde project, I prefer whole-hearted kde stuff. If i wanted gnome I'd probably use either debian sid straight or ubuntu.. well, no, I wouldn't use ubuntu, don't like it, I'd use debian sid straight. They do have good forums though. And a good, well designed website, that actually works most of the time. The less said about kanotix.com the better, I'm sad to say. It suffers exactly the same fate as yoper did 2 years ago. Bad design on a bad cms that kills the server with almost no load. Kanotix is real debian sid, not a whitewashed version. That involves some risks of course, since you are accessing the entire debian unstable pool of software. But it's live, in real time. Basically with the ubuntu stuff you're waiting for the next release to access the stuff, although you can, with some risk, add the straight sid debian repositories to your apt/sources lists. Because of the recent switch from kde 3.4 to 3.5, and the move to hal and dbus, in some ways it's probably better to wait for kanotix 2006-1, although 2005-4 is very good, after doing dist-upgrades for example I now have the latest konqueror, with adblock and acid2 compliance. Pretty nice. After fully switching over about a week ago, I'm really starting to think that Linux isn't just as good as windows, it's significantly superior in many ways. Although it's not windows, so it doesn't do some things windows does well as well as windows. But then again, windows doesn't do pretty much everything debian does well as well as debian. This reviewer gives the new Kanotix a big thumbs up. And face it, if you're going with a debian derivative, you're going to end up on real debian at some point no matter what. Ubuntu started because debian had gotten stuck on sarge, took 3 years to release it, Mark Shuttlesworth got tired of waiting, he used to be a debian developer, and so did a lot of other debian guys who wanted a modern desktop, so they formed ubuntu with his cash. But debian is back on track, releases are tightened up, that won't happen again. It did take ubuntu to give debian that proverbial kick in the rear end to get them moving, but they're moving now. Plus, once you move to real debian sid unstable, you'll be right there with debian stable, which is what you'd run on servers. Applets and applications: kmoon [aka moonphase], ksensors [hardwarwe monitor, used with lm-sensors], kmix, karm [a deceptively simple timer application for client billing], klipper, korganizer, kdesktop [desktop access], and so on. I'm biased but I think most kde apps are very good, better than gnome stuff. Some gnome based ones are good, gimp, openoffice, firefox [though I'm having major stabilty issues with firefox now for some reason, it's an extension plus some programming errors that let the extension take down firefox at some predictable points]. Killer kde stuff: k3b, konqueror, konqueror file browser set to 3 panel mode, konsole, alt+F2 to bring up minicli, run a command. Stuff gnome should be executed without trial for: nautilus, their whole file management ideas, lack of any obvious ways to configure the most basic stuff, menus, display, etc. Can you set different backgrounds on the different desktops in gnome yet? Last I checked you coudn't, but that was a year ago. Back to top |
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I think kdict might do it, though it's an application, not an applet.
However, if you want to simply get a definition for a word: :: Code :: alt + F2
// type in: gg:define:<word you want> enter ### OR, if you use kdict: alt + f2 kdict <word you want defined> enter ### or in konsole: kdict <word you want to define> enter Up pops your browser window with the google definition for the word. Kdict pops up a little window that gets its data from the The Collaborative International Dictionary of English, which is yet another Gnu project: With debian/linux I'm starting to adapt to the idea that not everything I was used to with windows will be possible or practical to do, and it's the same, except less so, between different desktops. though you can always install any gnome application in kde, it will just grab the libraries etc that the app needs when installing. Won't work quite the same though [especially obvious with open/save/saveas dialogue boxes], but they work pretty well, especially if you add the qt gtk library. :: Code :: apt-get install gtk2-engines-gtk-qtThis will install a very important kde library that lets all the gnome apps use the kde appearance and fonts. That works very well. More useful gnome=>kde stuff in this kanotix firefox thread. Back to top |
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Thanks for such detailed information. I'm going to be looking at it all in detail over the next few days, but in the meantime, you've given me enough to get started with.
The reason I chose Kubuntu was because encyclo at WMW recommended it to me. He said it was pretty much Debian, with some enhancements, and on an active development cycle. I'm not familiar enough with the different distributions to make an educated choice of my own, although I do expect to try several flavors before I settle on a favorite. My main problems with Linux so far are really very small, petty kind of things. For instance, I really miss all the drag and drop functionality that Windows offers. Also, there seem to be certain obvious features that are simply missing from Linux and/or KDE. For example, out of three distributions I've tried so far, there hasn't been any way to get the volume control off the default desktop panel and onto another. Surely that would be a basic enough feature to add? Another thing is that I rely on more than I thought is Microsoft's "Intellipoint" software. I have a five-button mouse, and I've set two of the buttons to perform functions that I use repeatedly, all day, every day, that are cumbersome to perform manually. Like I said, these are nit-picks and not any serious issues, but it's taking me some time to get away from all the little things I'd gotten used to in Windows and that have been adding to my productivity. Doubtlessly I'll learn good Linux replacements, but it will take some time. :: Quote :: Killer kde stuff: k3b, konqueror, konqueror file browser set to 3 panel mode, konsole, alt+F2 to bring up minicli, run a command. How do you set up Konqueror to a 3-panel mode, and what is it? I've looked over the Knoqueror settings pretty well and haven't seen anything like this yet, unless it's the "Column" view, which I haven't explored much so far. For file browsing, I really would like to emulate Windows Explorer as much as possible, with the directory tree in the left pane and the file and directory list in the right pane. That's a very productive way to work with files, and I use it all the time in Windows. But just give me some time, I'll get used to the Penguins yet... Back to top |
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:: Quote :: The reason I chose Kubuntu was because encyclo at WMW recommended it to me.With all due respect to Encyclo, and I mean that, real respect because he's basically never used anything but linux, he paid somebody to build his box and install ubuntu. Ubuntu is a very subtle fork of debian. You can destroy ubuntu with a single dist-upgrade if you add the real debian sid repositories to your apt sources list. He's not a geek in other words, he just does his stuff, he used mandrake before that, which is a pretty bland commercial distro. The ubuntu repositories are a subset of the real sid repositories, although some applications are starting to fork from the debian set slightly. Ubuntu takes this snapshot, and freezes it. Every new release is a new snapshot. In other words, if you go ubuntu, you're drifting in subtle ways from debian pure. Those ways may grow over time. The upside is that when you use apt in ubuntu, you're accessing a stabilized debian unstable software pool, which makes for less stress, but fewer available pieces of software. These are the two sides, plus and minus. The key is to consider which is more important to you: stability at the price of flexibility, or flexibility at the potential price of some stability. Encyclo prefers the former, I prefer the latter. A lot of the ubuntu desktop improvements are drifting down into debian sid and testing so it's not really that much of an issue any longer. I haven't found anything I can't do yet to be honest, except one single thing in Wine, I did something or other wrong, it's supposed to work. :: Quote :: My main problems with Linux so far are really very small, petty kind of things. For instance, I really miss all the drag and drop functionality that Windows offers. Also, there seem to be certain obvious features that are simply missing from Linux and/or KDE. For example, out of three distributions I've tried so far, there hasn't been any way to get the volume control off the default desktop panel and onto another. kmixer, I assume? remove applet from old panel, add applet to new panel. As for the rest, give the article Linux is not Windows a quick read. I was making some similar objections, and someone on a forum pointed me to that link. I don't agree with all the points the guy makes, for example, linux most definitely does want desktop users to migrate from windows if by linux you mean companies like Novell, Xandros, Linspire, and so on. But the central points are well worth a thought in my opinion. What you'll find the more you use linux is that yes, some things are much harder to do, but other things are simple: for example, put a different background image on each of your virtual desktops in Windows. Oh, what's that you say? Windows has no native virtual desktop support? And the for example nvidia software that creates that functionality barely lets you do a thing? How about tweaking the desktop theme configuration files in XP? Hmmm... not possible? Bummer. Ok then, let's set up a symbolic link from the native Apache2 sites-enabled directory to the sites-available directory, and also let's set up SSL on apache. Hmmm. Why is this so darned hard to do in windows? Actually, it's impossible in the first case, and extremely difficult in the second. To setup mod_rewrite I made a symbolic link from mods-enabled to mods available. Logged in as root: :: Code :: apache2 -k restartI can't remember how long it took me to get that stuff working in windows. :: Quote :: but it's taking me some time to get away from all the little things I'd gotten used to in Windows and that have been adding to my productivity.Yes, that's how it goes. You spend 5 to 10 years learning how to use windows effectively. And if you'd spent those same 5 to 10 years learning how to use unix type systems effectively you could probably get a job as a major network admin, literally. intellimouse Re intellimice: Hardware is an issue, but remember, the best geeks in the world run linux, and they want what you want: here and here and especially this one, apt based solution. the last one is also why you want a strong debian based distro, either ubuntu if that's what you decide to go with, or something like kanotix [well, no, there's nothing I know of like kanotix...]. If you want gnome, I think a good argument could be made for ubuntu, but if you want kde, I'd go with a kde focused distro, I tried kubuntu and found it mediocre at best. Konqueror Kicks A$$ :: Quote :: How do you set up Konqueror to a 3-panel mode, and what is it? I've looked over the Knoqueror settings pretty well and haven't seen anything like this yet, unless it's the "Column" view, which I haven't explored much so far. For file browsing, I really would like to emulate Windows Explorer as much as possible, with the directory tree in the left pane and the file and directory list in the right pane. That's a very productive way to work with files, and I use it all the time in Windows.LOL... let me tell you, once you figure out konqueror, you won't want something that emulates Windows Explorer, you'll want Konqueror. Believe me. I felt exactly the same way, it took me a while to figure out that each and every thing I'd considered a bug in konqueror is an incredibly powerful feature. Konqueror is about 10 times more complex than Windows explorer. And radically superior. Window => split view left/right Window => show navigation panel View => viewmode => detailed list view View => show hidden files View => show details [columns that is] to your taste] Click in any pane to activate that pane's functions. Set the navigation to root, not /home/yourname Settings => 'Save view profile: dateimanagement' Now when you open konqueror as a file browser, that's reached through for example your 'home' button on your taskbar, it will open with these settings. It tends to remember your last opened settings too if you set it to remember that. Features you will very likely become extremely addicted to: When you click in pane 2 or 3, it becomes active. When you use the navigation in the left pane, it will display its sub stuff in the active pane. the navigation doesn't show hidden files unless I missed a setting somewhere. You can now operate panes 2 and 3 totally independently, which means you can open one part of your filesystem, then drag and drop files to a totally different part of your file system. this takes a while to get used to. If you don't use the split view, the default is almost exactly the same as windows explorer. IEs4Linux :: makes the hard stuff easy Oh, if you haven't tried this yet, grab: ies4linux. That's a script that will install any or all of the following: IE 5, 5.5, and or 6. Important: you need to set flash to no in the setup configuration files or the ies will crash constantly. :: Code :: # If you want to install Flash Player 8 automatically, set this to 'yes'
INSTALL_FLASH="no" Any type of animation of any sort will crash IEs from what I can see. I also turned off all gif or other image animation in the actual IE settings. Back to top |
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Don't forget that you can also use mouse navigation in konqueror:
K => control panel Useability & accessibility => input actions gestures settings tab, uncheck Disable mouse gestures globally Select Mouse button: Button 3 ( secondary) set gesture time out to suite taste apply You can now use mouse navigation in your konqueror file browser, it's slick, I'm still not used to that feature I have to admit. That also activates mouse navigation in the Konqueror browser, which is another way to setup your konqueror, you can configure those defaults too and save them the same way as posted above. Try that in windows, LOL... Back to top |
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