I am in the process of moving from KDE 3.5 to KDE 4 having a lot of trouble to get my trusted environment back.
In KDE 3 Konsole started always with an 80x24 (lines x characters) window. You also could call
konsole --vt_sz 90x2
to get a 90 charcater two lines window.
In KDE 4 konsole starts with a different size (do not know exactly what) and it also starts new windows with the same size the last konsole window had when closed. This is annoying enough to me, but I could of course redress by explicitly setting the 80 x 24 in the menu items.
Now the --vt_sz 80x24 does not function anymore, neither does a --geometry 80x24 as hinted at in the Konsole Manual.
Anybody who knows how to get this carefully hidden function working again?
I suspect the answer is to wait for the next release as there is no configuration option yet.
For the moment, I think the only option is to drag the sides to the size you want - which displays as you are dragging - and hope it reopens at that size.
Easy fix, but as you express, it shouldn’t have to be a fix. And it’s not very apparent unless you’re familiar with the settings of KDE 4.
Anyways, open Configure Desktop (Personal Settings) then under Look & Feel click Window Behavior. Click the category Window-Specific and then choose New. Open Konsole and make sure it’s visible when Configure Desktop has focus. Now on the dialogue box, click the button that says detect window properties then click the Konsole window. Tell it to Use window class (whole application) and then hit Ok. Then click the geometry tab and put a check next to size. Click the drop down menu and choose Apply initially, this way it will always start off at the size you want. Finally enter the size you want the window to start at. Hit ok and then click apply and you should be good to go
Note: This doesn’t work when using compiz-fusion and emerald.
Edit: Also sorry because after further CAREFULLY reading, this isn’t even what you were looking for :shame:
Thanks for all the answers/suggestions. I will try them (and report), but it is as ijbreakey says: " Also sorry because after further CAREFULLY reading, this isn’t even what you were looking for".
I do know that I can change the size of an active window by pulling on the sides (but do you know how to pull to get 80x24, and it is to late, I want to open it correct) and it would help if I can get all konsole window open on the same size and not the size the last window closed with. But I was asking for an option to open directly in a wanted size.
E.g. I do have a script that askes my wife to choose between the two sound cards she has (the one that is connected to the stereo and the one that uses the computer loudspeakers). The script asks to make the choice. So when she clicks on an icon in the panel, a konsole window with a width of 90 characters and with two lines high is started. Not more needed.
And I now also want to change all the buttons in the menu that start konsole to have 80x24 because of the “take the size of the last window” behaviour. So the solution must be one either in the command line either direct or indirect by putting a parameter in the profile file and using --profile … .
I am always wondering why these regresssions are committed to a product that has this in principle (konsole is designed as being a better replacement for xterm) had this functionalatyfor at least 20 years. May be I should try if good old xterm does do what I want.
I tried the advice of @ijbreakey and @joerione. Both end up in the same configuration window, but in this case the prize goes to joerione because you reach there more directly from the application window itself. In any case both methods let me learn a lot about how KDE 4 works, because this transfer from KDE 3.5 looks as if I have to learn everything of the GUI anew >:(
And now my observations about what you can achieve with this configuration.
First the positive: it works, when you put a size there, resize the window by pulling on the corner/side handles and then finish the window, a new start has the defined size.
But
When you have maximized the window (by the button in the window decoration), it starts anew maximized, Bleeeehhh.
And
The window size is in pixels, while for a terminal window the size should be given and used in characters.
How it should be:
xterm -geometry 50x15
gives you an terminal window with 15 lines of 50 characters, already for about twenty (20!) years. Who said that we computer people are always busy improving our products?
because you reach there more directly from the application window itself. In any case both methods let me learn a lot about how KDE 4 works, because this transfer from KDE 3.5 looks as if I have to learn everything of the GUI anew >:(