They are probably related, but I don’t know for sure:
On first boot, the app launcher works fine by clicking the chameleon icon. The next boot, it disappears. I phrase it this way because I installed 15.3 several times and it behaved the way each time.
I really need the menu as KDE is pretty difficult to use without the “start menu”. I’d be happy to set the auto-hide by editing a config file, but I don’t know which one:
[It was suggested I use “susepaste(dot)org”, but I could not login and it wouldn’t accept the image without logging in.]
Edit: just in case someone wants to suggest “Edit Panel”: no, that doesn’t work. I’m given the choice of adding widgets, editing activities and changing the desktop.
If I knew the config file needed by the start menu, I could just provide it. I can bring up the start menu editor and I can see all the entries just fine. But the menu app doesn’t run. I have never seen this before either. I’ve been using KDE on SuSE/openSUSE for well over a decade.
I cannot edit the attributes to the task bar, at all. That makes it not possible to turn on and off the auto-hide.
I’ll try susepaste again, but when I clicked the “upload” button, the page went away and never came back. So, I tried to login – unsuccessfully.
If I right click on the task bar, that brings up a menu where I can select “Edit panel”. That should work even when auto-hide is in effect. Next, I click “More settings” and that gives me access to turn auto-hide on or off.
If that isn’t working, then something is broken on your system.
Something is definitely broken on my system. It is possible that it is related to the problem of the disappearing app launch menu.
P.S. to try to ensure it wasn’t me fumble fingering into the problem, I re-installed 3 times and encountered this each time. I do not remember if I tried to edit the task bar settings before the app launcher menu disappeared. Auto-hide is a low priority preference. I really don’t want to install again just to find that out. Would you happen to know which .config file is used by whatever program manages the app launcher menu? “kmenuedit” edits it – Oh, I’ll fiddle around and find the file most recently modified. But then, saving changes from kmenuedit doesn’t bring back the app launcher anyway…
the curious thing about it is that it doesn’t have all the entries that the kmenuedit program shows. Anyway, the fact that it’s there means that it is insufficient to get the app launcher to work.[/FONT]
Wild guess: your start menu app works, too. I’m guessing that they’re related problems. This request was mostly a wild hope someone might say, “I’ve seen that before.” No such luck. I don’t what the solution is going to be. Maybe move along to the 15.4 beta version. There are lots of problems with this: I haven’t mentioned that hp-lip doesn’t accept any of the PPD files for use with an HP LaserJet M1217 mfp printer, so I can’t print anymore. hp-lip can see the printer on the LAN just fine, but won’t talk to it.
An update on March 26 or 27 was coincident with my old system refusing to boot (dunno about causality). I’ve been struggling with install issues ever since.
Sorry for the slow response. I went over to KDE land and found a bug expressing the missing menu symptoms. In that bug, Kate seems to trigger it. This little script gets me around the missing menu problem, but I’ve not worked up a hack for the failure-to-hide problem.
#! /bin/bash
if test $# -gt 0
then logf=$1
else logf=/dev/null
fi
exec 1> $logf 2>&1 < /dev/null
exec plasmawindowed org.kde.plasma.kickoff &
P.S. 1) I don’t know what changed – between boots or otherwise
2) It only resumed working one time out of several. When I do a full boot, it is always down to the BIOS. I think that makes it cold, even if the fans keep running.
3) Removing the kickoff widget requires being able to edit the task bar. I can’t edit the task bar.
4) I only have the install images for 15.3 & 15.4. I had the same problem with 15.4 and decided to be “safer” and use 15.3 instead.