I experienced a problem with switching activities with the keyboard shortcuts when installing from scratch a brand new pc the problem of not being able to switch activities with the usual meta+tab shortcut.
This was the second time for a new install (not upgrade but brand new install) this happened to me and I am not sure but there was a possible reason for this to happen.
the shortcut to be clear actually was working once actuated the widget side bar with the several activities was shown but there was no way to switch to the next activity pressing meta+tab.
I then proceeded to make another shortcut directly to each activity (only 3) and that also worked.
The I was looking into the installed packages of plasma and there was one not installed named plasma6-activities-tools.
After installing that one I logged out and restart the X server ctrl+alt+del+del
Once restarted and logged now everything works fine.
I wonder if anyone else has the same problem with this issue.
Regards.
I started reading this and slowly got the idea that this is about some Desktop Environment. But which one? Thus I stopped reading.
Environment was specified.
To @keyb_user1 … I have not had an issue , although I’m not a dedicated “keyboard shortcuts” user (also use KDE).
Maybe somewhere on the way, but I stopped reading long before that.
try creating a global shortcut again from KDE settings. Go to settings → keyboard → shortcuts → < search >
I tried that but the result is always the same. I logged in today and yet again I have the same problem … shortcut was made yesterday and explained on the first post.
Today I log in and the problem remains. Moreover … I simply Can not change Activities at All. Even with the Activities widget.
Even clicking on the other 2 activities listed on the widget nothing happens.
I also have to explain that when pressing the shortcut, in my case meta+tab the widget appears on the left side of the display on any virtual window. But the shortcut or the direct access to the widget does not change to the selected activity.
This is strange to say the least.
I wonder if anyone does have the same problem or a clue about possible solution.
An easy question … are you logging in as “Plasma/X11” or “Plasma/Wayland”?
Next time you log in , choose the OTHER option, then test.
Any difference ??
Blockquote An easy question … are you logging in as “Plasma/X11” or “Plasma/Wayland”?
Plasma / X11
Blockquote Next time you log in , choose the OTHER option, then test.
Any difference ??
None, actually Wayland is way worse … the activity widget most of the time does not even show up.
Another thing is that I truly suspect this is something related to How the KDE setup is written to disk per session, maybe per user. Since when I start the computer and log into Plasma/X11 I can not change activities.
But If I do a restart of the Xserver crtl+alt+del+del then the Next login I can switch Activities with the keyboard shortcut (meta+tab) or with the Activity widget (!?) this means that meanwhile the entire environment has already been read and maybe changed from the previous session … an hypothesis …
This is why I suspect there is something related to either a default environment setup not changed correctly when I first login/boot … or some record saved to disk procedure that changes some parameters at boot time.
Note I also tested this with a different pc a laptop and with a completely different graphics card an older system.
The computer I’m using now is a AMD 9 3900x (nvidia 1070 card) and I tested the exact same problem on laptop with a i7 3770 (mobile version) running with the IGP graphics.
In my particular case this shortcut is truly a Live safer since changing different setups is a must for anyone programming that needs to keep focus on particular tasks. And then have some other Activity for email/utility software and the like.
Oh and has a final note Wayland totally destroys my virtual desktops setup … joins all open software on a single Virtual desktop … but I have not tested wayland a lot since I use primarily Plasma / X11
- Yes, I agree about Wayland - if I select it at login, many problems (no keyboard response, rendering issues, and screen lock-ups, etc) … so I always use “Plasma /X11” at login. (BTW, no NVIDIA hardware on our machines).
- Personally, I’m not sure what an “activity” is. However, if I have multiple windows open (such as Kate, Dolphin, Discover, a browser…) , and I tap Meta-tab (or Alt-tab), I can switch to the different application windows. That is referred to as “Walk thru Windows” (no reference to “activity”).
That is found in System-Settings ==> Keyboard ==> Shortcuts ==> Window Management (at this moment, I’m using Leap 16.1 with KDE/Plasma/X11).
Google for “KDE activity”?
Blockquote Personally, I’m not sure what an “activity” is.
An Activity is the Best feature on KDE productivity wise … it’s the Feature that let’s you reply to your Boss the following
Boss : " Why did you miss my video conference call ?! "
You using KDE : "Did I ? Oh sorry I was on another Activity "
BlockquotePersonally, I’m not sure what an “activity” is. However, if I have multiple windows open (such as Kate, Dolphin, Discover, a browser…) , and I tap Meta-tab (or Alt-tab), I can switch to the different application windows. That is referred to as “Walk thru Windows” (no reference to “activity”).
You have setup meta+tab as a windows switcher and that is perfectly ok.
You can indeed choose the same shortcut for walking trough Windows rather then trough activities or actually any other functional switch on KDE.
But using activities is one of KDE Best Features … it allows you to Separate and Isolate your work environment.
I personally use 6 Virtual Desktops and 3 activities.
Once you switch to another activity you get an entire New environment with different windows opened, different widgets and the same number of Virtual Desktops it is amazing productivity wise. It allows you to Isolate your work tasks for example.
It is one of the Best features in KDE and one of the least known features.
Imagine you program all day long … you can keep your programming setup and usual workflow on your normal virtual Desktops and then say you want to browse the web for something unrelated… access your banking web page for example … to avoid clutter on your desktops and not mess you work environment simply switch to another activity and open your firefox and there your go … no clutter, simple desktop and you are on a brand new clean desktop not messing your workflow.
Once you used your web work …simply switch back to your work and … bang … your regular desktop shows up with no changes intact … and amazing productivity feature …
Today I booted the system and this time I can switch activities.
I truly do not know or can verify if this is related to some sort of error while writing the KDE setup to disk … or some environment variable acting strange.
Somehow from yesterday to today the switch works.
So I guess it may need one or more boots to set the records straight …
I will inform is something goes wrong but it is a good hint for future users to know about this.
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