[SOLVED] KDE Folder View option gone

[tleedavidson]

Hi folks,

I don't use desktop icons much, but today I noticed that they are all gone.

I won't go into how right-clicking on the desktop, selecting "Activities...", and chooding "Desktop Icons" led to me to the point of extreme frustration. (I even lost the Desktop Settings option. It changed to "Unknown Settings" and was greyed out.) But I think I have now gotten back to where I was before; with no desktop icons.

I thought that I had my destop configured to use Folder View. But Folder View is now not an option given in Desktop Settings for Layout. It should be there, shouldn't it?

The icon files are present in the ~/Desktop folder, but the are not ".desktop" files. They appear to be executables with attributes of "-rwxr--r--".

(I wisht there were a desktop environment that is more functional than GNOME, but that didn't nearly require a PhD to manage!)

Am I right in thinking that I should be able to choose a Folder View Layout? And if so, how do I get it back?

Thank you.

Terry

[doktor5000]

Just a quick thing to try out - does that also happen for a newly created user? E.g. are there folder view layout settings?
FWIW, on Mageia 2 i have the following layouts to select via -> rightclick on desktop -> Folder view settings -> layout:
Newspaper (applets sorted in columns)
Folder View (should be the default)
Desktop
Search and run

[tleedavidson]

Thank you for your response, 'doktor5000', and for confirming for me what should be there. And thank you also for getting me started in the right direction.

A newly created user suffered the same affliction. So that told me it was probably a system-wide issue. And it came back to mind that the package manager ("Install & Remove Software") had been telling me non-sensical things lately. So I started poking around in the package manager (PM) looking for KDE related packages.

I came across kdebase4 ("This meta package requires all base kdebase 4 packages.") and saw that it was not installed. Thinking that strange, I clicked its checkbox to see what dependencies it might require. The package manager then told me that it now also wanted to install, get this, plasma-applet-folderview ("Display the content of folders (Desktop as default)"). Aha!!

A short wait later, and I now have my Folder View back. Thanks Doc! (Now if I could just get that silly Trash icon to properly update to show its true state ...)

Funny thing though, with the Location (right-click on Desktop -> Folder View Settings -> Location [tab]) set to "Show the Desktop folder", it displays the files in my Home folder. I have to select "Specify a folder" and set it to "~/Desktop" to get it to show the Desktop folder.

By the way, the non-sensical thing with the PM was that after installing and removing numerous Java related IDEs, it told me that Dolphin, Gwenview, Kfind, Kwrite, and Subversion were all orphaned. I don't think those base packages should ever be orphaned. I rebuilt the RPM database in hopes of clearing that anomaly, but after subsequently installing Anjuta, it returned.

But now, after installing kdebase4 with plasma-applet-folderview, the only packages that the PM thinks are orphaned are Gwenview, its handbook, and its library.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Is this a bug? Or perhaps just something I've done. I'm not intent on discussing it in this thread because it should have its own, if it is an issue for others. If it is not an issue for others, then that's fine. I think I can live with it.

Thanks again, Doc.

Terry

[daniewicz]

see this link for a thread about orphaned packages:

https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Removing_packages

[tleedavidson]

That is very good information about ophaned packages. Thank you!

It seems a bit strange, though, as Gwenview was explicitly requested to be installed as I had manually re-installed it after, for expediency, allowing it to be auto-orphan removed along with a sizable list of other orphans. It's no matter now though. Armed with the info from that thread, I have URPMI'd the gwenview packages and they are no longer orphans. I'm sure they're happy about that!

Thanks.

[daniewicz]

[doktor5000]

Can you please try if

Code: Select all

urpmi task-kde4

wants to install more packages? As that one is the metapackage which pulls in a full KDE4 installation with all the bells and whistles ...

[tleedavidson]

Sure.

In order to satisfy the 'plasma-applet-kimpanel-backend' dependency, one of the following packages is needed:
1- plasma-applet-kimpanel-backend-ibus-4.8.5-1.1.mga2.i586: KDE Input method panel for ibus (to install)
2- plasma-applet-kimpanel-backend-scim-4.8.5-1.1.mga2.i586: KDE Input method panel for scim (to install)
What is your choice? (1-2)

I did some quick research, and chose IBus.......

Oh my gosh!! URPMI now wants to install 221 packages -- about 30 from "Core Release (distrib1)", and the rest from "Core Updates (distrib3)": some libraries, alot of games, and quite a few are plasma related.

I actually feel a bit silly now as I read about 'task-kde' in the thread that daniewicz mentioned: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Removing_packages. But then again, I may have gotten stumped by the fact that the packages is now named "task-kde4" instead of the outdated "task-kde". (BTW, I've edited that page ever so slightly to reflect this.)

Well I'll see if there's any 'new' functionality that I hadn't noticed was missing.

Thank you.

[saptech]

In order to satisfy the 'plasma-applet-kimpanel-backend' dependency, one of the following packages is needed:
1- plasma-applet-kimpanel-backend-ibus-4.8.5-1.1.mga2.i586: KDE Input method panel for ibus (to install)
2- plasma-applet-kimpanel-backend-scim-4.8.5-1.1.mga2.i586: KDE Input method panel for scim (to install)
What is your choice? (1-2)

What are these for? I recently installed a minimum KDE 4 and can't seem to get the folderview desktop. I'm trying to figure out how did you get folder view to work. I do not have either one of those installed.

Thnx.

[doktor5000]

What are these for? I recently installed a minimum KDE 4 and can't seem to get the folderview desktop. I'm trying to figure out how did you get folder view to work. I do not have either one of those installed.

Thnx.

The quote reflects just the beginning of a longer list of dependencies which gets pulled in.
Those two are for input methods, ibus/scim are e.g. used to enter japanese symbols or other exotic languages.

[tleedavidson]

The package that, apparently, provides the Folder View option is plasma-applet-folderview. It is required by the kdebase4 meta package which requires all base kdebase 4 packages, but it can be installed manually using the Software Manager ("Install & Remove Software"). Just search for "plasma-applet-folderview" and go from there.

[saptech]

I do have plasma-applet-folderview installed. Since I played around with it, I can only get the folderview when I use Activities. Is that how it works?

Thnx.

[tleedavidson]

Is that how it works?

Sorry, hopefully someone else can answer that for you, because I never have gotten my head wrapped around Activities.

[doktor5000]

I do have plasma-applet-folderview installed. Since I played around with it, I can only get the folderview when I use Activities. Is that how it works?

Ahh, nope. I'm using the default folder view desktop here, and no activities. Does it help if you create a new user?
Apart from that, how did you play around with it, and how do you try to select it? Also, which activity is currently selected?
For me that is the default, desktop.

[saptech]

Maybe I'm saying it wrong, but what I'm trying to do is get my desktop setup with the transparent folder with icons inside it. The default desktop view is a normal view with the icons on the left side of the screen.

I will have to create a new user and see how it turns out. Keep in mind, when I installed KDE, I did a minimum install, not a full complete installed. It is running without any issues so far and as I go along, I add any other software I may need for KDE.

Thnx.

[tleedavidson]

I think what you're wanting is the Folder View widget. And I just learned how to add one.

Go to Activities by either right-clicking on the desktop or clicking the cashew in the upper-right of the desktop. Then if the Add Widgets button isn't there in the Activities panel, click the Unlock Widgets button. It will change to Add Widgets. Click it.

Scroll over until you find Folder View. Double-click it.

[saptech]

tleedavidson, that seem to solved it.

Thnx.

[pinnerite]

To get back 'layout' functionality, unlock widgets before clicking 'Configure desktop'

[isadora]

Five years after?

[pinnerite]

I just found the solution while running up Mageia 6 fo the third time.
I felt that it might help others searching for solutions.

[doktor5000]

The hint about unlocking widgets was right there 2 posts above yours, so not sure if that really needed reposting ... 5 years afterwards.

[pinnerite]

Quite right. Short concentration spam syndrome. Apologies.