[EN] [solved] cannot add widgets to default panel in KDE Desktop

[HunkirDowne]

EDIT: Changed "Plasma" to "KDE" in 'Subject' field so "[solved] " would fit in front.  Will post "solution" shortly as a reply to one of the posts below.  20130223-175012_EST

Kernel Version: 3.7-8.towo-siduction-686

Code: [Select]

$ plasma-desktop --version
Qt: 4.8.2
KDE Development Platform: 4.8.4 (4.8.4)
Plasma Desktop Shell: 0.4


Initially, I was able to add a few things to the default panel.  I created a new panel and have been able to add widgets (plasmoids) to the new panel, but still no-go on the default.  I have tried rebuilding .kde but even in the new config I get the same behavior.

I go to the activity menu in the default panel and unlock widgets.  When I add widgets, I can select a widget and get the little graspy hand.  But when I try to move a widget down to the panel, I get the 'no' symbol.  From there all I can do is <esc> out which takes me back to the activity menu.

On somewhat of a side note, the plasma desktop on this installation is generally very stable.  As I mentioned earlier I rebuilt the .kde folder and then replaced it with the old one.  I went down to init 3 to make the moves and init 5 was successful in bringing up the new .kde but not when reverting to the old, for some reason.  Then I restarted and built a new panel (after trying unsuccessfully to add widgets to default).  Plasma became very unstable at that point and crashed a few times.  The mouse was so hypersensitive that it would open stuff seemingly on mouse over.  I rebooted again and all seems "normal" except for the subject problem.

I do not know that I don't have stability issues with Plasma that is preventing me from adding widgets.  But I'm not assuming anything at this point.

[dibl]

Disclaimer: I am not a huge KDE customizer -- I use it mostly as it comes from the box.

I am still using the original KDE panel that came with the last KDE upgrade.  I don't use a lot of widgets -- digital clock and notifier are the only things I added, IIRC.  I do park launch icons for my commonly used packages on the panel -- skype, chromium-browser, dolphin, vmware, LO spreadsheet, kcalc, kate, pavucontrol, radiotray, and kmix.  I have not experienced any instability or problems.  I keep widgets locked all the time, except when I am changing something.

You have already tried re-making .kde, but my question is, did you test the panel with the new .kde before you restored the settings from the backed-up .kde?  Maybe the instability is coming from something you previously tried to set up.  It might be worth the time to completely redo the desktop and panel from a new .kde, to see if the problem exists on a fresh desktop.  If it does, then .....  I guess you can always restore the old .kde and search for Plan B.  

[clubex]

I had stability problems with the panel after the last KDE upgrade. Deleting the panel and creating a new default panel solved the problem.

[piper]

Have you tried reloading plasma ?

Code: [Select]

kquitapp plasma-desktop

Code: [Select]

plasma-desktop
You can always restore your desktop (including panels) to default, this *usually* fixes things  such as "zombie" icons, unremovable widgets, messed up panels etc.

Code: [Select]

kquitapp plasma

Code: [Select]

rm -rf $KDEHOME/share/config/plasm*

Code: [Select]

plasma &

Always make a backup !

[HunkirDowne]

Just enough time this morning for some information sharing...

Disclaimer: I am not a huge KDE customizer -- I use it mostly as it comes from the box.

I am still using the original KDE panel that came with the last KDE upgrade.  I don't use a lot of widgets <snip>  I keep widgets locked all the time, except when I am changing something.

These are my practices as well.

You have already tried re-making .kde, but my question is, did you test the panel with the new .kde before you restored the settings from the backed-up .kde?  Maybe the instability is coming from something you previously tried to set up.  It might be worth the time to completely redo the desktop and panel from a new .kde, to see if the problem exists on a fresh desktop.  If it does, then .....  I guess you can always restore the old .kde and search for Plan B.  

I did test the panel in the temporarily rebuilt .kde with the same (lack of) effect.  I then restored the old .kde because the new one had none of my customizations (not a huge problem) or the look and feel that comes with Siduction (probably the theme and all that) that I've come to appreciate.

I see some other suggestions below that I will likely not try until this evening at the earliest.  It's early morning here (05:20 AM Eastern US / 10:20 AM UTC).

[HunkirDowne]

I had stability problems with the panel after the last KDE upgrade. Deleting the panel and creating a new default panel solved the problem.

I may actually be in the process of doing a rebuild.  Will wait and see how things go.  I've created a second panel that works well but does not yet have all the stuff on it that the default does.

This is not a production system by any means so if I break it hopelessly I can always reinstall at my leisure.  That said, I'm more willing to try things -- learning as I go, hopefully -- so I may "struggle" with the default just to get it to work.

I will say this about Siduction specifically and Debian in general.  This may be 'unstable' but I have far less 'stability' problems with it than others in my house with their non-Linux based systems (including Mac, but I think that one is at root cause a hardware issue -- overheating).  

All that said, I do not recall EVER having any issue at all with Debian Stable that I didn't create myself and that was only once -- using find|xargs rm in a RACE situation as root -- hopefully won't do that again.  :-D

[HunkirDowne]

Have you tried reloading plasma ?

Not yet, but I will.  Most of this looks reasonable but I do have one question.

Code: [Select]

rm -rf $KDEHOME/share/config/plasm*

For me $KDEHOME is /home/<user> unless I sux into root in which it is /root.  In neither case do I have a 'share' directory.  Other than /usr/share . . . Nevermind!  As I said above, it's early.  I think you meant $KDEHOME/.kde/share/config/plasm* -- at least that's the way it shows up on my system.  '$KDEHOME' is my home directory, not the ~/.kde directory.  I have not done anything (conciously; see note) to change this so I am currently working off of the assumption that this is the default.

The 'note' to which I speak, and others can attest, is that I evidently installed RoarAudio a while back yet have no recollection of doing so.  So who knows what I might have done.  :-/

Well, my 'get butt in gear' alarm just went off so I'm outta here and off to work.  Should have some time this evening to try the above.

Thanks and thanks all!  Hoping all a good / productive / safe day.

[piper]

Ok, we will make it simple

renaming/removing plasma-appletsrc will reset all plasmoids to the default

Code: [Select]

~/.kde/share/config/plasma-appletsrc is same as

Code: [Select]

/home/username/.kde/share/config/plasma-appletsrcwhich is the same as

Code: [Select]

$KDEHOME/share/config/plasm*
so, doing

Code: [Select]

rm ~/.kde/share/config/plasma-appletsrcshould be fine

[HunkirDowne]

Ok, we will make it simple

Thanks.  Simple is good for me.  
:oops:

renaming/removing plasma-appletsrc will reset all plasmoids to the default <snip>

Code: [Select]

rm ~/.kde/share/config/plasma-appletsrcshould be fine

That didn't work.  Well, it did give me a new plasma-desktop, but the panel is still currently not accepting new plasmoids at the moment.

Your method was certainly more elegant, but seemingly similar in effect to removing .kde and restarting.  I'll step through what I recently did below but for now, could it be that on my system $KDEHOME points to '~' and not '~/.kde'?  I mean, if the panel expects to find a 'share' directory under '$KDEHOME' and doesn't ...

Here is what I see for $KDEHOME on my system:

Code: [Select]

$ ls -1 $KDEHOME
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Music
Pictures
Projects
Videos

As opposed to:

Code: [Select]

$ ls -1 ~/.kde
Autostart
cache-siductionbox
env
share
shutdown
socket-siductionbox
tmp-siductionbox

So my $KDEHOME may be improperly defined (wherever that is -- not in ~/.profile or /etc/profile).

Anyway, here are my steps in detail.

1. I backed up my 'config' directory
2. I killed plasma-desktop
3. I removed the 'plasm*' files
4. I restarted plasma-desktop
5. I attempted to add a plasmoid to the default (at this point only) panel, but met with the same lack of success ('no' cursor)
6. I killed plasma-desktop once again
7. I restored my 'plasm*' files from my backup 'config' directory
8. I restarted plasma-desktop -- back to square one.

The gory details:

Code: [Select]

1.1. $ cd ~/.kde/share
1.2. $ find ./config -depth -type f -print|cpio -ampvd ~/Documents
1.3. $ cd
2.   $ kquitapp plasma-desktop
3.   $ rm -rf ~/.kde/share/config/plasm*
4.   $ plasma-desktop&
5.   (gui: add plasmoid to panel failed)
6.   $ kquitapp plasma-desktop
7.   $ cp -pvt ~/.kde/share/config/ ~/Documents/config/plasm*
8.   $ plasma-desktop&

Oh well, in the mean time I will continue to build my second panel to my liking.  I'm gaining insight into how the original is constructed so that's a plus.  Some things I like in the default that I have yet to replicate, but some things in the second panel that I like better than the default.  I bet with enough time and effort and some work in gimp I could build a desktop that replicates my dad's windows box and see if he could tell the difference. :twisted:

Please remember this is not a production system and I'm not in a bad way.  Just trying to figure out what's broke and then, with y'all's good help, figure out what I need to do to fix it.  I'm not in a hurry.  ;-)


Thanks!

[piper]

perhaps have a read here

http://techbase.kde.org/KDE_System_Administration/PlasmaDesktopScripting

[dibl]

When I add widgets, I can select a widget and get the little graspy hand.  But when I try to move a widget down to the panel, I get the 'no' symbol.  From there all I can do is <esc> out which takes me back to the activity menu.

Here's a thought -- after you click "Add a Widget", and you find the widget you want, just double-click it.  Does it appear on the panel?

[HunkirDowne]

Here's a thought -- after you click "Add a Widget", and you find the widget you want, just double-click it.  Does it appear on the panel?

No, but would you like to know how many battery monitors I just deleted off of my desktop?  :-D

The technique worked for my secondary panel just fine.  I tried it on my default panel and I would get a single-click action but the border would highlight twice.  From all appearances at the time, nothing was happening.  But later I discovered that I had several instances of the battery monitor and at least one of the blackboard on my desktop.  I might end up using that blackboard tool one day soon.  Nice little discovery.

Little bit of an update on my '19.02.2013, 17:31' post above.

$KDEHOME may be improperly defined

Looks like my $KDEHOME experience is shared across all three Debian/derivative installations on this laptop.  I haven't yet checked other systems in the house.  The only difference in any of them that I have seen so far is that Siduction and Mint report back the same message on one command whereas Debian Stable reports back a slightly different one.  Could be just that Stable is tad bit more long in the tooth.

Output from 'cd' command:

Code: [Select]

@siductionbox:~$ cd $KDEHOME/.kde
bash: cd: /.kde: No such file or directory

@mint ~ $ cd $KDEHOME/.kde
bash: cd: /.kde: No such file or directory

@debian:~$ cd $KDEHOME/.kde
bash: cd: /.kde: Permission denied

And their respective kernels:

Code: [Select]

Feb 18 <sid>    /boot/vmlinuz-3.7-9.towo-siduction-686
Feb 13 <mint>   /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic
Sep 23 <debian> /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686

From what I can gather the only known common denominators are they are all Debian GNU/Linux or a derivate (Mint, I guess would be a second derivative?) and that they exist on this laptop with me being the only potential guilty party at the keyboard.

I suppose it could be that by modifying a ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc I have essentially reassigned $KDEHOME, but I usually do so only for three reasons: (1) provide color for the user and pwd, make an alias or two for ls, and provide a script directory.  I have never knowingly (keyword) reassigned the $KDEHOME variable, but do not discount the possibility that one or more of my activities has led to that effect.

[dibl]

I wonder whether your particular screen size/resolution is causing widget icons to be hidden even if they are "on" the panel. No one else has reported such a problem, but it may be that you have a lot of stuff on the panel and there's a problem displaying everything, or something like that.

[HunkirDowne]

LCD Display: 15.4" widescreen with a 1280 × 800 resolution.  I've tried changing the width and there seems to be plenty of room for other stuff to go.  I actually have more stuff on my second panel and still have room for more.

I have all but discounted the $KDEHOME thing as being relevant.  Something just seems to have corrupted the default panel some while back and it may be hopelessly static with respect to additional plasmoids.  The secondary panel has no such issues and I'm getting closer to essentially replicating the default with some noticeable differences -- differences that are either acceptable or preferred.

'No one else has reported such a problem' is one of the stories of my life.  ;-)  Without going into great detail regarding the variety of the application of that statement, suffice it to say that I get that alot.  Not a complaint; merely an observation.  Actually, it's usually not without certain entertainment value even when 'tormented' by a problem.

[HunkirDowne]

perhaps have a read here

http://techbase.kde.org/KDE_System_Administration/PlasmaDesktopScripting

Missed this first time around.  Giving it a read now.  Thanks!