Why Use Virtual Desktops and How they Compare to Virtual Activities

[@jfiosi]

This.is.the.video.I.was.looking.for! 👌 Okay, after watching about a dozen videos and getting nowhere near understanding the differences between virtual desktops and activities (and getting a bit frustrated), I now have a much better understanding. The OCD part of my personality appreciates the time and effort you put in. Some plusses: Clear voice, no annoying background music (a pet peeve of mine), no PTSD mouse movements (another pet peeve of mine), and a TABLE of comparison. I love comparison tables!!! Thanks for the chapter markers! Lots of info in this video. I have to watch it a couple of times. Thanks for compiling this stuff and helping me. Can you do more deep-dives like this that showcase the strengths and features of Linux? Especially from a real-world usability standpoint? I use virtual desktops on my Mac mini. Cannot name the desktops natively. Am I missing something? Anyway, I settled on KDE Neon as my daily driver after test-driving 6 distros on my mid-2014 Retina MBPro. Runs smooth and fast with 16G RAM. Waiting for Linux to run natively on Mac Silicon so I can install Linux on my Mac mini. Maybe I missed this, but is it possible to link/sync activities on one Linux computer (e.g. desktop) to another Linux computer (e.g. notebook)? So I don't have to recreate my activity settings again on another computer? Liked and subscribed. 💗

[@GadgeteerZA]

Thanks, that is much appreciated! Yes I try to convey the essence of the video and not worry with studio lighting, makeup, etc ;-) I tend to make videos though about something I learnt, tested or solved, so don't just do them for the sake of daily videos. On naming of the virtual desktops, yes I do see an option on KDE in Settings/Workspace Behaviour/Virtual Desktops. There is an edit icon on the right of each name. There is no real link between desktops but a favourite tool of mine is Syncthing for doing things like that. I did a video about Syncthing just a few videos back. It even works with my Windows laptop, Android phone, and iPad.

[@ASMRCYRA]

Thanks great video 🙌🏻

[@GadgeteerZA]

Thank you - hope you get to try it out a bit.

[@manw3bttcks]

I just want a way to have a distinct wallpaper on each virtual desktop, someone said activities can do that but that seems like using a sledgehammer on a fly

[@GadgeteerZA]

Yes Activities do that, but no I don't think it is a sledgehammer at all (it does have other optional extra functionality) but no more resources really needed than virtual desktops. I think of Activities as just Virtual Desktops offering a bit more. Activities is Plasma's way of offering what Virtual Desktops actually lack. So I think of Activities being "it" and Virtual Desktops lacking a bit ;-) But yes, would be great if Virtual Desktops for Linux were pepped up a bit with some expected functionality.

[@bertnijhof5413]

I have a simpler set up, since I'm retired. I have standard 3 virtual desktops, one for Firefox, one for the Virtualbox Manager and one for my Communication Virtual Machine (Xubuntu 23.10) running Email, Social Media Messengers, KDE connect, Transmission etc. If required I can add virtual desktops running VMs for Banking (Ubuntu 16.04 ESM); Multimedia (Ubuntu Unity 23.10); Experiments (Ubuntu 23.10); Jukebox for the wma copies of my CDs/LPs (Windows XP) and because you might need it someday (Windows 11 Pro). I scan the Virtual Desktops using the mouse wheel sometimes assisted by the Windows Key. Within the Virtual Machines I start some programs at login, like Conky or Email and the Asocial Media Messengers. Boot times for Linux VMs are between 6 seconds (Xubuntu) and 12 seconds (Ubuntu). Windows XP needs 25 seconds and Windows 11 needs 40 to 50 seconds. The hardware is the 2nd slowest Ryzen ever, the Ryzen 3 2200G with 16GB DDR4 (3000MHz), a 512GB nvme-SSD (3400/2300MB/s). It runs a minimal install of Ubuntu 23.10 on OpenZFS 2.2.0. All VMs run after ~1 second from the ZFS memory cache for disk IO (size between 2GB and 8GB). All storage and all caches are lz4 compressed, so VM boot times include decompression.

[@GadgeteerZA]

That is a good setup. I also used my Virtual Desktop the other day for a full screen Windows VM that I run, and it was really nice to keep my other browsers etc all unaffected. But like I said in the video I really would not recommend anyone using both virtual desktops and activities, as it gets horribly confusing. Much better to use the one or the other, and stick to that you know all the quick shortcuts etc. Yes, I think the default for virtual desktop switching is the mouse over desktop background, and then middle scroll wheel to switch quickly.

[@I_am_Locutus_of_Borg]

Good idea, I never understood the difference between virtual desktops and activities, it's better now (hopefully, lol).

[@GadgeteerZA]

Glad it shone some light - yes I think there are many "hidden" features of Linux and KDE that are just not upfront and people are aware of. It's a pity as some gems are just left out of our daily usage.