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[quote comment=”11704″]I use a virtual desktop manager with all my oses. For Windows I use Dexpot. It works with Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. Dexpot is free.[/quote]

With Dexpot I can do the following.

1. Create up to 20 virtual desktops. Most virtual desktop managers for Windows only allow you to create 4 virtual desktops.

2. Use it on a flash drive. The program does not need admin rights to run.

3. Get an optional pager that list all of the virtual desktops. It equals the workspace/viewport switcher in Gnome. It equals the desktop pager in KDE. The user can set an option to show the active window of each virtual desktop. Also the user can add a button to the pager to show all the virtual at once on screen. This option equals the expo plugin in compiz fusion and the KDE app call kompose

4. Get a full screen preview of all the virtual desktops in use. It equals the expo plugin in compiz-fusion, and and KDE app call kompose. Note you can’t drag and drop windows from one desktop to another desktop using this function. To do that you must use the desktop preview function.

5. Use all the features of Mac expose in Windows. The functions windows catalog and windows catalog active application equals the scale plugin in compiz-fusion. In the KDE app call kompose only show all windows work. No show only current application windows.

6. Move windows from one desktop to the other using keyboard shortcuts.

7. Change keyboard shortcuts for the individual functions of the application.

8. The user is able to escape the application if you need to. Example keyboard shortcut conflict between Dexpot and another program. The program will move all application windows to the current desktop. This helps to prevent lost application windows.

9. Move windows from one desktop to the other using the mouse. In the Dexpot settings you can check an option so when you right-click on a window’s title bar in the context menu a menu entry named Dexpot will appear. This menu entry will allow the user to select which desktop to send a window to, which desktop to copy a window to, make a window appear on all desktops, and set the transparency of individual windows etc. The equals the title context menus in Gnome and KDE.

10. Move windows from one desktop to the other using desktop preview. Desktop Preview equals the desktop wall plugin in compiz-fusion. In the KDE app call kompose it equals show windows grouped by virtual desktop. Most virtual desktop managers for Windows failed to move the command prompt. In Dexpot you can only move the command prompt by keyboard shortcut.

11. Name each desktop.

12. Give each desktop a different set of desktop icons,background images, and independent screen resolution.

13. Set applications to open on a specific desktop. It equals the place windows plugin in compiz-fusion. In KDE it equals the advanced desktop rules.

14. Enable a second task-switcher called Dex-Tab for switching between application windows spread across different virtual desktops. It allows the user to alt-tab between open windows located on different virtual desktops. It does not replace the alt-tab functions native to Windows. My Dex-Tab keyboard shortcut is set to Ctrl+Spacebar. It equals the KDE screen shot at the top of this post.

terryjones130@msn.com
Email me if you have any questions

@Mark Stowe: It’s not the pager – that’s the default KDE Desktop switcher visual – it’s like Alt+Tab but for desktops. I think by default it is called up with Ctrl+Tab.

If it’s not bound by default go to your KDE Keyboard Shortcut settings and look for “Walk Through Desktops” shortcut on the list. You can then bind it to Ctrl+Tab or Win+Tab or whatever.

Thank you – I am really glad to learn about Dextop, But I still would love to learn how to get my KDE pager to look like “the KDE screen shot at the top of this post”. In all the tools for configuring the KDE desktop that came with the Kubuntu and OpenSuse live CD’s I have worked from, I cannot find any menus/settings that allow me to produce such a pager arrangement of side-by-side number, name and icons. If necessary I would edit the appropriate configuration file – if there is no tool you can point me toward, I would appreciate a link to documentation for the appropriate configuration file, (and/or a copy of your file if possible). Thanks.

I use a virtual desktop manager with all my oses. For Windows I use Dexpot. It works with Windows 95,98,Me, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. Dextop is free.

With Dexpot I can do the following.

1. Create up to 20 virtual desktops. Most virtual desktop managers for Windows only allow you to create 4 virtual desktops.

2. Use it on a flash drive. The program does not need admin rights to run.

3. Get an optional pager that list all of the virtual desktops. It equals the workspace/viewport switcher in Gnome. It equals the desktop pager in KDE. The user can set an option to show the active window of each virtual desktop. Also the user can add a button to the pager to show all the virtual at once on screen. This option equals the expo plugin in compiz fusion and the KDE app call kompose

4. Get a full screen preview of all the virtual desktops in use. It equals the expo plugin in compiz-fusion, and and KDE app call kompose. Note you can’t drag and drop windows from desktop to another using this function. To do that you must use the desktop preview function.

5. Use all the features of Mac expose in Windows. The functions windows catalog and windows catalog active application equals the scale plugin in compiz-fusion. In the KDE app call kompose only show all windows work. No show only current application windows.

6. Move windows from one desktop to the other using keyboard shortcuts.

7. Change keyboard shortcuts for the individual functions of the application.

8. The user is able to escape the application if you need to. Example keyboard shortcut conflict between Dexpot and another program. The program will move all application windows to the current desktop. This helps to prevent lost application windows.

9. Move windows from one desktop to the other using the mouse. In the Dexpot settings you can check an option so when you right-click on a window’s title bar in the context menu a menu entry named Dexpot will appear. This menu entry will allow the user to select witch desktop to send a window to, witch desktop to copy a window to, make a window appear on all desktops, and set the transparency of individual windows etc. The equals the title context menus in Gnome an KDE.

10. Move windows from one desktop to the other using desktop preview. Desktop Preview equals the desktop wall plugin in compiz-fusion. In the KDE app call kompose it equals show windows grouped by virtual desktop. Most virtual desktop managers for Windows failed to move the command prompt. In Dexpot you can only move the command prompt by keyboard shortcut.

11. Name each desktop.

12. Give each desktop a different set of desktop icons,background images, and independent screen resolution.

13. Set applications to open on a specific desktop. It equals the place windows plugin in compiz-fusion. In KDE it equals the advanced desktop rules.

14. Enable a second task-switcher called Dex-Tab for switching between application windows spread across different virtual desktops. It allows the user to alt-tab between open windows located on different virtual desktops. It does not replace the alt-tab functions native to Windows. My Dex-Tab keyboard shortcut is set to Ctrl+Spacebar. It equals the KDE screen shot at the top of this post.

terryjones130@msn.com
Email me if you have any questions

Hi, sorry for the dumb question. How did you get your pager to look like that? I assume that the panel is vertical on the left side, but how did you get the desktop number, desktop name and window icons to show up separately in a row? I am a newbie running KDE 4.2 and I would be happy just to be able to get the icon/window outlines out from under the desktop names which they make unreadable. Thanks so much for any help.

I generally run XFCE with 4 Beryl cube faces. One for an IDE and some terminals, one for Firefox/Evolution/xChat, one for a Windows VM (I do a lot of Flex development), and one for my package manager/other miscellaneous stuff. I find Beryl itself makes virtual desktops a lot easier for me to use – somehow the physical layout metaphor greatly increases my ability to remember which desktop is which. Plus it increases the options for ways to switch desktops, and the expose analog is wonderful. Can you tell I like Beryl? :-)

As far as performance, I’m running this on a 2-3 year old Dell laptop with no real issues. It crashes my OS about once a day, but that’s been tracked down to a bug in the ATI drivers. Only time I see any slowdown is when I spin the cube while I’m compiling something big.

Well, lets see. I have 3 monitors, and 4 desktops on each one, so that’s 12 virtual desktops. I have 3 instances of firefox, each with unique bookmarks, toolbars, plugins, etc based on usage. I have one that contains my monitoring tools for all my various systems. I have one that has my screen session to my mutt windows, and my IRSSI windows. I have another one that has my tkabber windows, particularly long-running chat rooms. Then the rest vary based on what I’m working on. They’re all shell windows to different environments and different projects. They run opposite screens with browsers that have related content, so I can look at a browser on one screen while doing work on the other. (They’re all independent, no Xinerama)

I always had virtual desktops and never used them. Here lately I’ve been using dwm, one of those full-screen tiling window managers a la ion or ratpoison. And loving it. I suppose it has a concept of virtual desktops with its tags, but dwm’s tags allow slightly more complex setups and to be honest I don’t really use them anyway.

So I have a two screen setup. One screen has a maximized browser window, and the other screen (a wide aspect LCD) has a browser window filling 2/3 of the screen and a couple terminals in a column on one side. This setup works very well for me.

When I go to write code I generally switch out the second browser window (on the LCD) for an emacs window. I also occasionally browse my filesystem with rox, watch movies, or the like, that’s generally on the other screen, and I’ll go to a virtual desktop there.

So, to answer the question… approximately 4, I suppose. But mostly 1.

I used Synergy before. It was cool. But it’s kinda like reverse virtual desktop. Instead of using virtual desktops you re using real ones. :mrgreen:

It’s kinda like a cross between dual screen setup and a KVM, or something like that. Heh.