Up until KDE4 I could select a different image for each of the 4 virtual desktops. Now I tried Suse11.1 KDE and it seems like there is no such option. I can change the background image allright, but all 4 desktops have the SAME image. Can I fix that?

This particular issue has been a frequent cause of complaint from users, with some of the discussion getting quite, err, trenchant between users, who take the 'why should you dictate to me how I can use my computer' and the developers (roughly) taking the 'you do not know what is going on under the skin, and there is no reason that we should put off doing something really vital in order to priorititise this' lines.

This is clearly a bit fraught, but the kde devs do seem to have lost some goodwill from the users, and the users want something they can use, in the way they want to use it, now.

The last I heard, it was both promised for 4.3, and then that promise got sort of retracted, in that the dev in question said that he was a bit confused about whether it had remained in the commit for 4.3.

The things I can say:

• it will be along soon, even if I'm not sure whether it will really be this month (if the update works, this time)
• even if its not this month, a month or two should do it
• (and, the obvious) more recent versions of KDE4 are better...in fact, its improving at a pretty rapid rate (it is just a shame that KDE 4.0 was so far off when it came out)
• I find different wallpapers per desktop much essential, too, as otherwise I lose track of where I am and which apps I've got on which desktop

ok, thanks. Question answered. Short answer: "because that was a KDE 4 bug or feature and you can do nothing about it"

Also, I do get a , I don't want to say freeze, but let's say slower response from KDE 4 when I ask for many simultaneous tasks. Isn't the new coolest desktop also eating up more memory?

...apart from getting an update when the 'new version' with the feature that you want comes out. KDE4 is undergoing such rapid development, that newer is better.

It may or may not be memory. If you want to find out, you should have a look at what happens to memory when you ask for these simulatneous tasks (what do you mean....when you start these tasks or when you have them minimised in the background or something else?).

There have also been problems reported with the underlying graphics subsystem; as far as I remember, using nvidia hardware and drivers, you have to be very careful about which software you use because some versions can cause very noticeable slow downs due to an incompatability between the low level software and the higher level stuff, and maybe the difference in symptoms between this and a memory problem aren't very apparent to the end user.