KDE :: Running Without Plasma :: Desktop Activities Disabled

cin_ · 12-05-2010, 05:08 PM

Is there anyway to run KDE without Plasma?
At install I opted out of the kdebase-workspace package, but then didn't have the xwmconfig option to run KDE...

So I installed the kdebase-workspace package, and now I use a workaround...

Code:

#   find / -depth | grep plasma-desktop.desktop
/usr/share/autostart/plasma-desktop.desktop
#   vi /usr/share/autostart/plasma-desktop.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
#Exec=plasma-desktop
Exec=
X-DBUS-StartupType=wait
Name=Plasma Desktop Workspace
Type=Service
X-KDE-StartupNotify=false
OnlyShowIn=KDE;
X-KDE-autostart-phase=0

Duplicating, then commenting out the original, and on the uncommented line: removing everything after 'Exec='. Taking the 'plasma.desktop' out. ...Deleting the entire file will only get it rewritten again by the system...

Now it loads into beautiful void.

I still have my GUI, complete with any kApps you might want: konsole, konqueror, and even krunner; but no panels or Desktop Activities.

What I wonder now is...
Is this the way to do it? Is it still loading plasma only no longer implementing it? Am I losing precious RAM'CPU usage with plasma getting loaded without being used?

2handband · 12-05-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cin_

Is there anyway to run KDE without Plasma?
At install I opted out of the kdebase-workspace package, but then didn't have the xwmconfig option to run KDE...

So I installed the kdebase-workspace package, and now I use a workaround...

Code:

#   find / -depth | grep plasma-desktop.desktop
/usr/share/autostart/plasma-desktop.desktop
#   vi /usr/share/autostart/plasma-desktop.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
#Exec=plasma-desktop
Exec=
X-DBUS-StartupType=wait
Name=Plasma Desktop Workspace
Type=Service
X-KDE-StartupNotify=false
OnlyShowIn=KDE;
X-KDE-autostart-phase=0

Duplicating, then commenting out the original, and on the uncommented line: removing everything after 'Exec='. Taking the 'plasma.desktop' out. ...Deleting the entire file will only get it rewritten again by the system...

Now it loads into beautiful void.

I still have my GUI, complete with any kApps you might want: konsole, konqueror, and even krunner; but no panels or Desktop Activities.

What I wonder now is...
Is this the way to do it? Is it still loading plasma only no longer implementing it? Am I losing precious RAM'CPU usage with plasma getting loaded without being used?

No panels? Forgive me for being dense, but what are the advantages?

cin_ · 12-05-2010, 05:53 PM

Forgive me, my original reaction was, 'Well, I never thought of it like that before...'

In all honesty, I like it that way.
I use tabbing for my terminals, and other like groups, and move from application to application using the task switcher. Any system information that I might need that would be shown on a panel I pipe into conky.

2handband · 12-05-2010, 07:48 PM

Fair enough. I'm kinda lazy about that stuff... I like things out on panels so they're only one click away.

As for plasma, it just isn't that resource-intensive anymore. As of the 4.5 release KDE is as responsive as any other desktop with a similar feature pack. Mine is very snappy with a 2.9Ghz AMD dual-core and 4GB of RAM.

cin_ · 12-06-2010, 05:08 AM

You're right, plasma-desktop does run markedly lean...

Code:

# top
 PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S  %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND   
2339 root      20   0  226m  22m  17m S    0  2.3   0:01.56  plasma-desktop

... that is without running anything else, so not implementing plasma, and also no Desktop Activities.

the_penguinator · 12-06-2010, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2handband

Fair enough... Mine is very snappy with a 2.9Ghz AMD dual-core and 4GB of RAM.

<ram_envy>
not meaning to be a smarta** here but wouldn't just about anything be snappy on a machine like that?
</ram_envy>

2handband · 12-06-2010, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_penguinator

<ram_envy>
not meaning to be a smarta** here but wouldn't just about anything be snappy on a machine like that?
</ram_envy>

Yeah, probably, but let's put it another way. The KDE 4.x resource usage has dropped to a point at which on a machine this hot there's no discernible performance difference between Xfce and KDE.