So, how do I actually get rid of this widget. I can move it around, but I can't just get rid of it; and I poked around KDE's settings which I am sure I overlooked. I just want it gone!

Looks like when you exit KDE, it just hangs - been like this for minutes:

Ah, the infamous "cashew." I'm pretty sure that you cannot remove it in KDE 4. It is one of those interesting design decisions. You can remove it in Plasma 5. The best you can do in KDE 4 is hide it in a corner, unless I'm mistaken.

Edit: I just found this after a quick search. It sounds like a hack, but maybe it will work for you.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/2486...om-the-desktop

I hate that it cannot simply be removed. In the grand scheme of things, I will probably never use KDE - over all though it is ok - even memory usage it is around 532M per htop. I actually would love to use KDE, but honestly I just do not like Akonadi, and I shudder to think just how much more resource hungry KDE Plasma 5 is. Its still a nice looking DE, but I probably can get the same amount of functionality in GNOME MATE which is much lighter.

nvm.

It has been my experience that KDE5 uses less memory than KDE4.

If it's any consolation, you can use the KDE and Plasma window managers with Xfce, and possibly Mate as well. That gives you the benefit of a much more configurable window manager (allowing you to fine-tune window snapping, for example), while keeping your Xfce or Mate panel.

All you have to do is to login to KDE/Plasma and configure the window manager to your liking. Then replace xfwm4 with either kwin (kde4), kwin_x11 (plasma5, xorg) or kwin_wayland (plasma5, wayland) in the file below:

/etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml
Log out and then log in to Xfce. kwin should be your new window manager.

If the title bar fonts are too big you might need to edit /etc/environment as follows:

This probably requires a reboot.

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you can remove it, you have to remove a file somewhere in /usr/share, look for something named cashew*
EDIT: saw the link was posted already

Just a note, Jeebizz, KDE does not require Akonadi. Only some features do. If you don't use those features you can safely remove it from autostart, and if you later find you miss some function, it is easily put back. Gnome otoh is progressively locking in to Wayland and systemd, so if those concern you at all, beware. IIRC, Mate is based on older Gnome so may not be headed that way. You likely know more about that than I, as I don't care for Gnome at all.

Well in light of my recent experimentation with KDE4 I hereby retract that statement above.



yes I found that out if you see this post from another thread about KDE. I don't know anything about Wayland, as far as systemd is concerned this is what is worrying - these projects (GNOME, etc) should not be bending to the whims of systemd - as at that point how would such projects work properly in say a BSD? I do not use GNOME3 and no real interest in it as I just don't like how it looks and functions, I would rather use MATE then.