4 ms·

The biggest thing I find lacking in desktop UI is the ability to save and switch between states. We need the idea of project 'sessions' where I can open up the

by TrevorJ 11y ago

The biggest thing I find lacking in desktop UI is the ability to save and switch between states. We need the idea of project 'sessions' where I can open up the software I need to use, pull up the files I need, set my favorite folders, etc and then hit 'save' and be able to restore back to that setup at the click of a button. Right now, switching between projects means setting all that up every single time.

koduh 11y ago
I agree whole-heartedly. I was excited when I heard Windows 10 was adding multiple desktops, however I find they are quite lacking in use. For example if I want to move a single window of Notepad++ to a different desktop it moves all of the Notepad++ instances. On top of that, I really don't want all of my software always open in a separate desktop. There is no need for me to keep Photoshop open, using resources, while I have transitioned from work to play time. I'd much rather have a "working" session saved and a "gaming" session saved where-in different programs are auto opened when I start a session.
- dingo_bat 11y ago
  >For example if I want to move a single window of Notepad++ to a different desktop it moves all of the Notepad++ instances. I think this is a problem with Notepad++, because I can move around single instances of all other apps I tried (Chrome, VS, etc). >On top of that, I really don't want all of my software always open in a separate desktop. Ideally the user should not need to worry about "open" apps and the resources they are taking up just by being open (not doing any work). It is the app's and the OS's job to ensure that background apps do not use CPU for doing nothing and the memory management is good enough that you always have enough memory for what you wanna run NOW. And I think that is quite good in Windows 10 and OSX right now. I can have multiple VS projects, a couple of VMs, multiple SSH sessions, Outlook, couple of Office docs, ~30 tabs across several Chrome windows open and I can still create a new Desktop and play some Need for Speed when I reach home.
Flammy 11y ago
Hey Trevor, You should check out atlas.co and sign up for the beta for an invite. I'm currently working on this project, and it is exactly aimed at the problem you're describing. More details: techcrunch.com/2015/11/24/contextual-search-platform-atlas-is-ivy-softworks-first-spinoff/ www.geekwire.com/2015/innovation-studio-ivy-softworks-unveils-first-product-atlas-search-engine-digital-life/
- TrevorJ 11y ago
  Thank you for the reply! I will check this out. Interested in hearing more about this, seems like a challenging problem to solve!
  - Flammy 11y ago
    Absolutely, big problem and no existing solution. Would love to hear your thoughts once you get access :P
dragly 11y ago
I believe that is what KDE is trying to achieve with "activities".
- TuringTest 11y ago
  Certainly, but KDE activities are overtly complicated and lack a unifying metaphor. Last time I checked they were neither virtual desktops nor IDE workspaces; it was hard to think of an activity as a container that holds together all the instances of data related to a project. They interacted with open applications in weird ways, rather than having one instance of the application associated always to the same activity as you'd expect.
dredmorbius 11y ago
State preservation, generally, is a huge failing of computing. From losing my desktop arrangements in Linux between reboots (or even logins), to Web tools that lose comments and posts, etc. Being able to specify a workspace state and return to it is hugely significant. But that requires deep stateful awareness of pretty much every app, including terminals, and the command / console-mode tools running within them. But at the higher level, I'm liking what I'm seeing here.
- TrevorJ 11y ago
  Agreed, where this would be tough to implement would be with all the individual programs and their states/settings. I guess you could sort of get around that by running everything in a virtual environment potentially?
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    Eventually you've got to restart something. Virtualisation actually adds a layer of complexity. Strikes me that's going the wrong way.
Narishma 11y ago
I believe KDE has had support for sessions like that where it saves all your open applications, documents, folders and desktop widgets since at least KDE 4. You can switch between those sessions using the cashew thingy.
Too 11y ago
I found Virtual Machines to handle this quite neatly. I use windows as a host OS and I have to use desktop linux in a VM for some tasks, what i noticed was that once i don't have to do those tasks i just hibernate the VM and when i start working again i resume the whole VM exactly where i left it with all the required applications already running inside. If you were to use one VM per project though one obvious drawback is that you would have to maintain a whole bunch of OS installations. It's also a bit tricky to be disciplined and use the correct instance of an application if it exists in both the host OS and the guest OS (even more so if you are using seamless windowing mode), Firefox as example i prefer to use in the host, because that one has all my extensions installed, but that means all the tabs i open that are related to the project will spill over to the next session when i close the project and switch to play-mode.

by TrevorJ 11y ago

koduh 11y ago

I agree whole-heartedly. I was excited when I heard Windows 10 was adding multiple desktops, however I find they are quite lacking in use. For example if I want to move a single window of Notepad++ to a different desktop it moves all of the Notepad++ instances. On top of that, I really don't want all of my software always open in a separate desktop. There is no need for me to keep Photoshop open, using resources, while I have transitioned from work to play time. I'd much rather have a "working" session saved and a "gaming" session saved where-in different programs are auto opened when I start a session.

dingo_bat 11y ago
>For example if I want to move a single window of Notepad++ to a different desktop it moves all of the Notepad++ instances. I think this is a problem with Notepad++, because I can move around single instances of all other apps I tried (Chrome, VS, etc). >On top of that, I really don't want all of my software always open in a separate desktop. Ideally the user should not need to worry about "open" apps and the resources they are taking up just by being open (not doing any work). It is the app's and the OS's job to ensure that background apps do not use CPU for doing nothing and the memory management is good enough that you always have enough memory for what you wanna run NOW. And I think that is quite good in Windows 10 and OSX right now. I can have multiple VS projects, a couple of VMs, multiple SSH sessions, Outlook, couple of Office docs, ~30 tabs across several Chrome windows open and I can still create a new Desktop and play some Need for Speed when I reach home.

Flammy 11y ago

Hey Trevor, You should check out atlas.co and sign up for the beta for an invite. I'm currently working on this project, and it is exactly aimed at the problem you're describing. More details: techcrunch.com/2015/11/24/contextual-search-platform-atlas-is-ivy-softworks-first-spinoff/ www.geekwire.com/2015/innovation-studio-ivy-softworks-unveils-first-product-atlas-search-engine-digital-life/

TrevorJ 11y ago
Thank you for the reply! I will check this out. Interested in hearing more about this, seems like a challenging problem to solve!
- Flammy 11y ago
  Absolutely, big problem and no existing solution. Would love to hear your thoughts once you get access :P

dragly 11y ago

I believe that is what KDE is trying to achieve with "activities".

TuringTest 11y ago
Certainly, but KDE activities are overtly complicated and lack a unifying metaphor. Last time I checked they were neither virtual desktops nor IDE workspaces; it was hard to think of an activity as a container that holds together all the instances of data related to a project. They interacted with open applications in weird ways, rather than having one instance of the application associated always to the same activity as you'd expect.

dredmorbius 11y ago

State preservation, generally, is a huge failing of computing. From losing my desktop arrangements in Linux between reboots (or even logins), to Web tools that lose comments and posts, etc. Being able to specify a workspace state and return to it is hugely significant. But that requires deep stateful awareness of pretty much every app, including terminals, and the command / console-mode tools running within them. But at the higher level, I'm liking what I'm seeing here.

TrevorJ 11y ago
Agreed, where this would be tough to implement would be with all the individual programs and their states/settings. I guess you could sort of get around that by running everything in a virtual environment potentially?
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  Eventually you've got to restart something. Virtualisation actually adds a layer of complexity. Strikes me that's going the wrong way.

Narishma 11y ago

I believe KDE has had support for sessions like that where it saves all your open applications, documents, folders and desktop widgets since at least KDE 4. You can switch between those sessions using the cashew thingy.

Too 11y ago

I found Virtual Machines to handle this quite neatly. I use windows as a host OS and I have to use desktop linux in a VM for some tasks, what i noticed was that once i don't have to do those tasks i just hibernate the VM and when i start working again i resume the whole VM exactly where i left it with all the required applications already running inside. If you were to use one VM per project though one obvious drawback is that you would have to maintain a whole bunch of OS installations. It's also a bit tricky to be disciplined and use the correct instance of an application if it exists in both the host OS and the guest OS (even more so if you are using seamless windowing mode), Firefox as example i prefer to use in the host, because that one has all my extensions installed, but that means all the tabs i open that are related to the project will spill over to the next session when i close the project and switch to play-mode.