ads' corner - KDE

konsole in KDE 4 with fixed size

nospam@example.com (Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:24:00 +0100

Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum

The (for me) most annoying "feature" in KDE 4 was the konsole behaviour: every new window was opened in the last saved size. Those who (like me) open dozens of terminal windows each and every day will understand the annoyance of this non-deterministic behaviour. In addition, early KDE 4 versions always ignored the default settings for the window size (and also ignored the according commandline parameters), priority was given to the saved session data.

In the meanwhile (KDE 4.3) the software was improved and with some manipulations konsole can be forced to start with a fixed size.

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Start multiple ssh sessions with KDE konsole

nospam@example.com (Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:52:00 +0200

Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum

I have shell accounts on different servers. Sometimes - especially if new Debian/Ubuntu/Redhat/Fedora updates are available - i have to open a ssh session to each server. That takes time and too much keyboard clicks and being a lazy admin i thought this job can be scripted.

Last year i switched from my long-time favourite windowmanager fvwm2 to KDE. Given the fact that most of my work is still done using a terminal i decided to give "konsole" a chance and found that this tool has some nice advantages compared to the simple xterm which i used before. One lovely feature is the tabbing functionality, another one the integrated scripting which can be used with "dcop" (Desktop Communication Protocol).

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Remove entries from "Run command" history in KDE

nospam@example.com (Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:28:44 +0200

Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum

Sometimes i use the "Run command" functionality in KDE (Alt+F2) to start a program - that's faster than clicking all the way through the menu until i found the entry and given the fact that the dialog is saving a history i usually only type one or two characters and have the full command line available. But the command history grows by and by - and sometimes i want to remove old and no longer used entries (like gaim which is pidgin now). That's not possible *ouch* at least not in the "Run command" dialog or in the preferences. The Mozilla/Firefox-way (shift+del) also does not work.

Time to descend into the personal .kde directory and dig in some config files ...

The file in question is: ~/.kde/share/config/kdesktoprc and if you open the file in your favoured editor you can see (among others) a section named "MiniCli". Remove the no longer needed items from CompletionItems and History and save the file - but take care that KDE is not changing the file in the meantime. My own background changer (which set's a new background every minute) is such a candicate - so KDE is updating this file and your saving would overwrite the file.

The changes take effect after the next login.

Direct connection between water boiler and kteatime

nospam@example.com (Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum) — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:32:30 +0200

Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum

I need a direct connection between my electric water boiler in the kitchen and kteatime on my laptop.

Sometimes i just forget to start kteatime and minutes later i look at my cup and think "oh censored you forgot again to remove the tea bag".

So, anybody willing to implement the hardware part? ;-) Maybe a small ISB device with bluetooth or wireless? g Should be a must-have for anyone who drinks tea.

Binding external programs on keybord shortcuts in KDE

nospam@example.com (Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:05:48 +0100

Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum

It's not entirely clear, how to bind in KDE an external program without KDE support on a keyboard shortcut, the "System Settings -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts" has no such option.

You have to start "kcontrol", go to "Regional & Accessibility" and choose "Input Actions". There you can create a new entry with "New Action". For the "Action type" field you have to select "Keyboard shortcut -> Command/URL (simple)". The second tab now let's you select the keyboard sequence, in the third tab you can enter the commandline program with options. Don't forget to apply the changes!

Voila.