panel showing what's open

[pe1800]

Am a very happy user first of Mint 16 KDE and now of Mint 17 KDE. Except for one problem:

Unlike Mint 16 KDE and many other OSs, even Windows, 17 KDE does not show on the panel/task bar what is open allowing easy mouse click switching from one app window to another, whether on the same or different virtual desktops. Also, when minimizing a window it disappears and cannot be brought back by clicking on where it shows open on the panel. At first, it showed some kind of bars on the panel, without identifying the window, unstable when clicking on those. But now it shows not even that anymore. So the only way to switch desktops is with the Ctrl/ PFkey combination and minimizing the window is effectively the same as closing it.

I am puzzled! Thank you for your expert advice,
pe1800

[all41]

17 KDE does not show on the panel/task bar what is open

This is definitely not normal KDE panel operation.

At first, it showed some kind of bars on the panel

If you are saying this did not work when first installed then I would be suspicious of
the install itself or the install medium. Otherwise it may be due to some customization
or theme. I have definitely btdt and had to start over.

You can reset the plasma desktop along with the panel configurations by running this in a Konsole:

Code: Select all

kquitapp plasma-desktop && sleep 20s &&  mkdir -p $HOME/plasma-config/ && mv $(kde4-config --localprefix)/share/config/plasma-desktop* $HOME/plasma-config/ && plasma-desktop &

This will unload the plasma environment. It then creates a folder in your HOME directory named plasma-config and moves your configuration files to that folder. Then it re-initiates the plasma desktop using the default configuration files.
When you run the script your desktop will go black (you will still see your terminal)--after the 20 second pause the script will finish.
Leave the terminal open and log out--then log back in.
You will have to add back any applets and appearance customizations.
I would want to compare the default config files with the ones moved to the home folder to try to key in on the problem.