How to have multiple workspaces in kicksecure/whonix

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[user ~]% mkdir ~/.config/labwc
[user ~]% cat ~/.config/labwc/rc.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<labwc_config>
    <keyboard>
        <default />
        <keybind key="C-A-Right"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="right" wrap="yes" toggle="no"/> </keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-Left"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="left" wrap="yes" toggle="no"/> </keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-1"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="1"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-2"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="2"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-3"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="3"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-4"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="4"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-5"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="5"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-6"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="6"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-7"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="7"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-8"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="8"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-9"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="9"/></keybind>
        <keybind key="C-A-0"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="10"/></keybind>
    </keyboard>
    <desktops number="10">
        <names>
                <name>1</name>
                <name>2</name>
                <name>3</name>
                <name>4</name>
                <name>5</name>
                <name>6</name>
                <name>7</name>
                <name>8</name>
                <name>9</name>
                <name>10</name>
        </names>
        <initial>1</initial>
        <popupTime>1000</popupTime>
     </desktops>
</labwc_config>
[user ~]% labwc -r

keybinds:

  • ctrl + alt + left : go to left workspace
  • ctrl + alt + right : go to right workspace
  • ctrl + alt + 5 : go to fifth workspace

this was driving me crazy but figured that out now, imo it’d be great if it were put in the whonix/kicksecure images by default, because it was there by default back on xfce

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2

Looks very cool, note that you have a typo (missing > in </names), and the config also adds a keybinding for rebooting the system.

I’m not sure this would be good as a default because it’s not very discoverable. The user likely won’t know the feature exists until they (or their cat/dog/other pet) accidentally presses Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow on their keyboard, at which point they’ll think “whoa, where did all my apps go?” and not know how to get back to the primary desktop.

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fixed, forgot to edit those out. i’ll let other people comment on it but personally this was a feature i was using all the time back on KS17/whonix17 i’m assuming i wasnt alone but your call :slight_smile:

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The difficulty is that in KS 17, there was a widget in the taskbar that showed you what desktop you were on, and that widget could be used to switch between desktops. Sadly, in Debian Trixie, that same widget is broken when using the labwc Wayland compositor, so it isn’t an easily seen and used feature anymore.

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I want to throw my hat in for supporting including this in hopes that the widget will show up once the issue resolves outside of whonix via upstream etc. In the meantime this would be nice even if you cant see the workspace widget to have.

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So I dont know much about wayland but reading up on ext_workspace_v1 in relation to workspaces. It mentions state, name, and id. Am I understanding correctly that labwc doesn’t natively support id only name and state?

Rather or is the LXQt workspace widget/feature in question falls backs to Xwayland is related to this behavior?

Help me understand more plz if you can.

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Due to Debian’s strict policies when it comes to software updates in stable releases, it is very unlikely this will be fixed until the release of Debian Forky, which Whonix 19 will be based on. We could revisit adding the feature at that time, or if we discover the issue is resolved in a stable release update, we could look at it then. Enabling the feature before it works will cause confusion though, as mentioned earlier:

No idea. You’d need to read the source code of labwc and lxqt-panel to find out.

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