Note to self: tinker less with the desktop set up and just get some work done.
After seriously messing up the KDE Plasma desktop on my Debian box while adding a second monitor to the setup, I needed to reset the desktop and get some semblance of order again. Turns out that it took a bit of Googling to figure out so I thought I’d put the steps here so I can find them the next time I bust the desktop.
Start by firing up your favorite console. Then just enter these commands, no need to be root:
kquitapp plasma-desktop
rm ~/.kde/share/config/plasm* -fv
plasma-desktop &This stops the Plasma desktop making the desktop disappear, then removes the config files associated with Plasma, and finally starts the Plasma desktop as if it were the first time you are running it. This seem a bit drastic, but KDE Plasma has a lot of configurable pieces and if it goes sideways it’s a heck of lot easier to wipe it out and start over than it is to try and back it out.