Lost installed softwares -- where are they?

The "plasmoids" are the colloquial jargon for desktop applets for the KDE desktop. To use them you need to use the KDE desktop system.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/KDE

Some software does not have a menu entry, and may just provide additional functionality for other programs (as in this case). Or they may only provide console tools (eg imagemagick)

How can I use the KDE desktop system? I read parts of the Wikipedia article you referred but can't still understand concretely what KDE actually is. What's the difference between GNOME and KDE? I always thought my nice looking, graphic Ubuntu desktop is GNOME. Is this not correct? By KDE do you mean the terminal?

KDE is an alternative desktop environment to Gnome and yes, Gnome is the default. You will need to install the kde-standard package to use KDE. Note that KDE is very large, and may take some time to download.

KDE is the software that draws the window borders, handles things like drag and drop, stacks windows on top of each other, and does things like tray notifications

When logging in, you can use the "sessions" button to choose either Gnome or KDE (you have to type your username first, press enter, but not enter your password (its pretty stupid, yes)).

Personally, I dislike the KDE desktop, and am happy enough with gnome. I find KDE too full of "bling", however everyone seems to have their own opinion. (I actually think Gnome needs to be more configurable).

Based on what you've just said I am concluding that it's not possible to run Gnome and KDE inside one another. You have to have two different sessions, correct?

Still I don't think my original question is necessarily related to KDE. There are other applications that I have downloaded and they're specifically for GNOME. Still they aren't anywhere to be found.

Take this example for instance: "Jalali calendar applet for the GNOME desktop." How can I use this thing?

Also, does anyone have a recommendation for a weather applet or software? I want to get a 7 day forecast of where I live. I have been having such a terrible time finding the right thing to download. Or whatever I download doesn't work or disappears.

Many thanks.

i'm using gnome and have installed kde apps which works fine.
it's just a matter of installing and seeing if each one works on the other desktop or not.
if most don't work on gnome, then definitely switch to kde.

>Take this example for instance: "Jalali calendar applet for the GNOME desktop." How can I use this thing?

As I said earlier, this extends functionality for another application -- in this case, the taksbar calender (it makes it work in Persian) Yes, I am not familiar with a general method of identifying how to use a program once it is installed. In this case, I looked at the installed files (using the advanced package installer "synaptic" System->adminstration->synaptic package manager, typed in jalali, then right click, properties, installed files), and noted that it did not provide a file in the program directories (/bin or /usr/bin). Also, doing an internet search showed me what it did, or pressing the "get screenshot" button can sometimes give a clue.

If you want a weather application, simply right click your panel, type "weather" into the box, then press "add". Then set your location by right clicking the applet that has appeared in your panel. However this does not display your forecast, it displays the immediate weather.

Getting forecast info is a little bit difficult, as you have to pay the forecasters to aggregate all the different locations in the world -- no-one does this for free AFAIK.

There is an advertising supported online tool called "forecastfox", which is a weather plugin for firefox -- you could try that.

http://www.getforecastfox.com/

The issue with the Jalali calendar and a few other applications I downloaded is not resolved but I am closing this query as I understand a few things that are more important. Thank you guys.