Is this possible?

It would be so much easier to scroll along a 3200 pixel wide screen than to move from one 800 pixel-screen to the next and to the next. It would then also be possible to move only as far as your next widget or shortcut, i.e. stop halfway between screen 1 and screen 2.

I am a complete noob re Maemo but why are there 4 screens, and why not 1 very long one?

Hmmm good question but afaik its the way Linux in this case Debian based OS work you cant change that. Ubuntu has 4 desktops as well..not sure though

i was thinking the same thing the other day, then we could utilize the space between each desktop....more widgets and short cuts
or spread them out so that the screen looks less cluttered.

sometimes it's more convenient to scroll through seperate screens
so it would be cool to include a setting to switch between scroll modes... e.g continuous / set (dunno what to call the 4 desktop mode lol)

anyone think it's possible. would be like how the menu scrolls

it might be a possibility using Matan's modified-hildon-desktop package. i know it allows such features as disabling the desktop edit, allowing up to nine desktops ans well as mapping keyboard shortcuts to desktop functions. possibly there may also be a way to disable "snap" and institute a more smooth-scrolling desktop transition. just a though.

I always found 4 screens is the best solution. I can categorize my widgets and short-cuts so I only have to look in one place for all my web widgets for example.

How about if there are 'sticky points' that behaves like weak magnets only when the desktop is positioned near one of the (current) boundaries?

So if you scroll it slow enough, it'll 'click' into position like the current default boundaries... but if you scroll fast\strong, it's possible to scroll through 2-3 screens at a time.

The scrolling you are suggesting would be pretty awkward. When scrolling, you are pressing and holding. When releasing the pressure on the screen, you'd want the desktop to stop moving, so you can tap it to launch an app for example. It could work for some but you will have to 'concentrate' on how far you are sweeping instead of the 'easy-going' swipe-swipe, or swipe.

Also, some people want their desktop to be highly flexible i.e. other background for each desktop, or even geeky things like moving desktop (already existing for N900)

I truly don't see what the difference--or benefit--would be other than aesthetic choice. Seems awkward to me.

The meego internet tablet looked like it was continuing single screen. Looked nice

This is wrong on so many levels.

No reason you can't, but you'd have to be using a desktop that supports it. For a while I ran a 3 wide, 2 high desktop using fvwm on my N800 back in the day -- you could certainly do the same on an N900. You could probably, with enough work, also hack the hildon-desktop to support it (which is presumably what you're after), but you're talking a lot of work for IMO not much gain.

In practice, the main reason people use large virtual desktops is not so they can pan half-way between them and look at widgets in odd locations on the screen. It's usually so they can use an app with a larger than screen window (and in fact this was part of the reason I ran fvwm that way). Since windows in hildon are always full-screen, this doesn't apply, and I think most people would rather a given widget is either off-screen, or right where they put it, not moved because they only scrolled a half-screen.