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OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/19782/Review_Equinox_Desktop_Environment_1_2 Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:21:02 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com high hopes http://osnews.com/thread?315381 http://osnews.com/thread?315381 If not drag&drop issue, i'd like to test it on my PII Fri, 23 May 2008 13:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Punktyras) Comments Equinox http://osnews.com/thread?315391 http://osnews.com/thread?315391 I tried it out once, in STX Linux, made for older hardware. it seemed like a "liter" version of XFCE. it was nice, but i do perfer XFCE to Equinox Fri, 23 May 2008 15:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SoloDeveloper) Comments Reminiscent of Windows... http://osnews.com/thread?315413 http://osnews.com/thread?315413 I think this DE shows great promise, especially to Windows refugees. The entire desktop seems reminiscent to Windows (of various vintages) and that's not a bad thing. This would be great for users who want a familiar environment or those using older hardware. Overall another great alternative to the "Big 3": Gnome, KDE, XFCE... Fri, 23 May 2008 16:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cmost) Comments Mandriva http://osnews.com/thread?315416 http://osnews.com/thread?315416 EDE 1.2 is packaged for Mandriva, with some customizations to fit in better and use more appropriate applications in its (hardcoded!) 'Start' menu, and a task-ede package which installs EDE plus all the applications listed on the Start menu. Any Mandriva users wanting to try it out, just make sure your repos are configured and install 'task-ede'. Fri, 23 May 2008 17:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AdamW) Comments FLTK ... http://osnews.com/thread?315501 http://osnews.com/thread?315501 It was at version 1.1x with 2.0 being in beta, supposedly coming around the corner. That was in mid 2002 when I took a look at it.

Guess v2.0 is still around the corner. Sat, 24 May 2008 10:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (evangs) Comments nice GUI http://osnews.com/thread?315532 http://osnews.com/thread?315532 It is good to see that the GUI from Window 95 is making a come back. It is kind of nostalgic to see it in action on Linux. ;-) Sat, 24 May 2008 19:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (buff) Comments EDE has potential... http://osnews.com/thread?315561 http://osnews.com/thread?315561 Being a longtime Windows user myself from Win95 all the way up until XP just a couple years ago, EDE had me interested from the start. I recall using it in STX, and while nice, it needed polish--which I expected it to get eventually. I later compiled it from source in my distro of choice, Zenwalk, and after fiddling around with it, I got it to start.

Now, I've compiled the latest version and installed it... and I'm stuck in the exact same place: actually getting it to start. Simply "add startede to .xinitrc" as the directions say doesn't work (I've tried adding to both the beginning and the end); Xfce still starts. Doing too many changes to the file leads to X not starting at all. Hopefully I get it soon, or I'll give up. I'm not finding much help searching Google. It doesn't add itself as an option to xwmconfig, either.

I think this is EDE's biggest problem... it aims to be an easy, familiar, Windows-like interface... but virtually no distros support it, meaning compile-and-screw-around-trying-to-get-it-to-work if you really want to try it. STX showed potential, but the project completely lost sight of its goals and went to hell... from being a lean and unique Slackware/EDE-based distro, to just another Slack with Xfce (why? There are already plenty...), to (even worse...) PCLinuxOS with Xfce (now known as SaxenOS, btw).Edited 2008-05-25 11:49 UTC Sun, 25 May 2008 11:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (UZ64) Comments Lightweight Desktop Environments http://osnews.com/thread?315573 http://osnews.com/thread?315573 I'm always keeping an eye out for lightweight DE's to help speed up my laptop (not that old, 1.7Ghz, 512RAM) and to help keep it remain snappy. I managed to install an older version of EDE, and it seems okay but the hardcoded menus killed it, since I dont like going back and re-editing the entire men. But I did manage to find out that LXDE is back on track for anyone looking for a good alternative to EDE. Sun, 25 May 2008 16:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TheIdiotThatIsMe) Comments RE: EDE has potential... http://osnews.com/thread?315585 http://osnews.com/thread?315585

Now, I've compiled the latest version and installed it... and I'm stuck in the exact same place: actually getting it to start. Simply "add startede to .xinitrc" as the directions say doesn't work (I've tried adding to both the beginning and the end); Xfce still starts.

Maybe the instruction isn't clear enough. Your ~/.xinitrc may only contain one (!) statement to start the desired window manager. It should be the last line in this file and should look like this:

exec startede

Look out for a prior "exec xfce" or "exec xfwm" statement and comment this line out.

Further explaination (for educational purposes): The file ~/.xinitrc is processed when X is started. It may contain many lines, usually ending with &, to start a program "in the background", or do other settings. Example:

xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc
xterm -title "Terminal" &
xbiff -geometry 50x50+0+716 &
exec wmaker

All the lines are executed, and the X server finally starts the program specified by exec. The server runs as long as this program runs - usually the window manager or the desktop environment. When the program exits, X exits, too.

Doing too many changes to the file leads to X not starting at all.

I think this depends on the kind of the changes. :-) Maybe you should look for a xinitrc script with higher precedence if you feel that your local changes (local to your user) don't take effect.

Hopefully I get it soon, or I'll give up. I'm not finding much help searching Google. It doesn't add itself as an option to xwmconfig, either.

I hope I could help you a bit, at least by giving a starting point.

I think this is EDE's biggest problem... it aims to be an easy, familiar, Windows-like interface... [...]

You can achieve a similar goal by using IceWM with a customized theme, if you like it old fashioned. :-) Sun, 25 May 2008 21:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Doc Pain) Comments