On the Etoile news blog, Quentin has posted an installation guide for the Etoile desktop environment. "Here are some quick instructions to build and install EtoileFirst you need to build and install latest GNUstep svn version (not the latest release), then you can build and install Etoile svn version too."
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Member since:2006-10-08
"[WindowMaker is] actually only emulating the look of NeXTstep, but it's written in plain C. It is in no way based on GNUstep and in fact conflicts with certain aspects of GNUstep."
As I understood, it is supposed to be the official windows manager of GNUstep... at least they share aspects according to the user interface.
"Not a replacement, but a supplement to run on standard PC's. The part about being free, means something to certain people and this can be an important aspect, if they don't want to use OSX."
Yes, I see. But it's a certain way to reach this goal.
"KDE and Gnome suffer from many design flaws that GNUstep and a suitable desktop like Étoilé has a chance to fix."
I just assumed this to be, I do not use KDE nor Gnome on a daily basis, but as far as I know KDE from live system CDs, much can be done to make it look like MacOS X in some aspects, but it surely is not a complete replacement for the UI elements (such as menu bar on top of screen).
"Then GNUstep came along and opened up to a possible free version. GNUstep's far superior underpinnings and the fact that it's modeled after an existing and well described framework that is known to work very well, makes it a great platform for writing applications and a good desktop environment with."
I'm aware of this potential, so I'm really considering using it, as I pointed out before.
"A desktop that can leap way ahead of KDE and Gnome."
At least if it offers nearly the same functionality (tools for common operations and system administration, networking support etc., just have a look at the comments in the article linked), and because of GNUstep as a viable base, I think it can offer these functionalities with less hardware requirements than Gnome or KDE.
Member since:2005-11-16
I just assumed this to be, I do not use KDE nor Gnome on a daily basis, but as far as I know KDE from live system CDs, much can be done to make it look like MacOS X in some aspects, but it surely is not a complete replacement for the UI elements (such as menu bar on top of screen).
Mimicking a look is relatively easy, implementing all the functionality and getting the same feel is something very different.
You just have to compare the Dock clones available for Linux with the real thing on Mac OS X to see what I mean. At a glance they can look almost identical, but start using them and the major differences become apparent as you hit inconsistencies and important missing features. Then there are the applications, you're missing out on 90% of the Mac OS X UI when not using applications that are designed for it. Overall the copy of Mac OS X possible on KDE/GNOME is almost entirely skin deep.
Of course the purpose of GNUstep isn't to provide a copy of the Mac OS X GUI on Linux. What it can provide is a desktop that's more customisable, which can look and feel like OS X if that's what you want. Whatever it looks like, it has the potential to provide a highly consistent desktop, with nice NeXTSTEP derived features that other Linux desktop environments lack.
Unfortunately it only really provides those benefits when running a set of GNUstep applications, and at the moment they're rather thin on the ground. With luck GNUstep will increase in popularity and the software situation will change over the next few years.
Member since:
2005-07-10
At home, I'm currently using WindowMaker (on a FreeBSD system), a very capable window manager based on GNUstep.
It's actually only emulating the look of NeXTstep, but it's written in plain C. It is in no way based on GNUstep and in fact conflicts with certain aspects of GNUstep.
Why is there the need to have a "MacOS X replacement"? I really don't understand it.
Not a replacement, but a supplement to run on standard PC's. The part about being free, means something to certain people and this can be an important aspect, if they don't want to use OSX.
Actually both KDE and Gnome can be given the look and feel of MacOS X, so why to have another one?
No, they really can't. KDE and Gnome suffer from many design flaws that GNUstep and a suitable desktop like Étoilé has a chance to fix.
In the early days, NeXTstep proved to have great potential as a very serious desktop, easily being 10 years ahead of the competition at the time, but the expensive hardware and software limited the widespread use of NeXTstep.
Then GNUstep came along and opened up to a possible free version. GNUstep's far superior underpinnings and the fact that it's modeled after an existing and well described framework that is known to work very well, makes it a great platform for writing applications and a good desktop environment with. A desktop that can leap way ahead of KDE and Gnome.