Ximian announced today that its distribution of GNOME, Ximian Desktop, is now availalble for Mandrake 8.1, Yellow Dog 2.1, and SuSE 7.3 among other Linux or Unix distributions. LinuxLaboratory features a review of the Ximian Desktop 1.4. In the meantime, six new GNOME 2.0 screenshots have been placed on the GNOME dot.plan site.
Ximian Review and More Gnome 2 Screenshots
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Gnome 2.0 is starting to look good. Hopefully with some new themes it will look even better. Ximian is doing some excellent work with it. Although I have to say that even on my new Sun Blade 100 Evolution is extremelly slow. Hopefully they’ll optimize it a bit in the future.
It’s starting to shape up so it’s usable. I don’t get off on having to customize things on a command line. I thought that we got over that with DOS. Let’s not make the same mistakes.
King Fisher
-nooffence
Yeah anyway, So has anyone started on a LiteStep type ‘shell’ for these craptastic bloated Linux ‘desktop envoroments’ yet?
> Yeah anyway, So has anyone started on a LiteStep type ‘shell’ for these craptastic bloated Linux ‘desktop envoroments’ yet?
Yeah, it’s called a ‘window manager’. There are heaps of them. Notable ones include Enlightenment, WindowMaker, Fluxbox and IceWM.
But nothing like LiteStep?
Before anyone whines about how ugly the screenshots are (and I’d agree with you), you should remember that these are development screenshots. They are made to showcase what GNOME can do, not how pretty it can look (that comes later).
<tt>> But nothing like LiteStep?</tt>
From the http://www.litestep.com“>LiteStep :
<blockquote>LiteStep is a shell loosely resembling the well known AfterStep shell</blockquote>
So LiteStep is like AfterStep, not the other way around. AfterStep is a *NIX window manager, and has been available on GNU/Linux for ages. GNUStep/WindowMaker is also similar.
All of these are originally derived from The NextStep UI.
Yeah I knew that but by looks(and also extensive use)
A few random AfterStep themes.
<a href=”http://afterstep.planetmirror.com/screenshots/Challenge-big.jpg“>…
<a href=”http://afterstep.planetmirror.com/screenshots/[email protected]…
<a href=”http://afterstep.planetmirror.com/screenshots/[email protected]…
A few random LiteStep themes.
<a href=”http://www.litestep.net/zoom.php?id=501&type=theme&action=full“>…
<a href=”http://www.litestep.net/zoom.php?id=492&type=theme&action=full“>…
<a href=”http://www.litestep.net/zoom.php?id=428&type=theme&action=full“>…
<a href=”http://www.litestep.net/zoom.php?id=139&type=theme&action=full“>…
LiteStep may be derived from the AfterStep look, but it’s functionality, versatility and customization has passed that and every other *nix *Step by quite a bit…
Search on google for it. I’ve heard it exists.
Wow, LiteStep has improved by leaps and bounds since I last used it (a few years ago, just before I dumped WinDOS for GNU/Linux). It appears to me that you’re looking for a desktop that is highly configurable aesthetically. In that case, <a href=”http://www.enlightenment.org/“>Enlightenment is probably the best for you. The current version is 16.5, but it hasn’t been updated much in the past year or so. This is because most of the development effort is going into the next version, 17.0. E17 will be a huge improvement over 16.5, turning Enlightenment into a desktop shell, not just a window manager. A desktop shell is more functional than a window manager (e.g. WindowMaker), but not as bulky as a desktop environment (e.g. GNOME and KDE).
Enlightenment is GNOME-compatible (in fact, it was GNOME’s default window manager before GNOME 1.2), so you can run GNOME (or just the GNOME Panel if you like) on top of it.
Notice none of the litestep themes show any applications running. This is because when it comes to theming applications, litestep falls on its ass. In short, don’t even bother. Get windowsxp, get stylexp, get some real themes, be done with it.
Want minimalism? Want speed? Want highly configurable themes? GET BLACKBOX!
Hear Hear !
i used to use linux (cause it was on my other box.) but when i got my laptop it came with windows xp, and yes i tried to install mandrake once and then realised… wait xp came with the system so i’ll try it. what a piece of crap it is (using xp as i’m typing this). i noticed that xp is extremely crash prone (seeing how i crashed the sucker 8 time in 9 days(and i’m using this like any os i get. like when i had linux). i also noticed how it lacked any really good customizability of it’s unterface(course i was used to using gnu/linux’s wm’s and so the xp interface might be impressive… to someone who used dos maybe) . it only came with two themes (themes i’d consider as themes, like wm’s would have) and i tried looking for more only finding that ms would like you to get those themes threw ms. more money out of pocket.
from using linux i learned that most WM’s and enviroments on the ‘*nix’ operating systems are far better than the osx or xp interfaces in customizability and cost. i also figured that one thing that xp and osx lack is multiple interfaces like i’ve seen on most ‘*nix’ operating systems. (though i’ve seen one for windows. but then that would be more of a lack of multiple interfaces.)
course i didn’t say the ‘*nix’ wm’s are easy to customize. just that their more flexible.
my two cents.
http://www.themexp.org. You can find a few hundred themes there. Change those widgets ’till you’re blue in the face.
BTW *doze ‘interface’ is explorer.exe. Quite a few clowns have replaced it with their own ‘versions’ or ‘hacks’.
One of the downfalls of *nix’s vast array of interfaces is that all the cutesy ones are scripted in lisp or some other dog language which results in windowing operations being slow as molasses (nevermind X is outdated). At least some (i.e. blackbox) are well coded, light on memory, and snappy in operation.
BTW who cares about themes. I prefer to get work done and have an interface that is not in my way, or slowing me down.
>are scripted in lisp or some other dog language
>which results in windowing operations being slow
>as molasses
Examples? Proof? Liar?
> (nevermind X is outdated)
Examples? Proof? Liar?
> Examples? Proof? Liar?
> Examples? Proof? Liar?
Stuck record?
Everyone knows X is outdated for many purposes. If it wasn’t, we would not have any projects being worked on to replace it as a core. (Berlin, Y, W, NanoGUI, XAX, etc.) All but a few of the window managers are inefficient in more ways than one, especially those with heavily weighted themes and/or bloated features. (Blackbox vs E vs Gnome) If you don’t know this, you lack a clue. Or you are a windows user.
<blockquote>Everyone knows X is outdated for many purposes. If it wasn’t, we would not have any projects being worked on to replace it as a core. (Berlin, Y, W, NanoGUI, XAX, etc.)</blockquote>
Y isn’t being worked on. Berlin isn’t at the same level of X (it passes it occasionally in primitives but can use any framebuffer). NanoGUI and XAX serve different purposes.
But even if all this weren’t true (and it is), your reasoning is flawed. Because there are alternatives the original is broken?
That’s not evidence. That’s not even close.
People come up with alternatives for the single reason that they want to make a better mousetrap. Don’t try sidestep your own bogus arguments. Thank you, drive through.
How is my argument bogus?
I am not saying that the alternatives aren’t better or worse, or anything.
Notice none of the litestep themes show any applications running. This is because when it comes to theming applications, litestep falls on its ass. In short, don’t even bother. Get windowsxp, get stylexp, get some real themes, be done with it.
Bleah. LiteStep isn’t about app theming; it’s basically a .dll loader that replaces the task bar, systray, and desktop as well as adding many other functions, such as pop-up menus. You use say; Window blinds to theme the apps. LiteStep is all about making a functional UI for your particular needs. Unlike all the *steps, LS allows placing the modules anywhere on screen with any parameters (location, size, color, background, transparency, etc), easily modified from the themes .rc filenot the LS .rc itself. A Linux LiteStep using say, IceWM would be perfect. Maybe even just a bastardized Fluxbox…