10.08.13
Posted in GNOME, GNU/Linux at 2:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Signs of encouraging progress in the GNOME project
The Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation recently spoke in an interview [1] with Andrew Gregory and Graham Morrison of Tux Radar. The GNOME desktop is finding more acceptance from users [2] and from developers [3,4] and as GNOME 3.10 comes near [5,6] with new changes and applications [7,8] it seems clear that GNOME’s future — just like KDE’s — is secured.
The “G” in GNOME stands for GNU and it seems safe to say that the project escaped the clutch of Mono and is now led by a person closely connected to the FSF (through the SFLC). Red Hat (through Fedora) is still the main steward. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
Andrew Gregory and Graham Morrison talk to Karen Sandler, Executive Director of the Gnome Foundation, and hear some rather more compelling arguments for software freedom than clever acronyms and numbering systems that start at 0 rather than 1.
-
Since its inception not long ago, the new GNOME 3.x series has confused some and frustrated others, but more often than not, it has also managed to conquer those few who actually got past the initial quirks and gave it a fair chance. Similarly, its desktop environment, simply dubbed Shell, left a lot to be desired in the early days, mostly because the customization options had been thrown out the window in favor of a to-the-point approach which meant to remove distractions. Unfortunately, such approach was certainly too closed to survive in the Linux realm.
-
With another day comes more improvements to the Linux desktop running atop Wayland. While yesterday saw Enlightenment on Wayland work, today already is some GNOME Wayland activity ahead of the GNOME 3.10 release in just a few weeks time.
-
In GNOME Software, we show a list of applications for each category that we think are frikin’ awesome. Some have AppData, and some don’t. For the ones that don’t yet have AppData it leaves the responsibility of writing the long description to the Linux community, where we can push the data back to upstream so that all the distributions can benefit. So far we’ve had a superb reaction from lots of upstream projects.
-
The open-source GNOME desktop is one of the primary desktops in use on Linux operating systems today. The GNOME 3.10 desktop, which was officially released Sept. 25, provides users with a number of user interface enhancements as well as new applications and under-the-hood improvements for developers. In total, more than 30,000 changes were made in GNOME 3.10, with over 1,000 individuals contributing to the new release. On the user interface front, there is a new system status area that provides a more unified view of the user’s system. In terms of new software applications, the GNOME 3.10 release starts right at the beginning with a new “Software” application to help users to explore and find new software. As part of the release, GNOME developers have also introduced a new “Maps” application that pulls data from the open-source OpenStreetMap project. Plus, there is a new Web browser aptly named “Web” that advances GNOME’s browser technology, formerly known as Epiphany. In this slide show, eWEEK takes a look at what is new and what is improved in the open-source GNOME 3.10 desktop.
-
As usual, Fedora tracks GNOME releases closely. Last week, Fedora 20 Alpha shipped with a GNOME 3.10 prerelease, and today have just landed the final 3.10.0 builds, one day after the official upstream release.
-
This week prior to the GNOME 3.10 release also marked the release of GNOME-Panel 3.8 and GNOME-Flashback-Session 3.8. The “GNOME Flashback” project is about revitalizing the GNOME 3 “fallback” session experience found in earlier 3.x releases for cases where no 3D hardware acceleration was available.
-
There’s a new GNOME application that experienced its first release this morning: GNOME Logs. While there’s a lot of work left on the project, GNOME Logs is to serve as a centralized log viewer for the systemd journal on the GNOME desktop.
The GNOME Logs program is a utility displaying detailed system event information that can be filtered, searched, and further analyzed in the investigation of system problems.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in GNU/Linux at 1:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Arch Linux 2013.10.01 has been released
Arch Linux 2013.10.01 has been released [1] with new software [2] and core changes [3], even derivatives [4] that use lightweight desktop environments like [5-7]. The argument made by Arch proponents is that performance and overall experience improve when one builds and customises one’s own GNU/Linux distribution.
The Arch Wiki says it is a “general purpose GNU/Linux distribution versatile enough to suit any role.” Many people I know are now using Arch for this reason. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
Today, October 1, 2013, the Arch Linux developers unveiled the monthly ISO image of their powerful and popular operating system, Arch Linux 2013.10.01.
-
-
-
The ArchBang Linux operating system is based on the Arch Linux distribution and maintains a rolling release upgrade model.
[...]
My experience with ArchBang was, in a word, sparse, with few features and no bugs.
-
Well the obvious way is to install theme enabling this feature. However, you may want to tweak just a certain feature or customize the default look.
-
Sugar is a free and open source desktop environment which can be installed on a variety of operating systems, including several Linux distributions and within virtual machines on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The goal of this desktop environment is to help kids all over the world in their learning activities. Sugar was initially released May 2006, the actual stable release is 0.98.5 which was released on March 8 2013, five months ago. Sugar is still in development Sugar Labs and it is written in Python, PyGTK, GTK+.
-
For those of us who are waiting for the new version of Elive to come out, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the Elive project has a new site.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in GNU/Linux, KDE at 1:04 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The latest news from the world of KDE, bundled together
KDE, the powerful desktop environment for GNU/Linux, is changing its release structure [1] after its most recent release [2] which brought Plasma Active to more form factors than before [3]. With Frameworks 5 [4] seemingly imminent (Qt5 makes it so) to excite users [5] because core parts are actively developed [6,7] along with peripheral programs [8,9] and various other bits [10-13], the future of KDE looks bright.
Akademy 2014 is also coming [14], promising to help bring KDE developers from different parts of the world of KDE (it is treated specially in Europe [15] and Asia [16]) and many choice remain for people who want a distribution with KDE preinstalled [17].
Regular users of KDE may know that the project no longer focuses just on desktops and laptops. Adaptations are intended to address shifting market dynamics, but inherently, applications remain the same. For phones and tablets that are as powerful and versatile like desktops, KDE is essential. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
-
Today KDE released updates for its Workspaces, Applications and Development Platform. These updates are the first in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the 4.11 series. As was announced on the release, the workspaces will continue to receive updates for the next two years. This release only contains bugfixes and translation updates and will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone.
-
The KDE Community announces the release of Plasma Active 4 (PA4). Plasma Active is a user experience technology stack for consumer electronics. While the default user interface is for tablets, it can be customized to work on smartphones, settop boxes, smart TVs, and touch computing devices such as home automation and in-vehicle infotainment. There are major new improvements to the Files application, an overhaul of the on-screen keyboard and a completely free and open source system based on the Mer Core. The Plasma Active team invites involvement from people who want to participate in the widespread movement towards mobile computing on open platforms.
-
A recent Dot article explained changes in the KDE release cycle that will be happening with the upcoming introduction of Frameworks 5. The changes to KDE’s core libraries are enough to warrant a name change from ‘Platform’ to ‘Frameworks’. This article provides some background, an overview of the changes, and the benefits and improvements that can be expected from KDE Frameworks 5 for the entire Qt community. A later article will address Frameworks 5 benefits for KDE developers.
-
-
One of my personal adjustments to KWin is using the top right screen edge as a trigger for the Desktop Grid effect. With the switch to KWin on 5 this hasn’t worked for me any more as we don’t have code in place to transfer the old configuration to the new system.
-
KDELast week Björn Balazs posted of the results in a user survey with the goal of redesigning the KScreen multi-monitor configuration interface. After taking all the data into account, new mock-ups have been designed and posted. However, Aaron Seigo said that power settings are “fine” but do not need to be in the main interface confusing users.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Back in the last months of 2010, the ALERT Project began. Partly funded under the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme, the project followed in the footsteps of research efforts such as NEPOMUK. Its objectives were to help open source developers to work more effectively and to produce better software by improving bug tracking, resolution and software quality tools.
-
Free and Open Source Software in Taiwan has made impressive strides thanks to the work of the ‘ezgo’ team. They have put together a pre-configured set of Free and Open Source (FOSS) software that makes it easy for teachers and students to get up and running. The New Taipei City government has decided to install ezgo 11 on 10,000 PCs for elementary schools, bringing thousands of students in contact with Linux, KDE and educational Free Software. The ezgo team has written up an account of ezgo and how it came to be.
-
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous Page « Previous Page Next entries »
Content is available under CC-BY-SA