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Helix Code Launched, Gnome Packages Available
From Nat:
Hello everyone!
We are proud to introduce "McKinley," the first preview of the Helix GNOME desktop. This is a beta release of the Helix Code GNOME distribution. The URL for Helix GNOME is:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/
The purpose of this distribution is to simplify the task of installing a fully featured, up-to-date version of GNOME on your favorite GNU/Linux distribution. You can now experience all the joy and all the excitement that goes into the wonderful world of GNOME without agonizing through long, arduous build processes.
Helix GNOME includes all of the core GNOME packages and a number of extras. The entire Helix GNOME desktop is pre-configured to be as attractive and simple as possible. You can see some screenshots here:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/screenshots.php3
Currently the Helix GNOME desktop is available for the following operating systems:
- Red Hat Linux 6.0 and 6.1
- SuSE Linux 6.3
- LinuxPPC 2000
- Linux Mandrake 6.1 and 7.0
- Caldera OpenLinux 2.3
In the next few weeks we will be releasing an updated version that will include support for other Linux distributions and other Unix systems. And of course, we're constantly adding packages to the build system and releasing new packages as new versions of the GNOME software become available.
How to install
--------------
We have made installing the full Helix GNOME desktop as easy as
possible. You just need to download the Helix installer program, and
it will take care of it for you:
You can find installation instructions at:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/download.php3
Mailing lists
-------------
If you want to subscribe to our announcements mailing lists, drop a message to:
announce-request@helixcode.com
And in the subject of the message put "subscribe". If you want to join the list of beta testers for the Helix GNOME distribution, send mail to:
beta-request@helixcode.com
A complete list of our mailing lists is available at:
http://www.helixcode.com/about/lists.php3
Questions and Answers regarding the Helix GNOME Desktop
------------------------------------------------------
Q: What does Helix Code do?
A:Helix Code is an open source software company devoted to improving GNOME, the leading desktop environment for Linux. We want to make GNOME the best desktop on the planet, and make it available to everyone.
Helix Code believes strongly in the importance of free software, which is why all of our software is licensed under the GNU GPL, and why all development is done in the public GNOME CVS repository.
Our main task is producing free applications for GNOME. Evolution is our first project: a groupware communications suite which includes an advanced mail client, calendar software and address book service.
We are also developing and improving the Gnumeric spreadsheet. Besides that, we maintain a number of core and peripheral packages of the GNOME system.
Q: What is the Helix GNOME Desktop?
A: Helix GNOME is a service offered to the GNOME user community by Helix Code, Inc.
The purpose of this distribution is to make it easy for end-users to install a fully-featured GNOME desktop on their favorite Unix system.
Q: Is this "Helix GNOME Desktop" another GNU/Linux distribution?
A: No, Helix GNOME is an add-on to your existing GNU/Linux distribution. You need an existing GNU/Linux system to run Helix GNOME.
Q: Is Helix GNOME free?
A: Yes, Helix GNOME is completely free. We are just packaging the latest and greatest versions of the various GNOME tools and making them as easy as possible for people to use.
As with other free software, you get the freedom to copy the software, modify the software, redistribute the software, and redistribute modified versions of the software.
Q: Can I buy a copy of Helix GNOME on a CD?
A: Helix GNOME will be available on CD in April.
Q: Does Helix GNOME distribution include support for Debian/Corel Linux?
A: Not yet, but we plan on supporting these systems in the near future.
Q: Does the Helix GNOME distribution include support for BSD?
A: The initial release of the Helix GNOME distribution does not include support for the free BSD systems, but we are on it.
Q: Will you provide timely updates to the various GNOME packages?
A: Yes, we will. GNOME is constantly under development. Whenever a new version of any piece of GNOME software is released, the dutiful hackers at Helix Code will do our best to make a packaged version available to you as quickly as possible.
Better still, the "Helix Update" application allows you to automatically update your GNOME desktop from the Helix web site whenever new packages become available. You can read more about Helix Update here:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/updater.php3
Q: Are you improving GNOME, or just shipping binaries?
A: The Helix GNOME desktop includes a number of improvements and patches that have been posted to public mailing lists, or have been committed to the GNOME CVS repository (but might not have been yet released to the public in source package format). This is all in the interests of making the best possible desktop experience available to GNOME users.
The Helix hackers are also constantly improving GNOME and the various GNOME tools, libraries and components and submitting patches to the various maintainers of those packages.
Helix Code employees actively maintain a huge number of GNOME packages, including: Bonobo, Achtung, Gnumeric, Go, Erdos, libzvt, gnome-terminal, gnome-core, gnome-applets, bug-buddy, gmc, gdk-pixbuf, eof, gnome canvas, evolution, gb, gtkhtml, gnome-vfs, camel, gnome-pim, glade, libibex, and others.
Q: Ok, I give up. What's spidermonkey?
A: Yes.
Enjoy!
The Helix Code Team
http://www.helixcode.com
The GNOME project only releases packages in source format. There are no updated packages released in a timely fashion, nor they are easy to install (one of the main complaints from users).
It is not about a fork. Everything in Helix GNOME is either a released package, or a released package with patches applied to it to customize it for your specific system.
This means that Helix GNOME has been tuned for your particular GNU/Linux distribution.
Regarding Visual Basic support in GNOME: it is true, we are developing a sandboxed interpreter of Visual Basic for GNOME, as it is required if you want complete Excel and Word compatibility.
Sadly, the Word doc files and Excel XLS files are the standard these days. Not our nice and beautiful XML-based file formats. So, for the sake of the users, we are providing full compatibility with the existing systems.
The sanboxed GNOME Basic is designed to avoid security problems and denial of service attacks.
If a user can not use his word document or his excel spreadsheet because it contained some visual basic macros, the wrong answer is "Visual Basic is Evil" (or any variation on that). The user will just go back to use his working Excel/Word applications and wait until the free software people get a clue.
So just like Microsoft had to use TCP/IP for its communications instead of their own protocols (as TCP/IP was the standard), we need to interoperate with the existing standard (and yes, it happens to be a Microsoft-defined one). But so it goes, it is not the end of the world.
Best wishes,
Miguel.
You can (or, possibly, can't) find out more at http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/.
The above server is referenced in their xml files.
There - clear as mud.
...j
I wish hehe. I'm just a 17 year old guy thats a tad too nosy when it comes to my favorite free software projects. Hey, you can hire me if you think I'm that good though.
kfort
with all these companies announcing gnome
enhancements, i wonder what the big picture
looks like?
any idea how these different projects will
work together? or do they have different
objectives? afaik, everyone is touting
"make gnome easier", but thats quite a
fuzzy term is it.
They'll have them soon. Many of the helix guys use Debian (some are even Debian developers), so it is a priority for them. As you may have noticed, though, making an rpm is about a zillion times easier than setting up a .deb. They are busy bees over there, so this'll get done reasonably soon, just not immediately.
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
But the only thing I see interesting is the ease of updating. Or is there more that doesn't show up?
Downloaded everything. My first impression can be summed up in two works:
Segmentation fault
Oh well. I'm having a bad overall weekend: Linux has, for the first time, bit me. Sawmill upgrade is fscked up, lots of other things are breaking all over the place. ACK! A pal of mine called with his ruined NT machine (added a modem, won't boot anymore) so I guess its not so bad.
Sorry, off-topic. Has anyone got the package installer to work?
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
You are right in saying that having to package the same program n times because there exist n Linux distributions is annoying.
However I disagree with your comparison with the Unix situations. This comparison has been agressively fed to the press by Microsoft, although it is vastly inaccurate:
They are going to make money with support and contracts for development. It's really quite simple. As Gnome becomes increasingly popular, companies (and conceivably individuals) could pay them to make enhancements to the Gnome environment, or to write a specific application. In addition, they are Gnome experts and could field any support issue for a fee. They might also, as you suggest write manuals...
----
Celebrate the finer things in life
This is true of any package you download and install as root. The average user simply trusts that when he downloads something metioned on Freshmeat, su's, and installs the rpm or whatever, he isn't going to trash his system. And thus far I have yet to hear of anyone actually experiencing problems of this nature.
----
Celebrate the finer things in life
The answer is, you wouldn't, at least not likely. I think it is likely they will make most of their money with corporate contracts. For example, a small distribution wants to use Gnome as their default desktop. But they want it customized. Helix Code will do that for them for a fee, customizing any details they want. Maybe this company also wants them to write a wizard to set up networking or something. The possibilities are endless. The company pays Helix code to write them a customized desktop environment and even to write additional applications for it.
As for contracts, it sounds interesting. But ask yourself why a company would pay Helix to write an application that will be released for free when it is complete. The "free rider" problem inherent in this situation is enormous!
Maybe you aren't quite in tune with how Open Source business works. Do you have any idea how many people are paid to write open source (free) applications? And it actually works. Let's go back to the example of the distribution company. Let's call them GreenCap Linux. GreenCap is a new distribution. They like what they see with the Helix Desktop, but want a bit more. They pay Helix Code to customize the desktop to their specifications. They pay them to write a few small configuration tools (in the spirit of the RedHat control panel or something), wizards, that sort of thing. They pay the Gnome experts to write customized Gnome documentation for the GreenCap manual. There you have it. GreenCap outsourced a part of their product for a fee. They make the loss back and actually make profit when they sell their freely downloadable product in boxed form with support agreements, beautiful manuals, and some extra commerical applications. See how it works?
----
Celebrate the finer things in life
As for not being innovative, you obviously don't keep up with Gnome development. The evolution mailer, for example, is extremely innovative. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have yet to see such a model for handling mail. The "folders" are simply different ways of looking at your mail collection--filters, or database queries, if you will.
----
Celebrate the finer things in life
(humor warning
Okay that was fast as hell. I don't think I've seen something go down that hard in a long time.
Congrats to all involved in the world's most effective DoS attack.
"Fighting the underpants gnomes since 1998!" "Bruce Schneier knows the state of schroedinger's cat"
If Helix can come up with a new business model for Free Software, my hat will be off to them. This will be a much bigger boon to Free Software than Gnome. That Helix is even looking to make a profit is encouraging. Miguel earned major points in my book for just this alone. It gets pretty old when all you see are Free Software advocates who've never run a company telling others how they should run their business.
I suspect that several companies will attempt this, with most of them failing. But this is a free market economy, so either one will find it or it doesn't exist. I suspect that in five or ten years you will find that commercial Free Software will have found all of its niches, but that there will be some it can't utilize, and those will remain proprietary.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Okay, support and contracts.
Why would I choose Helix Support, Inc. over Redhat or Linuxcare support. As an enterprise, doesn't it make much more sense to have a single support source like Linuxcare who would support Gnome and KDE and Linux and Apache and whatever else you needed support for. I also question the assumption that sales can be replaced by support. It's like declaring the skill of the developer to be valueless.
As for contracts, it sounds interesting. But ask yourself why a company would pay Helix to write an application that will be released for free when it is complete. The "free rider" problem inherent in this situation is enormous!
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
For $80, it is my firm opinion that Redhat is charging people for their ignorance. I predict that there will come a point when newbies will no longer be ignorant of what Free Software is, and will refuse to pay more than a few dollars for what is essentially a reprinting service.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
I wish you every bit of success, because you are sailing into uncharted waters. Just because I doubt the outcome of the voyage does not mean that I don't admire the courage of the captain.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Just because I don't blindly accept every prediction given to me doesn't mean that I'm not in tune with Open Source business :-) Helix (and AbiSource) is doing something quite distinct from the other Open Source companies.
To take your GreenCap example, let's say that I am starting my own Open Source business. Let's call it YellowTop Linux. Why should I hire Helix as a development firm to create a new desktop for me, when I can spend zero dollars and use the one they made for GreenCap? This is what I meant by the "free rider" problem. Why pay the money when you know all of your competitors will receive your product for free?
Free Software may have rewritten the rules of software development, but it hardly touched the rules of economics and business. If you look at the Redhat IPO filings, they do not claim that they will profit in the long term by selling shrink wrapped boxes. I have no doubts that Helix will make money in the short term. Everything with the word "Linux" attached to it is certain of that. I just want to know how Helix is going to make its money in the long term.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
True,
On the other hand, I remember hearing that a board had only a limited amount of liability regarding the contents of the posts, provided that they were not excersizing editorial control, by removing even one post.
Since 'slashdot' itself never really removes any posts (even those moderated all the way down), I'm not sure how much liability they really have.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
"Q: What does Helix Code do?
A:Helix Code is an open source software company devoted to improving GNOME, the leading desktop environment for Linux. We want to make GNOME the best desktop on the planet, and make it available to everyone."
Reading isn't exactly your best talent is it?
If you mean what is Helix GNOME, it's a release of GNOME made by Helix Code....again not exactly rocket science to understand
Well, Arandir, it seems everyone else is answering a different question than you are asking (well, actually responding to a different comment if you want to be technical). Others and I can give you reasons that we think Helix Code exists and how *they* think they are going to make money. They probably want to stay small and leverage the free software community to keep ahead in development, this should keep costs down. They probably want to approach companies and set them up with GNOME for their business needs.
But this isn't what you are saying. Quite frankly, no one really knows much about how Free Software business works. The only real reference point is Red Hat who have been in business long enough and develop entirely free software.
You are quite right. If other companies can freely redistribute and sell Helix GNOME with its own additions (perhaps propietary) then what does Helix offer to the consumer that others don't?
Perhaps since this is free software we are talking about, that the various companies can cooperate instead of compete? That doesn't make much sense now that I think about it.
I'd like to think that as a company Helix can adapt to a very new business model (like Red Hat has been trying to do for the last billion years).
In summary I have to admit that there is plenty I don't know about business to know other ways of making money off of free software, or whether it's pointless. I don't think Miguel does either so maybe he should hire someone who does. But I think they are doing this even though the risk is so large is because the potential is so great.
Perhaps Red Hat would hire them for development?
But making money off of Free Software is something I support.
I don't know.
Seriously, this sort of thing should not get moderated up. It's the soul of redundancy, and it infringes on Helix's IP rights. Maybe they wouldn't mind. Maybe they would. I know a lot of sites that would. Helix probably isn't one of them, but that's hardly the point. You could actually be opening Slashdot up to liability by posting illegally. Just because there's a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, doesn't mean it's true -- Slashdot is not a common-carrier.
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
If you want to read more about this, there's a story running concurrently on Wide Open News and sendmail.net that went live at 4:15 this morning. The gist of the story (from the sendmail.net front door): "The new GNOME binaries Helix Code rolled out today are the red carpet that its first application product, an HTML-capable email client called Evolution, will step onto in a few weeks. If users like what they see, it could be Helix Code that puts Linux on the consumer desktop. Paul Boutin spoke with Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman about it." Quotable quote (from Nat): "We plan to wipe Microsoft Outlook off the desktop."
I have a question? Is the LISP in sawmill compiled? If not, why do programmers have to do these stupid nifty tricks at the expense of speed? Sure it probably won't matter now, but eventually that LISP will catch up to you. Actually, I think this is a bitch aimed at UNIX (and most other non-game)programmers in general? Why all the features put in at the expense of performance. Why is GNOME even putting in new features like COBRA when what is already there doesn't really have the speed and stability one would hope a major DE for Linux would have. Features are nifty, but if you're going to do them, follow the lead of the BeOS programmers. Only after everything is tricked out and super stable, should you go on adding features.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Helixcode rpms are available on rpmfind both i386 and ppc packages are available here.
Hope this helps!
No one got beat up more often than the mimes of the old west!
RPM (featurefull but complex)
SLP (you gotta be joking)
I have to admit, creating RPMs was way more complex than I wanted, compared with creating [Slackware] TGZs.
And what functionality do SLPs give you that RPMs and DEBs don't?
[This message is not a flame, nor is it flame-retardant]
--
May contain traces of nut.
It's a very big deal for aspiring Linux users who aren't hands-on tech people. In fact, the less you know about Gnome, or even what Gnome is, the bigger a deal Helix Code is. Helix Code is creating a standard Gnome platform for Gnome-based applications to run on. For uses who don't download, compile, and install their own libraries, it's been hard to run Gnome apps. The pre-installed or CD Linux distributions have Gnome libraries that are way out of date, or out of whack with what the latest apps (Nautilus, Evolution, Gnumeric, etc) need to run. Helix Code will enable people to treat Gnome more like, say, Real Player or (dare I say it) Internet Explorer, where the necessarly DLL's can easily be kept up to date over the Net by users who don't even know what a DLL is. Except I trust Helix Code more than I do MS or RN with my computer. :-)
I wrote an article over the weekend for which Miguel and Nat explained to me their plans for World Domination through ease of use. I'm going to start using Evolution when it's officially released, because just having a *faster* email program that reads MS Office docs will make a world of difference.
Paul Boutin | writer for Slate, Wired, etc
I don't use GNOME because I don't like the usability of GTK. An example: when I get a window with as only widget a text box, this box is not active. Why do I have to click in this only widget to tell the computer that's the one I want to use? Raph PS1: This is just my personal opinion, I don't want everybody to agree with me... PS2: Another question: aren't the function names much too long? Why all those casts? Doesn't that come from the C choice. I'm not a grat programmer, but that scarces me. I'd prefer C++ for the UI.
Linux is losing ground every day to the windows platform in terms of web browsing - windows has a better browser (IE5) than anything available for linux, and every manner of streaming player is available for the platform. How many media players does linux support? RealPlayer on linux is a joke.
There's an Eazel mirror at http://mirror1.eazel.com/helix. Bart
Their server was struggling when "gnome.org" posted the link. With Slashdot posting as well they're down for the count. Did anybody get any mirrors? Please post-em if you have-em.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
I agree that a decent browser is important, but keep in mind that Linux distributions will start shipping with a kick-ass browser (Mozilla) within a few months. Windows users will have to struggle through a download in order to get a state-of-the-art browser.
I suppose streaming media is important for some people, but I don't really care. A non-proprietary standard for streaming media will emerge (maybe already has - I don't follow this stuff) and Linux will support it well.
For my personal use Linux is a great desktop. My business clients will start switching to Linux desktops once 1) Mozilla is released, 2) Corel Office Suite is released.
Average home users will switch when either 1) Linux gets more games, or 2) Playstations become so popular that people don't bother with PC games anymore. I suspect that both of these will occur to some extent over the next year and by next summer Linux will be in homes in a big way. If 1999 was the year of the iMac, 2001 will be the year of Linux Desktops.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
In that case, I have to conclude that it's possible to create an RPM by staring at the screen and willing it into existence.
Daniel
Hurry up and jump on the individualist bandwagon!
RealPlayer on linux is a joke
RealAudio is a joke anyway, so the player being a pile of clinker is no great loss. The real lingua-franca for audio on the web, MP3, is very well supported under Linux.
As for IE5, I have to admit it is a pleasant experience using it ... Mozilla has a lot to catch up with in this department, but I'm confident that it will. At that point it will be MicroSoft who will be playing catch up, as I'm sure IE is going to be held up by it's origins in the pre-HTML 4.0 era.
Chris Wareham
Wow, Nat, you made the front page of Slashdot! (And a wicked cool app, but I've got weird priorities.)
/. hell, some ObContent:
OK, so that this doesn't get moderated to
Helix Code was originally known as "International GNOME Support."
Hey, that counts as content, right?
-Waldo
Go check it here: http://helixcode.com/desktop/faq.php3
--
GroundAndPound.com News and info for martial artists of all styles.
According to the article Helixcode is only available for certain Linux distributions. This shows the need for Linux to be standardized. Without standardization Linux will suffer the same fate as Unix and will lose the advantages that it has had.
Also I see that the site has been Slashdotted. Will Helixcode look exactly the same as GNOME? Or has the interface radically changed?
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
Okay, Helix is a commercial concern. But I continue to fail to understand how they are going to make money with GNOME.
Do they plan to sell a shrink wrapped box on the shelves of Fry's? Why in the world should I buy it when it already comes with (insert distro here)? Even if it didn't come with my distro, I can still download it. Are they only counting on the ignorant for sales? And if it seriously becomes so bloated that people won't download it, why not just get a $2 CD from Cheapbytes instead?
Or do they plan to go IPO and rake in cash from ignorant investors instead?
Or do they plan to make money through support? I don't think so, unless they're truly machiavellian. Consider that the better they make their product the less support it will need. If this is to be the easiest to use desktop, simple enough even for your grandmother, who's going to need support?
Or are they going to create closed source addons for GNOME and sell those instead? This would be highly unusual (and hypocritical) since the founder of Helix is a member of GNU.
The only thing I can think of is so they can sell manuals. So why then are they a software company instead of a publishing house?
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
There are still a few shreds of intelligible meaning left in this "FAQ", let Hemos edit it up a little.
Seriously, I read the whole thing about three times and I can't figure out what "Helic Code" is. Here are some quotes:
"Helix GNOME is a service..."
"Helix GNOME is an add-on..."
"Helix GNOME will be available on CD..."
As far as I can tell, it's an automatic package updater for GNOME only...? Yeah, that sounds useful.
--
Here is the result of your Slashdot Purity Test.
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
The helix-sites are swamped right now,
but there is a mirror of the distribution
at RPMfind:
ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/helix/distributions/
I don't understand why so many people are giving these guys flack.
A) They are improving GNOME.
B) They are polishing it so it doesn't look like some hacker project that's still in development. That may be the case, but face it, in the real world, polish counts for a lot.
C) They're making it easy to install. You click on the exe, it runs the installer, you choose your options and you install the damn thing. It may not be the best way to distribute a system to hundreds of users over a network, but is the best way for the average user to install it. Say what you will, but clicking on the setup program is a lot easier than opening up an xterm and compiling it, or gathering all the dependencies, putting them into a directory, typing rmp -U *.rpm, then fucking with GDM to get the thing working. While we are on the topic of dependencies, PEOPLE HATE DEPENDENCIES. Sure the sysadmin might appreciate the flexiblity, but the average user with only a 56K connection to the internet is going to hate having to hunt for all the packages and dependencies and install them individually. Whats wrong with putting them all in one rpm? Its harder to hunt for all the dependencies, then sit there and click on each one to download it, than it is to hit download on one big rpm, and have it just not install duplicate stuff when setup is run. You might save a few megs of dl on the first way, but most people will want to just leave the thing on overnight. (15 meg on a 56 K modem takes HOURS) They're doing all these good things, so whats your (collective) problem?
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
This is a great chance for people to try out the latest gnome-core....including such "enhancements" as the gnome-weather applet and a Macintosh-like menubar (the legendary foobar). Slurp it down boys and girls!
-nulity-
I am nothing.
I don't know if everyone understood the last question, but maybe I can add something.
At linuxworld in NYC last Feb, I hung out at the Helix Code booth. I was chatting with some of the dudes from there and asked him what he did. He said he works on Spidermonkey. Whats that? I asked. Well he wouldn't tell me for anything. nadda info.
So I took the rest of the conference to ask them whenever I saw someone new at their booth. They really clam up when you mention spidermonkey, start mumbling about NDA's and asking where I heard that name.
So now everyone knows the name, can anyone find out anything more about this secret project? Whatever it is they have a few developers working full time on it.
kfort
Linux users need to insist on secure binaries which cannot be tampered with by rogue government agencies!
Without the obscurity that binaries provide, how can linux hope to become a trusted server platform when facing competition from products such as Windows 2000 ? It cant!
Insist on binary only releases today!
Umm... here's their installation procedure for newbies seeking a simple upgrade:
/; rm -rf *' to the code?
The simplest way to install the Helix GNOME Desktop is to use the Helix GNOME
Installer. You can automatically download and start the installer in three easy steps:
1.Open a terminal window.
2.Using the su command, become superuser:
$ su
Password: [Enter your root password here]
3.Start go-gnome by typing the following command or cutting and pasting it
into your terminal:
lynx -source http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/go-gnome |sh
In other words: Become root, download some file from an insecure web address, and pipe it through 'sh'. I'm no security guru, but this is THE WORST LINUX SECURITY ADVICE I'VE EVER HEARD. You should NEVER, EVER run untrusted code as root without examining it first. What if some malicious cracker breaks into one of the mirrors and adds the line 'cd
They need to use a secure certificate to transmit the first part of the script, which should then download the packages AND test their MD5 checksums. Average users can be excused from testing MD5's for every package, but this is an automatic script that is backed by Helix Code's reputation, so they should go the extra mile (it's more like a tenth of a mile in this case). If the user doesn't have MD5 or support for secure certificates, then you can fall back to something simpler, with a warning message.
--JRZ