Slashdot Mirror
OroborOSX: XDarwin Aqua-Like Window Manager
UnanimousCoward writes: "I've just downloaded OroborOSX, "A modified Oroborus-based X11 window manager for use with XFree86 and XDarwin on Mac OS X." It's truly a wm worthy of standing side-by-side with Aqua in rootless mode. Here are some screenshots from Jonathan Tyzack (I'm too lazy to create my own, but my experience is the same). Using MacGimp under OroborOSX is awesome ..." The original Oroborus looks interesting as well; the original author has discontinued work on Oroborus, but it looks like the code has found a nice new application.
Note that you will need to be running OSX (or Darwin?) to build or run this; it is a Carbon app. This isn't immediately obvious from the web page... I just assumed they hadn't tried it on anything but OSX.
Ah, well, back to E...
Crash course in popup (images)
for ignorant web designers
<A> tags
<a href="#" onClick="return popup('document')">
WRONG!
<a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return popup('document')">
WRONG!
<a href="javascript:popup('document')" onClick="return popup('document')">
WRONG!
<a href="document" onClick="return popup('document')">
YES! YES!! You have just ensured that your popups will work on browsers with popups DISABLED !! AMAZING!!
Another working example:
<a href="images/whatever.jpg" onClick="return popup('view.php?pic=whatever.jpg')"><img src="images/whatever_thumb.jpg"></a>
I love the Aqua interface and am running Xfree86 with Enlightment and different themes to produce the same interface. It's really nice, and looks like the original.
Check out this screenshot.
Remove the picture in the URL and you'll see how it's done.
Ciryon
The original MacOS X interface doesn't work for X Windows applications "out of the box".
The reason this is in the BSD section is because OSX is based on BSD.
XDarwin is a very nice and very easy-to-install implementation of XFree86 which runs on top of OS X. You have now the choice of "rootless" operation where the various X windows lie around, mingling with the normal Aqua windows on your OS X desktop, or the "take-over-the-screen" mode, where it is just like running X with your favorite window manager (several available, as well as the usual X toys like xeyes, etc.) It is available for download at osxgnu.org which also has various window manager systems, including Enlightenment, AfterStep, and more. These are good, easy-to-use installers, and there is also the fink installer which works great.
It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw.
Look, guys, stepping over the limits of trade dress and product configuration is a really bad idea. Little is gained by doing it, and ultimately much credibility of the virtues of what we do is lost thereby. Vested commercial interests, the real bad guys, like RIAA, MPAA and others have effectively and completely marginalized the technical community, making laws like DMCA and the SCCCA possible.
Formerly strong political lobbies in technical matters, like those of the ACM and IEEE are now losing credibility in key political circles, and for what? To cock a snoot or two at apple? Puh-leze.
The screenshot web page, in particular, is very dangerous for a prospective defendant. Particularly by the use of the apple logo at the very bottom, it invites summary responses. And nobody should be surprised or offended when they happen.
This is bad for Apple, but worse for open source. Apple has the law on its side for this one, and we gain little.
A recent trademark case in the 11th Circuit made clear that use of a trademark together with open source software (Coolmail) is use in commerce, and this is a GOOD THING. In that case, the basis for the holding resulted in sustaining a trademark owned by the open source coder, and holding that the GPL didn't abandon the mark.
To defend this use of trade dress/product configuration as non-commercial use basically seeks to gives away and undercut a very important ruling that benefits real developers of real open source product. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Lots of misinformation attached to this article. Quartz will display anything sent to it by a client application. The usual clients are Aqua applications and the Aqua window manager, but XFree86 can act as a Quartz client as well. That's how rootless X11 on Mac OS X is done. See the XonX project page for more on this.
Ben "You have your mind on computers, it seems."
1) The website is currently down because the power to the building which contains the server has been switched off for building work to go ahead -it will be back at about 6-7pm (UK time);
;-)
2) The window frame (and widgets) are not 'true' Aqua -they are pixmaps. I want to use "the real thing", but there are issues at the moment (like OroborOSX does not actually 'own' the windows -XDarwin does, so XDarwin would have to be the one to use 'true' Aqua). Having said that, I'm hoping to hack my way round that at some point and actually use the real thing rather than this pixmap ripoff stuff...
3) The pixmaps were not originally done by me -they are taken from the 'agua' theme that comes with the 'standard' version of oroborus (v1.14.0). However, that only has two window widgets -red and yellow. I took the yellow one and 'flushed out' the blue part to make a green one. The widgets with the "x - +" symbols for mouseovers were based on these original agua ones, but I added the symbols over the top. The only widget I really did myself was the triangular one for resizing;
4) There is no way to use the 'real' versions of OroborOSX on anything other than Mac OS X. It is a Carbon-based life-form(!) and taps into the Mac OS X framework (the dock, the menu etc.) to acheive its primary goals (with many more to come!);
5) As mentioned here, the very first early pre-release was a 'standard' window manager -it could be compiled on just about anything (though why you would want to use it is beyond me -it does not really give anything but an attempt at the look of Aqua window widgets -a complete faade in comparison to true OS X behaviour!)
Finally, the point of OroborOSX is not to have 'pretty-looking' (well, getting there...) window frames that 'match' the look of Aqua. It is more than a window manager -it is an attempt to turn X11 apps into something that a 'normal' Mac OS X user would expect (at least, as far as possible). It's far from perfect, and there are glaring differences... but, it's early days and I have lots more ideas to come.
Step by step, I'm dragging my X11 desktop towards integration with the rest of the OS X experience. That's my goal... whatever I achieve of that I will make available for others to try -and if you don't like it, don't use it!!
Hope that helps!
Adrian Umpleby
(who can't be bothered to create an account, and is quite happy to be known as Anonymous Coward