Posted by
michael
on from the world-outside-KDE dept.
JanneM writes "Gnome 2.4 is arriving early september. Sayamindu Dasgupta has installed the 2.3.5 development release to see what's in store, and has written a very nice overview of the upcoming release."Update: 08/14 16:06 GMT by M: The author has provided a mirror.
not flamebait
Does it fix any of those annoying problems in the current versions like:
Nautilus takes an ungodly amount of memory to run
It can't seem to associate file type with applications consistently
It has that annoying "feature" where any time I insert removable media, it opens a window of the media automatically. (I was going to bitch about it mounting automatically, as well, but I suspect that's RH's doing, there: god, sometimes I want to dd, you know)
You close it and it still takes up the same ungodly amount of memory. If I want that kind of behavior, I'll look for it in Windows, thank you.
Re:Nautilus?
by
BladeMelbourne
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I use RedHat 9 and GNOME - and I find that the used RAM slowly creeps up whilst using Nautilus. Now that I have 576 MB it takes a while, but it is still annoying. It would be great if this was resolved in GNOME 2.4.
Used RAM also increases (at a reduced rate) when I use a lighter file manager. The only way to reclaim that memory is to restart X. Maybe XFree86 4.3.0 has a memory leek in RedHat 9 too?
FYI the amount of RAM doesn't increase like that in my Windows 98, which is also immune to the Blaster Worm.
Well, it does a lot of stuff... you might not use it all, but it's there.
It can't seem to associate file type with applications consistently
This is somewhat confusing, but I found in RH9 and Ximian's XD2, a lot of things are associated correctly from the get-go.
It has that annoying "feature" where any time I insert removable media, it opens a window of the media automatically. (I was going to bitch about it mounting automatically, as well, but I suspect that's RH's doing, there: god, sometimes I want to dd, you know)
RTFM? Try "gnome-cd-properties". This isn't nautilus' fault in the first place.
You close it and it still takes up the same ungodly amount of memory. If I want that kind of behavior, I'll look for it in Windows, thank you.
Then you haven't really closed it now, have you? What do you think is managing your desktop? If you don't like it, there's always KDE, or TWM if you'd prefer...
If I had to posit a reason for Nautilus using so much RAM, folder caching would probably be the reason. Nautilus devs can correct me on that one, but it seems like folders I've opened before open much more quickly than new ones. Fixing your memory "problem" would probably knock down the speed of Nautilus tremendously. Buy some more RAM and get on with life.
No idea what the problem with file association is. I've just never had an issue with it (and rather like the way Nautilus gives you a menu of programs to try with a right-click). If you're setting new associations, read the choices carefully, as some similar sounding ones do different things.
You do realize that the _desktop_ is controlled by Nautilus, and thus you really can't close it without killing it, right?
-Erwos
-- Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Re:Nautilus?
by
FrostedWheat
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Another thing I find annoying about Nautilus is its lack of feedback when double-clicking on icons.
Sometimes windows can take upto 10 seconds to open on my machine (2Ghz Athlon, go figure), and I find myself clicking on it a few times to make sure I got it, or right clicking and selecting 'Open' - then have three windows appear at once. Very annoying.
The Gnome system monitor does not give an accurate indication of how much RAM is truly in use. Gnome shares memory between apps. If an application requires the memory, later, it will be released. You're most likely just looking at cached memory that hasn't been released.
It's not a problem, technically. People are just paranoid about their memory usage and don't understand how Gnome really makes use of it.
Re:Nautilus?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Buy some more RAM and get on with life.
what the hell kind of attitude is that? shouldn't it be a develoment goal to minimize memory footprint? if it's caching, cache size should be configurable, or whatever its doing needs to be optimized such that it doesn't rely on a large cache. why must its data structures be so large as to create such a huge footprint?
i'd expect that kind of attitude from microsoft, but not from *nix developers.
I don't care about any new visuals that they've added or performace enhancements. I just want it to be as easy in Gnome to make shortcuts and use the quick launch bar (Gnomes version of it) and manage display settings as it is in KDE 3 and Windows insert any version greater then Windows NT 4 here.
I am not a Gnome basher, frankly I find it humurous that people would bicker over desktops. But, I am forced to use it from time to time, so I would it to be at least as good as KDE.
However, I do have a couple of questions which is kinda off-topic-ish:
1) Is there a "roadmap" setout in regards to GTK 2.4/2.6 etc terms of functionality one should expect in up coming releases.
2) I've heard rumbles that gtk2 is still being ported to Quartz, could someone confirm it. I know there is an X11 version, however, it would be nice to have one that does require it, not because of anything political, I just don't want to download that massive 40+ MB XFree86 package from Apple;-)
3) Is there going to be a move by GNOME to support MAS as a replacement for esound? having used MAS and seen it action, it would be a really great addition if it was made available.
4) When running GNOME on FreeBSD I notice that when I select text in a terminal window there is a stall and the whole computer freezes then suddenly comes alright. I haven't experience that with KDE.
Having run GNOME 2.2 on Linux quite nicely it clearly isn't an issue with GNOME but with the FreeBSD port. Could someone confirm that this is being addressed?
--
"The difference between pornography and erotica is the lighting" - Woody Allen
My Personal Diatribe
by
SQLz
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Are they updating it to be usable?
Any Metacity Fixes/Updates?
by
mauriatm
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· Score: 3, Interesting
One of the most troubling things to me is still Metacity WM. Maybe this has changed but last I recall you could not change the animation settings (that annoying minimize/maximize ani) and the redraw settings (dragging/resizing would show contents). To make it worse, Gnome in general made it difficult to change your WM. And what bothers me more still is that Sawmill(fish whatever) reduced its settings/options to be minimal like Metacity, although deep config settings could restore most settings back to the 1.4 days. I remember hearing some explanation that Metacity was the only Gnome2 compliant WM, so others were looked down upon.... Am I misinformed or has this changed?
Re:Any Metacity Fixes/Updates?
by
FooBarWidget
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
You're mostly correct. They've added some new features to Metacity though. Like a Stay On Top menu item.
Re:Problems with gnome 2.3 (the 2.4 beta)
by
FooBarWidget
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Ah, but you're talking about Slashdotters bitching. Those people are just that: Slashdot flamers. They're not the developers behind GNOME and GTK+. The GNOME and GTK+ projects follow a very strict set of rules in not breaking compatibility.
browser issue, RedHat vs Gnome
by
Roadkills-R-Us
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't see why they are wasting time on a browser. Why not just use firebird? Is there a compelling reason for *another* browser? Sems that time could be better spent elsewhere.
And I was underwhelmed with some of the tools. The best example I've seen so far (/.ing has delivery of all pages with all pics) is the screen resolution selector. I think RedHat's version is much nicer. Again - why reinvent the wheel? If they can't use RH's (did they ask?), do something similar. Or better. But IMO the Gnome version is a step down from RH's.
Nautilus Useable?
by
xjerky
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Sorry, but even the latest Nautilus is noticably slower then Konqueror. I have a directory with a few thousand files and Nautilus popped up a message saying something like "There are too many files for Nautilus to display. Exiting" WTF?????? Its the primary job of the friggin app and it won't do it??? Very unprofessional.
-- A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board:
"You know what? You're right."
GLOBAL Always On Top functionality?
by
NoahsMyBro
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I haven't seen this in any version of Windows, nor on KDE 3.1.2 or Gnome 2.2.
It seems to me a sensible feature of a desktop would be to have a standard feature on every single visible window that would allow the user to set that window as 'always on top'. Remove the responsibility for the functionality from the app developer, and let it be part of the desktop's job. This would allow the user to set 'Always On Top' for any window he/she wants.
As a user, not a developer, I have been unable to figure out why this could be problematic. I only assume it may pose some sort of difficulty because I haven't yet seen this implemented, and it seems like a no-brainer to me.
Re:Make those damn buttons SMALLER!
by
FooBarWidget
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Because big buttons are easier to click on. Fitt's Law remember? And those big buttons are only used in dialogs, that don't contain much data anyway. In main windows, the only large buttons are toolbar buttons with labels. But that makes sense since it will be immediately obvious what those buttons are for; you don't have to mouseover them and look at the tooltips. And this can be changed: Applications->Desktop Preferences->Menus and Toolbars->Text Besides Icons
It makes a lot of sense to make normal buttons bigger.
This and more fixed in current.
by
Inoshiro
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I installed Gnome 2.2 recently and have been tracking various bugs via thock.com. I haven't gotten around to filing bugs for absolutely everything, but most of the big stuff is explained there.
-- -- Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Slashdot Mirror
Does it fix any of those annoying problems in the current versions like:
Put identity in the browser.
I am not a Gnome basher, frankly I find it humurous that people would bicker over desktops. But, I am forced to use it from time to time, so I would it to be at least as good as KDE.
However, I do have a couple of questions which is kinda off-topic-ish:
;-)
1) Is there a "roadmap" setout in regards to GTK 2.4/2.6 etc terms of functionality one should expect in up coming releases.
2) I've heard rumbles that gtk2 is still being ported to Quartz, could someone confirm it. I know there is an X11 version, however, it would be nice to have one that does require it, not because of anything political, I just don't want to download that massive 40+ MB XFree86 package from Apple
3) Is there going to be a move by GNOME to support MAS as a replacement for esound? having used MAS and seen it action, it would be a really great addition if it was made available.
4) When running GNOME on FreeBSD I notice that when I select text in a terminal window there is a stall and the whole computer freezes then suddenly comes alright. I haven't experience that with KDE.
Having run GNOME 2.2 on Linux quite nicely it clearly isn't an issue with GNOME but with the FreeBSD port. Could someone confirm that this is being addressed?
"The difference between pornography and erotica is the lighting" - Woody Allen
Are they updating it to be usable?
One of the most troubling things to me is still Metacity WM. Maybe this has changed but last I recall you could not change the animation settings (that annoying minimize/maximize ani) and the redraw settings (dragging/resizing would show contents). To make it worse, Gnome in general made it difficult to change your WM. And what bothers me more still is that Sawmill(fish whatever) reduced its settings/options to be minimal like Metacity, although deep config settings could restore most settings back to the 1.4 days. I remember hearing some explanation that Metacity was the only Gnome2 compliant WM, so others were looked down upon. ... Am I misinformed or has this changed?
Linux Resources
Ah, but you're talking about Slashdotters bitching. Those people are just that: Slashdot flamers. They're not the developers behind GNOME and GTK+.
The GNOME and GTK+ projects follow a very strict set of rules in not breaking compatibility.
I don't see why they are wasting time on a browser. Why not just use firebird? Is there a compelling reason for *another* browser? Sems that time could be better spent elsewhere.
And I was underwhelmed with some of the tools. The best example I've seen so far (/.ing has delivery of all pages with all pics) is the screen resolution selector. I think RedHat's version is much nicer. Again - why reinvent the wheel? If they can't use RH's (did they ask?), do something similar. Or better. But IMO the Gnome version is a step down from RH's.
Sorry, but even the latest Nautilus is noticably slower then Konqueror.
I have a directory with a few thousand files and Nautilus popped up a message saying something like "There are too many files for Nautilus to display. Exiting" WTF?????? Its the primary job of the friggin app and it won't do it??? Very unprofessional.
A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
I haven't seen this in any version of Windows, nor on KDE 3.1.2 or Gnome 2.2.
It seems to me a sensible feature of a desktop would be to have a standard feature on every single visible window that would allow the user to set that window as 'always on top'. Remove the responsibility for the functionality from the app developer, and let it be part of the desktop's job. This would allow the user to set 'Always On Top' for any window he/she wants.
As a user, not a developer, I have been unable to figure out why this could be problematic. I only assume it may pose some sort of difficulty because I haven't yet seen this implemented, and it seems like a no-brainer to me.
Because big buttons are easier to click on. Fitt's Law remember? And those big buttons are only used in dialogs, that don't contain much data anyway.
In main windows, the only large buttons are toolbar buttons with labels. But that makes sense since it will be immediately obvious what those buttons are for; you don't have to mouseover them and look at the tooltips. And this can be changed: Applications->Desktop Preferences->Menus and Toolbars->Text Besides Icons
It makes a lot of sense to make normal buttons bigger.
I installed Gnome 2.2 recently and have been tracking various bugs via thock.com. I haven't gotten around to filing bugs for absolutely everything, but most of the big stuff is explained there.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.