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October Gnome Released
k_wayne writes "The Gnome team have finished an amazing bug hunt and we are left with a pretty cool stable release of the Gnome system. See the announcement made by Elliot Lee. The gnome developers are now moving their attention toward the next generation gnome release. This new Gnome stuff is not only very stable, it's got some very cool stuff in it. " One really nice new feature is dingus-clicking: you can click on a URL in the terminal and have Netscape come up. XChat, glade, more translations, and easier bug reporting some of the most significant features.
> Today, it seems, we've turned the tables.
/.ers subscribe to the same opinion on every topic.
Was it the same poster? Contrary to beliefs popular in certain circles, not all
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It's October 6th. Where's W2K? Over the horizon again, eh?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
- A URL
- A mailto: URL
- An email address
- A pathname (ala the Common Lisp notion of pathname, namely a structured object that represents a filename)
- A MIME object dropped onto the clipboard
Then, if there is ambiguity, make sure that whatever we "think" the object is happens to be accessible in that expected form.Notably, if it's a file reference, validate against /etc/magic to determine whether the method we think we're going to apply to it is actually appropriate to what's in the file.
A "controller" part would be the provision of control to select the method by which the object is to be viewed. Which leads naturally to the "view" portion of the paradigm...
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
In ncftp, mget * and then rpm -Fvh * was easy enough for me. The -F option upgrades all previously installed packages.
Knowing these and other magic spells is the hard part (for the general public, anyway).
I gave up on Gnome due to all the bugs
Well, what are you waiting for? This is the stable release you have been waiting for and no longer need to be a bigot!
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I get a kick out of reading Slashdot comments on the PCWeek thing, about how 21 security updates aren't that bad, you just wget the whole directory, then rpm -Fvh *.rpm and you're done. And how one big service pack from Microsoft is bloated and slow and inefficient....
Today, it seems, we've turned the tables. "30 packages? What a pain! Why don't they just give me one big package that I can click?"
:)
Why didn't they implement a regex->action coupling? You can implement opening URL's from xterms using this by creating a regex for an URL, and binding netscape to that URL.
You could also use this to open a texteditor whenever something like blah.txt is encountered.
This is your sig. There are thousands more, but this one is yours.
...but then again, I did when 1.0 came out. They did themselves no favours then, but I suppose we're all entitled to one mistake.
For the record, I think the 'click in a terminal' feature is beyond cool.
One thing: October GNOME? What does October stand for? Let's see... October Can Take Off Because Errors Remedied?
Frankly, they should also use version number, it is much more easy to follow the evolution of a product based on its version number (minor enhancement ? increase minor number) than on the month of the release...
Maybe they don't use version number because they fucked up the 1.0.0 version which should have been labeled 0.9.9 to say that it was feature complete but not yet stable. But that doesn't mean that using version number is a bad thing, it just mean that you have to be cautious about your version number..
Key F6 A N Exec netscape-sel &
once you have that, all you have to do is mouse-select a URL anywhere and press F6.
"Dingus clicking"
I'd love to see that enter the vernacular:
"Launch Netscape"
"no, you have to click the dingus"
"no, click"
"here"
"the DINGUS!, click the DINGUS!"
"good"
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
You see, Gnu/Linux is no longer just for the computer elite, it for a much larger crowd who for some reason, want to take a chance with this bold new platform.
Hacking value isn't a boolean value, friend. It is qualitive in all shapes and sizes. Think, there is probably somebody who used to be famliar DOS batch files and task-switching in DOS who right now is experimenting with Python. Think, someone who used to write HTML in MS Notepad is, right now, learning vi. Think, right now, someone is writing their first shell script. Think, right now, someone is learning Perl.
If there is one good GNU/Linux can cause because of it's hype, it would be the spread of true computer literacy and the aknowledgement of what computer literacy really is.
Desktops like Gnome and KDE aren't just catering to the masses, they are catering to people who are less secure with a command-line, but still want to learn. Tell me this, what difference is there between developing in gEdit rather than emacs or vi.
Why is it, you think, that people are coming to Unix? Probably because Windows isn't fun anymore. A little while ago, I saw one of the last issues of DOSWorld in the newsstands. I glanced through it and saw the various tricks and hacks with batch scripts and DOS and thought to myself, these people would love GNU/linux. I believe that many of these people do. DOSWorld doesn't exist anymore.
I would love to see a scripting utility for gnome to make access to the desktop more easier. Access to all the Corba objects and bonobo componets with documentation, something compelling to even the least computer literate.
Ah, but one can dream...
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Sure, it is great they fix bugs instead of just moving forward with new features. I do not think that it is "impressive", though.
My point (which, judging by the moderation, I did not get accros too well :-) was that releasing software as version 1.0 when it is full of bugs is not too good, promotion wise. They called 1.0 stable, and now it turns out it was so buggy that the bugfixing alone is "impressive". It surely makes me wonder whether I can trust that this release is stable.
It reminds me of Windows, where Win95 was said to be so much more fun. And then Win98 commercials come along, stating that Win98 will take away the headache. (They had such commercials in Denmark, I do not know if it was world-wide. They had a box of painkillers of the brand "Windows 98" if I recall correctly).
I am a programmer. When I fix a bug, I apologize that I put it in in the first place. I do not celebrate myself as being the great bugfixer. It is merely the word "impressive" that I am against - not the bugfixing in itself. As I said, fixing bugs is great!
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Ah yes? And your such a hotshot programmer?? Why don't you enlighten us by listing some of the programs you've created?
:-)
Didn't think so!
Hey, I have Redhat 5.2 RPMS at:
ftp://saturn.aae.uiuc.edu/pub/gnome
> I am not a language lawyer. Just paid attention in my grammar courses.
I defy you to produce a cite where "the team have" is proper usage.
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Firstly, I've used GNOME for several months, more recently I've been using KDE. And I see newbies-to-computers practically every day.
I like GNOME/GTK for it's technological design and also because it is beautiful when themes are installed. However, on this last point people complain about the speed of GNOME in comparison to KDE which of course can be mostly answered by GNOME users using a plain theme. IIRC someone on #gnome did say that s/he was hoping to re-write the gtk-engines package to improve it's speed considerably, here's hoping...
With KDE, the applications are far more consistent. In GNOME apps, many file dialogues can be seen (see GIMP (okay, not strictly GNOME) verses GQView) and various UI styles are involved. Granted, they all use GTK, but there lacks consistency here. On KDE it's a very different (not neccessarily better) story
Perhaps when the guidelines for writing GNOME apps for v2 come out, they will contain stricter usage of widgets. Don't complain that that restricts choice - choice is for people who run E/WM/AfterStep *without GNOME or KDE - people running GNOME/KDE usually do for for complete consistency throughout their applications and that is best today in KDE.
Again as a lot of people have said, the number of packages which needs downloading should come down. Even KDE may just have one or two packages are can be merged, and I understand that something may be happening at least in a small way on the GNOME packaging front soon. I hope so.
Where GNOME does however fall down against KDE is in application documentation. Having used KDE for a couple of months now I have seen a noticable difference in the priority given to helpful diologues with "Help" where possible and appropriate. GNOME has these quite sparingly, although I may be doing the new release an injustice.
I hope this will fire up some good constructive development efforts for the v2 release - I see the KDE v2 preview screenshots and can only see good - let's hope that GNOME v2 can produce a more consistent, solid environment with plenty of functionality.
I seem to remember a time with 5.2 when I attempted to update the GTK and glib RPM's using Gnome's RPM's, and it really, REALLY broke things. I ended up backing out of the RPM, and then 6.0 came out. Now that we're at 6.1, and idea of Gnome.org's RPM's will update 6.1's RPM's without a hitch?
I'll just go compile it up on my Slackware system, but I dare not touch comnpiling on the RedHat machine for fear the wrath of the RPM discrepency demon..
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
You could always setup autorpm to look at the updates directory on gnome's ftp site.
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
I guess the (or at least one) 'problem' they face is that Gnome is made up of loads of different bits with different (yet often similar) version numbers and that adding a version number to the whole package may confuse/mislead (ie people expecting Gnome 1.0.50 to contain 1.0.50 versions of gnome-core, gnome-libs etc etc).
I think a named release isn't a bad idea.
The Great Chunder Page - Alcohol Induced Fun!
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
They worked very hard for over 2 months fixing bugs and adding features to make GNOME more worthwhile. While I don't agree with their pushing GNOME 1.0 out the door early, they still put a lot of work into this release. If all you can do is bitch and complain about GNOME, either don't say anything at all or contribute your services to the GNOME project and try to make a difference in something you want to see changed. I didn't like the fact that GNOME was sorely lacking in documentation, so I am now working on docs for GNOME 2.0. Do the same thing if you have skills they could use...
Cap'n Nedrick
Other people have already posted more complete replies, but one thing to notice is that British / UK usage is to use plural nouns with corporations. "Nike have released sales figures" is correct in British English. The phrasing might sound funny to Americans, who would probably feel more comfortable hearing "Nike has released sales figures."
...MMX) or a single collection of individuals (RH, MM1, MM2, MM3 ... MMX). I like the third interpretation, because the characters other than Robin are individually interesting, but Robin Hood could survive as a character even without them.
:)
Note too that Robin Hood and his Band of Merry Men can be thought of as 1 group (RH,MM), 2 groups (RH)+(MM), two collections of individuals (RH) + (MM1, MM2, MM3
Collective nouns -- whoah, dude! Heavy, heady, interesting, debateable.
Of course, whether Slashdot's editors ought conform to American idiom is another matter. I'd like to see them be consistent, and I offer my services as a copy editor.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Ok, I'll bite. Gnome & KDE are MUCH MORE than graphical environments. The graphical shell is more an afterthought; it's the LIBRARIES that mean something. It has nothing to do with 'script kiddies and perl hackers'.
Take a browse on freshmeat...check out all the KDE & GNOME apps that have appeared recently. There's some REALLY good stuff in there, and we can thank KDE and GNome for that. The KDE & Gnome development libraries make it REALLY easy to make an attractive, relatively complex program that WORKS with other programs, hot off the compiler.
You're right though; themes are a distraction and a performance hog in the end. But shiny themes are going to help pry newbies away from Bill's world.
And you know what the BEST thing about themes is? YOU CAN TURN THEM OFF. Hell, turn the whole desktop environment off, run TWM...you still get the benefit of KDE & Gnome when you fire up KOffice or Gnumeric.
Ok, I'm biting :) Seriously, though your tone is flamish I think you raise a good question.
What do desktops have to do with developers? I develop from within a terminal window or a bare CLI and it sounds like you do too. This is true whether I'm working on Linux or Windows.
Desktops are for users.
Users like solitaire and desktop configurability.
Companies write drivers and most software for users, not developers. Open source, up til now, has been mostly written for developers. If you are satisfied developing Windows software on Linux with a paucity of drivers, that may be sufficient, otherwise users have to like Linux too.
This is not to say that creating a slim and mean desktop for development might not be a good idea, but extending the OS to users is more important just now.
/* I know this is flame bait, but someone has to speak up: */
/*
Elitist? Why not...
/* Why all the excitement for these sugar coating GUIs (KDE, GNOME, YADM). */
Because for the first time since its inception, X can be used in a consistent manner if a user so chooses? Because Ease of Use is finally delivered?
Becasue we no longer need to think about syntax of Window Manager Configuration files?
/* Do i really give a ph*ck about themes? */
Do you really want a desktop in varying shades of ugly grey?
/* Can i impress the people in my office with the incredibly baroque-looking desktop i can configure? */
Windows User - hey, its like Windows
NeXTStep User - hey, its like...
OS/2, Mac, Acorn, Amiga User......
Get the picture?
/* Can i write a 100 line Perl CGI? */
In the easy to use, syntax highlighting editor with KDE yes, with Gnome, more than likely. Look ma! - programming without vi or emacs - editing made easy.
/* These are for script kiddies, Perl schmucks and wintel wannabes */
And people whose money will support hardware, software and ease of use development for Linux, while providing jobs for Unix geeks who program, document and package Linux. Sounds good to me.
/* You want to develop, make real applications, all you need is emacs, some good elisp packages, and a clean desktop */
A compiler always helps, too.
Emacs sucking is another flamewar - but the UI of eother vi or emacs is hostile to point and click, or even casual explanation. It can be mastered, to award yourself points for mastering the trivia of Unix.
A clean desktop - is this one with NO desktop functionality and a bunch of xterms? - thought so.
/* I agree that things like the CORBA interfaces to desktop service is an excellent idea. Yes, I know that htere are more than developers out there and they have there needs too
Nice to see them addressed after 20+ years of Unix.
/* But all you out there talk about is themes, and and whether it plays solitaire and trivial sh*t like that. Don't pretend. */
Themes are optional, and trendy, and playing solitaire is vital to the health of any office worker using Windows, and finally having a desktop to discuss is not trivial shit, given the wait Unix has had to get a desktop.
George Russell