One problem is that the GNUstep project has nearly nothing to show to end
users (except screenshots and descriptions). As a consequence a lot of people
doesn't understand the project. They want to do a quick try but they can't.
(in France we have the great http://linuxfr.org website where such questions
often comes.)
We discussed whether we want to have "GNUstep OS" or "GNUstep Desktop" at the 2015 meetup, and the conclusion was IIRC "no". We vaguely agreed that "reference system" would be fine.
It's slightly unfortunate we don't have one yet, but Live CDs like this are a good thing to address this problem. I need to try it out... :)
Maybe you wonder why the talk about a "reference system" instead of a proper "desktop environment"? I think what we generally agreed upon is that GNUstep itself is not quite a desktop, but a set of development libraries for writing applications. Think Gtk, not Gnome. We need something to show off, but as we don't quite want to discourage particular use cases (Sparc systems running Solaris with an old GCC, drawing directly with xlib. Or x32 Windows systems drawing with Cairo built with cygwin) it becomes hard to say "this is the true GNUstep environment, you should use this".
But that we should have a reference system that we can point people to? Yes.
As I've always wanted to work on a light desktop using GNUstep, I propose to
work on this :
Even if the project is not about building a desktop, a lots of components are
already present. My idea is to write a short how-to that can be polished along
the time. It should answer to such basic questions that are evident for the
team but not for the others :
So in light of above comments, here's answers based on what I would consider a 'reference' system:
- which Window Manager can I choose ? which one for that task ?
Many would say windowmaker. This is a good option as it integrates some of the launcher tasks, but maybe not necessary when combined with gworkspace. I don't personally use miniwindows so windowmaker is not of much use to me, personally.
I would not dislike a system built around a more standard WM, like Metacity. With GNUstep configured with Gtk theme, for example.
- how should I configure GWorkspace ?
I don't use GWorkspace myself so I don't know what this question means :)
- where can I find themes ?
I don't know what happened to some of the other themes that were mentioned online. I'm sure if I spent some more time digging around, I can find some. :)
- can I take some Etoilé components ?
I don't know what this question means? Of course, yes, you can take some Etoile components. :)
etc.
One of the things you omitted is "which gnustep-gui backend should I use?". The answer is almost certainly "cairo". "opal" backend was not ready last time I used/wrote it :) while "cairo" is fully functioning.
Hence, starting with something light and extending it later. Nothing related
to development but to building a working environment. I think it can help to
attract devs because one can see what small apps / components are missing, and
start to develop using GNUstep framework and tools.
Later this how-to can serve as a basis for better packaging in distribs.
I'm a sysadmin, working with end users in mind, trying to install simple, rock
and solid desktops for them. But I'm not a dev, I will have a lot of questions
to ask...
Who wants to help ?
Regards
Xavier Brochard
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