GNOME 2.0 Released

MAXOMENOS writes "The GNOME team has announced the release of GNOME 2.0. You can get more information about the GNOME 2.0 system here." Congratulations to everyone involved. Use the mirrors...

Nice...

[Per Wigren]

I'll probably not switch away from KDE 3 anytime soon though.. I tried the last release candidate and wasn't very impressed.. GNOME is nice, but it still feels like everything is glued together instead of nicely integrated.. Maybe in a year or two..

Re:Makes of mockery of the ealier story

[colmore]

I don't know what the submitter/editor was thinking on the Linux Is Dead article, because if you were one of the four people who actually read the article, it said no such thing. (In fact, quite the opposite.)

But yes, this, KDE, Moz, and the ever-improving stability of the 2.4 kernel are quite forceful rebuttals of (real) Linux is Dead claims.

If only BeOS had had the kind of community support that Linux enjoys.

Re:Gnome 2 vs KDE 3

[georgeb]

I really think it's a matter of taste rather than functionality. Both KDE and GNOME are huge undertakements and both seem to have their userbase... Well, of course I like gnome, but wouldn't mind working in KDE either.

Going down hill with Gnome2

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like Gnome's gone the opposite of KDE lately. KDE's interface is much more tweakable than that of Gnome2. The "simpler" user interface should be an option for those who need it, not a requirement for everyone. I'm impressed with what's been acomplished for Gnome2, but for a power user, they are probably going to drive people to KDE because of the greater tweakabilty it has. It's sad.

Re:2002: The Year of the Linux Desktop

[sporty]

Linux desktop? At last check.. a lot of that runs on a lot of platforms :)

I'd retitle it as Year of the Unix Desktop. But I'm just crazy like that ;)

Re:Using the Debian packages

[Jeffrey Baker]

deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ ../project/experiment al main

Re:How to upgrade

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi frooyo,

The 2.0 is a major release and updates the developer platform. It's going to be a big step in the functionality of GNOME for years to come.

Your distributer should give you an upgrade path when they next to a release. An alternative may be to use Ximian (www.ximian.com) which is a packaged version of GNOME for many Linux distributions such as RedHat, Mandrake, Suse & Debian.

You'll be glad to know that the upgrade should be almost seamless and that your current 1.4 applications will run fine under the new environment. When they are ported to it they'll gain from it's new features and speed.

Cheers,

Steve

Re:I cant wait..

[Anonymous Coward]

That article is long on bitching about KDE 3, and short on evaluation of Gnome 2. The author pretty much admits that he'll need to invest some time learning Gnome 2. Once he gains some experience with Gnome perhaps he'll be in a position to write a real comparison. Until then, however, he's just blowing off steam.

Gnome 2 is terrible to configure

[wray]

I must object. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I found gnome 2 much harder to configure. The worst is the endless windows registry type settings in GConf (even with the GConf editor.) I tend to want to change things per application, and finding the specific option is nearly impossible under this scheme.

Additionally, I really dislike what has happened with gnome 2 in configurability. Making intelligent defaults is all fine and good, but when you can't get it how you want, frustration ensues. The reason I never used KDE was precisely this lack of configurability. I have heard this same comment from many people and I predict that an outcry of configurability problems will happen.

As an example, there are no virtual desktops in gnome 2, and neither metacity nor sawfish 2 add them. I realize there are only subtle differences, but there are many people who use those differences. Additionally, at least for now, sawfish doesn't even have the infrastructure to bind keys to switching to workspaces in a 2d sense (I can move left or right, but not up or down) Another example is that in metacity, clicking anywhere on a window raises it. This is terrible for me. One of the biggest reasons I use sloppy focus is so that I can have overlapping windows and cut and paste from the window underneath. This is especially useful with overlapping terminals that tend to be smaller and thus just disappear when the larger window raises. According to Havoc, most of these options (unless he uses them) are just "crack-rock." So don't use metacity right? Well, unfortuanately there isn't anything else that fits the bill right now, perhaps sawfish will get back to its usual self -- dunno. And to those who say, "make your own then, that is what open source is all about," I query, "Are you the same folks who wonder why we can't quit duplicating effort?"

My vote still lies in configurability, and my hope is I don't have to turn to enlightenment to get it.

Re:Porting to GNOME 2

[jmv]

There are two ways to think about that... One one side you've got the MS/Intel philosophy where you could (well, almost!) run a Windows1/8086 app on a WinXP/P4 machine. This is nice, but it comes with a price in ugliness (see current x86 ISA), inefficiency and bugs.

On the other side, you've got the way most Linux projects operate: breaking compatibility once in a while when "it's worth it". This has the advantage that you don't need to carry 10 year old bugs/bad design but as you said you need to change your code after major releases. Sometimes, using static binaries (or compatibility libraries) can work around part of the problem.

I guess it comes down to either having a mild, but constant pain in dealing with wierd, backward-compatible APIs or having a nice API but having to rewrite some parts once in a while. I think I still prefer the Gnome way, but some could disagree...

Re:Gnome 2 is terrible to configure

[tempest303]

Note: nearly all of my responses to you will be directly influenced by this document [pair.com]. I personally consider it a must read for anyone interested in Free/OSS desktops.

Additionally, I really dislike what has happened with gnome 2 in configurability. Making intelligent defaults is all fine and good, but when you can't get it how you want, frustration ensues.

Understandable. As it says in the above link, if you feel that the behavior of a particular program is frustrating, file a bug either suggesting a change to the behavior, or, if it really really must be, requesting a preference to change the behavior. Either way, have a logical arguement ready, though - please be aware that "But I've always done it this way!" probably won't fly. If something is broken, but familiar, it's still broken. Sometimes it's really worth the small pain of learning to change your user habits. Of course, other times, the developers are wrong, and need your help in straigtening it out! :-)

Another example is that in metacity, clicking anywhere on a window raises it.

Read the Metacity README file! This is one of Metacity's precious few user options. If you really want a GUI instead of using GConf to change this stuff, check out Metacity Setup [tzo.com] - it's a seperate project from Metacity proper, but it's becoming quite nice!

(incidently, sloppy focus really is total crack, as Havoc also says in the README, but he's letting it slide anyhow *because* of the fact that it's so very useful. The "weight" of the preference is justified in this case. Again, the README is highly informative on this subject.)

Additionally, at least for now, sawfish doesn't even have the infrastructure to bind keys to switching to workspaces in a 2d sense (I can move left or right, but not up or down)

See the release notes: http://www.gnome.org/start/2.0/errors.html#id28297 18

My vote still lies in configurability, and my hope is I don't have to turn to enlightenment to get it.

Well, if you can put up with E's serious bloat, stability, and consistency issues, (that I've always had with E - maybe it's different for you) in exchange for maniacal control over your WM, be my guest. My guess is you'll probably go back to Gnome or KDE after only a few days. ;-)

(My apologies to E users and developers, but my experiences with it have been *terrible*...)

Star Control 2 for Linux

[Jagasian]

Star Control 2 for: Linux, OSX, and Windows
Why isn't this a full Slashdot news article?

Re:Bash Windows, not KDE

[Anonymous Coward]

Both KDE and Gnome in terms of UI are BAD windows ripoffs. They all (inc. windows) lack any real innovation, and wouldn't know a good UI principle if it bit them on the az.