It was only a matter of time: EXDE

pogeymanz · 2011-03-20 13:53:17

Apparently this guy, Sean Middleditch, who used to be a Gnome packager for Arch, is forking Gnome 2.

Although I think his solution to the gnome-panel woes is in the wrong direction, I wish him the best of luck.

I do like his plan to make Metacity compositing suck less and if he can nail multi-monitor support, this DE might do well.

litemotiv · 2011-03-20 13:59:50

pogeymanz wrote:

this DE might do well.

How do you define 'well'?

pogeymanz · 2011-03-20 14:03:30

litemotiv wrote:

pogeymanz wrote:
this DE might do well.
How do you define 'well'?

My operational definition of "doing well" is to become at least as popular as XFCE and LXDE are now.

hauzer · 2011-03-20 16:20:09

Keeping my eyes on this.

Awebb · 2011-03-20 16:52:37

I just tried the new Gnome (or what might become Gnome soon) using this live image: http://blog.crozat.net/2011/01/gnome-3- … image.html. I really tried to stay away from it until it's released. Now I'm in panic... I have to find something else before this monster is released. I hope the EXDE project does well...

Jodell · 2011-03-22 00:08:20

The link redirects to xfce's website. From what I read on the site yesterday, I hope it comes to fruition. I'll most likely use it as I'm currently not 100% thrilled with GNOME 3 right now.

hauzer · 2011-03-22 13:06:39

It does, unfortunately. Although I'm using LXDE, I like GNOME very much and I would use it if it weren't for my slow box. We'll see what will happen out of this.

fukawi2 · 2011-03-28 05:42:55

Well this is a weird update....

If you're looking for a good Linux desktop project to contribute to, I recommend XFCE. It is very similar to the old GNOME 2 user experience, and could always use more active contributors and testers.
I hear LXDE is decent, but I haven't used it.
KDE is always around if you want more options, features, configurability, and doodads than you can shake a cursor at.
If you're looking for the GNOME 2 UX, I suggest you download old versions of it from GNOME FTP.
There's also always Ubuntu (Unity) for people looking for new-age alternative desktop experiences.
If you're interested in the specific plans and user experience ideas originally posted on the EXDE website... just search inside yourself for what logic dictates is a good UI based on 30 years of collective industry experience and the work done by the highly-paid and professional UX engineers in the commercial space (who maybe kinda sorta know what they're doing and actually test their ideas out on large groups using proper hallway testing procedures, and have thrown away more failed UI experiments than a project like GNOME has even considered testing), then toss in a good amount of polish and bug testing on the boring already-coded components rather than rewriting everything from scratch every few years, and then you too can post common sense desktop UX designs on the Internet. If I could do it, anyone can.

(I only quote in case it changes again....)

EDIT: Well if the project lead doesn't believe in what they are doing, it's going to go no-where. Sad, I tried Gnome Shell today and it is horrible http://blogs.gnome.org/sudaltsov/2011/0 … omment-839

Last edited by fukawi2 (2011-03-28 05:46:48)

dolby · 2011-03-28 07:11:17

fukawi2 wrote:

Sad, I tried Gnome Shell today and it is horrible

Well, Arch, like always, is gonna be one of the first distributions to adopt it.
I dont know if the Arch devs have a plan to have a "fallback" to old GNOME though. Or what is the upstream plan.

As a ratpoison user i actually find the Shell in general, much better as an UI in compare to Metacity or whatever they call the old one. But it seems that the shell is unusable for me as well, mostly because its not keyboard friendly.
You have to use a mouse, or a touchpad or whatever the hell else to access everything. At least from what ive seen.
Plus in true GNOME tradition its completely uncustomizable, and i dont expect that to change, ever.

Cosmin · 2011-03-28 07:19:56

Nothing to see here, move along ....
too late - it's dead before it was born.
but he's got a point gnome2 is available from ftp.gnome.org

Korrode · 2011-03-28 10:26:50

/me revels in the performance of his fluxbox environment

fukawi2 · 2011-03-28 22:08:41

dolby wrote:

Well, Arch, like always, is gonna be one of the first distributions to adopt it.

Yay for IgnorePkg

dolby wrote:

I dont know if the Arch devs have a plan to have a "fallback" to old GNOME though. Or what is the upstream plan.

Someone will create an unofficial gnome2 repo or similar no doubt if the devs/TU's don't keep it (python2/3 anyone?).
I will if no-one else does!

dolby wrote:

Plus in true GNOME tradition its completely uncustomizable, and i dont expect that to change, ever.

There was always 'enough' customization for my liking, but the new shell is about as customizable as a rock. Doesn't even let you remove "Accessibility" or "Bluetooth" icons from the system tray! WTF? Even on Windows I can close the default "Language" toolbar from the taskbar.

Last edited by fukawi2 (2011-03-28 22:09:27)

.:B:. · 2011-03-28 22:50:19

Korrode wrote:

/me revels in the performance of his fluxbox environment

+1 from an Openbox user here

ngoonee · 2011-03-28 23:00:24

.:B:. wrote:

Korrode wrote:
/me revels in the performance of his fluxbox environment
+1 from an Openbox user here

Pah, tiling wms is where its at! They're just awesome (r)

I've use gnome2 most of my 'linux-life', mainly for the apps (Evolution is great, and all the helper stuff gnome-settings-daemon does is nice as well). The environment (windows etc.) was mostly compiz (yay for discrete GCs on laptops), and seeing as that will still be an option in gnome3 I think most of the 'fuss' being made is overblown.

And those who really don't like it can just go to XFCE, its just about identical after all.

skaboss · 2011-04-11 21:42:42

fukawi2 wrote:

Someone will create an unofficial gnome2 repo or similar no doubt if the devs/TU's don't keep it (python2/3 anyone?).
I will if no-one else does!

Please do it !! Gnome3 would surely be a great WM for my android phone, but for my workstation, it just s**** a lot

fukawi2 · 2011-04-12 00:26:59

I said that before I learnt about "Fallback" mode... Have you tried that? I haven't, but seems to achieve what I will want once G3 hits [extra]

cb474 · 2011-04-29 00:40:19

fukawi2 wrote:

I said that before I learnt about "Fallback" mode... Have you tried that? I haven't, but seems to achieve what I will want once G3 hits [extra]

Fallback mode doesn't come close for me. I want vertical panels. It's a total waste of space to have horizontal panels on a laptop screen, where almost every use case (except watching movies) benefits from more vertical space. And I want the greater customizability of Gnome 2. Also, isn't the intention to eventually drop fallback mode from Gnome 3?

I would be super grateful for a Gnome 2 unofficial repo. I really really don't want to leave Arch. But going back to Debian is looking more and more like my best option. Sigh.

Last edited by cb474 (2011-04-29 10:19:24)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-20 13:53:17

It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#2 2011-03-20 13:59:50

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#3 2011-03-20 14:03:30

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#4 2011-03-20 16:20:09

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#5 2011-03-20 16:52:37

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#6 2011-03-22 00:08:20

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#7 2011-03-22 13:06:39

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#8 2011-03-28 05:42:55

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#9 2011-03-28 07:11:17

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#10 2011-03-28 07:19:56

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#11 2011-03-28 10:26:50

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#12 2011-03-28 22:08:41

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#13 2011-03-28 22:50:19

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#14 2011-03-28 23:00:24

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#15 2011-04-11 21:42:42

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#16 2011-04-12 00:26:59

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

#17 2011-04-29 00:40:19

Re: It was only a matter of time: EXDE

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