Re: Parallel desktops
Benjamin M. Schwartz writes: There have been periodic suggestions, including some by potential OLPC buyers, that they would be more interested if the project offered a GUI that more closely resembled the environments to which they are accustomed. ~ I strongly disagree with these people, feeling instead that Glucose is already a highly effective environment with a very bright future. A middle ground could be less dreadful than either extreme. Good: secure activity isolation, full-screen for most things, usable window management for other things, curved corners, 3D look Bad: icons on the desktop, bag-of-spam file management However, it seems that some deployments, seeing Glucose as unfamiliar, might instead choose Windows, which I hate to death [1]. Of course. It has long saddened me that Linux has been given a severe disadvantage on the XO. Windows looks pretty good. :-( Chris Ball writes: There's another use case, unmentioned, which is the G1G1 community. Some of these donors expect a laptop that follows their expectations about computers: robust support for wireless access points, printing, office automation programs, and loading files from a filesystem without finding a clever way to inject them into our journal first. Kids in Peru deserve that too. ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 2:56 AM, Benjamin M. Schwartz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 There have been periodic suggestions, including some by potential OLPC buyers, that they would be more interested if the project offered a GUI that more closely resembled the environments to which they are accustomed. ~ I strongly disagree with these people, feeling instead that Glucose is already a highly effective environment with a very bright future. However, it seems that some deployments, seeing Glucose as unfamiliar, might instead choose Windows, which I hate to death [1]. To demonstrate that we too can play the same old desktop game, I would like to construct a disk image for the XO that provides, on each login, a choice between Sugar and a standard desktop environment. Indeed, we may even choose to ape Windows to the edge of nausea, like LXDE [2], or Windows-ish XFCE themes [3], just to prove that we can. I would like to collect all information necessary to execute this task, which we have been talking about for months if not years. I am told that precisely this sort of desktop switching is already working on Ubuntu, using gdm. What is its status under Fedora 9 and the new joyride? What needs to be done? Unless I'm missing something, it's just matter of installing gdm and xfce, and you should be ready to go. Marco ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 11:26 AM, Marco Pesenti Gritti [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 2:56 AM, Benjamin M. Schwartz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 There have been periodic suggestions, including some by potential OLPC buyers, that they would be more interested if the project offered a GUI that more closely resembled the environments to which they are accustomed. ~ I strongly disagree with these people, feeling instead that Glucose is already a highly effective environment with a very bright future. However, it seems that some deployments, seeing Glucose as unfamiliar, might instead choose Windows, which I hate to death [1]. To demonstrate that we too can play the same old desktop game, I would like to construct a disk image for the XO that provides, on each login, a choice between Sugar and a standard desktop environment. Indeed, we may even choose to ape Windows to the edge of nausea, like LXDE [2], or Windows-ish XFCE themes [3], just to prove that we can. I would like to collect all information necessary to execute this task, which we have been talking about for months if not years. I am told that precisely this sort of desktop switching is already working on Ubuntu, using gdm. What is its status under Fedora 9 and the new joyride? What needs to be done? Unless I'm missing something, it's just matter of installing gdm and xfce, and you should be ready to go. Oh obviously you also need to change back /etc/X11/prefdm to run gdm. Marco ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
Oh obviously you also need to change back /etc/X11/prefdm to run gdm. It wouldn't hurt us much to bias prefdm so that it runs gdm if it exists and our stuff otherwise. Michael ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Marco Pesenti Gritti wrote: | Unless I'm missing something, it's just matter of installing gdm and | xfce, and you should be ready to go. | | Oh obviously you also need to change back /etc/X11/prefdm to run gdm. As Marco noted in IRC, the file in question is actually /etc/event.d/prefdm. I don't know why we're not using the standard *DM system. Having modified that file... it's not quite so simple. For example, GDM now runs automatically, but can't do anything, because it isn't aware of any valid session types. It also doesn't seem to know how to handle a single-user system with no passwords. GDM advice is welcome. - --Ben -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkhlTXkACgkQUJT6e6HFtqT09QCgi6t+bJ+xV9Rm5mufuIk1/vNw 6QUAn0WX4GecBLTTRZeItcK8mwagnkeg =e2hH -END PGP SIGNATURE- ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
benjamin m. schwartz wrote: Having modified that file... it's not quite so simple. For example, GDM now runs automatically, but can't do anything, because it isn't aware of any valid session types. It also doesn't seem to know how to handle a single-user system with no passwords. i'm not sure that last point is a problem. frankly, if i'm an interested enough user to switch desktops, i'd probably not mind a modicum of security on my laptop, and wouldn't mind needing to set a password. managing or enforcing that might be an issue, though. paul =- paul fox, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 10:28 PM, Benjamin M. Schwartz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Marco Pesenti Gritti wrote: | Unless I'm missing something, it's just matter of installing gdm and | xfce, and you should be ready to go. | | Oh obviously you also need to change back /etc/X11/prefdm to run gdm. As Marco noted in IRC, the file in question is actually /etc/event.d/prefdm. I don't know why we're not using the standard *DM system. Having modified that file... it's not quite so simple. For example, GDM now runs automatically, but can't do anything, because it isn't aware of any valid session types. Strange. Do you have any desktop file in /usr/share/xsessions ? Sugar should be installing one at least. Marco ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Parallel desktops
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 There have been periodic suggestions, including some by potential OLPC buyers, that they would be more interested if the project offered a GUI that more closely resembled the environments to which they are accustomed. ~ I strongly disagree with these people, feeling instead that Glucose is already a highly effective environment with a very bright future. However, it seems that some deployments, seeing Glucose as unfamiliar, might instead choose Windows, which I hate to death [1]. To demonstrate that we too can play the same old desktop game, I would like to construct a disk image for the XO that provides, on each login, a choice between Sugar and a standard desktop environment. Indeed, we may even choose to ape Windows to the edge of nausea, like LXDE [2], or Windows-ish XFCE themes [3], just to prove that we can. I would like to collect all information necessary to execute this task, which we have been talking about for months if not years. I am told that precisely this sort of desktop switching is already working on Ubuntu, using gdm. What is its status under Fedora 9 and the new joyride? What needs to be done? - --Ben P.S. I'm talking to you, dgilmore. [1] http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/04/09/ [2] http://www.lxde.org/screenshots.html [3] http://www.23hq.com/Vincentt/photo/2871684 -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkhkOtkACgkQUJT6e6HFtqQ4XQCfcWnQ8VOMpGqfGMnuaSuTybXq /LkAnjjHEEbmxwEBDRh/AJcKvr7w5VfX =uHaL -END PGP SIGNATURE- ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
Hi, There have been periodic suggestions, including some by potential OLPC buyers, that they would be more interested if the project offered a GUI that more closely resembled the environments to which they are accustomed. There's another use case, unmentioned, which is the G1G1 community. Some of these donors expect a laptop that follows their expectations about computers: robust support for wireless access points, printing, office automation programs, and loading files from a filesystem without finding a clever way to inject them into our journal first. Instead of (or as well as) preparing a separate disk image, we could prepare a Desktop activity which launches an Xfce session and includes some office tools, the standard NetworkManager applet, a configurable CUPS installation, and so on. This could reduce our support load, allowing us to proceed on with our regularly-scheduled world-saving. Thanks, - Chris. -- Chris Ball [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
On Friday 27 June 2008 1:59:16 pm Chris Ball wrote: Instead of (or as well as) preparing a separate disk image, we could prepare a Desktop activity which launches an Xfce session and includes some office tools, the standard NetworkManager applet, a configurable CUPS installation, and so on. This could reduce our support load, allowing us to proceed on with our regularly-scheduled world-saving. In another thread there is talk of using virtual desktops per Activity, which is an idea that I had been wondering why it hadn't been that way from the beginning. I think the best outcome would be to find a way to do these two complimentary. I don't like the Idea that a desktop and and sugar are mutually exclusive. Simply clicking on an activity in sugar and getting a traditional desktop would work for those that want it. A Windowsy theme and Wine may even satisfy those with urges leaning in that direction. ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Parallel desktops
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Chris Ball wrote: | Instead of (or as well as) preparing a separate disk image, we could | prepare a Desktop activity which launches an Xfce session and includes | some office tools, the standard NetworkManager applet, a configurable | CUPS installation, and so on. This could reduce our support load, | allowing us to proceed on with our regularly-scheduled world-saving. I agree that this is a very interesting idea, but at present it's also a pretty serious research project. It potentially involves Xephyr and some crazy Sugar window management hackery. Meanwhile, the dual-desktop approach is /already working/. I'm just trying to get someone to tell me /how/ it's working, so that I can smush it into a build. Also, on a memory-constrained system, running only one desktop environment at a time may prove to be an important design choice. - --Ben -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkhkVwgACgkQUJT6e6HFtqR5sgCfb+sUCTUH9Xu15nZUrjWHh4ZE 2VwAniT359xkEEPnx1LDSdU760LO70jU =pr+7 -END PGP SIGNATURE- ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
