(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Just thought I'd like to start the ball rolling by giving you guys a brief vision of the new Community Edition. Nothing is set in stone. It's just my way of whetting your appetites for what may come.

Enjoy!

Nice icons. Nice wallpaper. The IceWM theme isn't coherent enough for my tastes. The XMMS theme is incredible.

More on the IceWM theme: The problem is that it uses a bunch of nice gradients, but it doesn't look good. Making a theme is no easy matter, and IceWM is especially annoying when it comes to making the buttons look nice. But I'd rather see a more plain theme that looks decent than a fancy one that doesn't. A fancy one that does would be best, of course.

Also, I've noticed that big gradients (IE through the entire start menu, not for each item) sometimes slow things down. Just something to think about.


In terms of a Puppy CE, I'd much rather it didn't try to mimic Vista. I have no problem with other derivatives doing it, or including such a theme, but the CE Puppies are supposed to be more official, and it doesn't seem like a very moral thing to do (not that other businesses would hesitate, but we aren't MS).

Besides, abandoning the mimic mindset brings more variety.


Overall though, I like the idea. Just not the Vista-esque stuff, or the tackyness (that's the word I was looking for earlier) of the theme. Those are personal opinions though, and of course, the screen shot is just a concept. So that's a thumbs up from me, so long as it doesn't hurt the size.

DroooooooooooL

That is a freeking beautiful xmms skin, where can I get it?

Nathan

Nathan F wrote:That is a freeking beautiful xmms skin, where can I get it?

Just for you and Pizzasgood, I have attached the subject XMMS skin and another just like it in dark blue.

Enjoy!

Pizzasgood wrote:Nice icons. Nice wallpaper. The IceWM theme isn't coherent enough for my tastes. The XMMS theme is incredible.

I'm hearin' ya, mate. Why did I do a Vista-esque version? Because I could, that's why! I even toyed with displaying window shadows and all the other eye candy, but thought better of it.

I wanted to get away from the blue that so many distros use these days. It's part of the vision to capture interest from the first boot. If you want to make a suggestion for an alternate theme, grab the new Icewm themepak that I just uploaded as soon as MU has it mirrored. Then make a suggestion from that.

I've pretty much determined to stick with Icewm on the score of reliability. I'm hoping that rarsa's XDG menu's will mature in time for the CE release, too. I might even have to get down and dirty with Tcl/tk to try and create some graphical utilities to make it easier to modify Icewm settings like whether the taskbar is at the top or bottom of the screen, etc.

That said, so far it's all been ME fooling around, so I'm glad to finally get some constructive suggestions from those who've already done the hard yards with a remaster.

Cheers (see present above)

trapster wrote:DroooooooooooL

Is it raining around here? Things got very, very wet all of a sudden!

you can drag the Icewm taskbar to the top or bottom of the screen with the left mouse button

GuestToo wrote:you can drag the Icewm taskbar to the top or bottom of the screen with the left mouse button

I'm still using MU's Icewm-Ultra version and that feature doesn't seem to be available. Can I load the latest version over the top of that?

Cheers

i'm using Icewm 1.2.29 and i can drag the Icewm taskbar with the mouse ... the latest version is Icewm 1.2.30 ... my dotpup package is 1.2.28

Icewm is simple and robust ... you can probably copy the latest version over the Icewm executable, and it would probably work properly

i've been intending to update the Icewm package, it's easy to do, but to do it right requires attention to all the details, which all takes time ... updating the preferences file if necessary (comparing the new default preferences file to the older one), making sure that the configuration options are not changed ... making sure Icewm still recognizes the start button icons ... etc etc etc

there are other packages that also need updating ... i'm running the latest Privoxy and Tor, but my dotpup packages are still older versions, and need to be updated

i compiled and uploaded the latest version, Icewm 1.2.30: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=15292

in case you want to try it ... it should (might) work without any major problems, to install it over an older version of Icewm

the start-menu buttons in your themes may need to be renamed to start.xpm

right click the taskbar and click About to see what version of Icewm you have installed

GuestToo wrote:i compiled and uploaded the latest version, Icewm 1.2.30: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=15292

in case you want to try it ... it should (might) work without any major problems, to install it over an older version of Icewm

the start-menu buttons in your themes may need to be renamed to start.xpm

right click the taskbar and click About to see what version of Icewm you have installed

Thanks, G2. That worked without a hassle. I took the trouble of creating symlinks from icewm.xpm and linux.xpm to start.xpm in all my updated Icewm themes, just to avoid that sort of problem after ecomoney reported it in another thread.

That is soooo cool Thanks for taking the trouble to compile that newer version. I'm adding it to both my CE experimental and my working 2.13 Frugal install. Thanks again.

Cheers

by the way, if you disable killing X by pressing ctrl+alt+del, for example, by putting:

Option "DontZap" "true"

in the Section "ServerFlags" of xorg.conf, when you press ctrl+alt+del, a window pops up with Reboot, Restart, Shutdown, and LockScreen buttons

you can enable switching desktops by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen, but i find that feature annoying

GuestToo wrote:by the way, if you disable killing X by pressing ctrl+alt+del, for example, by putting:

Option "DontZap" "true"

in the Section "ServerFlags" of xorg.conf, when you press ctrl+alt+del, a window pops up with Reboot, Restart, Shutdown, and LockScreen buttons

Likewise, that one is straight into the CE version, too! Just makes it so easy for someone coming to Puppy from another environment. Thank you, G2!

GuestToo wrote: you can enable switching desktops by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen, but i find that feature annoying

Actually, for the same reason of being newbie-friendly, I agree. That would throw them for a loop if they did it by accident!

Cheers

Cool. I'll probably add those (ctr-alt-del, new ice, and theme) to Pizzapup on Sunday before I upload it. I won't be able to skip the rc release this way, but it's worth it.

I don't know about in 2.14, but the old XDG setup I've been using in Pizzapup is pretty nice. From what I hear, the new version will be even better, and more integrated.

EDIT: changed my mind, I'll stick with the IceWM I have, because I've tested it since... I don't know, a long time ago

Pizzasgood wrote:I don't know about in 2.14, but the old XDG setup I've been using in Pizzapup is pretty nice. From what I hear, the new version will be even better, and more integrated.

The new implementation in 2.14a is pretty flaky at the moment. I'm hoping the guys get it sorted fairly soon as there is much to recommend about XDG menus for a Community Edition.

Problem at the moment is that Barry's fixmenus script runs at certain times and deletes all of the old menu entries, replacing them instead with nulls. The only way to recover is to keep a protected backup that can be copied back over the corrupted copies. rarsa's version apparently didn't have that problem, but I don't know much more about it than that. I'll remain patient as 2.14 is still in Alpha, and there is plenty more to occupy a restless mind like mine.

Cheers

Great lookin' themes WhoDo! I'm really looking forward to 2.14CE, and it will certainly LOOK the business if these screenshots are anything to go by.

I've got to say though, Pizzapup 3.0 has really blown me away. The multimedia support is amazing (I suppose that's MPlayer for you). Will 2.14 with the extra codecs be as good?

Here's why I'm asking: It's time to get rid of some of my old PCs. We only really need one. My Sister-in-law needs a replacement, and rather than giving her a Windows machine, I'd like to provide a (fairly) fully featured Linux distro. I was thinking about Vector 5.8, but I would always prefer to use a Puppy frugal install if it can do the job (my criteria) and look the part (hers).

Can we bring more people into helping with this?
Do we need a wiki page?
Do we need a logo?
How about a podcast on your ideas?

Barry will all going well be bringing out Puppy final any time now . . .

Remember Community Edition is community enhanced

these need updating
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/CommunityEditionCreation

something similar to this is needed
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/CommunityEdition

What can you offer?

Lobster wrote:Can we bring more people into helping with this?

Yes, please! So far I feel like I'm doing it all on my own, despite some wonderful offers of help from MU, Pizzasgood, Nathan, etc. I need people to tell me what they want, preferably in our own section of the Forum - Community Edition Projects. I asked John Murga to create that in a PM, but obviously he's been pretty tied up so it hasn't happened yet. Ideas, and volunteers with expertise to create them. That's the ticket!

Lobster wrote: Do we need a wiki page?

Yes, please! We need somewhere to point people so they can see a coherant overview of where things are going and how far along they are. It should include a community wish list for the new CE, and a check list to indicate those things that have already been achieved at any point.

Lobster wrote: Do we need a logo?

Yes, please! A logo becomes a rallying point around which people can invest their time and interest.

Lobster wrote: How about a podcast on your ideas?

Only if you'll do it! I'm too shy to start spruiking away into a microphone. I'm happy to chat away in text and online to get those ideas out for discussion purposes.

Lobster wrote: Barry will all going well be bringing out Puppy final any time now . . .

Remember Community Edition is community enhanced

these need updating
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/CommunityEditionCreation

something similar to this is needed
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/CommunityEdition

What can you offer?

Does this mean me personally? Or is it a general call to arms for other Puppies out there wondering what they can do to help? I'm not precious about letting others have their input, so I won't mind if anyone wants to jump aboard and lend a hand ... please!

Cheers

TonshA wrote:Great lookin' themes WhoDo! I'm really looking forward to 2.14CE, and it will certainly LOOK the business if these screenshots are anything to go by.

I've got to say though, Pizzapup 3.0 has really blown me away. The multimedia support is amazing (I suppose that's MPlayer for you). Will 2.14 with the extra codecs be as good?

It is my intention to carry into Puppy 2.14CE the best features of Muppy, Pizzapup and Grafpup. Obviously some things won't be possible, but most things will ... within reason. The CE edition is our opportunity to show the rest of the Linux community that Puppy is not just some querky little light distro, but rather a serious contender on the desktop - especially where hardware-challenged machines are involved.

MU (Muppy), Pizzasgood (Pizzapup) and Nathan (Grafpup) have already volunteered whatever we need from their efforts, which is a wonderful start. We just need to sort through all of that and come up with a snapshot of what 2.14CE will be.

Cheers