The OpenSolaris desktop community released an opensource version of the Java Desktop System. “The Java Desktop System is a secure and comprehensive enterprise desktop software solution that combines the best of open source innovation. Java Desktop System is a major component of the Solaris 10 Operating System, x86 and SPARC architecure editions, and an earlier release is also available with a Linux OS.”
http://ftp.gnome.org <– available since over 5 years!
I’m totally unfamilar with this JDS. What’s the difference between it and a stock GNOME?
Sun.
Well, I didn’t ask who’s releasing it. I’m asking what code/functionality is changed.
> Well, I didn’t ask who’s releasing it. I’m asking
> what code/functionality is changed.
Except a few images and the inclusion of Java, nothing has changed.
Except a few images and the inclusion of Java, nothing has changed.
Not exactly. There are quite a few more changes than that, I can assure you. SUN has gone to great lengths to fix many outstanding bugs, add support for SUN specific hardware or features, and enhance multi-lingual support beyond what stock GNOME has. There are other changes as well…
I don’t know about code changes, but JDS is the best looking implementation of Gnome I’ve ever seen. The fonts and theme are very nice and clear. Other than that, it’s basically a very stable Gnome setup where everything works as expected – I can’t say the same about many Linux Gnome desktops I’ve used.
i like JDS because it comes a lot of things ready.. Java, plug-ins etc. But default theme needs some change if you want. gradients are exaggerated imho.
What’s the difference between it and a stock GNOME?
Not a lot – Just an ugly default theme. Bundled with Java and a few Java apps plus realplayer.
realplayer??
this just shows you are talking out of your arse. I use JDS on top of Nevada build 23 and guess what…no realplayer. In fact if you look at Ben Rockwood’s blog post here: http://www.cuddletech.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=367 you will see that they are in the process of bringing Helix (which I may need to explain to you is the realplayer for linux) Player to Solaris/OpenSolaris.
cheers
che
realplayer??…this just shows you are talking out of your arse.
When JDS 1 was first released Sun made a big thing about bundling Realplayer. I have no idea if they still do that is up to the strange and mysterious workings of Sun. Here is a blog that mentions it:
http://akaimbatman.blogspot.com/2004_05_01_akaimbatman_archive.html
It was Realplayer 8 presumably it had the Real 9 codecs included but I am not sure as there were some problems with it:
http://supportforum.sun.com/sjds/index.php?t=msg&goto=7725&rid=0
So I guess that historically establishes JDS 1 had Realplayer 8 bundled.
they are in the process of bringing Helix (which I may need to explain to you is the realplayer for linux)
Helix is the open source version of Realplayer it does not come with the proprietary Real codecs if you want it together with the codecs you need to download Realplayer 10 for Linux. Its an rpm that’s very simple to install on any rpm based system so even a moron like you should be able to install on JDS or has sun maimed it so much you can’t install a non JDS rpm ?
Its an rpm that’s very simple to install on any rpm based system so even a moron like you should be able to install on JDS or has sun maimed it so much you can’t install a non JDS rpm ?
Sorry I hadn’t noticed you were running the version for OpenSolaris. So I guess you will have to use the Helix build and rip off the codecs from elsehere. I personnally don’t use Realplayer 10 that much as I get better results from gxine using the codecs from realplayer.
By the way JDS 2 for Linux may bundle Realplayer 10 – does anyone know if this is the case
It appears that you my friend are confused, I think you are referring to the Linux Distro JDS not the JDS consolidation within Solaris which this article refers to, so I guess this would be a good time for you to RTFA.
Maybe Realplayer was a package on JDS Linux but I wouldn’t know this as I haven’t used it and have no intention of doing so. I have however used JDS on top of Solaris 10 & Nevada and as I stated earlier there is no realplayer available at all for Solaris x86, there is however some ancient version for Solaris on Sparc
It appears that you my friend are confused, I think you are referring to the Linux Distro JDS not the JDS consolidation within Solaris which this article refers to, so I guess this would be a good time for you to RTFA.
It still doesn’t alter the fact that Realplayer was bundled with the original JDS when it was launched and that Sun made a big fuss about how important it was.
It appears that he answer to the question
What’s the difference between it and a stock GNOME?
is not:
Not a lot – Just an ugly default theme. Bundled with Java and a few Java apps plus realplayer.
but:
Not a lot – Just an ugly default theme. Bundled with Java and a few Java apps
In other words even less
JDS is a heavily customized Gnome. It has it’s own theme, Blueprint, plus menus customized to resemble a minimal Windows install. Apps in the menu are renamed for their tasks; Mozilla is simply “Web Browser”, Gaim is “Instant Messenger”. It’s simple and clean. I consider it “Gnome done right”. And has some interesting Java apps preinstalled, such as Jedit and a disk space analyzer.
JDS is a heavily customized Gnome. It has it’s own theme, Blueprint, plus menus customized to resemble a minimal Windows install. Apps in the menu are renamed for their tasks; Mozilla is simply “Web Browser”, Gaim is “Instant Messenger”. It’s simple and clean. I consider it “Gnome done right”.
That’s what you consider as “heavily modified”? Oh dear…
I’ve never liked how people rename the applications in the menu based on the purpose, in some distributions of Linux I’ve also noticed that they renamed the window title so people never really know what software they were running unless a splash screen or about dialog happened to catch their attention. KDE has a nice system, in the configuration you can have the description and then the actual name of the application in brackets; it does make the menu entries longer, but it’s also nice for knowing what apps you’re actually using if you like knowing that kind of thing.
Anyway, this isn’t to say that JDS isn’t good software; although, I wouldn’t mind seeing that feature implemented if it isn’t already there where I can’t find it.
I’ll have to disagree with that (partly). I think John Doe doesn’t even care what application he is using as long as it gets the job done so naming the application “Web browser” makes sense. It’s the people who are interested in tech who usually care what exactly they are using and they will know without the name because they usually install it themselves.
The problems I see is not giving the devs enough credit for what they have done and maybe creating some confusion because John Doe might think “well I’m using Web-browser why is it so different from Web-browser at work ?”
To be honest, you can get a full working GNOME from the default locations on ftp://ftp.gnome.org
Last time I was near a Sun box it was Solaris 8 with CDE. Does Solaris still come with CDE at all, or is it all Gnome for them these days?
Solaris still comes with CDE…for now.
I agree with the above.
Their Web site says that going forward JDS will ONLY be delivered on OpenSolaris.
Tell us again how Sun is supporting Linux.
Sun is toast. Forget them.
absolutely nowhere, in the linked article, is such stated. What is stated is :
“We only support building JDS on Solaris 10 and Nevada, the current development release of Solaris.”
and “We” is opensolaris.org….which is not the same as Sun Microsystems…..
Some days ago this article was posted to osnews: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1877244,00.asp which says just the contrary
The problem at Sun seems to be that the left hand does not not what theright hand is doing. But it seems to be a widespread problem within big companies.
Anton
whwre is the Java in JDS? hype? and ts not open source Java.
why should it be a openn source one, i actually am happy that they include the latest Sun Java..
JDS is probably one of the most useful Gnome flavoured desktops for Unix/Linux out there. Sun has done a pretty good job at making making Gnome really usable. Here is another review from http://www.theinquirer.net:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27275
If you want a distro with free Java, Fedora Core is where it’s at.
So what does this give us?
Re-ordered menus based on tasks? A new theme? “Great”. Is there a major distro out that doesn’t do the same?
This isn’t about “new” software being release – this is Sun trying to tidy up their desktop. Most people won’t care, but producing useful GTK wizards as part of JDS, and providing a clean interface will go a long way to easing people into solaris, something Sun does care about 😉
It’s the same story over and over again: SUN releases something and everyone thinks it has to be great simply because it’s from SUN. Well, it’s not. It’s a slightly modified GNOME desktop which incorporates a handful of useless Java applications. The GNOME desktop provided by Fedora/RHEL is about as stable as SUN’s desktop and it is well established in the business community (and among personal desktop users – Fedora).