The first development build after Syllable 0.6.4 is here, with the new USB and scanning subsystem. The project was contacted by the Python project concerning support for the upcoming Python 3, so far resulting in an upgrade of the Syllable Python port to the latest release version 2.5.1. Also this weekend, Syllable got a new window decorator in Vista style [screenshot], 7-Zip, UnRAR and UnACE.
Bad copy of a bad original design. Congratulations!
Calm down hehe.. 🙂
It’s only an ugly theme.. some crazies like theming things for reasons unknown to science.
if only they could do it in a original way then, 90% of the themes out there are to make things look either more windows or more mac.
and the rest are some insane oversized bitmaps bolted to the sides of the windows. go fig…
Take you pick. Syllable ships with a whole bunch of different decorators. Winter is one new decorator.
should have guessed
thanks for the info.
most of the win decos dont fit in with the rest of the main theme at all.
MacOS classic or AmigaOS is better.
Flame me or whatever, but i love it.
One of my old pet peeves with Syllable look-and-feel are the window decorators… Silly, I know…
But this one has a small problem: other than the color of the buttons, there is no visual indication whatsoever of which of the windows open is the active window. Well, there is a difference but it is very subtle. But I see that the improvements in that area are making their way in a steady pace.
It is nice to see that it is catching up with the big three in other areas as well: libusb, support to 7-zip, unrar, unace and scanner support through SANE are nice additions. If they can add CUPS into the mix, suddenly Syllable starts to be usable by a lot more of users than it is right now.
The only question remaining is: How easy is to develop for it? It is good to see that Python is going to be well supported across the platform but what about the native API? Here I believe that Haiku has a headaway as it is being built upon the old BeOS API, which is fairly complete, and it tries to be backwards compatible, thus if they reach this goal, they will have a large software platform to benefit from immediately.
I’m looking forward to see how Syllable and Haiku unfold as both projects show a lot of potential as desktop replacements in the future. Keep up the good work, Vanders and the other Syllable devs!
CUPS has been working for quite some time. There is even a nice GUI for configuring your printer.
Things like CUPS & SANE aren’t fully integrated yet though I.e. there is no way to print or scan directly from an application.
How easy you find it to develop on is obviously a subjective thing, but as long as you know basic C++ you’ll be O.K. The API is pretty obvious and there is even GUI editor which takes some of the pain out of creating applications.
If you’re interested I have started a series of developers articles, which will be published in the upcoming Syllable Developer Newsletter (SDN) and then will form part of our official documentation.
Edited 2007-08-20 08:02
The new USB and scanning subsystem,Python port 2.5.1, 7-Zip, UnRAR and UnACE are all cool but the one I am hanging out for is a release of the new Syllable Server with Syllable userland. Any idea when that might happen?
I like the size, placement and style of the window buttons in Vista quite a lot. The UI is one thing MS got right with Vista, although it could be argued that they might have done better in other areas if they had focussed less on the GUI. Anyway, getting back on topic, this new Syllable windows decoration is an improvement, but it still needs some work. Grey is so last century, and my preference is for blue or black as far as the window bar is concerned.
Personally, I’d like to see a hybrid of the Amiga UI and the Windows Vista UI – that would work well for me. I like having the close window button as far away from the other buttons as possible – accidentally closing a window you meant to maximise can cause a lot of damage, especially when some programs just shut down straight away when that little red X is clicked, without prompting to save. Some OSs/DEs let you customise the positions of the buttons, which is nice.
I think Syllable is coming along well, and it will be interesting to see where it goes form here.
I haven’t tried Syllable since the 0.5.x days and I must say, it certainly has improved. ABrowse is sweet and the OS really is pleasant to use.
Need some more apps (Abiword or a word processor) and I would use it a lot more.
Could have they ever been less effective?
Its almost like Motif meets Vista title bar buttons.
Also, why the need for another Unix-like OS? There are hundreds of those already.
it’s not a unix like OS.
Did you try it? You can download a LiveCD or VMWare image if you like.
Syllable isn’t UNIX like: it is POSIX/SuS compatible to a certain degree, but that doesn’t automatically make it UNIX.
These decorators are a waste of time; give me the ability to change the whole LAF. Or rather, give me a decent UI in the first place.
Please let us know when you have written a “decent UI”. Right now, there’s a few other things, that’s a bit higher on the list…
No matter how “decent” the UI is, it’s not worth much without a the rest of the system…
Please define “decent UI”. If by that you mean Windows clone/Windows-like, then you’re going have to code it yourself, they’re busy doing important things that they feel are more important. If by that you mean “intuitive”, please define intuitive as I cannot think of a way to quantify intuition. If by that you mean functional, have a look at KDE.
… I notice how much Linux has achieved. Ok, it is unfair to compare Syllable to Linux, but then that’s the competition for Syllable.
I like how vanders is always available to answer questions and silence ignorant people ,lol
Syllable will be the next great alternative OS someday in my opinion
That is only going to happen in case Syllable attracts many, many new developers. And I don’t see any attraction for developers currently developing for Linux.
I’m not seeing it. they’ve been around for years already and haven’t managed to attract but a few small developers, and the work they output isn’t that impressive.
That’s because it takes years (decades, in fact) in this lethargic atmosphere to get anywhere, and we’re building from nothing instead of assembling a bunch of pre-made components (Any Linux distribution) or forking a fully working OS (Any BSD). We don’t have a pre-existing development community to draw on (Haiku).
Developers are fundamentally lazy. Generally, that’s what makes them good developers. Getting lazy developers to use a new platform is difficult.
What would you like? Balloons and a circus?
Out of all the “alternative” OSes, Syllable is currently the most complete, most stable, supports the most hardware, has one of the most complete and up to date toolchains. We will soon also have a server version.
a circus would be great