GNOME 2.8 is due for release on the 15th of September according to the release schedule. Before then here are some screenshots of things we can expect in GNOME 2.8.
What’s new in GNOME 2.8?
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Those are some nifty looking features. It almost makes me regret the unfortunate tumult my comments about the button order made yesterday.
Anyone have a mirror?
Shh no one has to know.
My only beef with Gnome 2.8 is that they are including a VNC server but no client. Maybe in the next release they’ll include something like tsclient (http://gnomepro.com/tsclient/)
Evolution integrating seems to be the highlight of changes. The rest are very mundane minor feature improvements in already existing applications – something that I will expect going from a subversion to another subversion.
Impresive as hell, there’s not so much visible changes as people probably expect. But gnome engine changes rock and put Gnome in completely different perspective
But most impressive: Gnome finally got decent FTP connect dialog, well I missed that one for a long time
that site just got OSNewsed. Anyone got the pics?
What is all involved with this? What can you configure with it?
2.8 is looking very promising, i cant wait
Is there any work going into the “feeling of sluggishness” that myself and many other people experience when using GNOME. It seemed, and I know this is unrelated to GNOME, but when the 2.6 kernel was released – it helped make the “feel faster”. But I am still into probablys of the system “feeling slow” (my system is a P4 1.8GHz with 1GB of RAM).
Also, about 3-4 times a week I have the GNOME desktop, file lauchner etc crash on me. This is frustrating because I don’t run many applications. I’m running Fedora 2 as a bare-bones system basically only GNOME 2.6, Emacs, Mozilla and GCC. I didn’t install the slew of services or applications that typically come with Fedora since I use this machine for C/C++ development.
Users and groups
Date and time
Network configuration
Bootloaders
Runlevels
I hope you understand Fedora 2 is a test distro. Every complaint I’ve heard about GNOME crashing has been from Fedora users.
As for the performance problem with GNOME, well it has always been an unfortunate myth propagated by anti-GNOME proponents. Statements like “GNOME is slow” don’t help developers solve the problem either. They need data to work with rather propagated myths and feelings.
Also, about 3-4 times a week I have the GNOME desktop, file lauchner etc crash on me. This is frustrating because I don’t run many applications.
Its your distro. I was using FC 2 for a little while.
-gedit/nautilus would crash randomly
-100% CPU usage when I wasent doing anything
-Some applets would seg fault
-the Gnome bootsplash would freeze and I’d have to restart the computer
Truly one of the worst distros ever!
I’ve read in the past people complaining about being able to see GNOME redraw the windows on the screen etc. The first time I noticed that was when I installed Fedora Core 2 after working on Redhat 9. Never seen that on KDE or on MS Windows.It should be priority number 1: making it faster instead of doing nothing so it gets solved by us buying newer and faster machines.
If you would like to test the new Gnome features, or you would like to use a stable gnome try gentoo.
for bleeding edge Gnome: http://www.breakmygentoo.net ebuilds for Gentoo. I use it now, it “stable” I use it as my primary DE haven’t had any problems. (The bleeding edge version (2.7.4)
-Regards
To make up for the sluggish-ness, I use Gentoo and start from a stage 3 install. With the 2.6-mm series kernel, GNOME is real snappy.
Its your distro. I was using FC 2 for a little while.
-gedit/nautilus would crash randomly
-100% CPU usage when I wasent doing anything
-Some applets would seg fault
-the Gnome bootsplash would freeze and I’d have to restart the computer
Truly one of the worst distros ever!
Thanks for the comments. What distro do people recommend for workstation usage? And out of curiousity, what distro would be recommended for server usage?
The new Xorg (due out at the end of August) will help a lot with the redraw/tearing/flicker problems.
It looks like we finally a decent GUI to get wireless going. I can’t believe there is a such a lack of easy to use wireless config tools for Linux.
Solved in GTK+2.5,
so expect it in Gnome 2.9/2.10 release.
I never could get menu editing to work correctly in Gnome2.6. Has this been fixed.
Ideally, I am a fan of XFCE style menu editing where the menu is edited directly at the spot on the menu you want to edit (What a concept!).
What distro do people recommend for workstation usage?
It really depends on your needs. If your willing to forgo the GUI config tools, Slackware all the way. Otherwise a distro like Mandrake would suit you very well. Its reasonable up2date , very easy to use, and very fast(30sec boot, woot woot!)
And out of curiousity, what distro would be recommended for server usage?
Slackware/Debian.
According to the Xorg mailing list, an Alpha version of 6.7.1 is being released TODAY!
If you’re looking for an up to date workstation and server, and know what you’re doing but are frightened by slack, try http://archlinux.org
Been reasonably stable for me, I’ve only had firefox crash on me in a year of using it full time.
Gnome needs a ton of work in optimization. There is no excuse why it should use so many resources. A window manager should be a means to exposing the resources of the computer to applications, as opposed to using them all for itself.
l cannot understand these people saying gnome is slow.
the last release 2.6 has never been slow for me thats only on a 600mhz 256mb ram, really snappy! lts mor likely a problem with your distro. gnome on debian sid isnt slow actually apperars more responsive than kde.
Ideally, I am a fan of XFCE style menu editing where the menu is edited directly at the spot on the menu you want to edit (What a concept!)
Yes, this is what is attractive about XFCE. It is very easy to customize menus, yet it still relatively lightweight and easy to use.
If you’re going to claim gnome is responsive compared to another window manager or operating system, you shouldn’t pick KDE as your reference point.
I had no problems with spped or perception of speed in Gnome 2.6 (not true in prior versions).
On the question of distro for workstation and server. That is a flamewar waiting to happen. It is a matter of personality of the user/administrator as was mentioned before.
For a server that does not need to install commercial enterprise apps I would say Slack/RHEL(or Tao Linux)/Debian/OpenBSD. (Yes I know OpenBSD is not Linux, but it has many similar traits and falls under the same user market.) If you need to run a commercial enterprise app though, use a distro where the app is supported.
can anyone here mirror it. its a good read, wait till it is posted on slashdot and no one will be able to even connect to it.
KDE has it but it is broken and ignored. Gnome is much more Mac like and if they put the ability to have the App menus in the top bar as an option, then I think it would make it much more comfortable for many mac users.
I know I would love to have a gnome system on my home network that allowed universal menus.
> My only beef with Gnome 2.8 is that they are including a VNC server but no client.
What does the client subdir mean then?: http://cvs.gnome.org/viewcvs/vino/client/
And the best thing is: vino supports XDamage, so all users of the new Xorg release and all Xserver users will have vnc without the cpu hog!
> What does the client subdir mean then?: http://cvs.gnome.org/viewcvs/vino/client/
Sorry for the insult. That’s just a java client. Sorry.
Ive been waiting for HAL with breathless anticipation ever since it was announced. Im very glad gnome is going to have HAL integration so quickly. The mime-type system is also quite impressive. IMHO, file type should be in the filesystem metadata, but this is definately the second best solution, and far superior to just using a file extension. and the new evolution doesnt look like an outlook 97 clone anymore!
gnome rocks, and i cant wait for this release.
having read all the comments i wish i could see the screenshots myself…
mirror anyone?
i dont understand why there are so many critics to fedora 2. i’ve been using it since it was released, and i never had all that crash problems. IIRC, only one or two times some applet or nautilus crashed with no big problems as it restarted itself…
<quote> vino supports XDamage, so all users of the new Xorg release(…)</quote>
They (Xorg) merged DAMAGE-XFIXES with MAIN 28 hours ago
They are working on composite right now
))
here is a mirror:
http://tuggy.home.sapo.pt/gnome/
probably some orange page will appear with a frog on it, just click on the big link that says “AQUI”
sorry
i have yet to experience a problem with fc2 either. i had some issues with fc1, such as prelink wigging out and sucking up 100% cpu for hours at a time, but i have yet to have any difficulties with fc2.
Evolution (or whatever E-mail client) should be added by the distro builder, it should not be part of Gnome.
Some of the other additions – like the volume manager – sound great.
“Gnome is much more Mac like and if they put the ability to have the App menus in the top bar as an option, then I think it would make it much more comfortable for many mac users. ”
But for other users, it’s just a longer distance to move the mouse.
yeah and that is why I said OPTION!!!!!!! KDE has it as an available option but it is broken because KDE is not set up like Gnome and Mac OS X. Gnome needs that Option.
what an e-mail client any different from a web browser, text editor, or any other program already in gnome?
They include it so they can get maximum integration
> But for other users, it’s just a longer distance to move the mouse.
They could use a NeXTish type menu system. It has the same advantages as the Mac aproach with the menu positioned closer to the app.
thanks tuggy
Click on http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=13548&PHPSESSID=cc5e… and check out the screenshots there. You’ll be very surprised.
Also don’t forget to drop the author of that thing and me about how to enable that MacOS like menus.
Have fun!
Also don’t forget to drop the author of that thing and me about how to enable that MacOS like menus.
its not mac-like menus.. it IS mac menus. that is MacOS running with GIMP and GTK. is just showing the theme used in GTK, doesnt have to do it in linux.. can be done in any OS where GTK runs.
From http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=13548&forummode=1&fo… :
User: Hi, I saw your screenshot and I got wondering. Is it really Mac OS X or is Gnome? and if it is Gnome. Which version are you running and how did you got the panel to look in that way?
Author: It is 100% in Gnome. I’m running Fedora core 1. The dock at the bottom of the screen may called “StarterBar of gDesklets”. And the mmenu bar at the top of the screen is now a independent program and maybe get to be a desplay of gDesklets in the future.
So?
wanna bet?
I think Gnome should stay focused on those GUI things that would require a new user to manually hack the system together. I am all for the disk-mounter and any other utilities which make the desktop easier to use.
..the total intergration of a mail client which has commercial hooks isn’t one of them. Ximian/Novell offered cash bounties to get Evolution integrated in the GUI. Don’t they sell accessories for it? How is that fair?
http://www.gnome.org/bounties/Mailer.html
It seems Evolution gets more attention and is more important than the rest of Gnome combined.
Watch here for a month or so.
http://www.gnomedesktop.org/
Is Gnome buckling under corporate influence? Will Gnome remain be a open fair desktop solution? Stay tuned.
I may be wrong. If I am please someone correct me. It may be only how things appear, and no one else seems to be raising an eyebrow.
Yep
Let’s ask the macos users. The dock seems completely different from the macosx’s ones. Also MacosX cannot display Gimp’s menu at the top because it’s gtk app. The author says it is Gnome, what do you want else ? 
i want him to say what “independent-topsecret” app is that then
I can’t wait. Especially integrated FTP into Nautilus. Right now, my nautilus will log into an FTP server, but won’t let me do anything.
(Use gFTP everyone yells, and I do, but not when I just want to upload one file!)
I’ve been running Evolution1.5 from debian experimental, and I have to say, it keeps getting better. Junk mail filtering works very nicely. Evolution2.0 will be very nice, especially with all those bounties.
<quote>wanna bet?
</quote>
I would.
http://e-scribe.com/osx/misc/gimp2.jpg
what is the Nextish approach? explain it please.
to ifolder intergration?
what is the Nextish approach? explain it please.
http://www120.pair.com/mccarthy/nextstep/intro.htmld/
<quote>what is the Nextish approach?</quote>
http://www.macopz.com/columns/nextmac/screenshots/menu.jpg
I like the Gnome Theme, if I want to Use Mac Os X then I will use my iBook or my Power Mac. I want the universal Menu!!! that is it!!! Please Make it an option like it is in KDE. all one needs to do is make it a top bar section that one could put up there and move around. that is what makes the top bar so good you can add things to it. the KDE way is not configurable at all. you get the menus and a lot of wasted space that could take applets. in gnome, you get applets and drawers and the foot menu, but you do not get App menus so again, you waste a lot of space.
I want option so I can have both applets and app menus in the top bar.
I won’t post a link becuase some good links are posted above. If you want to use something NeXTish today google for gnustep. The main disadvantge of the NeXT aproach is it takes up more screen real estate than the Mac/Amiga aproach.
<quote>it’s got slow redraws</quote>
http://osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=7860&offset=15&rows=30#265758
yeah, I don’t like the Next approach at all. the writer of the article above says that it takes less real-estate, but it takes up more IMHO. the Mac type menus take up far less and they are fixed.
I am already drooling…
I just hope I don’t have to resort to using Break My Gentoo again to have a look at GNOME 2.8 when it ships. It took forever for the GNOME 2.6 ebuilds to appear in portage last time.
From the picture it looks like the Nautilus CD Creator still can’t do multisession recordings… that’s not good :/
Victor.
I totally agree with you Victor! 🙂
I believe thats planned for the 2.10 release. iFolder is now where near finished so integrating now wouldn’t make much sense.
“Gnome is much more Mac like and if they put the ability to have the App menus in the top bar as an option, then I think it would make it much more comfortable for many mac users. ”
But for other users, it’s just a longer distance to move the mouse.
Apple did a lot of research on this. The longer distance to move will be compensated for by the larger target to hit. Infact the screen edge could be considered to be of infinite width since you don’t need to control when to stop your mouse movement. It will stop at the screen edge.
This is often referred to as Fitts law.
See: http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs5724/g1/lecture_slides/sld004.htm
So, I think that it would actually benefit all users, not only old Mac users.
I’m not sure this should not be part of Gnome, KDE or any other toolkit at all, but rather a part of the X window system. That applications could communicate with according to some standardized protocol.
We now have window managers, desktop managers and session managers. Why not introduce a menu manager. That way various toolkits could behave in consistent ways if applications was run in a nonstandard environment.
From the picture it looks like the Nautilus CD Creator still can’t do multisession recordings… that’s not good :/
—————
its meant to do only basic stuff now. if you want something more capable use xcdroast or k3b. it will remain the same for atleast 2.8. might change in 2.10
I doubt that FC2 have anything to do with your problems. I have run it in various configurations, with or without SELinux, with different type of hardware, and it is rock solid. Are you sure you not have some hardware problems e.g like a faulty memory chip?
done that been there didnt notice anything.
did convert a few friends from kde -> gnome they didnt notice ither. next
Nope the hardware is fine. Windows XP, NetBSD, Slackware, Mandrake, SUSE, and Debian run flawlessly.
My hardware isnt even that exotic.
josh@PhantomAMD:~ su -c “lspci -v”
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8375 [KM266/KL266] Host Bridge
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8375 [KM266/KL266] Host Bridge
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 8
Memory at c0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: e0000000-e1ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d0000000-dfffffff
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
0000:00:06.0 Communication controller: Conexant HSF 56k HSFi Modem (rev 01)
Subsystem: Conexant Dynalink 56PMi
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at a000 [size=8]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
0000:00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at a400 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
0000:00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
I/O ports at a800 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
0000:00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at ac00 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
0000:00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 3901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at e2010000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
0000:00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
0000:00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT8233/A/C/VT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP]) Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 3901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at b000 [size=16]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
0000:00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 3901
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10
I/O ports at b400
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 390c
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at bc00
Memory at e2011000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV31 [GeForce FX 5600] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Unknown device 1682:1219
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 11
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 3.0
I guess Fedora just sucks
You’ve realy have to try out the NeXT approach. I find its very nice, especially with a large monitor at a high res. The apple menubar is better with smaller monitors IMHO.
Does anyone know if there are any plans to enable the file transfer dialog to display more information, like speed and size of file ?
> the KDE way is not configurable at all. you get the menus and a lot of wasted space that could take applets.
Erm, no– you can fully have a MacOSX-like menu since KDE 3.2.
see howto at (google cache): http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:8co1rKTMUcUJ:wiki.kde.org/tiki…
see screenshot at http://www.lynucs.org/index.php?screen_id=1905886395403c6ec78860f&p…
its meant to do only basic stuff now. if you want something more capable use xcdroast or k3b. it will remain the same for atleast 2.8. might change in 2.10
xcdroast has a terrible UI, and using a KDE application (k3b) under Gnome is not very nice (takes a lot of time to startup, etc)
And, come on… multisession *is* a basic thing… and it’s also pretty easy to implement, since Nautilus CD Creator uses another application (cdrecord) to do the “dirty work”. Or they could just copy the code from k3b. Whatever…
Victor.
nice. Now if Gnome would do it, then I would not feel like I have a half windows half mac system if I did that in KDE.
“It looks like we finally a decent GUI to get wireless going. I can’t believe there is a such a lack of easy to use wireless config tools for Linux.”
Nope. Wrong again, Kwifimanager has existed for ages. And Red Hat and Mandrake have provided you with the tools to manage wireless for a long time
Let’s see, who’s next in my let’s debunk sylly myths wheel of fortune?
If UT2004 can run at great speed under X11, I guess Gnome can do the same.
“The KDE way is not configurable at all. you get the menus and a lot of wasted space that could take applets.”
Then you don’t know how to activate the Application menu bar. Or I don’t understand what you want. I’ve got it at the top with KNewsStiker and the clock.
“I want option so I can have both applets and app menus in the top bar.”
You cand do that in KDE. Create à child panel, add the applet “Menu”, activate “current application menu bar” in the desktop configuration.
JFL
Who cares if this package or some other package can do this that or the other the point is that packages xyz is not integrated. Point 1.
This is linux with Gnome people it’s nice to be able to do what other OS can do but the aim is to be better so lets talk about what would make it better not what will make it apple. If you want os X buy it. Point 2.
Lastly the Spatal thing introduced in gnome 2.6 is cool. Not just because of itself but what it will allow gnome to do later. If you don’t like it you caould always use something else. Point 3