GNOME 2.6: The Linux Desktop
Mich ael Meeks (m ich ael@xim ian .com ) “Stand at th e crossroads an d look; ask for the an cien t path s, ask w here th e good w ay is, an d w alk in it, an d you w ill find rest for you r sou ls...” - Jerem iah 6:16 Overview:
● Why Gnome ?
● What is it ?
– The stable platform: 2.6
● What's coming soon ?
● Freedesktop
● OpenOffice.org
● The future. Why Gnome ?
● 'Free software on every desktop' (not 'Open')
● Predictable time based releases ...
● Independent Software Developers
– API/ ABI stability; a single platform to target.
– Meeting government a11y requirements
– Multi- OS: GNU/ Linux, Solaris, HP/ UX, AIX
– Libraries free for commercial use
– Vendor support: Novell, Sun, HP, RedHat, IBM Why Gnome ? (more)
● The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)
– clean, neat, usability- tested GUI
– reduced feature exposure
– Supportable – elegant simplicity pays
● Language bindings
– C – makes binding easier; C+ + , Python, Ada, Mono, Perl, Java, Eiffel, Guile, Scheme, Pascal ...
● Friendly community: irc.gimp.org #gnome
● Accessibility – a tough problem Gnome: what is it ?
● The (stable) foundation of a bigger whole
– Infrastructure
● system / portability abstraction (glib)
● widget / application (gtk+ / libgnome*)
● Virtual filing system
● CORBA ORB & component infrastructure
● accessibility (a11y) foundation
● Applications: ... Nautilus: Panel: Evolution ... Epiphany:
Moz illa u n d er th e h ood : th e real m agic bu llet: cod e- reu se. And more:
● Totem / gstreamer: (multimedia)
● Games
● Accessories
● Office suite(s)
● Communication
● Devel. tools
● And more ... New in Gnome 2.6 ...
● Fast ● Accessible ● Beau tiful ● Sp ecifics ● VFS ● Nautilus ● Evolution ● Gn om e- Meeting Performance ...
● Always improving ... “f aster than a speeding Gnom e
desk top”
● gconf – parsing / scattered file (pw rt. panel)
● pango – kerning / caching
● GtkTreeView – huge dataset / fixed height
● nautilus
– mime/ type: extension, then sniff
– more efficient remote access
– spatial – less cluttered / complex UI GUI improvements
● The File selector:
– Fear the Lart:
● new combo:
● Improved ergonomics & completion widget ● New toolbar widget, artwork, RTL support IM improvements ...
● GAIM + Groupwise integration iFolder ...
● Mono:
● W32
● OS/ X
● meta- data
● replication
● caching, searching etc.
● Nautilus/ Mono
● File sharing / peer2peer Accessibility ...
● Effort driven by Sun (& Baum / U. Toronto)
● Government compliance – Section 508 (US) Red raw ! Im mediat Ap p ● Why it is hard: e: text '1', rect, rect, line Con tain er
AT: state, Label En try Assistive astsyopceisa,t ieovnesn ts Techn ology Title: 'En try 1' Text: '' Accessibility: - the Demo
● helping to shrink our potential user- base:
(new typing break capplet): Gnome- VFS
● Architectural improvement
– Daemon – GPL modules, [centralised caching]
– network:/ / - network places storage, sftp:/ /
– Keyring: - secure password storage, single CORBA auth. Im age Daem o viewer – Improved IPv6 support CORBA n S File Man ager MB Remote hand- holding ... (vino)
● Secure
● Pretty Evolution – in development
● System addressbook / contacts / calendar
– integration with the platform / ABI stability
● Re- designed UI / ergonomics
● S/ MIME & builtin spam filtering
● Novell GroupWise connector
● C# plugin bindings
● http:/ / codeblogs.ximian.com/ blogs/ evolution/
● GAIM (& panel) integration
● Lots of bounties to go ... Beautifu l Group wise in tegration:
Also, Su n iPlanet MS Exchange 2k Gnome- Meeting
● Chunky improvements & ongoing excellence: – Improved look: HIG – NAT tunnelling
– call hold / transfer / follow
– IPv6
– h323: & callto: support Wireless / tablet / Gnome
●Im p roved th in client p erform ance OpenOffice.org pieces
● Overview ● Com p on en ts OpenOffice.org – it rocks.
● 6+ million lines of Free software
● http:/ / ooo.ximian.com/ - call for hackers
● OpenOffice.org 1.1.0 – give it another try.
● Gnome integration
– Now
● Printing, VFS, theme colors, icons, fonts, local evolution contacts – Under development
● File selection, gtk+ theming, Groupwise / extended evolution mail- merge, improved ergonomics etc.
Freedesktop.org bits ...
● D/ BUS / HAL ● X/ Cairo DBUS / HAL / Gnome ...
● D/ BUS – a system (and session) busA
● Simple IPC, great for secure event notification
● HAL – hardware abstraction layer: device events.
● Requires Linux 2.6.X
● Hot- plug: just works
● http:/ / hal.freedesktop.org Xserver / Cairo ...
● http:/ / xserver.freedesktop.org/ - the future of X
– Damage extn – what drawable changed where?
– Composite extn – off- screen&controlled render
● Cairo – PDF 1.4 renderlike
– vector graphics library
– AA text, alpha etc.
– outputs ps, pdf, png, X11 (XRender)
The future ...
● Dashboard (Foo) ● Tim eline ● Dep loym en ts Dashboard ... ● A context sensitive association engine – ( prototype ) A timeline ...
• A rou gh gu id e to th e big p lan :
2003 200 200 2006 ... 4 5
2.4 2.6 2.8 2.1 0 XD 2 Evo. 1.4OO.o OO.o 1.1 2.0 Mon Mon o 1.0 o 1.2 Mon o 2.0 Conclusions: ● Gnome is
– Powerful, simple, supportable
– ISV friendly & backwards compatible
– The only accessible desktop
– Well integrated with other leading projects
● Supported by all the significant players
● Links:
– Hacker blogs: http:/ / planet.gnome.org/
– Bounties: http:/ / www.gnome.org/ bounties
– This talk: http:/ / www.gnome.org/ ~michael