Projects on the Move

:FDDLE@KP Free Software Projects

8elg$kf$[Xk\cffbXk]i\\jf]knXi\Xe[`kjdXb\ij GIFA<:KJFEK?<DFM< Now that we have entered the age of three-dimensional desktops, suggestions on redesigning controls keep springing up like mushrooms. When Gnome 3.0 sees the light of day, will the menus be circular and include files alongside applications? BY CARSTEN SCHNOBER

ntil a couple of years ago, the past. Still, there is room for improve- that supports transparency. If you do not 3D desktop was considered to ment. Although the KDE and Gnome have a compositing window manager, Lbe a novelty that got in the way desktops now integrate Compiz, users the program will launch, but it will use a of meaningful work. Despite early skep- are still waiting for a paradigm shift in black background that completely covers ticism, the major Linux distributions do basic controls. So far, the problem of the underlying desktop, which prevents not want to lose ground to Mac OS and how to reconcile two-dimensional input any meaningful use. Windows Vista, and all of them now devices, such as the keyboard and the Ansley had the idea for the new menu offer user-friendly three-dimensional mouse, with a 3D desktop is one that not design last March, but he didn’t start im- desktop support. many people have considered. Little has plementing it until December. The Wobbling windows, transparency, happened to change the WIMP model source code still does not offer conve- rotating cubes when you switch work- (windows, icons, menus, pointers) over nient automake support. If you are inter- spaces – these visual effects raise some the years. ested in manually running make to build doubt as to the 3D desktop’s ability to the program, you can download the help users work more efficiently. But at >efd\#>`dd`\#Xe[>[DXg source code from Subversion. To find the least they give the GUI a more modern Cole Ansley suggested redefining the address, check out the Source tab on the and advanced look. Today’s other major menus in Gnome. In contrast to the leg- project homepage [2], which is hosted operating systems – Windows Vista and acy approach, the circular application on Google’s Code subsection. Mac OS X – have a similar look, and menu [2] no longer hides in a corner of You can try the software without too once you have grown accustomed to ef- the desktop to pop up when needed. In- many bugs spoiling your fun. If you in- fect-packed window managers like Com- stead, the menu sits at the center of the tend to use the circular application menu piz Fusion [1], you will not want to do desktop as a kind of wheel that spreads on a regular basis, you might want to as- without them. Although the benefits over any active windows. The Gnome sign a keyboard shortcut or add an icon might not be tangible, they do much to main menu icons are spread around the to the panel. Otherwise, you will need to boost the user’s feel-good factor. circle. Clicking one of these icons pops launch the menu from the command If you need more evidence that the up another wheel that displays the con- line, which doesn’t make much sense in wobbling desktop on Linux has grown tent of the corresponding sub-menu. the context of a graphical desktop. up over the past two years, just consider The Gnome circular application menu Gnome developers tend to use Gnome the fact that unnerving setup marathons is designed for the 3D desktop and re- – involving much trial and error and quires a compositing window manager regular crashes – are now a thing of the

94 ISSUE 94 SEPTEMBER 2008 Free Software Projects :FDDLE@KP

3.0 [3] as a screen on which to project Integrating voice new ideas, such as the circular desktop, over IP calls is just because the version change, which has a small step. been in the cards for years, is still just an The menu ele- idea. Because Gnome developers do not ments change to see any need to redevelop major parts of reflect the user’s the desktop to make the shift, there are habits – larger no tangible plans for version 3 of the icons represent desktop environment. frequently used The official Gnome 3.0 page offers a applications, doc- scratchpad [4], on which developers can uments, and con- present their ideas to the general public. tacts, and make No code backs up most of the proposals; it easier for users instead, most developers simply want to to find their favor- trigger a discussion and present their ites. A Recently own personal parallel universe with a Used section of- =`^li\(18e\nm\ij`fef]>[DXg% view of the Gnome desktop’s future. fers rapid access Gimmie [5], another suggestion for de- to programs and files on which the user Besides fixing a couple of bugs, author veloping the Gnome desktop, is a fairly has been working, independent of the Markus Lausser has implemented two tangible and working draft intended for underlying programs and files. new features in the new 0.8.0 version. the future Gnome 3.0. Gimmie is made Pre-built Gimmie binaries exist for For one thing, the software now detects up of two elements: a floating menu that some distributions. Although Release filesystem limits when searching subdi- resides at the bottom of the screen and 0.2.8 does have its fair share of bugs that rectories and stops the search if config- only shows active programs, serving as occasionally cause crashes or waits, ured to work this way. Sparse file han- a window changer and reminding users plans exist for the 0.3 series; however, dling is often a problem for analysis of the Apple Mac OS X menu, and a the code is not currently usable. For tools. Sparse files, which are typical for component that resides in a panel and now, I would not recommend using Gim- Unix, use far less disk space than their provides four tabs, giving users access mie in a production environment. ostensible size suggests because they to programs and data. Windows can be An intelligent desktop environment contain a large number of contiguous opened as required via the Gimmie makes the best use of space available on zero bytes, which do not need to be menu component. the desktop, but it is not much help if stored explicitly. Even in this special The changes mean that applications you start to run out of disk space. Expe- case, GdMap can now ascertain the cor- no longer hog all the limelight. Instead, rience shows that finite disk space is not rect file size. users can access a Documents tab with the answer. Space wasting is something The use of rectangles rather than cir- individual files sorted by categories such that can only be prevented by organized cles – like those in Baobab [7], for exam- as Music & Movies. If you click one of file management. But if you are in a ple – provides no objective advantage; the icons, the desktop environment finds hurry, it is easy to drop a downloaded however, the subjective goal is to give a matching application and launches it DVD image into the wrong directory. users an overview of the scene at a to open the file. The Contacts tab follows Typically, appeals to save space on glance. In contrast to the terse com- the same principle and is where users multi-user systems are ignored. mand-line output provided by du, disk can access contact addresses for people To locate disk hogs, you first need to hogs still catch the eye, even if you are they address directly via mail or chat. identify the biggest files. Be- in a hurry. ® cause most people can interpret graphical dis- INFO plays more easily than [1] Compiz Fusion: text output in the style http:// www. compiz-fusion. org du of , various programs [2] Gnome circular application menu: visualize disk space usage. http://code. google. com/ p/ A new version of GdMap [6] circular-application-menu (Figure 1) has brought the tool back [3] Gnome 3.0: http://live. gnome. org/ into the limelight. ThreePointZero GdMap represents files as rectangles [4] Gnome scratchpad: whose dimensions reflect their disk http:// live. gnome. org/ ScratchPad space requirements. Files in subdirecto- [5] Gimmie: ries are shown as elements of larger rect- http:// beatniksoftware. com/ gimmie angles. A single color shows users that [6] GdMap: they share a storage location, and a dou- http:// gdmap. sourceforge. net ble click lets the user navigate the direc- [7] Baobab: http:// live. gnome. org/ GnomeUtils/ Baobab tory structure.

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