REVIEWS Gnome 2.20

Gnome 2.20 in detail

sylbohec, Fotolia MEET THE NEW GNOME

The new release of the GNU desktop spoils users for choice with a display directories with many images far faster after the code is updated; at the whole bunch of innovations. BY CHRISTIAN MEYER same time, the Exif data are parsed to choose either landscape or portrait for- he latest version of the Gnome Evolution are the only black sheep left mat for display. The latest version of desktop impresses with improved that rely on the technology, and this is Nautilus is also the first to support XMP Tinteroperability; seamless drag likely to change next year at the latest. metadata (see the “eXtensible Metadata and drop; the lean Tracker search en- Most applications, including the Epiph- Platform” box). gine, which integrates with the file man- any browser and gedit, come with their ager; and automatic codec installation in own plugin infrastructure that nicely fills the media player [1]. The developers the gap left behind by the ditched com- also have added new features and re- ponent architecture. moved annoying bugs from many key The latest version of Nautilus not only components. offers more in the line of eye candy, it In the past, critics said that the Gnome also has useful features that improve us- desktop component architecture is too ability. Whereas File Roller, the archive complex. The architecture, dubbed manager, previously refused to support “Bonobo,” has been regarded as obso- drag-and-drop copying to a directory, lete since Gnome 2.18. The panel and this feature is now available. The code behind this feature, which comes from eXtensible Metadata the Xfce project [2], was integrated by Platform Nautilus developer Alexander Larsson in The XMP format was invented by Adobe early September. to support RDF (Resource Description Many users complained about the de- Framework) embedding in binaries. The lays before thumbnails were displayed. free format defines a standardized Christian Neumair resolved this issue by schema and can be embedded in PDF, introducing an intelligent algorithm that Figure 1: Nautilus shows disk information, JPG, and PNG files, among others. Wiki- asynchronously generates the images. the filesystem, and a graphic of disk usage in pedia [3] has more information on XMP. This means that the file manager can this case.

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package will open tion of kicking the heavyweight applica- remote files that tion off your disk. The new version of File Roller was un- the Evince document viewer, which is able to access pre- based on the Poppler library, will help viously at the drop you master these tasks. A project that of a hat. Just like was implemented during the last Google Nautilus, File Summer of Code [6] gave Evince forms Roller has a side- support (see Figure 3). The program can bar that you can now save images embedded in PDF doc- display or hide by uments and print multiple pages on a pressing F9. single sheet of paper. The Eye of Gnome (EoG) image Easy Editing viewer has also made considerable prog- The latest version ress. Thanks to a core rewrite, the image of the Gnome text viewer is now more stable and faster editor, gedit, than its predecessor. The image viewer which now has an has a new Properties dialog for images Figure 2: The gedit text editor, with its advanced syntax highlighting, advanced plugin (see Figure 4) and has XMP support, just outshines many state-of-the-art editors. infrastructure, im- like Nautilus. The ability to launch an presses with im- image from the application for editing is proved syntax new (see Figure 5). The reworked Prop- Nautilus was the first free file manager highlighting, which it owes to the new erties dialog shows information and to integrate a desktop search engine. It GtkSourceView2 library replacing its pre- metadata for images. gives users a convenient option for file- decessor after two years. The new en- Yelp, the Gnome help browser, gives and keyword-based searching. What’s gine will recognize scripting languages users a hand if they are struggling with a new is the option to choose Tracker [4] such as Python or Ruby embedded in program. With the color scheme now re- instead of Beagle. Tracker, which was HTML and is intelligent enough to cor- flecting the current theme, the help func- programmed in C, is a desktop search rectly interpret dollar signs in \verbatim tion is more intuitive. Intelligent loading engine that saves memory and works environments. Other modern editors fail of manuals reduces wait times; instead faster than Beagle [5] in many cases. miserably at this task and highlight the of loading the whole manual into mem- Nautilus now displays the filesystem text in the wrong color. If you are used ory, Yelp now simply loads and displays properties and hard-disk usage in the to a specific syntax color scheme with a individual pages (see Figure 5). Basic tab (Figure 1). Baobab is still avail- different editor, you need not change – The Tomboy note-taking application able to give users a more detailed analy- the editor gives you four basic schemes replaces the legacy note taker, but you sis of disk use and includes bug fixes. that you can modify (Figure 2). do not need to rewrite old data because Tomboy can import existing notes. The Easy Unpacking Just Look developers have added two useful func- The File Roller archive manager now If you use Adobe Reader to view PDFs tions to the program: Tomboy can use supports a large variety of archive types and fill out forms, you now have the op- WebDAV or SSH to talk to a server and including ZIP, RAR, GZ, and BZ2. The latest version of the program allows users to drag and drop files between two instances – for example, when creating a new archive to store files from various archives. The application now fully ex- ploits the capabilities of GnomeVFS (the virtual filesystem support library); the

GLOSSARY

Poppler: Poppler is an Xpdf library fork and is now under separate develop- ment. Both Gnome and KDE use the library for their applications. WebDAV: Web-based Distributed Au- thoring and Versioning. An open stan- dard for file sharing over the Internet. WebDAV is an extension of http/ 1.1 that lets users transfer whole directories. Figure 3: Evince is one of few free document viewers that lets users fill out forms.

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Figure 6: Forgotten the attachment? No problem – Evolution will remind you of missing attachments.

Gnome multime- this common mistake – a dialog warns dia player helps you if the body of the mail refers to an users by offering attachment, but you don’t actually have Figure 4: The Eye of Gnome Properties dialog with information about to autonomously one (see Figure 6). the current image. You can choose which application to use. locate and install Automatic notification for incoming missing codecs. mail is also new – an envelope icon synchronize notes between two comput- The feature is available on Ubuntu and flashes in the Gnome panel to draw your ers, and an intelligent algorithm prevents openSUSE right now. Other distributors, attention (Figure 7). Users reinstalling data loss and merge conflicts as much as such as Fedora, will probably introduce their computers often had problems possible. Plus, when you restart, Tomboy it with their next releases. Embedded transferring file structures created in now displays any notes you left open. videos on Internet pages and the option Evolution to the new system. The to play back in full-screen mode now backup and restore system avoids this Multimedia work better in Totem. The flashing play problem by saving the required files and In the age of multimedia entertainment, button that tells you when you can giving users the ability to restore them a missing codec should not stand in the launch a video is also a neat gadget. later at one fell swoop (Figure 8). way of a user’s home viewing pleasure. The “magic space key” is harder to Previously, users were expected to man- Evolution find; pressing the space key shows you ually install missing codecs. As you can Have you ever forgotten to send an im- every new message in every single guess, this was often a frustrating experi- portant attachment with an email? The folder. There’s no need to push the ence if a search drew a blank. The Evolution groupware solution prevents mouse – Evolution will take care of navi-

Figure 7: A flashing envelope icon notifies users of incoming mail.

Figure 5: The latest Yelp help browser is far faster and renders help Figure 8: With the new backup plugin, you can save your Evolution pages in a more attractive way. settings.

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sition of the floating panel, which led to the panel moving to different positions for different screen resolutions. In the Control Center, the developers have reorganized the various Theme, Background, Fonts, and Interlace dialogs. The new Appearance control-panel ap- plet (Figure 10) groups these items, thus helping to unclutter the screen. The ac- cessibility settings have been moved into a new tab below Preferred Applications. Users who have a wireless LAN at home can now look forward to WPA encryp- tion support. Power on the Road Up to now, laptop users often have had the problem of not knowing how long the battery would last. The computer Figure 9: Epiphany updates the address bar when you use the keyboard to navigate it. would give them an optimistic assess- ment sometimes, and a more pessimistic gation between new messages. have already visited (see Figure 9), and one at other times. Gnome’s integrated Evolution uses the printer API intro- your “Favicons” are shown in the history power management provides extremely duced with Gtk+ 2.10. The printing sys- entries. Firefox-style soft scroll also has precise information on the battery status tem is cross-platform capable and will been integrated in response to repeated on the basis of manufacturer data. The run on Windows; the developers have user requests. program will even warn you if it finds a already ported Evolution to the Win- battery that has been withdrawn for dows platform. Thankfully, the anti- Panel and Control Center safety reasons. spam extension is now more reliable and The Gnome panel is the user’s constant no longer restricted to SpamAssassin. companion. One weak point that an- GDM The alternative, in the form of Bogofilter, noyed many users was the window but- A graphical login screen is a matter of is no problem for Evolution; in fact, tons changing size. The developers have course today. GDM is the leading login there is a spam configuration option in now tackled this issue and at the same screen with respect to configuration op- the preferences. time fixed the issue with storing the po- tions and features. In combination with Evolution is also known to be a group- ware solution that works perfectly with Microsoft Exchange Server. To underline this ability, Evolution has a delegate fea- ture that allows your colleagues to work on your files while you are away. Other enhancements include improved connec- tor performance; the connector is far faster in offline mode and loads folders more quickly. Epiphany The Epiphany Web browser has also benefited from small but decisive en- hancements. The address bar now changes when you search a site you

GLOSSARY WPA: Wi-Fi Protected Access. A method of encrypting data traffic on wireless LANs currently regarded as secure. In contrast to WEP (Wired Equivalent Pri- vacy), which is fairly easy to break, WPA uses dynamic keys to protect the net- work. Figure 10: The new Appearance Preferences dialog groups what were four separate dialogs in previous versions. Ubuntu adds a Desktop Effects tab for Compiz configuration.

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ministrators a with the Neo1973 [10] and Nokia’s powerful configu- N770/ N800 [11] is likely to produce its ration tool. first results. In recent weeks, The developers are again collecting Federico Mena ideas for the desktop; for example, a re- Quintero, who work of the user interface for the Gnome works for Novell, VoIP client, Ekiga [12], is planned, as integrated the Pes- well as support for SIP presence. sulus lockdown Clean-up work on the Control Center program with and libraries continues to top the priority Sabayon. The list. Users can look forward to more intu- Sabayon user pro- itive use and further reductions in re- file editor creates source requirements. global profiles to An enhanced API for panel develop- match an enter- ment is in the cards, although users are prise’s needs. This more likely to benefit from the ability to all happens within arrange applets in a simpler way. an interactive The Sabayon administration tool is Figure 11: Glade lets developers compile complex interfaces in next to Gnome session also on the list of applications scheduled no time. that runs in an for enhancements, and let’s not forget embedded win- the Vinagre [13] VNC tool, which is also the screen saver, which now gives other dow. under development. users the ability to leave you a message, Individual settings, stored as GConf even if your screen is locked, GDM values, can be modified arbitrarily with Roadmap rounds off the good overall impression the convenient administration interface. The list of applications planned for the desktop makes. GDM now monitors Gnome 2.20 adds the ability to modify Gnome 2.22, which is scheduled for re- utmp and wtmp more precisely and sup- OpenOffice components. Sabayon now lease in March, is fairly impressive. A ports the Linux-auditing library for im- supports a wide range of programs, in- visit to the Roadmap site [14] is worth proved user control. cluding Mozilla/ Firefox and of course the trip. ■ Gnome applications. Accessibility INFO Design Factory The accessibility initiative launched by [1] Gnome homepage: Sun in 2001 continues to make progress The Glade interface designer (Figure 11) http:// www. gnome. org/ on Gnome. Orca, the default screen was introduced with the early Gnome [2] Xfce Desktop: http:// www. xfce. org/ reader, now has voice synthesis support, versions. The application lets program- [3] Wikipedia entry on XMP: a magnifying glass, and braille support. mers compile graphical front-ends with http:// en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ The program is application independent, drag and drop, thus reducing develop- Extensible_Metadata_Platform which means it adapts to reflect the ment time considerably. Glade version [4] Tracker homepage: functionality and usage differences in 3.4 is a more mature application; many http:// www. tracker-project. org/ various applications, including OpenOf- free-floating windows, including the [5] Beagle homepage: fice, Firefox, Pidgin, and Java. tools, editor, and pallet window, now http:// www. beagle-project. org/ The latest version of Orca has no trou- dock onto the main window. Developers [6] Google Summer of Code: http:// live. ble handling context-sensitive help, mes- can visit the website [7] for more infor- gnome. org/ SummerOfCode2007 sages, and progress indicators, and it can mation about this GUI tool. [7] Glade User Interface Builder: adapt to match the pronunciation of var- http:// glade. gnome. org/ ious words. Information [8] Gnome development site: Just as in the past, detailed information http:// developer. gnome. org/ A Free Hand for Admins on the API and documentation on us- [9] Gnome library: Gnome’s lock-down mechanism was ne- ability studies for translators and the http:// library. gnome. org/ glected for many years until Pessulus documentation team are available online [10] OpenMoko (Neo1973): and Sabayon hit the scene, giving ad- [8], and another page provides a larger http:// www. openmoko. org/ selection of user and developer docu- [11] Maemo changes: http:// live. gnome. GLOSSARY mentation [9], courtesy of the Google org/ Maemo/ Gtk210Changes [12] Ekiga homepage: SIP: The Session Initiation Protocol, Summer of Code. The documentation on http:// www. ekiga. org/ which was developed by the Internet the site is updated regularly. Engineering Task Force (IETF), estab- [13] Vinagre homepage: http:// www. lishes a communications session be- Future gnome. org/ projects/ vinagre/ tween multiple subscribers and is popu- The next six months will be exciting for [14] Gnome Roadmap: lar in the IP telephony sector. Gnome. The mobile initiative launched http:// live. gnome. org/ RoadMap

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