Re: GNUstep distro

[Liam Proven]

On 8 May 2013 21:36, Sebastian Reitenbach <sebastia@l00-bugdead-prods.de> wrote:
>
> On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 22:11 CEST, Liam Proven <lproven@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 8 May 2013 18:41, Sebastian Reitenbach <sebastia@l00-bugdead-prods.de> 
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 17:32 CEST, Liam Proven <lproven@gmail.com> 
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> This may be a silly question - forgive me if so.
>> >>
>> >> Is there a current GNUstep-based distribution, at all?
>> >>
>> >> I have been experimenting with Window Maker and many of the GNUstep
>> >> apps recently, but my efforts to find a desktop distro based around
>> >> this have been in vain. I am aware of Window Maker Live and Simply
>> >> GNUstep, but both are now very dated indeed.
>> >
>> > If you don't mind running BSD, there is OpenBSD ;)
>>
>> It's not that I /mind/ running BSD,  but the last couple of times I
>> tried FreeBSD -- generally regarded as easier, friendlier & more
>> compatible than OpenBSD -- I couldn't even get it to open a TCP/IP
>> connection or install X.11, let alone anything else.
>
> The last times I tried Free or NetBSD, I ended up in horrible adventures ;)
> But maybe I'm just too used to the ease of use and the sane defaults in
> OpenBSD ;)
>
> X is included in the base system, and usually "just works".
> I own a lot of machines, and on none of them, I have to tweak Xorg.conf
> Also with networking, you just configure it via installing, and you are done.

Interesting! I will download it and give it a try.

I have an old Thinkpad that is not very compatible - Linux runs on it,
not well, and Windows, and FreeBSD and /nothing/ else. All alternative
OSes I have tried will not boot. I may give OpenBSD a go! :¬)

>> Meanwhile, Ubuntu is the world's second most popular desktop *nix
>> these days, after Mac OS X. In my experience and recent experiments,
>> its compatibility and ease of installation is considerably better than
>> that of its parent Debian, and as such, it is roughly 15y more
>> advanced, sophisticated and polished than FreeBSD. Of OpenBSD, I
>> cannot say.
>>
>> I've only been using, installing, supporting and maintaining Unix
>> systems since 1988, though, so I am still a bit of a newbie.
>>
>> So, realistically, no, sorry, but OpenBSD is not a realistic option.
>> In my professional assessment, the *buntu family is currently the most
>> mature and widely-supported free desktop OS. OpenSUSE is a bit of a
>> bloated mess with a rather horrible package manager, Fedora is a
>> rolling alpha-test, Slackware is deliberately primitive, and most of
>> the others are far too immature. It's Ubuntu or nothing.
>>
>> Saying that, I will have a go at getting the OpenBSD GNUstep desktop
>> up and running in a virtual machine, if only to have a look at the
>> dependencies.
>
> If you do not want to install, take a look here:
> http://readme.portsbug.me.uk/cat/x11/gnustep

Thanks for the info.

>> >> I have also found that the GWorkSpace app seems to conflict with
>> >> Window Maker itself - you get two Docks, for instance, one positioned
>> >> top-left in NeXT style and one centred, Mac OS X style. However, I
>> >> can't find how to add icons to the GWorkSpace dock, nor how to
>> >> customise its menus, so I have been more or less forced to base my
>> >> exploratory efforts around Window Maker, which offers quite good
>> >> customisability.
>> >
>> >
>> > A GWorkspace user-guide, you may find here:
>> > http://gnustep.made-it.com/Guides/GWorkspace.html
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> I have already read it, actually. AFAICS it does not answer any of my
>> questions, such as how to add apps to the Dock or how to customise the
>> desktop menu. If you have any pointers there, I would really
>> appreciate them!
>
> You can just drag 'n drop the .app folders from the FileViewer to the Dock.

Aha! But perhaps only .app folders? I will try it again. I could not
drag ordinary Linux applications to it, this I had found...

> About the menus, I don't know.

OK, fair enough. Thanks for the information!

--
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