Blog Update - Look! It's A Desktop!

[Phawx]

@Hessiess

I'm just glad we are almost there. That screen looks beautiful. Also, is that a separate stylus or the one we should be getting?

 

[emcp]

never used linux, but from what i pick up, heres what i think

matchbox is fugly, its not even ALL that functional, more functional than E17

E17 looks great, but windows are pointless due to the above (screen to small), just makes handling windows all the more awkward, also i believe windows on such a small device makes it look cheap, it seems people believe oh my god my laptop etc has windows this device also has to have windows, type thing

but yeah, i dont know how difficult creating a custom window manager would be, but in all honesty, i believe it would be best if applications fully used the pandora, was made for it, not stuck into a crappy window

but would i be right in saying, the window manager could be fairly easily changed, or would this cause compatibility problems

thanks

 

[cb88]

emcp... I made the same mistake

the defualt config looks pretty bad but it is highly themeable with transparencies so it can look pretty slick


Isn't there an LCARS theme for matchbox?

 

[wesbrown18]

matchbox is fugly, its not even ALL that functional, more functional than E17

Wrong.

http://matchbox-project.org/screenshots.html

How many times do I have to tell you all? That is the default theme. I am not a graphic artist. I am an engineer. If you are unhappy with the appearance of Matchbox, then use another theme or make your own.

QUOTE

but yeah, i dont know how difficult creating a custom window manager would be, but in all honesty, i believe it would be best if applications fully used the pandora, was made for it, not stuck into a crappy window



Matchbox is already capable of disabling decorations for fullscreen application. It is made for the purpose.

 

[mali]

Matchbox FTW
@wesbrown18
Take it easy, people will understand sometime

QUOTE
Isn't there an LCARS theme for matchbox?

Yes, for Maemo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaBJb8nkXac

 

[cb88]

@wesbrown18 don't take these comments too hard ... the above commenter has never even used e17 (which i have a bit) and not even Linux

I admit my eveluation of matchbox was too quick.... I completely missed the rather thorough theming documentation

on a side note... an example "replace the files" theme that used all the theme attributes would be helpfull to get the hang of writing themes with... thats how i started on icewm

 

[MDave]

I can understand wesbrown18, some people only take a quick look at the first post, usually only looking at the pictures only, then forever burn it into their minds that's all it can do. And unfortunately, there's a LOT of people like that.

 

[cb88]

unfortunately... even the improved themes at www.matchbox.org don't really show off matchbox

Is the match box that is on the n800 modified?

the poky linux screenshots are nice but still they are ALL green...

I might have a chance to play around with matchobox themeing over christamas (on a PII laptop X.x)

 

[Spirit]

Sexy from start to end. Thanks!

 

[hessiess]

QUOTE
but yeah, i dont know how difficult creating a custom window manager would be, but in all honesty, i believe it would be best if applications fully used the pandora, was made for it, not stuck into a crappy window


The hardest part of writing a window manager is trying to find documentation that explains how window managers acctually work. A good place to start creating a Pandora WM would be DWM, As its already as minimal as it gets, while still being usable. DWM is only 2000~ lines of C, sone of which isn't strictly nesesoserry, the bar for instance. The only problem is its almost compleatley uncommented.

QUOTE
but would i be right in saying, the window manager could be fairly easily changed, or would this cause compatibility problems


On Linux the window manager is a totally independent application from the windowing system(X11), so can be switched out without many issues, The only compatibility problems are with applications such as GIMP, that use multiple windows.

Devices with small screens never use floating WM's, there is a good reason for this.

 

[joa]

I'm really liking the look of that, the browser looks fairly spacious for such a small screen. coool

 

[fuzzypinkunicorns666]

Ooh, cool video.It's even on endgadget.

And with the keymat done, maybe we'll see the new prototype case soon.

 

[mazza558]

Ooh, cool video.It's even on endgadget.

And with the keymat done, maybe we'll see the new prototype case soon.

Heh, the engadget comments are fun to read. Looks like there's lots of interest despite all the delays:
QUOTE
Wow. Holy crap. If this thing can do games AND be a good touchscreen computer, I'm buying.

In fact, forget netbooks. I'm going for a Pandora!

 

[keaft]

hellollo people.

hopes back.

 

[Trip]

The only compatibility problems are with applications such as GIMP, that use multiple windows.

If I remember correctly; at one time there was a quick hack that binded all of the separate Gimp windows into one to make it more like a standard program. I tried it out but decided against it as I actually quite like the separate windows. It could have been part of GimpShop and will probably be quite easy to implement if needed.

Not too sure about other programs that work in the same way though. Which others did you have in mind?

 

[atomicthumbs]

Waaw!

 

[lobski]

Hellollo is now a meme.

 

[Patrick R Ludvigsen]

HOW EXCITING

 

[MDave]

Hey EvilDragon, I highly suggest hosting a wallpaper competition It would generate a lot of buzz, be fun and should be overall pretty cool to have a chance of having a part of the community contribute to the pandora, even if its a small thing

 

[javaJake]

Hellollo is now a meme.
My thoughts exactly.