Pandora Desktop Environment Prototype Try 2 (screenshots And Videos)

[Mr.Gonzo]

Oh lord our savior!
I shall Try this when i recover from my tattoo session!

 

[cb88]

@wesbrown18 how about virtualbox... it it IMO easier to get going than VMwareplayer and is more full featured in some areas especially the new version

 

[Brockway]

Not sure how much easier it could get. He covered every step, I'm installing the matchbox packages now, usually I'm great at screwing up step by step instructions! Can't wait to see how the interface works for myself. May try to put together a theme too.

*Edit - Well, I've got it up and running. Installed Xephyr but have no idea how to use it to make 800x480 availabe. Switched the res to 800x600 since that was as close as I can get.

 

[mazza558]

Well, I'm using matchbox now. How can I set it to 800x480? And how do you get the clock and settings manager than ED showed in the videos?

I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed. It's gonna be pretty basic

 

[Brockway]

You have to use either apt-get or aptitude to install stuff. Haven't figured out how to have programs show up on matchbox though. Got mozilla installed on there, have to start it from the xterm though. The clock only shows up when you have a program running. I also haven't figured out how to exit matchbox to relogin.

 

[mazza558]

You have to use either apt-get or aptitude to install stuff. Haven't figured out how to have programs show up on matchbox though. Got mozilla installed on there, have to start it from the xterm though. The clock only shows up when you have a program running. I also haven't figured out how to exit matchbox to relogin.

I have the same problem - programs don't show up. I wonder if we have to add them manually?

 

[adamorjames]

You have to use either apt-get or aptitude to install stuff. Haven't figured out how to have programs show up on matchbox though. Got mozilla installed on there, have to start it from the xterm though. The clock only shows up when you have a program running. I also haven't figured out how to exit matchbox to relogin.

I have the same problem - programs don't show up. I wonder if we have to add them manually?

Yes you add a file for each of them in the .applications directory.

EDIT: See the files wesbrown18 used to get an idea.

 

[mechanizeddeath]

How To Build Your Own Matchbox VM

Thanks. Trying this out now.

 

[adamorjames]

 

[audovoice]

That does look very slick. I thought the blue on your icons was a little off but I can see that they do match well. There is another blue that was worked into a different them and the 2 blues would not match.

Your theme does look very slick but I don't know if a gray background on a black box will look good. I know others will disagree though. There are a lot of somber folks out there. I think that something with a bit more color would be good. Even if that just means changing the back ground a little. But on the other hand gray is a good color for every icon and thumbnail to have good contrast against.

On a side note, maybe the icons should have the blue squares be a little larger and more over the folder area. Either on the folder or coming out of it.

 

[adamorjames]

That does look very slick. I thought the blue on your icons was a little off but I can see that they do match well. There is another blue that was worked into a different them and the 2 blues would not match.

Your theme does look very slick but I don't know if a gray background on a black box will look good. I know others will disagree though. There are a lot of somber folks out there. I think that something with a bit more color would be good. Even if that just means changing the back ground a little. But on the other hand gray is a good color for every icon and thumbnail to have good contrast against.

On a side note, maybe the icons should have the blue squares be a little larger and more over the folder area. Either on the folder or coming out of it.

They are not my icons. You can find them here.

 

[iain.dalton]

Screenshot of desktop using MDave's provided background and icons.

About the folders: wouldn't they look better without the Pandora icon? On most OSes, only special folders have icons on them. Would it look good for every plain folder on a PC to have a Windows, Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, etc. logo?

Also, would Xnest work instead of a VM for testing Matchbox? I remember using Xnest to log in as someone else before Ubuntu had fast user switching.

 

[wesbrown18]

Screenshot of desktop using MDave's provided background and icons.

About the folders: wouldn't they look better without the Pandora icon? On most OSes, only special folders have icons on them. Would it look good for every plain folder on a PC to have a Windows, Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, etc. logo?

Also, would Xnest work instead of a VM for testing Matchbox? I remember using Xnest to log in as someone else before Ubuntu had fast user switching.


These are the icons I was provided, so these are the icons that I used.

And, yep, use Xephyr. You can tell Xephyr to use 800x480 resolution, and it works great for Matchbox testing. But I use the native X server with xrandr because SDL doesn't seem to want to work within Xephyr.

 

[joseluisjazz]

About the folders: wouldn't they look better without the Pandora icon? On most OSes, only special folders have icons on them. Would it look good for every plain folder on a PC to have a Windows, Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, etc. logo?

+1

QUOTE

Also, would Xnest work instead of a VM for testing Matchbox? I remember using Xnest to log in as someone else before Ubuntu had fast user switching.

Try this script I made to get pandora's feel. I use xephyr because I had problems with the resolution using xnest (apt-get install xserver-xephyr). And you should replace fluxbox with the matchbox launcher, and xfce4-terminal with xterm or whatever. Oh, I have it using :2 screen because that way it works on my system, but if it doesn't work for you, try with more values.

CODE
#!/bin/sh
# openpandora nested desktop mockup for application testing
#
Xephyr -ac -screen 800x480 -br -reset -terminate 2> /dev/null :2 &
(sleep 1 && DISPLAY=:2 fluxbox) &
(sleep 1.5 && DISPLAY=:2 xfce4-terminal) &

EDIT: wesbrown18, wow you were fast. I hope you'll be as fast for assembling a pandora and uploading the video when you receive the mats (merry christmas)

 

[MDave]

I'm in the process of redoing the icons from scratch, and won't make the pandora logo stand out so much on the folder icons

 

[Vorporeal]

EDIT: wesbrown18, wow you were fast. I hope you'll be as fast for assembling a pandora and uploading the video when you receive the mats (merry christmas)

I think you're confusing wesbrown with MWeston

 

[joseluisjazz]

EDIT: wesbrown18, wow you were fast. I hope you'll be as fast for assembling a pandora and uploading the video when you receive the mats (merry christmas)

I think you're confusing wesbrown with MWeston

lol, you are right
I'll leave it without editing, as a reminder of the weird effects the wine produces in the brain B)

 

[wesbrown18]

EDIT: wesbrown18, wow you were fast. I hope you'll be as fast for assembling a pandora and uploading the video when you receive the mats (merry christmas)

I think you're confusing wesbrown with MWeston


I'm a crackerjack software engineer, but I'm not a hardware demigod like MWeston is. Alas.

 

[MDave]

Here we go!

 

[PSyMastR]

No offense MDave, but that wallpaper with its whole Aquaness is very unpleasant to look at. Those new icons are really nice though.

The blue part of the wallpaper looks nice, but the bottom half of it just looks unappealing to my eyes at least. Maybe a cleaner look for the default wallpaper?