Re: [INFO] NEXTSPACE

[Sergii Stoian]

Hi David,

On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 7:57 PM, David Chisnall <theraven@sucs.org> wrote:

Hi,

This looks very nice, but a few comments:

- Apple still owns the NeXT trademark, so be careful about using NEXT in the name.

I think it is exactly the "NeXT" right? Not "Next" or "NEXT".

- NeXT used the NX prefix (NS = NeXT + Sun, NX = NeXT), so using it as your prefix is confusing.

Yes I know that. Do you think it's a copyright issue?

- Please don’t put big RPMs in the repo!  It adds overhead to anyone who clones it, and GitHub has a perfectly adequate Downloads facility for hosting these.

- It would be easier to package (and to collaborate) if these were separate GitHub repos.

I've switched to the github a couple of weeks ago and don't know all of the github features. Can you help me to place RPMs outside of code on github?

Thank you for your comments. Actually you've asked me a questions (as well as Ricardo Mottola did) about license/copyright problems I've never touched yet.

I'm still busy creating Right Thing as I see it. :) That's why I share information to the GNUstep community only. I trust you guys and hope for help in various aspects of creating desktop we want to use. Seeing many ideas across the mails I want to consolidate scattered efforts.

I hope that someday NEXTSPACE will get new icons keeping the NeXTSTEP style of the whole UI (this more real problem from copyright point of view). I use original graphics from OPENSTEP 4.2 (login panel background, icons) to prove that GNUstep is mature base for creating useful and good looking applications. I spend huge amount of time to create ideal applications with pixel perfection in mind. The good example is a Terminal. You can compare Alex Malmberg original Terminal and my version to understand what I mean. I think carefully crafted apps is a way to attract people to a GNUstep project itself. Another principle I stick to is: include in release only well-tested and working parts. Even if your application doing well just one thing. It is very important for GNUstep-based applications adoption.

David

> On 25 Nov 2017, at 22:35, Sergii Stoian <stoyan255@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> More than 15 years ago I joined the GNUstep development because I like NeXT's OS design, look and feel. At that time my dream was to return NeXTSTEP desktop to Linux. After 15+ years my dream still alive. I understand that GNUstep project goals somewhat changed over these years. And this is good until project is interesting to broad kind (goals, tastes) of people involved in it's development.
>
> Finally I've decided to inform dear community about my project of last 2+ years.
> I've named is NEXTSPACE. It is SPACE for NeXT applications.
> You can find code and brief description of project here https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace.
> It is not finished yet. However I use it as my desktop environment on daily basis.
> You can find RPMs in Packages directory:
> * libdispatch and libobjc2
> * nextspace-core - system specific files: skeleton for user home firectory, shell profile, udev, polkit, etc.
> * nextspace-gnustep - GNUstep libraries with my patches.
> The next step is to build Frameworks, then Appplications. You can create new user with all needed files inside it's home dir. You can start Login with command 'systemctl start loginwindow' or login to newly created user from your login application (it should start ~/.xinitrc in user home dir). That's it.
>
> Some noticeable achievements I've got:
> * I integrated Workspace and WindowMaker into Workspace Manager. That's it - one application. It was made possible by using libdispatch and libobjc2. For example, when non-GNUstep application starts Workspace's Processess panel shows it with info grabbed from WindowMaker. Another example: when you start application by double-clicking in File Viewer and appicon already exists in Dock icon fly from FileViewer's to docked appicon.
> * In general Workspace is ready to be NSWorkspace povider.
> * GNUstep and WindowMaker unified look and feel (menus and titlebars, fonts, miniwindows).
> * Media management: Workpace automatically mounts removable media inserted (UDisks integration).
> * Terminal: a lot of improvements. It's better to see it.
> * -NXAutoLaunch option implemented. Now applications started with this option doesn't show menu at all. No focus flickering. Smooth as it should be.
> * Preferences: everything you need to set up must be here. Not only GNUstep NSGlobalDomain options (localization, fonts) but system specific options also (display, keyboard, mouse, sound, networking).
> * A lot of other things I can't recall now but I write it down someday. ;)
>
> There are some facts I don't like and want to change:
> * NEXTSPACE is based on quite outdated release of GNUstep (base 1.24.8, gui and back 0.24.1);
> * It is based on ART backend. I want to use Cairo backend but ART has usefull features (.nfont packages provide ability to set hinting and antialiasing options on per font basis).
> * DE needs documentation. I plan to discuss NSHelpPanel implementation with you guys. First of all we need to define format for help files.
> * It is developed and tested on CentOS 7. I have no plans in near future to port it somewhere else. I need to finish what I've started first.
>
> PS: My apologies to community for being off the track so long. Now you know why.
> My current strategy is the following:
> 1. Finish NEXTSPACE to be feature rich, stable and fast. I guess this step will be done until next summer.
> 2. Return to development of ProjectCenter. First of all PC badly needs good editor, then GORM interoperation and next debugger.
> I hope my work will be useful not only for me but for GNUstep project also.
>
> --
> Sergii Stoian, ProjectCenter maintainer

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--

Sergii Stoian, ProjectCenter maintainer