Gnome

Gnome (proper spelling GNOME) [ ɡənoʊm ] is a desktop environment for Unix and Unix -like systems with a graphical user interface and a collection of programs for everyday use. Gnome is published under free licenses GPL and LGPL, and is part of the GNU project.

• 9.1 Gnome 3

Objective

The Gnome desktop is to emphasize simplicity and ease of use; the software should "just work". Therefore, it is mainly laid to the following things value:

Origin of the Gnome project

The Gnome project was initiated in 1997 by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena and was designed in response to the K Desktop Environment. This built from the outset on the Qt available at that time only without free software license. Because at that time the company Trolltech (the manufacturer of Qt) saw no need for action to change the licensing, called members of GNU two new projects to life: "Harmony" should produce a replacement for the Qt libraries, while the Gnome project should create a desktop that was not based on Qt and consisted entirely of free software.

In November 1998, Trolltech announced the licensing of the Qt libraries under the QPL, but the discussion about the compatibility with the GPL still took until September 2000. Finally, Trolltech released the Linux version of the Qt libraries under the GNU GPL, which most of the objections against further use were eliminated. However, this did not apply to the Windows versions that are available under a dual licensing system only since June 2005 also.

They opted for Gnome to that used in GIMP GTK ( GIMP Toolkit) to fall back, which is licensed under the LGPL and thus its applications a much larger selection of possible licenses allow. GTK uses the C programming language instead of C , which is used in Qt. By using C promised to be a lighter and higher portability, as well as improved access to other programming languages. Meanwhile, there are so-called language bindings for all common programming languages. The Gnome project itself advertises on its developer portal for application developers the languages ​​C, C , Python, JavaScript and Vala.

The name " GNOME" was originally an acronym for " GNU Network Object Model Environment ". This acronym was later dropped and is now considered outdated, yet the project still writes with capital letters.

Development course

Gnome 1.x

In March 1999, the 1.0 version of Gnome, which still contained some errors appeared. The version 1.0.55, which was released in October of the same year, included the necessary corrections.

In the same year, the company Eazel and Helix Code were established that dealt with programs and services related to Gnome. In Eazel Nautilus file manager has been developed in Helix code you worked primarily in a customized Gnome distribution and personal information manager Ximian Evolution. The Eazel Services, a commercial add-on service to Nautilus, but is not proven to be profitable enough to secure Eazel financially. Eazel was a total of eleven million U.S. dollars solicit and went on 15 May 2001 in insolvency. Helix Code named later in Ximian around and was sold to Novell in August 2003.

For the release of version 1.2 ( Bongo Gnome) there came in May 2000 - the version contained mainly usability improvements and was completely binary-compatible with the version 1.0.

In August 2000, the Gnome Foundation was established, the companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett -Packard joined to strengthen its support for Gnome.

The Gnome version 1.4, released in April 2001 included, for the first time as the official versions of the Nautilus file manager as well as the new Bonobo component framework. In the movie " Startup" ( original title " Anti- Trust") by Peter Howitt from the year 2001, the Gnome desktop is visible in version 1.4 several times in action.

Gnome 2.x

The underlying GTK has been greatly expanded, also some libraries have been extracted from Gnome and integrated into a new GTK version. This was the basis published in June 2002 Gnome version 2.0, which brought at the same time a break with it: There are many simplifications carried out, and a whole series up to that contained configuration options disappeared, as they were perceived by the developers as unnecessary. It should already be selected meaningful settings when you first start the user interface and not laminated design flaw by adding putative configuration options. This development is attracted a lot of criticism, but now is just the clear operation is one of the main characteristics of Gnome.

The Gnome version 2.2 was released in February 2003 and included again a number of improvements, especially in the ergonomics and user guidance. This version of the window manager sawfish used until then was replaced by Metacity. In addition, the publication cycle has now been six months: all up to the respective dates on fully implemented enhancements and improvements are then contained.

In September 2003, the Gnome version 2.4 has been released. In particular, the potential uses for the disabled, and the Nautilus file manager were processed, as well as the Gnome Panel and the Gnome Control Center. Furthermore, Epiphany was ( a fork of Galeon ) integrated as a web browser.

In March 2004, the Gnome version 2.6 was available for download. Improvements were mainly the Nautilus file manager, which offers a new spatial interface, that is, each folder is represented by a separate window. Also done with this release the switch to GTK 2.4, which also attracted a new file dialog by itself. The help system Yelp also experienced some improvement and was significantly accelerated in particular.

In September 2004, Gnome version 2.8 has been released. Newly included the complete integration of evolution, the automatic integration of data sources as well as improved management of file types.

In March 2005, the Gnome version appeared 2.10. It programs the Sound Juicer ( CD Ripper ) and Totem ( a media player that can either build on GStreamer or xine ) have been integrated. Furthermore, usability, and stability have been improved and greatly expanded and partially rewritten the Panel applets.

In September 2005, the Gnome version 2.12 was completed. As most obvious innovation brought by default with a new theme called Clearlooks engine under the hood learned the GTK toolkit upgrade to version 2.8, which now enabled the large-scale use of vector graphics through the Cairo library. The hitherto largely neglected browser mode the file manager Nautilus and Totem Media Player were also improved. In addition, Evince was introduced as a standard viewer for PostScript and PDF documents and replaced so gpdf and ggv.

The version 2.14.1 has been released in April 2006. Besides some speed improvements for the terminal, greater emphasis was placed on improving the integration of the individual components. The most important innovation is Ekiga is a new version of the VoIP software that now also dominates SIP calls.

The Version 2.16 was completed on 6 September 2006. Probably the most important - but also highly controversial - change is the inclusion of the Mono project as part of the desktop. Furthermore, there are improvements for people with disabilities ( accessibility) and the direct support of AIGLX by the Metacity window manager.

The Version 2.18 was released on 15 March 2007. It contains both the new games glChess and Gnome - Sudoku and network support for nibbles, Iagno and four wins. Part of the desktop is now also Seahorse, an application to manage GPG and SSH keys and passwords in the gnome - keyring. The user interface of the interface designer Glade was restructured and the program written from scratch, so now all required tools are summarized in a window.

With published on 19 September 2007 Version 2.20 especially the Nautilus file manager has been revised. The program can now rely on a desktop search ( Beagle or Tracker ), read the Exif data of images and SSH into other PCs. These various configuration programs were revised or merged.

The version 2.22 was released on March 12, 2008. Innovations are enhanced multimedia capabilities, improved network file systems ( gvfs replaced GnomeVFS ), built-in desktop effects ( compositing window ) and numerous other small improvements. As new programs are doing Cheese ( for recording and editing of photos and videos) and a Remote Desktop Viewer with.

The version of 2:24 was published on 25 September 2008. It contains the Empathy chat client and improvements to the File Manager, which now supports among other riders and a compact list view. Another new feature is the support of sound issues.

The version of 2:26 was published on March 18, 2009.

The version of 2:28 was published on 23 September 2009.

The version 2.30 was completed on 31 March 2010.

With Gnome 2.32 latest version of the 2.x series was released on 29 September 2010.

Gnome 2 is now being developed as MATE Desktop Environment.

Gnome 3.x

After criticism of the Gnome desktop, stagnation, lack of vision of the project and the discussion arising from the Gnome release team announced the development of Gnome 3.0. To ensure the stability of the Gnome release of the final version 3.0 should be postponed until September 2010. When GUADEC in The Hague but the release date was postponed for another 6 months to April 2011. As originally planned, was released the version 2.30 in March 2010. Unlike KDE Plasma Desktop GNOME 3.0 should be an incremental development and no great change. Nevertheless, significant cuts were completed, so that parts of GNOME 3.0 are not backward compatible 2.x to Gnome. The primary new features in GNOME 3.0:

• GNOME Shell will replace the gnome panel, the desktop and the window manager by an activity-based surface. The former window lists and docking concept is thus abandoned. The previous window manager Metacity is replaced by "mother", a Metacity Fork, which was originally developed as part of Moblin; Gnome Shell is developed with the programming languages ​​C and JavaScript.
• New software libraries and technologies such as geolocation via GeoClue and libchamplain or clutter, an OpenGL -accelerated graphical toolkit.
• GTK 3.0 performs many functions from external libraries like libgnome, removes old and little-used functions and interfaces and provides new and enhanced features available, such as animations or CSS-based theming.
• To ensure greater integration of technologies such as D-Bus and Avahi, the better cooperation between the applications with each other and with other open desktop environments like KDE Plasma Workspaces.

Some of the new features (like the Gnome Shell) are optional since GNOME 2.28 available, but not yet full-featured.

6 April 2011 Gnome 3.0 has been officially released, version 3.2 was released on September 28, 2011. The latter allows for easier integration of GNOME to cloud services, as accounts are combined with various providers using the Gnome Online Accounts program. On 28 March 2012, Version 3.4 was released in September, the version 3.6. On March 27, 2013, Version 3.8 was released. On September 25, 2013, version 3.10 was released, which provides the first experimental support for Wayland. Besides the GNOME Shell has been amended, that a series of menus to a Single have been combined. Furthermore, have so-called " headliner " collection found, which combines the typical title bar at the top of a window with the toolbars of the program in order to provide more space so the actual application. A number of new applications were presented, eg Cards, photos and notes. Many existing applications have been updated and improved. Completely revised the so-called " optimization tool " to make it more user friendly. The first time can be also, since GNOME 3.0, again set up a separate wallpaper for the lock screen. On March 26, 2014, the v3.12 was released,

Platforms

Although GNOME was originally intended only for GNU / Linux, it now runs on most Unix systems, such as the BSD variants, AIX, IRIX, HP- UX, and as the new default desktop for Solaris from Sun Microsystems, now Oracle, where it replaces the old CDE. Some components of Gnome have been ported to Microsoft Windows, such as evolution or GStreamer. However, these ports are not part of the official Gnome desktop and therefore often some version numbers older.

Gnome is among other things the default desktop in Fedora. Official Gnome live systems, both on Fedora and openSUSE - base which boot directly from CD / DVD or USB flash drive with no changes to installed systems are available on the project website.

Architecture

The Gnome desktop based on various software libraries and modules, some of them freedesktop.org projects. A selection of important components that serve as the basis for the Gnome project applications, and thus form the so-called Gnome platform is listed here:

Other projects that come into the Gnome platform used are, for example libxml2 for XML processing, Soup for HTTP communication, Poppler for PDF representation, Rygel as a DLNA / UPnP media server and udev for communication with the hardware.

Obsolete components that were already retired or will be taken out in preparation for GNOME 3.0, are Bonobo, ORBit, gconf, HAL, libgnome, libglade, GtkHTML, GnomeVFS, ESD.

Several language bindings make it possible to write applications for Gnome in a variety of programming languages. The use of GTK toolkit than enables it to customize the appearance of the icons, windows and components using themes.

Programs

• GNOME Core Applications
• GNOME Chemistry Utils
• GNOME Games

The GNOME Foundation

The Gnome Foundation works for the target, consisting of providing a complete Gnome desktop from Free Software. For this purpose, they shall determine which projects are an official part of Gnome. The Foundation is the official voice of Gnome. It also produces documentaries or educational materials for the public. They also organized Gnome -related conferences such as GUADEC (Gnome Users and Developers European Conference ) or the Boston Summit, helps to create technical standards and promotes the use and development of Gnome.

Supporting companies and organizations

At least since version 2.0 several large companies and organizations in the development of Gnome desktops are involved. The support ranges from hardware donations about dealing with the main developer and the production of free applications, to the specification of a development strategy. The following are some of these organizations are listed below:

• Canonical, the main supporters of Ubuntu
• Debian
• Free Software Foundation
• Google Inc.
• Hewlett -Packard
• IBM
• Intel
• Motorola
• Nokia has released the Nokia Internet Tablet series mobile handhelds, which is based Hildon desktop on Gnome
• Novell as the main supporters of openSUSE and the projects mono and Evolution
• Red Hat using the Advanced Development Labs and as the main supporter of Fedora
• Sun provides the Sun Java desktop which is a Gnome desktop with Java extensions

Criticism

The efforts to keep everything simple and easy to be partly criticized as too broad and laments that some of them even useful functionality is removed in the obsession with cleanliness. So threw Linus Torvalds Gnome developers prior to stamp the user to idiots and called Gnome developers as " user interface Nazis " (orig. engl. "Interface nazis " ) and repeatedly called for the use of alternative desktop environment K Desktop Environment on. This criticism points is opposite that it is savvy users quite possible to deal with external extensions such as Devil's Pie or the GConf Editor and settings from the default options of Gnome also. In addition Torvalds uses its passing Gnome, since he felt KDE Plasma Desktop 4.0, which was recorded with him on Fedora by updating a disaster. KDE 4.0 and 4.1, however, were expressly not intended for end-users, the corresponding release occurred only with KDE 4.2, so no more well-known Linux distro except Fedora KDE 3.5.x to KDE 4.0 or 4.1 replaced.

Since the version of Ubuntu 11:04 the GNOME Shell there is no longer the standard user interface, it was in this regard superseded by Unity. This is due to discrepancies between GNOME and Canonical developers. Gnome had several developments by Canonical for the Gnome project rejected, whereupon Canonical decided not to support Gnome 3 and Gnome 2 offer only as a fallback option.

Gnome 3

Especially the new version of Gnome 3 has been widely criticized as the already mentioned "idiot concept " further leads, among other things, and differ completely from the Unix concept to keep things simple and straight forward. Specifically, for example, criticized Linus Torvalds:

"Here's to example of ' the crazy ': you want a new terminal window. So you go to ' activities ' and press the ' terminal ' thing did you've made ​​part of your normal desktop thing ( but why can not I just have it on the desktop, instead of in did insane ' activities ' mode? ). What happens? Nothing. It brings your existing terminal to the forefront. "

" An example of this insanity: you want a new terminal window. So you go to activities list and presses the ' Terminal' part that you have added to his desktop thing ( why can it not really equate to the desktop, instead of in these nonsensical ' Aktivitäten' mode? ). What is happening? Nothing. It brings the existing terminal window to the foreground. "

This criticism is because Gnome 3 introduces a completely different, yet unusual operating concept. It is argued that newcomers might cope with it would better to experienced users, however, could not efficiently work with. Next are some Gnome developers think that we must differ from the habits of the " geeks " if you wanted to run the Linux desktop to success. In a later comment, however, Torvalds wrote that he, even worse than Gnome 3 find different desktop environments, which he tried, such as Unity, KDE Plasma Workspaces and Xfce.

In version 3.2 of Gnome some of the most criticized things have been improved or removed.

Possible alternatives with a comparable to Gnome 2 operating concept are the Xfce desktop environment, and MATE. Both are based like Gnome 2 on GTK 2; in addition MATE is a fork of Gnome 2, and thus a direct evolution of the Gnome version under a different name. Furthermore, the project Cinnamon tries to link the familiar Gnome 2 Operation with innovations from the follow-up version Gnome 3. Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Arch Linux and Fedora have added Cinnamon in their repositories.

In response to the criticism was " Classic Mode " in version 3.8 of the Gnome, the operating concept borrows from the Gnome 2 to Gnome 3 from extended innovations.