Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:28:49 -0500 From: Zhihao Yuan <lichray@gmail.com> To: Lars Engels <lars.engels@0x20.net> Cc: FreeBSD Hackers <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, Lorenzo Cogotti <miciamail@hotmail.it> Subject: Re: Providing a default graphical environment on FreeBSD Message-ID: <CAGsORuC0_38wCZ2CAVvrnoqZ%2BbrGsuR7Gzg%2B6eCZQg6UcaScVQ@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20120917161427.GB11773@e-new.0x20.net> References: <BLU0-SMTP510B16745B704C714268E2D5950@phx.gbl> <CAGsORuAbLJOU2Nr0jishLmHN22kro3Jf63U5vN%2B4MsYrbniOxw@mail.gmail.com> <20120917161427.GB11773@e-new.0x20.net>
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On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 11:14 AM, Lars Engels <lars.engels@0x20.net> wrote: > On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 11:00:21AM -0500, Zhihao Yuan wrote: >> On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 10:35 AM, Lorenzo Cogotti <miciamail@hotmail.it> wrote: >> > Hi, >> > I was wondering about the possibility of FreeBSD to provide an official >> > supported graphical environment. >> > >> > Currently FreeBSD doesn't provide any standard desktop environment, this >> > means that, in a way much similar to Linux, a developer cannot know in >> > advance which GUI will be available on the system. This leads to another >> > problem, again much similar to Linux, tools are usually provided in a >> > text based fashion only, because that's the only sure and reliable way a >> > tool can work in a relatively dependency free and independent way. As >> > another effect, many utilities and graphical tools are provided for a >> > toolkit, but not for another, needlessly duplicating efforts and >> > applications, achieving barely half the result. >> > >> > Though, in a different way than Linux, FreeBSD doesn't get much support >> > from developers in this regard, mainly because development focuses over >> > Linux rather than FreeBSD, which remains known only as a good and >> > reliable server platform, many technologies remain relatively unknown >> > and doesn't get attention from developers, like devd vs udev, and other >> > solutions that FreeBSD provides since a very long time. >> > >> > The idea would be choosing a default desktop environment and providing >> > it as the official supported way to develop GUI applications on FreeBSD, >> > thus tools provided on FreeBSD would be able to get official GUIs and >> > supported graphical tools in a standard and non-redundant fashion, like >> > a GUI for tools like pkgng, geli(8), gpart(8). This choice would also be >> > motivated by the fact that often technologies move toward Linux support, >> > like GNOME3, dbus and consolekit, without taking into account BSD. >> > >> > In this regard CDE[1] is could be an interesting choice, since it was a >> > diffuse and reliable UNIX environment, and it is lightweight, relatively >> > Linux-like dependencies free solution, which could be updated to today >> > standards and extended to support FreeBSD features. >> > CDE was just recently released with open source license[2] and some >> > effort is being made to support FreeBSD. >> > >> > Of course CDE isn't the only possibility, the idea is "desktop >> > environment agnostic", also I don't mean that FreeBSD shouldn't work >> > with other environments, which could still be installed and used as long >> > as they support the platform properly. I don't mean forcing a graphical >> > environment over installed FreeBSD systems either, which could be >> > unwanted for server installations. >> > >> > [1] http://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/wiki/Home/ >> > [2] >> > https://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/code/ci/978aff3dc9c7d009423a3d7fd0624d12f9df0734/tree/cde/COPYING?format=raw >> > >> > I see this as an interesting opportunity to let FreeBSD gain more >> > visibility in the desktop field, would this idea be useful and worth >> > implementing? >> > >> > Thanks, >> > >> > -- >> > Lorenzo Cogotti >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list >> > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers >> > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >> >> I definitely agree with this. Sun has a book, "UNIX Essentials >> featuring the Solaris...", and GUI takes a big part in the book. A >> default GUI is essential to a modern UNIX. FreeBSD can no longer >> regard GUI as a third-party bonus. > > If you want a default GUI, install PC-BSD. It provides several graphical > management tools for FreeBSD. I hope you *really* used PC-BSD. I don't think an OS installing programs under /Programs can be a "GUI-replacement" to FreeBSD. -- Zhihao Yuan, nickname lichray The best way to predict the future is to invent it. ___________________________________________________ 4BSD -- http://4bsd.biz/
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