Elementary OS

[skbohra123]

http://elementary-project.com/

[jonsmock]

Definitely needs an "About" page. Here's the first blog post for those looking for a little more information (not much more):

http://elementary-project.com/news/what-is-elementary-and-wh...

EDIT: still digging. Here's another interesting post:

"We mean that we want to be the first to offer a desktop OS that doesn’t include any way for the user to manage files. ... We think that files should be accessed from the applications that the user will use them in."

http://elementary-project.com/news/just-do/

Later, however, they talk about adding Nautilus (a file browser) and somehow adapting to adhere with the above philosophy.

[tmcw → jonsmock]

Indeed; this website is apparently designed for people who already know what it is, and the two links (Donate and Pre-Order) are bizarre. Why donate to a commercial project? Why pre-order an open source project?

[fingerprinter]

I've been watching Elementary for a while and have to say that some of the things they are doing are great.

DanRabbit is a talented designer and I do like his style. The apps they have created (Midori, Dexter, Nautilus-elementary among the most popular) are generally clean, fast and lean. I like that.

However, elementary is a bit all over the place right now. I think they are trying to figure out what they are and who they are. I would like to see them be a bit more focused and present themselves more coherently.

My current understanding about what they are trying to do is this: Make an Ubuntu based distro (think Mint) that is highly themed, customized and styled to make a very stylish and hip Ubuntu/Linux distro.

That being said, not sure that is what they are going for b/ c I think their message has changed a bit over time. Not sure if anyone from Elementary project is a HN reader to comment.

[shinkansen → fingerprinter]

> I would like to see them be a bit more focused and present themselves more coherently.

Same here. I'm happy using the theme, eGTK and the Nautilus mod, but I absolutely agree that they need to find their direction.

[twodayslate]

So basically Ubuntu with more icons? Can probably do this yourself in a couple hours. Just replace icons and install a new theme.

[robinduckett → twodayslate]

Hours?

    sudo apt-get install midori

Download and install the elementaryIcons theme from gnome-look, deviantart or [launchpad](https://launchpad.net/elementaryicons)

(put them in /usr/share/icons)

Download and install [eGTK](https://launchpad.net/egtk)

Download and install docky

    sudo apt-get install docky

Took about ten minutes. And you've just saved yourself $10.

Here's a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/4cVN4.jpg

Edit: Dexter's available on a PPA:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lallenlowe/dexter-ppa
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install dexter

Postler's a little more difficult to get

    sudo apt-get install bzr
    bzr branch lp:postler (make sure you're logged in to lp)
    sudo apt-get install valac libunique-dev libunique-1.0-0 libwebkit-dev libwebkit-1.0-2 libnotify-dev libindicate-dev libdb4.7-dev msmtp (in my case, you may need build-essentials, python et al)
    ./waf configure
    ./waf
    sudo ./waf install

Postler doesn't have a gnome menu icon but it does run if you Alt+F2 and run postler.

Edit 2: Postler seems to be non-functioning.

Latest and greatest screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/awG2V.jpg

Enjoy.

[holychiz → twodayslate]

same question. Initially, I got the impression that they're building a new OS altogether, but the more I read, the more they seem to be just another Linux distro, albeit prettier.

Perhaps the team needs to be more clear on what makes El-OS different/better as the current description is too vague.

[skbohra123]

There is an irc channel for project #elementary on freenode. And they confirmed that it's an OS based on Ubuntu Linux.

[rman666]

Looks interesting, but many of the links to larger versions of the screen shots seem broken.

[gnufs → rman666]

Here's a screenshot: http://elementary-project.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/1...

[stefanve]

seems to be a OSS OSX (wannabe) based on linux :), If they do it right it could be cool.

[shinkansen]

I've been using the "eGTK" (Elementary GTK) theme for just about a year now. For my money, it's the cleanest, best designed GTK theme Gnome has yet seen. It still doesn't feel as smooth as I'd like, this due I suppose in part to Gnome and the way the desktop environment is integrated, but that said it's still quite nice to look at.

[jonsmock → shinkansen]

So are you confirming that it's a theme? I think most of us were confused from the title "Elementary OS," and the project didn't have an About page to explain what it was.

[robinduckett → jonsmock]

It's a theme. See my comment further down to see how to get it up on your Ubuntu.

[shinkansen → jonsmock]

I think ultimately they want to make it a distro, but for now it only seems to exist as a theme.