

GNOME on GNUstep: First look - rbanffy
http://heronsperch.blogspot.com/2010/12/gnome-on-gnustep-first-look.html

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Apreche
This is a serious question, not a troll. I seriously want to know why someone
would want to do this. If you want to run Gnome, just run Gnome. What is the
difference between running Gnome + GNUStep vs. just running Gnome normally?

~~~
jmillikin
This effort allows GNUStep applications to share GNOME configurations (themes,
menus, icons, etc). It's designed for people who want to develop Cocoa
applications in Linux without dealing with the horrid-looking NeXTStep theme.

~~~
rbanffy
I understand what you mean, but I don't think it's horrid. I would call it
retro-chic.

~~~
makmanalp
I think you'd be one of the few.

<http://www.gnustep.org/images/full-screenshot1.png>

Why is the services menu popping up on top but not next to the services
element in the list? What's the difference between the menu dock things on the
top right and the bottom left, and why isn't it obvious? I love how the
"25.54GB free" text is just floating about randomly in the file viewer. I can
see the pixels in the gradient on the recycle symbol at the bottom right.

<http://www.gnustep.org/images/full-screenshot2.png>

In this one, why are the docks eating up so much screen real estate? On the
bottom dock, I see two of the same yin-yang icon w/ squiggly, how am I
supposed to differentiate?

Nah, I think GNUStep's appearance is provably horrid.

~~~
jmillikin
I think the squiggly yin-yang is a "no icon" placeholder; presumably the user
knows which is which.

> Nah, I think GNUStep's appearance is provably horrid.

GNUStep is the library; it doesn't have an appearance. You're objecting to the
NeXTStep theme, which is designed to imitate the now 20-years-old NeXT OS. You
can see a screenshot of NeXT at <
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/NeXTSTEP_deskt...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/NeXTSTEP_desktop.jpg)
>

Keep in mind that the main goal of GNUStep is to provide compatibility for a
long-obsolete spec, so naturally the applications it runs are not up to modern
standards. It's no different from Win95 applications running in Wine.

~~~
rbanffy
> to provide compatibility for a long-obsolete spec

I believe contemporary Mac users would disagree about the obsoleteness of the
spec. There is a lot of NeXT in OSX.

~~~
jmillikin
That's so, but modern Mac applications can't run in GNUStep; Apple has added
too many new APIs which aren't covered by the OpenStep standard.

~~~
rbanffy
GNUStep is trying to catch up.

[http://wiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Writing_portable_code#Port...](http://wiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Writing_portable_code#Porting_from_Cocoa_or_OPENSTEP_.28NS.2A.29_to_GNUstep)

------
DanielH
Here's a blog post from today showing more progress:

[http://heronsperch.blogspot.com/2010/12/bean-running-with-
gn...](http://heronsperch.blogspot.com/2010/12/bean-running-with-gnome-native-
theme-as.html)

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ax0n
As one who loves GNUstep/WindowMaker, but kind of gags about Gnome while
tolerating it, I don't know exactly how to feel about this one. It looks...
interesting?

~~~
rbanffy
You can always theme Gnome to look like GNUStep...

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Gentleman_Ryan
It's good to know there's still interest in GNUstep. You barely ever see work
with it or on it any more, Sony's work being a rare exception and only
temporary.

~~~
sammcd
My understanding is that the audio processing done by shazam is done mostly on
linux boxes running GNUstep.

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sigzero
I love the NeXT desktop...takes me back.

