Helping to put FreeBSD GNOME onto more desktops

[Michael Johnson]

On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 3:26 PM, Joe Marcus Clarke <marcus at freebsd.org>
wrote:

> I attended BSDCan this year, and held a BoF discussing FreeBSD on the
> desktop.  Some of the points raised by users were:
>
> * FreeBSD needs a GUI network configurator (e.g. NetworkManager).
>
> * There should be a port which creates an instant desktop (like
> instant-workstation, but more modern and offering choices like GNOME,
> KDE, Xfce, etc.).
>
> * We need a native Flash Plug-in.
>
> * FreeBSD GNOME needs to be easier to setup.
>
> All of these are good ideas ranging from very easy to do to next to
> impossible.  One of the attendees was Kris Moore from the PC-BSD group.
> He mentioned that PC-BSD already has a FreeBSD network configurator
> tool, and it might be easier to port that to FreeBSD [GNOME] than to
> port (or rewrite) NetworkManager.  He also gave me my first real look at
> PC-BSD.  I was impressed.  I thought it would be very doable to port
> their network configurator to GNOME.
>
> But then he suggested something for point four above.  A lot of his
> users have commented that PC-BSD should have a GNOME frontend.  Kris
> said, while the PC-BSD organization has no desire to maintain such a
> frontend, it should be easy to build one using their PBI (PC-BSD
> Installer) framework.  If such a PBI existed, it could leverage all the
> existing tools in PC-BSD (including the network configurator).
>
> So I decided to start there, by building a GNOME PBI for PC-BSD.  I have
> just completed my first working version.  Screenshots can be found at
> http://www.marcuscom.com/pcbsd/ .  On top of this, I have committed a
> new port, x11-fm/pbi-thumbnailer, which makes the PBI experience within
> Nautilus much nicer.  I will be making the PBI downloadable soon (from
> the same URL) for PC-BSD to try out.
>
> As you can see from the desktop screenshot, thanks to the Qt-GTK+ theme
> engine, tools like the PC-BSD network manager tray just work in GNOME.
> This brings us much closer to more usable FreeBSD GNOME desktop,
> especially for those users transitioning from Windows.
>
> As to the point about Flash, Kris also mentioned that he has the ear of
> someone at Adobe who was hinting that a capable developer willing to
> sign an NDA could be given code to work on a native Flash plug-in port.
> This could bode well for PC-BSD and FreeBSD should someone step up to do
> this work.
>
> Regarding the instant desktop port(s), if anyone wants to offer some
> suggestions, or code, to make these happen, that would be great.  These
> ports should be more than simple meta-ports.  They should also do some
> post-install work to make setting up the desktop easier.
>

I guess we should come up with a list of things we want in the 'easy GNOME
setup port'. I suggest we start a wiki/todo page so others can add their
ideas/plans.

I am all for making life easier in GNOME setup for end users and I am
willing to dedicate a good bit of time towards this.

Michael


> Also, keep in mind we have some project ideas at
> http://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/volunteer.html for those that want to
> do even more to help get FreeBSD GNOME onto more desktops.
>
> Joe
>
> --
> Joe Marcus Clarke
> FreeBSD GNOME Team      ::      gnome at FreeBSD.org
> FreeNode / #freebsd-gnome
> http://www.FreeBSD.org/gnome
>