Request or question: Xandros puppy

[neurino]

haven't tried it yet but... there will be an easy (and fast) mode to swap between these panels and standard JWM?

A menu entry with keyboard shortcut would be veeery nice (needs X to restart? It would be nice too to not loose open applications, but maybe I'm asking too much

[jemimah]

Have you thought about using Openbox or Fluxbox instead of JWM? What about just disabling the JWM tray altogether? Would that work?

On the subject of the icons in the tabs of Lxlauncher, have you set any size restrictions on those tabs?

My goal is for it to work in as many window managers as possible. Openbox/fluxbox would be ideal since they are probably the most standards compliant of the lightweight WMs and wouldn't require configuration to work correctly. As for disabling the Jwm panel, You still have the problem, when you click lxlauncher, it rises to the top; not terrible, but it breaks the desktop metaphor. Flwm is my personal favorite for netbooks, but it doesn't have a concept of layers at all, so the override redirect would have to be set if you want lxlauncher stay underneath and not show in the tasklist. I can probably make a command line switch for this.

The size of the icons in the tabs in not hardcoded as far as I can find. I'm not sure how it's sizing them.

there will be an easy (and fast) mode to swap between these panels and standard JWM?

Yes, that's no problem. Lxlauncher is just a window. You don't have to restart X or the window manager. Just kill lxlauncher and start the Rox pinboard.

[jemimah]

It seems to me there are probably too many tabs for the launcher to be convenient. Maybe some of them should be combined so you don't have to scroll the tab bar as much.

Here is how I'm thinking of combining them. Let me know your thoughts.

Preferences=System+Deskop+Setup
Utility=Utility+Filesystem
Office(?)=Document+Business+Personal(+Graphic?)
Network=Network+Internet

[dougeeebear]

This concept is exciting and will really transform Puppeee.

I just have a few questions:

- Will the launcher be enabled like any other program by clicking on an icon... and then exit back to the regular desktop?
(This is what I'm understanding from one of your previous posts)

- Will the launcher have a tab manager that allows to add/remove/rename tabs and their icons... and also allows to add/remove and move programs/icons between tabs?

I can hardly wait for a release with the launcher.

Great work!
Regards, Doug

[diabetico]

Jemima/all,

I installed the original PET that you supplied and I thought it worked fine for what you wanted to do.

I really agree with the thought to combine some of the tabs across the top, as there are way too many to scroll through. Either that or eliminate the text and keep the icon with a (is this possible) pop up text when you hover over the icon.

All in all, a great idea. Being relatively new, it's fun to watch this process take shape and see what will be the final product emerge. Cool stuff.

Wondering if the LXlauncher can be made smaller (on my netbook it takes up quite a bit of space), or if when you run a program it can be in the background.

Ideally, I'd like to add the menu options to the bar, tray, or panel (can't figure out what the bar is called that hovers at the top of the desktop) that you have in puppeee, rather than have a hard link to a program, the nice tab full of choices. However, this method seems to be taking shape quickly and is already usable.

JK

[jemimah]

- Will the launcher be enabled like any other program by clicking on an icon... and then exit back to the regular desktop?
(This is what I'm understanding from one of your previous posts)

- Will the launcher have a tab manager that allows to add/remove/rename tabs and their icons... and also allows to add/remove and move programs/icons between tabs?

My thoughts for the Puppeee puplet are to have "Easy Mode" and normal mode. There would be a switcher on the menu to change between the modes and you could do it without restarting.

It won't be easy to modify the tabs at runtime, but lxshortcut could be modified to allow you to change the category of the programs and thus move them around.

I really agree with the thought to combine some of the tabs across the top, as there are way too many to scroll through. Either that or eliminate the text and keep the icon with a (is this possible) pop up text when you hover over the icon.

Wondering if the LXlauncher can be made smaller (on my netbook it takes up quite a bit of space), or if when you run a program it can be in the background.

Ideally, I'd like to add the menu options to the bar, tray, or panel (can't figure out what the bar is called that hovers at the top of the desktop) that you have in puppeee, rather than have a hard link to a program, the nice tab full of choices. However, this method seems to be taking shape quickly and is already usable.

I will see about having icon-only tabs. You can make Lxlauncher into a regular resizable window if you want, but the idea is to copy the launcher concept from the other netbook distros and implement it in a similar way.

[dougeeebear]

My thoughts for the Puppeee puplet are to have "Easy Mode" and normal mode. There would be a switcher on the menu to change between the modes and you could do it without restarting.

It won't be easy to modify the tabs at runtime, but lxshortcut could be modified to allow you to change the category of the programs and thus move them around.

Sounds good... if those settings aren't hard coded then it should'nt be too hard.
If there is a way, I might even try to get the tabs vertical on the left side of the screen sort of like NBR Style.

Regards, Doug

[jemimah]

The tabs are hardcoded, but you can always grab the devx and modify the source yourself. This version of lxlauncher is pretty easy to work with.

I'll look into putting the tabs on the side; they would fit if they are icon-only without the text.

[dougeeebear]

The tabs are hardcoded, but you can always grab the devx and modify the source yourself. This version of lxlauncher is pretty easy to work with.

I don't have a clue of how to compile source code.

I'll look into putting the tabs on the side; they would fit if they are icon-only without the text.

As long as there is the option for either horizontal or vertical format.

Regards, Doug

[jemimah]

Here is the latest version with tabs on the side and no text. I tried to fix the wallpaper, but if you make the tabs too wide it pushes it off the screen, so I'm keeping the tabs small.

I added keyboard support and I figured out why setting it to layer 0 is crashing jwm, but I can't find a good work around, so maybe I'll fix Jwm at some point.

[jemimah]

I've added a splash screen to work around the jwm crashing problem. It works perfectly now.

Also I moved the tabs back up to the top since they do not fit into 480 height and the jwm panel covers the scroll button.

WhoDo, any progress on the icon pack? I'm eager to put this in Puppeee.

[dougeeebear]

jemimah,

This is looking really good.

Since the tabs are icon only, which is a good idea, would it be possible to show the text on the selected tab only?
It looks like there might be room for it if it's not too much work.

Regards, Doug

[WhoDo]

WhoDo, any progress on the icon pack? I'm eager to put this in Puppeee.

It's coming along, but slowly. I've been struck down with a virus and haven't much felt like anything - eating, breathing, thinking - but I will get back to it shortly. I may get some time to look at it again later today.

Have you addressed why the first 3 tabs will accept larger icons while the remaining tabs seem limited in size? It looks to me like 48x is ok on the first 3 but 32x is max on the remainder (except one).

[jemimah]

hmmm, well the original version only had 4 tabs. There must be something somewhere... I'll poke around some more.

Dougeeebear, I'll look into that too. I'm not an expert gtk programmer so it easier for me to fix existing stuff than add new features. I'm learning though, slowly.

[jemimah]

I sorted the icon size problem by scaling the icons to cause the tabs to fill the entire screen width (or height). It's probably going to look a little ridiculous on a large screen, but oh well.

[WhoDo]

I sorted the icon size problem by scaling the icons to cause the tabs to fill the entire screen width (or height). It's probably going to look a little ridiculous on a large screen, but oh well.

Send me an updated version to play with and I'll see how it turns out with the actual icons in play.

[jemimah]

Here ya go.

[omskates]

Been hoping to see something like this develop ever since the announcement of Fluppy. I wanted to let you guys know you're doing fantastic work and it is very exciting for me as I follow the thread. So many "netbook distros" with this type of interface have been very disappointing to me and I think Puppy will make an outstanding distro for this. Keep up the great work!

[dougeeebear]

I hope you will make this a .pet installation instead of integrating it in Puppeee, because since it's all hard-coded and not user-configurable I most likely won't be using it.

Regards, Doug

[jemimah]

It's not done yet, kindly be patient.
I'm waiting for a free weekend so I can concentrate properly on it. I will make it configurable.

WhoDo, any icon update?