ElementaryOS

[John]

You're right Mike, there does need to be a Windows presence here on the All BASIC Developer forum. Unfortunately Windows for me is painful and if it wasn't for O2 and DLLC, you wouldn't hear a peep from me about Windows because I wouldn't be using it. I have no problems with you and the other developers touting what you like most. Linux is new territory for many and I shouldn't expect the enthusiasm even though many use Linux resources on a daily basis without even knowing it. (like this forum for instance)

   

[Mike Lobanovsky]

Don't be so pessimistic, John, there is some enthusiasm waking up in me. It seems like I've finally found what I've been expecting to find in Linux for so long, which is dedication to, and care for, the end user. I'm gunning out some 30 to 40 thousand keystrokes a day on the average and I don't want to tap a few thousands more just to bring me some beautiful picture on my desktop to let my eyes have a little rest.



ElementaryOS is a lightweight Ubuntu-based distro handcrafted by true artists. It has a beautiful Mac-like GUI that seems to be blazing fast even in this Windows 7 VMware sandbox I'm writing this message from. If everything goes well, I think I'll delete my original Ubuntu installations altogether and have ElementaryOS Luna installed natively as my development environment to work in when the time comes to try porting FBSL to Linux.

 

[John]

It'is gratifying to see what hobbyists can do when given access to the source. I think one of the most attractive aspects of Linux is the variety and sharing among projects. If I was a causal PC user and not a developer, I probably would still be using Windows or adapted to a tablet.

What is your take on XP going away and how will that effect the 3rd party software market?
 
I installed eOS32 in a VirtualBox under Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit. Updates and available libraries are important to me before I select a distribution.

[Mike Lobanovsky]

Make sure to install VMwareTools too. ElementaryOS doesn't have a prebuilt root terminal but the magic sudo -i will do the trick.

I admired XP very much for its entire lifetime. But it is certainly out of date these days so I'm sad to see it go but I certainly don't hate seeing it. Windows 7 is faster, handier and more stable. Windows 8's Metro was a strategic mistake to create an all-purpose shell for basically different equipment. I can't imagine myself sitting before my monitors sticking greasy fingers in them. What would I need those ugly plain color plates for? What would I need extra gigabytes of system software to control those plates installed on my disks for? Jedem das sein is my standpoint.

In my opinion, 8.1 and pending 8.2 upgrades are essentially a rollback to the standards of Window 7. I believe MS is not going to lose too much of its market share in the end. MS is bloody rich, aggressive and shameless. There may be some give-ins in the area of handhelds and the like but not in the business software area. Mac OS X is for women, Windows 7+ is for men, iWhatever and consoles are for kids. Us developers will just have to adapt to, and specialize in, definite areas where our individual skills would fit in best. The times of Jacks-of-all-trades are gone.

[John]

I wasn't able to get VirtualBox client additions working with Ubuntu 12.04 32 bit but eOS installed it fine an is working like my XP VirtualBox with guest additions. XP actually runs better in a VirtualBox then does a 32 bit Linux distro. (tried Mint with no real improvement)

[Mike Lobanovsky]

Oh, sorry John, didn't notice at a first glance yours was a VirtualBox! Surprisingly, VirtualBox is only good for installing Macs under my x64 Windows 7. VMware does much better for almost everything else including totally alien OS's that classify under Other in both VM's. It seems the host OS is very important for the cumulative performance of VM setup.

[John]

Hint: Install synaptic and apt-get package managers if you plan on using this for more than entertainment.

It seems all the primary SB extensions modules are working. I'll try IUP and the new SDL extension module tomorrow.

[John]

Hint:

Install the full Nautilus file explorer rather than the crippled / useless version installed by default. (installed via Synaptics)

[John]

I was able to get a Brandy BASIC V compiled for eOS 32 bit.

[Mike Lobanovsky]

ElementaryOS' regular wingpanel and plank don't allow one to re-create a veritable Mac-like environment successfully. Nonetheless an awesome effect may be achieved by disabling eOS' native modules via Tweaks and installing gnome-panel with slingshot-launcher and appmenu applets plus Docky with a decent Mac OS X Lion theme for Gnome under eOS:






I've just published a detailed installation guide how to do it for the Russian-speaking eOS community (link updated, please see relevant messages further below). Google's Russian-to-English translation of the message will suffice to follow it except for some extra blanks in the terminal code sections and also slingshot-launcher commands that should read slingshot-launcher --silent in both cases as they appear in the auto-translated text.

Enjoy superior graphics under Linux! 

[John]

WOW!!!

Outstanding work Mike. I would love to do this makeover on a client's old XP box and watch their jaw drop after sitting in front of their new PC. When I tell them no cost, I'm sure to get a hug as I walk out the door. 

[John]

I was able to get my client additions working for VirtualBox and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 bit. With XP checking out, I have a renewed interest in supporting 32 bit Linux users. (32 bit PC's with nowhere to go) I plan to post a 32 bit version of the SB SDL extension module soon.

@Mike - It seems the Russian link is gone. Can you post an English version of your installation steps to reproduce the above results?

[Mike Lobanovsky]

Yes John,

Some bastard there decided to mock me about the inconsistencies of my solution compared to a typical Mac desktop and published his own screenshot pretending it was taken under eOS. But in fact it was a genuine Mac and I nailed him by publishing an extensive list of points why his screenie couldn't be anything but a fake. The guy got his messages deleted and his account, temporarily suspended.

I also asked the moderator there to move my installation guide to a more appropriate topic on Gnome Global Menu utilization under eOS. I felt it was too technically oriented to remain in a purely visual gallery of native eOS GUI screenshots.

So I hope the new link will remain permanent, at least until I find a way to improve my solution to the extent that will discourage occasional squareheads' further attempts at mocking me altogether. Then I will probably finalize the installation guide as a separate thread.

Thanks for bringing the matter to my attention.

[John]

Clover EFI bootloader was SourceForge POTM and may be of interest to those that like the OS X software platform but want to run on generic gear.