X11 future Desktop Environments CERN IT/DIS/OSE : Paola Ciccarelli (Caspur) Lionel Cons Victor Robles Forcada German Cancio Melia PRESENTED BY : Philippe Defert

Plan u Introduction u What is a desktop environment u Desktop Environments: KDE and GNOME u KDE vs GNOME: Technology u CORBA: u What is it? u How is it used in KDE and GNOME? u KDE vs GNOME. u KDE vs GNOME: Applications u HEP conclusions and questions

INTRODUCTION u UNIX/Linux is powerful and stable. u Strong alternative for Windows => good user interface. UNIX/Linux must be user-friendly. u Average users don’t like: Command line, manual configuration, etc. u Many users expect: Menus, Panel, Drag & Drop, mouse driven configuration, etc. u CDE: First job related with this. June u During the last 2 years Linux Community is making a big job => KDE and GNOME

What is a Desktop Environment? u Common Drag & Drop protocol u Common Session Management protocol u Easy dialog based desktop configuration u Unified application help system u Consistent ‘look and feel’ u Common application development framework u Compound document framework u Network transparency

KDE K Desktop Environment u Dates: u Project founded in October 1996 u KDE v1.0 July 12, 1998 u KDE v1.1 February 6, 1999 u KDE v2.0 End of this summer??? u Some interesting features: u Based on toolkit Qt 1.42 (not GPL, Troll Tech) u Standard menu and toolbars, keybindings, color schemes, etc. u Built-in internationalization: more than 25 languages u Large number of KDE applications. In version 1.1, 41 base applications u Koffice: in version 2.0 using CORBA

KDE Screenshot

GNOME GNU Network Object Model Environment u Dates: u GNOME project was initially announced in August 1997 u GNOMEv1.0 7 April, 1999 u Why not only KDE? It is based on Qt which is not open source. u Some features: u Based on GTK+ (GPL) u Build-in internationalization and localization u 3D-programming with OpenGL u Independent of Window Manager u Fully integrated with CORBA u Standard printing

GNOME Screenshot

KDE vs GNOME: Technology I

KDE vs GNOME: Technology II

Conclusions (I) u KDE has an easier User Interface for beginners u KDE is easier to install u GNOME is technologically superior u KDE gets closer to GNOME in v2.0 => XDND, WM Independent, SGML. u Interoperability between KDE and GNOME apps: u Drag & Drop: No until KDEv2.0 u Session Management: No u Help System: No (Try open his own help browser) u GNOME Office is more advanced

CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture u CORBA allows applications to communicate with each other u CORBA is similar to DCOM, but more powerful u CORBA is as next-generation RPC, just extended to support object-oriented programming u Why CORBA? u Solution for the IPC problem. u Reduce development time u Reduce maintenance difficulties u Programs more powerful u Simplify Compound Documents u Automation

CORBA in KDE: KOM/OpenParts u ORB: MICO (C++) => Programs in C++ u KOM: Events and Filters, Signals and Slots for Plug-in or Dynamic Aggregation u OpenParts: u Controls: Comparable to Microsoft’s Active X controls u Parts: Improvements of controls u Is independent of the GUI => Standard for IPC u Automation: Applications can export his inner work through CORBA

CORBA in GNOME: Baboon Baboon Allows Baboon Objects Over Networks u ORB: u No MICO u New ORB: ORBit (C) => Programs in C, C++ u CORBA will be used in various contexts: u Components u Application embedding u Automation u Reusable controls u Is independent of the GUI => Standard for IPC

KDE vs GNOME: CORBA

Conclusions (II) CORBA u The idea of use CORBA in KDE and GNOME is the same: components, controls,... u MICO is slower than ORBit u GNOME makes use of CORBA by default: Panel, print, applets, programs. u KDE plans to extend the use of CORBA to the panel and to some applications (e.g korganizer).

Conclusions (III) Applications u KDE for the moment has more and more complete set of applications u Tons of applications: Some useful, some buggy u KDE Best: kfm, PPP dialer, korganizer, kpackages, koffice (?) u GNOME Best: Electronic Eyes, gimp, gnumeric, gmenu, gmc, gcal

HEPiX Questions u X desktops are a normal X follow up u HEPiX X11 scripts u Common look and feel u shared work u Customization by site, group, user u HEPiX desktop ???? Do we do the same as with X11 ???? u More Information: u