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Make Apps for Linux

makealinux.app

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Re: Make Apps for Linux

#311

Post by m463 »

abhinavk wrote: post #100
zer0zzz wrote: post #34

I think the premise is wrong when there still doesn’t exist a core set of frameworks that are abi stable on Linux. On competing platforms there are way more frameworks out of the box (CoreImage, CoreAudio, CodeML, SceneKit, AppKit, etc) and they don’t break as often. I know in Linux they have fun things like snap and flatpak but it is really solving the problem using a bit of infrastructure and package management ins…

I had read somewhere that Win32 (via Wine or Proton) is the most stable target for Linux right now.

This might be true.

Another abi I see games target are ubuntu... 14.04, 16.04, 18.04, etc

Ubuntu seems to be stable enough for the corporate world.

I think things like flatpack or snap add bloat and behave in ways you don't want.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#312

Post by isodev »

tristan957 wrote: post #288
isodev wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ensuring an app looks and feels the same across various distributions seems quite challenging when it’s not only different flavours of the OS but also different desktop environments. At the same time, the OS flavours don’t seem to offer a unified way for handling payments, subscriptions and in-app purchases which is a significant burden to implement from scratch by every app developer.

Why do distributions need to offer this when SDKs exist for services like Stripe and PayPal?

Because a Linux distributions are used all over the world. Stripe and PayPal are good, but insufficient as a choice - one can't be expected to pick SDKs that work equally well in all regions, preferring local payment options, registering with local tax authorities etc.

Also, Stripe and PayPal don't offer tools to check if an app is running with a valid license/subscription, it's not pirated etc. (the equivalent of the App Store receipt signature).

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#313

Post by rubymamis »

devaiops9001 wrote: post #246
rubymamis wrote: post #20

The problem is OSS software not even trying to compete with the market. People using OSS software taking it for granted that the UX is going to be subpar, and it really is. Regular propriety software faces the risk of their users not paying, therefore adapting to make end user experience great. OSS usually doesn't have that risk. Open source needs to be exposed to risk from end users. I tried to change that with Note…

I am in an interim CTO position and the year before the title of a role I acted as had "Principal" in its title. I still write Commonmark files to render them to HTML and PDF with Pandoc. There are dozens of Markdown note taking apps out there. There are half a dozen Notion clones out there. I know which one will overwhelmingly win mindshare due to a special feature but I won't give away why (the feature itself is mo…

> but performing hardwork doesn't necessarily mean you have provided value to others.

Very much agree. I guess only time will tell (when I launch).

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#314

Post by yaomtc »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #223
lupusreal wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In principle maybe, but all present implementations fall a bit short. Why can't I use my mouse to position the cursor in any shell? Placing the cursor with the mouse is something people commonly do in terminal editors like vim or emacs; the efficiency arguments against it fall flat because this is entirely optional and besides, many people use laptops with either a track-point directly in the middle of the home row k…

It’s not done because there’s no use case. No point in writing anywhere and clobbering existing text.

Nonsense. Fixing a typo or amending a command somewhere in the middle are obvious use cases.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#315

Post by poulpy123 »

Saying that you should target all Linux distros while showing a picture with 30 different Linux distributions, most of them used by at most few hundreds of people, is so ironic

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#316

Post by isodev »

michaelmrose wrote: post #294
isodev wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ensuring an app looks and feels the same across various distributions seems quite challenging when it’s not only different flavours of the OS but also different desktop environments. At the same time, the OS flavours don’t seem to offer a unified way for handling payments, subscriptions and in-app purchases which is a significant burden to implement from scratch by every app developer.

The "feel" of the app is identical across distributions because the app controls everything inside its window and the look only varies slightly in terms of colorscheme and window decoration if that. There is absolutely no legit purpose for in app purchases on a desktop OS. Its not hard to pay for substantial software suites and most of what would be an app on platforms which at one point would have had an anemic brow…

> Nobody needs a bunch of adware apps

You can't stop people from making crap apps, they exist even today.

> The "feel" of the app is identical across distributions because the app controls everything inside its window

To make an app feel at home, it needs to "blend" with the rest of the OS. To achieve this, one can use OS-components to build an interface. Just a simple example, GTK apps are so different from KDE apps in their look and feel - you can always tell if an app is native GNOME or KDE app. Now consider all the other desktop environments - it's just way too many to account for in one's code and testing.

Then comes the question of system integrations - how do you offer a unified photo picker experience, how do you ensure you always ask for the right permission to access the camera, the clipboard or network APIs - all these should be provided from the OS so they don't confuse the user and prevent abuse by naughty apps.

> no legit purpose for in app purchases on a desktop OS

I strongly disagree - what if you want to offer a "try before you buy", or you'd allow users to purchase additional content/credits for a service bundled with your app? What if you want to adapt your pricing for a specific event or holiday period...etc, the sheer scope of possibilities is not practical to include in one comment.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#317

Post by mixmastamyk »

yaomtc wrote: post #314
mixmastamyk wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not done because there’s no use case. No point in writing anywhere and clobbering existing text.

Nonsense. Fixing a typo or amending a command somewhere in the middle are obvious use cases.

That’s only the last line, not quite what they stated. Still a lot slower than emacs or CUA keys, so no it doesn’t fall flat.

The kind of person that would use it doesn’t use a terminal.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#318

Post by b33j0r »

I like it, but I don’t think it speaks to the audience it wants.

Why not show a 12-15 line python app using customtkinter, wxwindows, qt, etc? It currently says something like:

—

To target all platforms, here is the first step! Choose gnome or KDE!

You can write apps for all distributions as a beginner if you choose the right cup!

Step 2: ???

Step 3: target all platforms by targeting elementary OS or touch!

—

Alternatively, a true and recent experience I had:

—

The other night, I thought, “I wonder if I could get a fonzie-like cartoon to popup as a taskbar-buddy, like adware in 2001.”

I looked up some examples, then had copilot do a sketch of the relevant pyqt5 api calls.

Ayyy… about 30 minutes later I had a PyQT5 app running in XFCE, and had extra time to make `fonz-ai` play “Aiiii.ogg”, and play the jump the shark music, when dismissed.

Testimonial: I didn’t think it would be that easy, esp without VB6/warez ;)

^This is the kind of app we need to believe in again^ :P

(PS: it worked in plasma and gnome too, because standards. Also archlinux/arcolinux.)

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#319

Post by pjmlp »

anonyme-honteux wrote: post #297
pjmlp wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That core would be GNOME or KDE frameworks, coupled with the FreeDesktop standards, at least that was the plan about 20 years ago. However as the site says doing distributions is what most folks keep doing, and naturally there isn't a single stack that can keep up with snowflake distributions. In the end, Google took the Linux kernel, placed two core set of frameworks, one in Java, and the other in JavaScript, and na…

You are talking about Android and Chrome OS right? I agree, those are the top two Linux distributions, and everything else is behind by an absolutely huge margin

Yep. Just browse their documentation, that is the kind of development experience GNOME and KDE were expected to provide, 20 years ago, yet fail short due to Linux distributions fragmentation, the devs using other environments, or still stuck with plain window managers and xterms workflows.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#320

Post by realusername »

zer0zzz wrote: post #34

I think the premise is wrong when there still doesn’t exist a core set of frameworks that are abi stable on Linux. On competing platforms there are way more frameworks out of the box (CoreImage, CoreAudio, CodeML, SceneKit, AppKit, etc) and they don’t break as often. I know in Linux they have fun things like snap and flatpak but it is really solving the problem using a bit of infrastructure and package management ins…

> On competing platforms there are way more frameworks out of the box (CoreImage, CoreAudio, CodeML, SceneKit, AppKit, etc) and they don’t break as often.

I would not use MacOS as an example of stability, each version breaks and deprecates a massive amount of API and old apps will require changes.

Windows is the only OS with serious backward compatibility.

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