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Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

etoileos.com

21–30 of 116 posts

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#21
post #15

I have never played with GNUStep. By the time I actually started real work as a professional software person (2011) it was already kind of considered a joke, so I never bothered learning how to use it. It bothers me a bit, though. Developing for desktop Linux is still a pain in the ass, and I really wish the Linux community had agreed on One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All, and I think GNUStep could have been that…

But what if that One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All had sucked? :)

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#22
The state of Texas is well-known as the "Lone Star" state, and appropriately enough there is a small town in east Texas known as Etoile, Texas. This is not even that far from the border with Louisiana and some of the unsettled parts of that old French territory.

But they can really tell if you are from around those parts or not, since the correct local pronunciation of the word etoile is of course "yeetaw".

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#23
post #17
post #12

GNUStep is a good example that the bare bones language and compiler being open source it is not enough, when everything else doesn't come along. Saying this as someone that used Afterstep and Windowmaker alongside GNUStep, and did seat a few times on the GNUStep room at FOSDEM. Last time I checked was at the level of OS X Panther, and modern Objective-C still wasn't supported.

I’ve been periodically keeping up with GNUstep’s progress since 2004, when I first learned about it as a high school student brand new to Linux and Mac OS X (I grew up on Windows at home and on classic Macs in elementary school). I even wrote a report for a community college class on the history of Mac OS X. I’ve wanted to see GNUstep succeed, but unfortunately it never got as much attention as the KDE/Qt and GNOME/G…

Actually, GNUstep has always had an Interface Builder:

https://www.gnustep.org/experience/Gorm.html

My own take is actually that GNUstep spent too long trying to be an OpenStep successor instead of being a way to run Mac apps on Linux.

It took them ages to even clarify if it was a desktop environment or an SDK (and I am not sure it is even clear now).

There has never been a tonne of love for Objective C either. Pretty much the only reason to use it for most people has been because you had to for access to Apple APIs. Which would be the only reason to use it on Linux too.

It always amazed me that Darwin + GNUstep did not result in a macOS clone. Neither of them really went anywhere.

Have you seen Gershwin?

https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#24
post #15

I have never played with GNUStep. By the time I actually started real work as a professional software person (2011) it was already kind of considered a joke, so I never bothered learning how to use it. It bothers me a bit, though. Developing for desktop Linux is still a pain in the ass, and I really wish the Linux community had agreed on One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All, and I think GNUStep could have been that…

The founder of the GNOME project founded Mono to be the “One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All”. It did not work out.

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#25
post #11

Étoilé was so promising….the idea of using OpenStep (via GNUstep) infrastructure in ways that went beyond NeXTstep or Mac OS X. It felt like an even deeper embrace of the Smalltalk influences of the OpenStep API to enhance the desktop computing experience. Étoilé wasn’t merely a clone of NeXTstep or Mac OS X; it was its own thing that could’ve been a compelling contender to KDE, GNOME, and even macOS. Unfortunately É…

Modern computing is bloat for the mind.

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#26
post #15

I have never played with GNUStep. By the time I actually started real work as a professional software person (2011) it was already kind of considered a joke, so I never bothered learning how to use it. It bothers me a bit, though. Developing for desktop Linux is still a pain in the ass, and I really wish the Linux community had agreed on One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All, and I think GNUStep could have been that…

The founder of the GNOME project founded Mono to be the “One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All”. It did not work out.

That was to be expected, there was a lot of resistance against using C# because Microsoft tried to destroy Linux in various ways. Toolkit-wise, the Mono on Linux stack used Gtk+. So given the C#-distrust it was easier for people to use C, Perl, Python, or later Vala.

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#27
post #11

Étoilé was so promising….the idea of using OpenStep (via GNUstep) infrastructure in ways that went beyond NeXTstep or Mac OS X. It felt like an even deeper embrace of the Smalltalk influences of the OpenStep API to enhance the desktop computing experience. Étoilé wasn’t merely a clone of NeXTstep or Mac OS X; it was its own thing that could’ve been a compelling contender to KDE, GNOME, and even macOS. Unfortunately É…

I love the ideas of Smalltalk and Lisp machines too. Do you know of anything promising in that area? (other than Ink & Switch)

Re: Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

#28
post #15

I have never played with GNUStep. By the time I actually started real work as a professional software person (2011) it was already kind of considered a joke, so I never bothered learning how to use it. It bothers me a bit, though. Developing for desktop Linux is still a pain in the ass, and I really wish the Linux community had agreed on One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All, and I think GNUStep could have been that…

> Developing for desktop Linux is still a pain in the ass

GNOME works great if your language has good bindings for it. Qt is a bit more iffy but still usable if you need cross-platform.

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