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Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

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Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#51

Post by michaelmrose »

skavi wrote: post #28

Looks like the Android 4.0 UI with a bit of neumorphism thrown in. I really don’t like it. I hope that’s not the style they end up with. The GTK window conveys the same information more clearly (and it looks better).

Looks like it is already better than gnome settings.

>The search also displays a list of all the settings that match the search criteria and not only where they’re located as GNOME Settings does, this makes it easier to change your settings without having to leave the section you currently are in.

>the search bar is available at the top of the navigation view, this is problematic when inside nested menus as the user has to go back to the begining to access it, but in COSMIC it’s available everywhere in the app, no matter how deep inside a menu the user is.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#52

Post by mixedCase »

sprash wrote: post #37
diskzero wrote: post #29

Original Nautilus and early GNOME developer here. I am very out of touch with what is current, so excuse some possibly ignorant questions. How is this a Rust-based environment if it is based on GTK? I assume GTK is still essentially the C-based GTK we used with some improvements. Why is this called Rust-based? I’ll do some more research but would like to get some insight from more knowledgeable sources.

Also GTK4 means they are still at the mercy of GNOME which changes APIs often and without consideration for third parties. Wasn't the whole point of the project to emancipate themselves from GNOME? If they rely on GTK they will fail.

With the transition from version 3 to 4, GTK is now more focused on being a generic UI toolkit, with GTK4-based libadwaita now being the place to be for GNOME-specific patterns.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#53

Post by noahtallen »

Underphil wrote: post #41

"...we’re all curious as to how this desktop will look like..." Is this an Americanism? My brain can't read this properly.

It’s a combination of “curious what this desktop will look like” and “curious as to how this desktop will look.” (Which could be simplified to “curious how this desktop will look.”)

I’m not sure if it’s an Americanism as much as poor phrasing :)

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#54

Post by capableweb »

trulyme wrote: post #32

Nice, exactly what Linux needs the most - another desktop environment! Sarcasm aside, it does look pretty good. But between indistinguishable window title bars and yet another settings app (wanna bet it will miss some config so users wil still need to run one of the others?), I think I'll pass. As far as I'm concerned this problem was solved ages ago, so I simply don't understand why the designers keep mucking with i…

> Nice, exactly what Linux needs the most - another desktop environment!

One could argue that because no one desktop environment has taken over the Linux mindshare, we haven't invented the one yet, so people keep trying. It's not until something takes over the mindshare (like systemd did), we can all unity and start improving upon the same base.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#55

Post by anthk »

Koshkin wrote: post #16
anthk wrote: post #8

I don't like Rust, but between Gnome's JS abortion lagfest and Rust, please, use the second.

Would you rate KDE (Plasma) better?

It's good, but I'd prefer XFCE as a balance between minimalism and functionality.

I use fluxbox + rox but XFCE would the closest DE to my setup.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#56

Post by Animats »

bee_rider wrote: post #13
Animats wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or between what's clickable and what isn't. (New dark pattern: popups which have an X box to dismiss them being harder to dismiss. First, the box around the X disappeared. Then, the X moves to different places in the box. (Bing does this for their house ads.) Then, the active portion of the X shrinks to make it harder to hit.)

None of that is handled by the window manager though, right?

No, that's web. But this new window manager seems designed to bring web-like behavior to the desktop.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#57

Post by anthk »

trulyme wrote: post #32

Nice, exactly what Linux needs the most - another desktop environment! Sarcasm aside, it does look pretty good. But between indistinguishable window title bars and yet another settings app (wanna bet it will miss some config so users wil still need to run one of the others?), I think I'll pass. As far as I'm concerned this problem was solved ages ago, so I simply don't understand why the designers keep mucking with i…

A lot of Windows users loathed Windows 8 and installed classic shell like crazy.

And I'm sure zillions of people would pay in order to have a 3D like shell a la Windows 98, or Windows XP/Net theme for a more modern look.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#58

Post by adamnemecek »

billconan wrote: post #36
shmerl wrote: post #19

GTK4? It seems like Rust based UI toolkit is still missing. I like the idea of using Rust for the DE, but personally I'd stick with KDE.

ya, I wanted to ask the same question. there doesn't seem to be a mature gui lib for rust yet. what is this desktop based on?

GTK4.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#59

Post by mixedCase »

adamnemecek wrote: post #44

System76 should build a Rust GUI framework. I can't think of many other companies that are better positioned than them.

Doesn't seem like there'd be any good reason to do it. Gtk4 has great low and high level bindings in the form of gtk-rs and relm.

Re: Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment

#60

Post by anthk »

distantsounds wrote: post #26
anthropodie wrote: post #24

After unity, I tried couple of DEs but then forced myself to stay with Gnome because I wanted to stop endless tinkering and get work done. I tried it for half a year and then switched to Sway, a tiling window manager. Sway has little to no footprint. I have configured my system the way I like it. Now I do minor tweaks sometimes but nothing major. My entire configuration is in a single file! I am not going back to DEs…

You don't need a tiling window manager to get everything in a single config file. Fluxbox has historically been great at this, while still being extremely light on resources.

Fluxbox + rox + roxlib (for Rox plugins/addons) make the ultimate DE. Everything else can be made into systray applets such as blueman or nm-applet.

As for theming, Zukitre for Fluxbox + any modern theme for icons. Done. Fancy, modern yet featureful as back in the day.

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