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Project: Linux  Articles
A look at Helix GNOME
By Amit Chattopadhyay <amitc@technologist.com>
Posted: ( 2000-11-24 14:16:22 EST by )
If you haven't tried out the GNOME desktop environment and feel intimidated by
installation procedures, Helix GNOME is the best excuse you can give yourself
to install the GNOME environment on your system!
Ten years ago, most PC users believed that UNIX was the domain of hackers and
caffeine drowsed programmers. UNIX and even Linux machines tend to conjure up
images of reams and reams of green colored text pouring out of an 80x25
resolution text mode! While many newbies unknowingly continue to remain in the
dark ages of the text mode, most Linux users can today confidently setup the
free XFree86 environment to provide a user-friendly graphical interface to the
once arcane world of Linux. Unfortunately 'user friendly' takes up a new meaning in the world of Linux. If
Microsoft did one thing right, it must have been to keep things simple in
whatever they built. A typical setup of the XWindows system in Linux is not
only about setting up the video adapter but also editing weird files like
xinitrc, running a window manager, loading a desktop, a GUI template and what
not. The process of setup may seem trivial (perhaps only adding a symlink or
editing a file to insert a call to the window manager), but for most newbies
and normal users, the problem arises in setting up any software. Imagine if
people weren't able to setup a simple Windowing system that can cater to their
needs (after which they would like to use applications!) -- even if Linux has
the coolest GUI and the best OS kernel, Linux would certainly fail to appeal
to the masses. Meet Miguel de Icaza, a man who has realized that computing is not just about
the cleverest software techniques, but also about reaching out to the general
public. Helix code, Miguel's company, quite aptly, intends to 'deliver
intelligence' through its products. Helix GNOME is the first software package
released by the company. GNOME and KDE are popular examples of desktop environments. A desktop
environment provides the general look and style of windows, scroll bars,
buttons and other standard widgets necessary in a GUI. Sometimes the desktop
environment additionally includes a window manager. A window manager refers to
software that creates an interface to control software and run applications
inside a desktop environment. KDE usually was both a desktop environment and a
window manager, albeit a very slow one. In Linux, it is always possible to use
a different window manager in any desktop environment. In addition to window
managers and desktop environments, one can install software that specifically
takes advantage of the desktop environments. For example, if you wanted to run
an IRC program, you would prefer to run kIrc in KDE rather than BitchX or
ircII. GNOME has been the preferred desktop environment for many Linux users
primarily because of its high speed and responsiveness (and partly for its
complete GPL license). Helix GNOME is a polished distribution of the GNOME desktop provided as a
service to the GNOME user community. It includes stable, up-to-date versions
of powerful software with an integrated, attractive interface. Helix GNOME is
designed to simplify the task of installing a fully featured version of GNOME
on your favorite Unix system. The Helix GNOME installer sets an example of how installation of software can
be made simple. In most cases all that you need to type in a terminal window
to install Helix GNOME is, # lynx -source http://go-gnome.com/ | sh Surprised? Once the setup starts, the installation process is interactive and
the only thing that takes up time is waiting for the download to finish! You
can select from an array of business, entertainment, development and system
software to go with the base package. The installer makes sure that the entire
process is transparent, so that the next time you load up your XWindows
system, you can start using the GNOME system. The GNOME desktop environment
can hardly be faulted and even rivals the Windows interface. Desktop Toys The base Helix GNOME package contains an impressive array of software. Here is
a brief overview of some of some of the applications that are installed or can
be installed during the setup process. Applications * GXedit: A multi-function text editor that can be used both as a C/C++
development editor, HTML creation tool, e-mail/newsreader and as text
management software. In other words, it's a notepad on steroids.
* gEdit: A small and light weight text editor.
* Glade: Glade is a Gtk+/GNOME user interface builder. It enables rapid
prototyping and creation of application user interfaces.
* Calendar: A personal calendar and schedule manager.
* GHex: A binary file editor that can be used to hex edit files.
* GnomeCard: An electronic business card manager.
* GTimeTracker: Another time management tool that can intelligently identify
time spent on a project.
* gNotepad+: A full featured text editor with font control and styles.
* Gnumeric: Microsoft Excel has new competition in the form of the Gnumeric
spreadsheet. Already, Gnumeric can handle documents in a variety of formats,
including HTML, Excel, CSV, and Lotus-123. Gnumeric is extensible and
scriptable, so that it will remain a platform for development and data
management for years to come. Utilities * GnomeCalculator: A simple double precision calculator. It is not as full
featured as a scientific calculator.
* bug-buddy: A bug report tool for users.
* gTop: An impressive real time system monitor.
* SysInfo: System information and report tool.
* Stripchart: Plots various user-specified elements over a period of time.
* Gnome Search Tool: A MS Windows like Find function useful for locating
files. Graphics * GIMP: Graphics Image Manipulation Program that rivals commercial graphic
applications like Adobe Photoshop.
* GQview: An image file viewer for various file formats.
OTHERS
* Update Agent/Helix Setup Tools: Helix Setup Tools simplify the
administration of Unix desktop machines, by giving the user a friendly and
unified graphical frontend to most setup and administration tasks. Keep
desktop applications and components up to date with Update Agent.
* Evolution: Evolution, the Helix Code groupware suite, marks the next step
forward in GNOME applications. The email, contact management, and calendar
tools act as a seamless personal information-management tool. Evolution is
also highly extensible and it will be possible to use it to solve a wide
variety of information-sharing problems. The Future Everything that Helix GNOME provides and installs can be installed manually by
downloading the various components freely available from the Internet. In
fact, if you look closely, there is no difference between GNOME and Helix
GNOME. To look at Helix GNOME from the simplistic software point of view would
be wrong. Helix GNOME lays the foundation for user-friendly install packages
that can be readily installed by first time users and high quality software
that deliver. Helix Code plans to continually develop Helix GNOME and packages that will be
useful for users. Most of Helix's service will be freely available with some
features becoming value add services. If you haven't tried out the GNOME desktop environment and feel intimidated by
installation procedures, Helix GNOME is the best excuse you can give yourself
to install the GNOME environment on your system!
Helix Code
Other articles by Amit Chattopadhyay
Current Rating: [ 8.11 / 10 ]
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