gnome

[1701E]

Greetings,

I've managed to get a working install of xfree86 with fink and WindowMaker, but I've been having some issues on trying to install gnome.

I will be the first to admit that I am NOT an xfree86 or unix guru. Yet given half a nudge in the right direction I'll usually get things going. Fink contains a lot of gnome packages that appear to install themselves, but as expected startx -gnome doesn't work. And after much head scratching and reading on the gnome page I don't fine myself any closer to a solution.

SO, using xfree86 4.2 with Xdarwin 1.1, how would I go about installing gnome and have it load at default. The easy way or the hard way whatever works.

Thank you

[Craig R. Arko]

When I briefly used Gnome before going rootless with OroborOSX I recall that what I had to do was place 'exec gnome-session' in the ~/.xinitrc file. Then Gnome would take over and launch the window manager (e.g. WindowMaker) of choice.

[xchanyazy]

This works for me with Xfree 4.1 and Xdarwin 1.6.
In your home directory, edit the file .xinitrc to say:PATH="$PATH:/sw/bin"

# If you login from xdm, uncomment this to make error messages appear
# in the console window.
#
# tail -f /Users/brandg/.xsession-errors > /dev/console &

exec gnome-session


Hope this helps

EDIT: Darn. Mr. Arko got to it first. That's what I get for fixing dinner while replying.

[1701E]

Thanks for the hints I'm not at my machine right now to test this but I'll definitely give it a whirl. (Of course I'll be back if it doesn't work)

Thanks much

[sao]

If you want to give it a try before you load it at default, just write:

"gnome-session" in an xterm in Xfree.

About installing Gnome:

run "fink list gnome" to get a list of the available packages and after you choose which one to install, run:

"fink install packagename"


Cheers...

[1701E]

Thanks for all the help, I know that I havn't been able to get back and say whether it worked or not (It worked with a resounding "heck ya!").

Very Pleased,

[kerim]

Maybe I'm not doing something correctly? I changed the .xinitrc file as said, then I typed "gnome-session" in the terminal, and I got this error:

Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
_IceTransmkdir: Owner of /tmp/.ICE-unix should be set to root
SESSION_MANAGER=local/localhost:/tmp/.ICE-unix/4534

Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
[localhost:~] kerim% gnome-session

Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
_IceTransmkdir: Owner of /tmp/.ICE-unix should be set to root
SESSION_MANAGER=local/localhost:/tmp/.ICE-unix/4538

Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:


I don't want to change ownership unless I know I'm doing things correctly, and I believe I am not ...

[WillyT]

kerim

Unless you or fink set up the DISPLAY variable for your terminal, you need to use xterm or eterm or some other XWindow terminal where DISPLAY will already be set.

I don't set the display variable in terminal as I normally don't launch X11 apps from there. And it can cause problems.

Ignore the /tmp/* should be set to root warnings, this is generally harmless.

Willy

[sao]

Kerim,

If you want to enable entering XWindows commands in the Terminal.app when XWindows is running, then write at the beginning of your ~/.cshrc file the following:

setenv DISPLAY :0.0

Otherwise, you can call gnome-session, as WillyT wrote, from within XFree86 (in eterm, xterm, aterm, etc)

Also, configure your window manager, like enlightenment or windowmaker to work with gnome.

Or you can write in your .xinitrc file :

WINDOW_MANAGER=sawfish
exec gnome-session


Cheers...

[kerim]

OK. I got it working. I followed your advice, and I set my .xinitrc file as follows:

WINDOW_MANAGER=OroborOSX
exec gnome-session


Then I first launch OroborOSX, and from within the xterm window that appears I write "gnome-session". It gives me some messages and then lanuches the Gnome inteface from within the OroborOSX interface.

But as far as I can see, there is absolutely no reason to launch GNOME, unless you wish to use some of the GNOME desktop features: icons, file-browser, application launching. But it seems to me, as seems to be the consensus, that one can use OroborOSX and Aqua in combination to do most of the file management, application launching tasks one would possibly need to do. Am I right?

So the advantage of installing GNOME is just that some applications (such as GIMP?) might call on some of the GNOME libraries, but you can launch them without launching the GNOME desktop application itself?

How about GNOME Office? I don't see this in FINK. Has it not yet been ported? How does it compare with AbiWord?

From your post on the other thread about KDE - it seems that KDE applications do require the KDE environment to be up in order to run. Is this true?

Thanks for your help!

[sao]

kerim wrote:
that some applications (such as GIMP?) might call on some of the GNOME libraries, but you can launch them without launching the GNOME desktop application itself?

Yes you can, but don't forget the set of core technologies behind. For example the GNOME office suite
<< is based around a set of core technologies. Behind the graphical front end of the environment is a robust infrastructure which allows developers to create applications in less time while still enabling their applications to remain on the forefront of computer technology.>>

Bonobo
<<Bonobo is the GNOME foundation for writing and implementing reusable software Components. Components are pieces of software that provide a well-defined interface and are designed to be used in cooperation with other components. In the Bonobo universe, CORBA is used as the communication layer that binds components together. >>

Gnome-Print
XML
Pspell
GNOME Basic
Libole2
Gstreamer
Wv
Gtkhtml
Gecko
GNOME Pilot
-------------------------------------


kerim wrote:
How about GNOME Office? I don't see this in FINK. Has it not yet been ported? How does it compare with AbiWord?

"The GNOME office suite is not defined by an arbitrary, fixed number of applications. By permitting multiple applications in several categories, users can select the application most suited to their needs. "

GNome Office Applications:

Gnumeric*
Abiword*
Gfax
Galeon*
Sodipodi*
Sketch*
Eye of GNOME
Gimp*
Balsa
Evolution*
Guppi*
Dia*
MrProject
GnuCash*
Toutdoux
Achtung
GNOME-DB

To my knowledge, those marked with an (*) you can install with fink.


Cheers...