- Journal
- Luna Beginning to Come Together
Luna Beginning to Come Together
Submitted by DanRabbit on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 02:54It's been almost a year since we shipped Jupiter, the very first release of elementary OS. In that time, we’ve been working hard and a lot has changed. Our next release, Luna, is coming together.
Enhanced Toolkit
Beautiful CSS themes, smoother scrolling, and new widgets are just some of the features available in our newly refreshed toolkit. Luna takes advantage of GTK+ 3 and builds upon it with our very own Granite library. This means better apps for users and better app development for developers.
Pantheon
We’ve been taking some time this cycle to really think about the desktop itself. Performance, ease of use, and simplicity take center stage in Luna with our brand new desktop environment called Pantheon. Inside Pantheon you’ll find a brand new panel and dock, a slick and powerful new way to launch apps, a smoother wallpaper experience, a beautiful login screen, a smart watchdog service that binds it all together, and one more thing...
Switchboard
System-wide settings have traditionally been a mess on free desktops. In Luna, that is no more. Switchboard pulls all of your system-wide settings into one organized, fully searchable, fully extendable app. Not only will system-wide settings be visually coherent with each other, re-distributors can customize Switchboard according to their needs.
Better Apps
In Jupiter we decided to make a stand: We’re not going to ship a music player that we don’t believe in only to flip-flop later from one player to another. That’s why we’re shipping BeatBox with Luna. It’s a fast, beautiful, iOS-syncing, automagic equalizing, outstanding audio experience. We’re also replacing GEdit with the intelligent auto-saving Scratch, GNOME Terminal with the slick and slimmed-down Pantheon Terminal, and Nautilus with the beautiful and snappy DanRabbit-designed Marlin.
ISO Build System
With Jupiter, we shipped a slimmed down OS that was essentially a customized build of Ubuntu tailored to our liking. Starting with Luna, we’re utilizing a brand new build system that puts it all together even better. Building our OS this way enables us to customize it even more from the ground up, perfectly handling automated builds, proper installs, incremental upgrades, and more.
However...
Luna’s not quite ready for public testing. We’ve been working hard in the past year, and that work is still coming together. We know that some of you have figured out where we’re keeping our experimental builds; right now, these builds should only be used by developers who are able to help fix some of the bugs they still have. We know that there are a lot of expectations around Luna and we want to make sure that the final release lives up to them. We do have a public testing period in our plans. But as always, that will come when it’s ready.
This Journal entry is a collaborative effort of Daniel Foré, Cassidy James, Harvey Cabaguio, and other contributors.
Hey,
It seems EPIC. But when Luna comes out, will there be a way to get Gnome Terminal back?
sudo apt-get install gnome-terminal
Can't wait to install it on my machine. Have a nice day everyone! Greetings from Philippines.
Wow! Luna looks epic. Can't wait!
I am also "testing" Luna! I'm not a developer, so I can't help you with bugs, but as a simple user I can tell than Pantheon is the better desktop manager I've tested. Gnome shell, kde, cinamon, unity, xfce, E17, none of them are as user-friendly, fast and organized as Pantheon (at least for me) I really love BeatBox, plank, marlin and Postler!!
I have a few questions to make, even if you can't answer them, Will be Maya capable of sync calendars with a mail account? Will have Luna an office platform by default? Will you use and DVD or CD image?
It would be great is you have and office software with the philosophy of elementary, fast, moder, pretty, powerful and simple. Who knows, as fast are you go maybe in two years it will be truth, when "elementary Dwarf Lop Rabbits" is born.
Nothing more than a big Thank you team and wish you a good journal.
greets from Chile
How to beta test:
Add elementary ppas, sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install pantheon-shell && sudo apt-get install elementary-desktop, tweak the theme using gnome-tweak-tool, reboot.
Looking forward to Luna , excellent work, thank you .
Hello. I'm not sure if this is the place to ask for a feature but I'll ask anyway. Is it possible to add a backlight control in the panel for laptop/netbook use? My laptop's backlight keys do not work in Linux and I find so many others have problems with backlight keys that are not functioning. I've tried different solutions out there to fix the backlight keys but nothing works for me. I am able to control backlight using brightness applets included in Xfce, Gnome and AWN dock. Gnome Shell has a Brightness control extension but it isn't compatible with Pantheon. I love elementary Luna by the way and currently using the test builds.
I'm a linux user and a Distro freak since years but I'm not a dev (at least not a linux dev). So basically what I expect from my computer is to be fast, even if I agree on opensource philosophy, if to work I need to add any proprietary stuff, I'll do without hesitation so ideally I'd love it to have everything working out of the box and one very very important thing for me is a coherent, consistent and appealing interface and design. Over time I think I tested millions icon themes, GTK themes, switched to kde just for design at a moment etc ... but periodically I had to come back to basic gnome and Dan Rabbit's theme .. until I got jupiter .. but still something was missing ... I'm testing pantheon since a while now (even before daily builds) and I'm used to things that don't work on some of my hardware, got my own workarounds etc ....
And even since a buggy alpha built on my own on top of a screwedup ubuntu ... it's still beautiful and I can't switch to another DE for more than one day.
I tried to convert my gf to linux since years and never raised any interest until she saw pantheon desktop on my main computer and asked me to install it on her netbook.
For the first time she could figure out what icon opens what even without text underneath, she wasn't looking for a strange hidden launcher or dock or app menu and she loved the look and feel, moreover she's happy to have a faster computer. Everytime I was tweaking my desktop and was thinking I got the most "natural" desktop, I used her to see where she will click to get this or that working, and till pantheon nothing worked for her. Don't get me wrong she's not a computer beginner she just doesn't like complexity when she only wants surfing internet, listen music or read an email (postler is amazing by the way). This crazily huge post is just to say that elementary team just achieved what I tried for years: a clean, fast, easy to use for average users desktop. I'm a kind of silent follower and usually never post anything so the next post might be in 10 year, i hope web design team won't hate me for having eating a complete page with a post but this is just a big thanks and wanted to congratulate all elementary guys for the hard work and clear goals you want to achieve, I also use elementary philosophy (avoiding complexity where not mandatory and focus on visual details) at work and succeed in numerous projects but can't post here would be too long.
Some will see this post as a fanboy elementary-brainwashed one but I don't care I think they just deserve it, we're waiting for release, they work like h*ll in the meantime.
Thanks again, meet you at the pantheon.
That's awesome to read :D I'm really glad that we've been able to make such a big impact on your life. I hope we can only continue to impress ;)
This is not a reply in all the sense, just an 'extension' of Cedrick's comment, I agree with every word.
DanRabbit: I hope your read this and hope you really understand what the elementary project has become. In all honesty, elementary is right in a lot of ways. It can become a huge success, which takes me to share with you two ideas:
1. Once I saw a video where Steve Jobs quoted someone saying "if you are serious about your software, you should be doing your own hardware"... So, Dan, why don't you make an experiment and pre-sell an elementaryos laptop where everything "just works"... I guess there's a project funding website somewhere where you can pre-sell the machine and if you don't get enough orders to be profitable then we all buyers could get our money back. And...
2. Please read this article: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/03/desktop-linux and think about it, the guy is wrong in a few concepts but is also very right in most others, so my idea is: Please become to the Opensource Desktop what Linus Torvalds is to the Linux Kernel: The unifier. Make software vendors and businesses trust the long term stability of your Desktop Services, Apps, Layout, Libraries, Toolkit. I know Mark Shuttleworth is trying to do that with a lot more resources, but he's wrong in two key concepts: 1. The User Interface (Unity) and 2. He doesn't seem to have a hardware strategy.
Go for the innovations E-Team :) we'll give our best to help. from Philippines by the way.
Can't wait! Greetings from the Philippines. :)
I really like the way you're developing your OS, that you wouldn't release it until it's ready, not half baked like "others" ;).
Your artwork is amazing, your apps are great, your entire environment looks elegant and consistent, and I'd love to see more posts on the updates like this one.
Keep up this great work (and don't release until it's all ready :) ).
When I say Pantheon I mean the white panel that holds the applications.
You're talking about the dock, plank. :)
Yes its themeable, and has transparency.
Hi. Is pantheon going to have other options than the white background? I would like it to be 50% transparent or so..so I can see the desktop photo through it. Will that be possible without having to do a lot of editing? Thanks.
Slingshot uses the system's theme. Specifically, it uses whatever theming is applied to popovers throughtout the system. To change its theme, you'd have to change that. Regarding transparency, I don't believe it's easy to do that due to technical limitations in the toolkit. You could make the whole thing translucent using Compiz, but I doubt that'd look very good as some things may be hard to read.
In fact we had transparency hacked in early versions but then we swapped it for code consistency
hey,I congratulate you on the beauty of your work...but will be any integration with android system/smartphones?
Hi,
I'm a proud user of elementary OS Jupiter and an Italian student of computer science.
I want to ask you a question: will it be in the final release some battery/laptop optimization and/or a "proprietary" optimization app?
Sorry for my English, and keep up the good work!
elementary has two approaches to battery/laptop optimization:
1. Whatever Ubuntu has. Since we're building elementary from the same core as Ubuntu, we can take advantage of any sort of optimizations in the Linux kernel or above in Ubuntu.
2. Plus We're Lighter. Since elementary OS is lighter-weight than Ubuntu and most other OSes, it's naturally more energy-efficient. Less resources used on your laptop equates to less power consumed.
I'm happy to hear this news! I've been looking forward to Luna ever since Jupiter came out. I really liked it, but it did feel slightly incomplete.
Good to hear about the updates on new os!.. I really like elementary os, simple, beautiful and very user friendly!.THE BEST out there in Linux world...keep up!!..And lastly hoping for better new os!..:)
PS.
Can I suggest something, can we see something which we can use for server, right now I am using Openmedia Valut which is very good, but I want elementary os to have similar feature..;P
elementary OS is a Desktop OS made for home users.
Yeap!..I know..:) but I use it for everything home or work, not in server yet..;D....but if there was one I would love to have it in server..
You can easily turn an elementary install into an Ubuntu server if that's what you want to do. Or, if you're setting up a separate machine, you could just setup an Ubuntu server. elementary really is targeted to appeal to typical home/student computer users rather than the server market.
That's true..I know I just need to add few repo / install apps for server but then I really like Open media vault.. its really easy to setup and easy to configure as well as have good interface..:) so far..I am very happy with elementary os and open media vault. I disliked ubuntu after 10.10+ because of new interface. It's too much for me..hehe..:D, I like simple design and easy to use interface.. they are heading to idk wrong way? esp for desktop / laptop. But you know its a choice so..freedom to choices..:) what ever you feel like having.. but overall I am happy that I can show to my friend that I have some decent looking Linux base OS not only does the work best but also look gorgeous. Which I am proud of and we all should be!. Thanks..:)
Really looking forward for this release. Hope it will be most beautiful Linux distro to date.
Luna is technically available for public testing, and so far, it runs great.
My main problem is with the login. It really seems inconsistent with the rabbit's mockup and the rest of the OS, and the random animations seem kinda... ummm... childish.
As the login is one of the most commonly encountered part of the OS, it should receive special attention
which "random animations" ? The compiz profile is currently not packaged. You can import it via ccsm, if you want.
Mainly the shutdown animation and the user switch animation.
I'd like to hear such long interviews with my ears :-) Would be awesome. I currently use google translate for that.
Hello! Just writing to say hello and send energy from Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina.
I am not only an elementary OS user on my PC, but also I try to apply the philosophy in my daily life (I know, not very important, but I want you to know je)
Hey that's awesome! I was just thinking about writing a more philosophical post too ;)
Glad you're enjoying elementary and thanks for positive thoughts :D
Looking forward your philosophical post!
I would like to know, whether Luna will be a "web developer-friendly" platform. Will I be able to install, configure manage my own LAMP server install tools like Git, various frameworks, etc, and perform my daily job?
Or will it be solely focused on everyday user?
Design is a funny thing; If you design for the extremes, the middle takes care of itself.
In our case, we design to cater to "everyday users." We make things easy, simple, and beautiful for them, and in return those users feel comfortable with it. On the flipside, Linux and the Ubuntu core of elementary are designed with the very technically-minded folks in mind; this ensures that the more advanced users have everything they need to tinker and hack on the system if they so choose. The result is a system that everyone likes since it is simple and easy to use, yet powerful underneath.
Regarding web development specifically, it's built on Ubuntu. If you know how to open a terminal, you'll be right at home.
You can install whatever you can install on Ubuntu. I had git installed and the other tools shouldn't be an issue either.
It's just like Ubuntu when it comes to LAMP.
Cassidy, have you ever spoke about Pantheon with Markshutleworth or any canonical employe ? I think Pantheon is everything they wanted unity to be but couldn't accomplish.
We have. Interestingly, the OEM team liked a lot of the pieces of it, which is cool since it's so modular. We'll see if anything comes from that.
But seeing how Ubuntu is pushing Unity so hard, it's difficult to see them adopting Pantheon. Again, since it's so modular, we could see them adopting a piece or two. Time will tell.
It will also help for them to see it in a released OS before considering it. ;)
That's very nice to know that. I really think that elementary has the potential to be in top news at the top websites the day it is released. It's really amazing to see your dedication and care in details inside this project. I hope to hear luna news soon ! Congrats !
Great News!
Any date for the Beta release?
Not yet :) We're working hard to get there and we'll make an announcement when it's ready for wider testing.
It's so nice to hear that Luna is coming together well. :) I'm currently testing it and one of the things I'm totally blown away with is Midori. In Jupiter, it was sluggish and all around terrible. But in Luna, It's AMAZING! Everything loads fast, nothing lags, and it's all around perfect. Same with BeatBox. But I have one question regarding Pantheon Terminal. What is the point of it? Isn't the default terminal simple enough? Also, will there be more plugs in the final release?
I like the good news about Midori, however I can't think of myself using a web browser that doesn't sync with my other devices (bookmarks, history, passwords, etc.) Do you know if Midori supports that already?
Glad to hear it. I always like to root for new development, but Midori remains unused by me on Jupiter. Looking forward to giving it another shot on Luna.
The terminal is built for two things: Contractor support and notifications about lengthy processes end when the terminal window is not focused. An older branch with slightly different goals is included in the PPA and OS at the moment, but we'll fix that ;)
I think you guys should try perfection in this release, because that's the exact release people will judge your system. It's not easy to be accepted as there's all sorts of desktops on linux. I will really feel sorry for you if I see comments like "meh, it's pretty but..."
I suggest you to take your time and stabilize your software as much as possible, though we're all impatient to install elementary OS on our computers.
I really like to help you but I am only competent in C++ and java which I had to learn for my job this month. I need to take a breath before learning another one.