OpenGEU
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| OpenGeu | |
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| 250px An OpenGEU 7.10 Luna Nuova Screenshot |
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| Website | www.opengeu.com |
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| Company/ developer |
Luca De Marini (AKA TheDarkMaster) |
| OS family | Linux |
| Source model | Free and open source software |
| Latest stable release | 7.10 / January 21, 2008 |
| Latest unstable release | OpenGEU 8.10 Luna Crescente / May 01, 2008 |
| Available language(s) | multilingual |
| Package manager | apt-get, using the Synaptic GTK frontend |
| Supported platforms | i386, 64 bit |
| Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
| Default user interface | Enlightenment plus Gnome |
| Working state | Current |
OpenGEU, previously known as Geubuntu, is a Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu trying to unify the ease of use of the Desktop Environment Gnome with the speed, lightness and bidimensional graphical effects richness (animations, real transparency and more) of the Enlightenment Window Manager. The latest version, OpenGEU 7.10 Luna Nuova (literally, New Moon), is based on Ubuntu 7.10, while the next version in development, codename Luna Crescente, will be based on Ubuntu 8.04 the Hardy Heron.
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[edit] Installation
The distribution is available as DesktopCD, so that it can be used either as Live CD or installed on a PC. The installation is almost identical to the Ubuntu's one, because it uses the program "Ubuquity".
[edit] Software available for instant download (repositories)
Being an Ubuntu based distribution, the software available for instant download is almost the same available for the original distro, anyway, more repositories directly created by the development team of OpenGEU are pre-installed in the distribution's sources. A big number of E17 experimental software has been compiled, debianized and uploaded in the repos for the user to try and experiment on his own; there are also a number of softwares directly developed by the OpenGEU team (such as the OpenGEU themes manager).
[edit] Software installed on the Live CD
The software installed on the Live CD is coming both from the world of Gnome and Enlightenment. All the software from the Enlightenment window manager is still marked as development beta version (E17 itself is still a beta).
[edit] Window Manager and graphics
OpenGEU uses Enlightenment DR17 as its main Window Manager, while Ubuntu uses Gnome as an entire Desktop Manager and Metacity for the window management (in Ubuntu you can also use Compiz if you have a 3D enabled video card and if your computer matches the hardware requests needed by Compiz). The main reason why the OpenGEU's author decided to use Enlightenment rather than Gnome is that Gnome is far slower than Enlightenment, it is heavier on the CPU and therefore, E17 can run perfectly even on a very old PC, pretty much as XFCE 4 does. On the other side, Gnome has far more development years behind it and is considered way stabler than the experimental Enlightenment DR17.
E17 is also very rich of two dimensional effects such as animations, real transparency, even the desktop can be animated and all of this comes without the need of a 3D card or a powerful computer at all. That's why OpenGEU manages to obtain particular graphic effects on pretty any machine and is therefore recommended specially for slower computers or virtual machines. Ubuntu has chosen Compiz to provide users a nicer desktop experience than the plain Gnome, but this comes with the need of a 3D card and a reasonably recent computer. OpenGEU focuses on reducing hardware needs instead, in fact it even provides two different ways to enable compositing effects without the need of any particular hardware or driver. This choice made a big number of Linux users consider various alternatives rather than the normal Ubuntu and OpenGEU is now well known for being a valid 2D only compiz-like, desktop effects rich distribution.
Enlightenment DR17, though, is still in beta stage of development and in any case it is designed to be at most a Desktop Shell, a rich set of libraries and not an entire desktop environment. The primary OpenGEU concept is therefore that of building a complete and easy for everyone to use E17 desktop, filling all of the missing parts in E17 with gnome tools while always trying to focus on the speed of the distribution, so that it will always be usable on any machine.
[edit] OpenGEU Themes
The E17 window manager uses a number of different libraries to render GUI applications and to make them work, therefore, to have the entire desktop share the same look with every application opened, it is necessary to develop themes for various libraries, using the same art and graphics. This is hard to do and requests a lot of time to be achieved, while in gnome all of the applications uses the default GTK libraries to render widgets. That's why OpenGEU developed a way to switch from a theme to another having every part of the desktop graphics change accordingly. OpenGEU themes, in other words, are just a set of sub-themes for all of the different libraries used in the distro, designed so that the user can't notice any change in the overall look when opening various applications.
[edit] Sunshine and Moonlight
The two main themes of OpenGEU are Sunshine and Moonlight and since OpenGEU is presented as an artistic and estrous distro (E17 itself is considered as an alternative window manager designed from artists to artists), these themes are promised to always be updated and available in the future as the main graphic aspect of OpenGEU. While for the new releases a number of extra themes are already in development, Sunshine and Moonlight are already a sort of main flag for the OpenGEU Linux distribution.
[edit] External links
- (EN) www.opengeu.com - Official OpenGEU Home Page
[edit] Release Notes
| Version | Name | Release Date | Features and description |
| 7.04 | Geubuntu Prima Luna | 18 September 2007 | The first version ever released. The main innovation of this distro is the idea of using a big number of system and configuration tools taken from the Gnome worls together with the Enlightenment Window Manager. Geubuntu 7.04 includes Gnome Panel and Nautilus too. |
| 7.10 | Geubuntu Luna Nuova | 06 December 2007 | The second Geubuntu release comes with brand original Sunshine and Moonlight themes and it focuses much more tha the first release on eye-candy and speed. That's why it uses Thunar instead than the Nautilus File Manager and XFCE 4 Panel instead than Gnome Panel. |
| 7.10 | OpenGEU Luna Nuova | 21 January 2008 | This version was released shortly after the release of Geubuntu Luna Nuova and with this version Geubuntu changes name in OpenGEU for Copyrights reasons. Canonical never asked for this change of name, it was a preventive initiative from the OpenGEU Team. [http://opengeu.intilinux.com/News/Voci/2008/1/13_Geubuntu_changes_in_OpenGEU.html Here's an official article if you wish to know more about this. Using the name change as an opportunity for releasing a new version, OpenGEU Luna Nuova is released and it is a far stabler distribution, many bug has been fixed. Another change is the use of FBPanel instead than XFCE Panel as the additional panel of the distro. |
| 8.04 | OpenGEU Luna Crescente | --- | This version is now in development and promises to implement a lot of new features in the Gnome + Enlightenment desktop, with a lot of new applications directly developed from the OpenGEU team. More informations can be found on the OpenGEU Development WIKI]. |
| Old Version | Current Version | Future Version |
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