[HN Gopher] FyneDesk - Linux desktop environment in Go
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       FyneDesk - Linux desktop environment in Go
        
       Author : rgun
       Score  : 107 points
       Date   : 2024-04-12 10:33 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | qwerty456127 wrote:
       | Why does every window manager have panels? I don't want any. I
       | only want tiling and have every thing traditionally handled with
       | panels to be a separate app I can launch the common way and place
       | as an ordinary window wherever I see fit.
        
         | malicka wrote:
         | This is a desktop environment, not a window-manager, so here
         | it's pretty expected. I've gotta say, though, virtually every
         | window manager that _does_ have a panel makes it toggleable.
         | FVWM, Fluxbox, xmonad, i3, etc.
        
           | qwerty456127 wrote:
           | Sure, nevertheless having panels as a distinct class of
           | entities seems a rude violation of the Occam's razor
           | principle everyone apparently rushes to do as soon as they
           | write their own. People love panels somehow. The more
           | bells&whistless on them - usually the better. This is just a
           | curious psychological phenomenon.
        
             | postepowanieadm wrote:
             | In kde 3.5 one could detach panels and place them side by
             | side(if I recall correctly).
        
               | eMPee584 wrote:
               | oOh kde 3.5 was my favorite
        
             | alexvoda wrote:
             | In X and X intrinsincs everything was a window including
             | every widget.
        
             | ruined wrote:
             | well, most users generally have a small set of operations
             | they want readily accessible with a pointing device at all
             | times, or status information they want to be available at a
             | glance, without obscuring or interfering with window
             | layout.
             | 
             | a persistent window, aka panel, is the conventional way to
             | provide that.
             | 
             | it's simply a conceptual extension of the 'prompt' into a
             | gui environment. nothing has surpassed the panel concept in
             | the past forty years that it has been dominant.
             | 
             | i expect the 'panel' is the primary feature vehicle of any
             | desktop environment - they are nearly synonymous. nearly
             | every window manager also contains support for panels, even
             | if they are not part of a desktop environment that
             | specifically provides them. what do you use?
        
         | jrm4 wrote:
         | Yup, for me the broader question for just about _every_ window
         | manager is  "why not EASY modularity?"
         | 
         | Would love to see something where this was the principle? Very
         | little philosophy or opinion on how individuals do their own
         | desktop, emphasis on "you should be able to add and take things
         | off easily as you want." The metaphor being, you know, an
         | actual physical desktop. It's an EMPTY table. Put what you want
         | on it and nothing you don't.
         | 
         | (Like openbox perhaps, just with a little more friendliness
         | towards well integrated panels etc. Which might be construed as
         | "opinion" -- but seems like most WMs FORCE a lot of the things
         | on you)
        
           | cess11 wrote:
           | To some people that's what StumpWM offers, and easy molding
           | is what attracted me to IceWM back in the day.
           | 
           | I'm more of a 'install i3wm, change a few things in the
           | config, done' kind of person these days.
        
           | from-nibly wrote:
           | Bspwm just uses bash for configuration which is about as
           | straight forward as you can get with modularity. Easy though?
           | I dont think modularity is ever easy is it? I think the lack
           | of it is one of the things that makes a thing easy.
        
           | jwells89 wrote:
           | I believe the main issue is that it's difficult to have any
           | kind of consistent/coherent design in a desktop where
           | everything is optional. Building good UI for managing panels
           | can also be challenging.
        
         | cbolton wrote:
         | For me it's the opposite: why do we have a gazillion of window
         | managers (that just manage windows), and so few desktop
         | environments that provide a complete and coherent setup?
         | 
         | It's especially annoying in the world of tiling window
         | managers. There are few options for a desktop environment with
         | a solid tiling WM. Regolith is one (based on i3 / Sway), and I
         | thank those who develop it, but it's patching together a bunch
         | of independently developed tools and you can tell when you try
         | to change some things and have to deal with disparate config
         | files.
        
           | benrutter wrote:
           | Yeah this, there really isn't a strong coherent option for
           | tiling window managers just yet. We'll probably see one soon
           | with cosmic.
           | 
           | I think its the vim effect where the userbase just has a high
           | demand for customization and don't mind a lot more set up and
           | configuration to get there.
        
           | jwells89 wrote:
           | Totally agree. I tinkered around with an openbox+tint2 setup
           | several years ago and was able to get it to a usable state,
           | but getting all the little things working is so fussy and
           | flaky, with e.g. the need to hunt down suitable daemons to
           | get a typical tray item loadout.
        
       | biomcgary wrote:
       | Go is my goto language, so it is nice to see a desktop
       | environment using it.
       | 
       | Despite my interest, I am curious about the motivation for
       | another DE. Is the primary goal to use Go and/or the Fyne library
       | to create a functional DE? Or, is there a larger vision for this
       | DE that Go and/or Fyne enables?
        
         | nasretdinov wrote:
         | To me it looks like sn experiment: how far Fyne can Go? To be
         | honest I am kinda amazed that any GUI framework in Go is so
         | good already that it can be used to build a DE. The screenshots
         | also look very decent, especially compared to earlier attempts
         | to do any GUI in Go that I've seen.
        
       | jerf wrote:
       | Is this XWindows or Wayland? Couldn't see an easy way to figure
       | it out.
        
         | IntrepidPig wrote:
         | It must be X given that they recommend installing xbacklight,
         | arandr, and Compton alongside it.
        
           | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
           | And the section on running in Xephyr (X server that runs
           | inside another X session) for debugging.
        
       | pjmlp wrote:
       | I imagine FyneDesk could eventually provide an Oberon or Inferno
       | like experience, given its influences.
       | 
       | Maybe with net/rpc, D-Bus or gRPC, replacing the use cases of
       | dynamic code loading from those environments.
        
       | nsonha wrote:
       | "material design" is a feature for desktop management now?
        
         | kelnos wrote:
         | It's a feature of visual design, something that's reasonably
         | important to a desktop environment.
         | 
         | You may not like material design (I personally could take it or
         | leave it), but visual design itself matters.
        
           | SushiHippie wrote:
           | I really like Material Design 3, contrary to version 2 and 1.
           | 
           | But I can't really tell how TFA is Material Design, it does
           | not really look like any of the versions.
           | 
           | See:
           | 
           | https://m1.material.io/
           | 
           | https://m2.material.io/
           | 
           | https://m3.material.io/
        
       | bsimpson wrote:
       | One of the neat things about Linux is that people get to scratch
       | their own itches.
       | 
       | That said, this project looks like it needs a visual designer.
       | Strong "programmer art" vibes from the lack of coherent spacing.
       | Some consideration for padding would go a long way.
        
       | zerr wrote:
       | Accessibility?
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-12 23:00 UTC)