New GNUstep Releases

Martin writes: "GNUstep has reached release 0.7.5 of the GUI libraries as well as version 1.1.0 of its base library. Some enhancements include anti-aliased font support, spell checking, a great key-bindings system, a tool for inline Obj-C documentation, further Mac OS X compatibility, and much more ..."

Not so popular?

[discoinferno]

This story has been posted for 2 hours and nobody but one troll has replied?

Looks like not too many slashdotters use GNUstep. I'd guess that everyone is probably waiting for KDE3. ;-)

Re:Not so popular?

[MaxQuordlepleen]

I wonder.

I use Window Maker on my laptops, but I've never even looked at GnuStep. I'm guessing that there are a LOT of people who fit the same category. Maybe that will change if OS X ports start to happen...

Re:Not so popular?

[mirabilos]

Usually, I don't even need X11.
But some people do need, and I probably
sometimes want to view some web site images,
too. (Browsing still using lynx, but xv then.)

Currently I use icewm, but _if_ *step runs on
my box I'll now that I heard of it probably give
it a shot.
Earlier I admired NeXT boxen. Mac OS X is said
to be good (never really seen one, though).
But X11 is just plain slow. Ok, it's designed
for networking, but it anyways sucks.

If this gets me Display Postscript or some similar
thing (I read the earlier GNUstep story a month or
so ago), it be glad.
However I cannot even print under *nix - I only
own a 1982'er Epson FX-80 needle printer.
Is it supported, somehow, somewhere? (ghostscript?)
Also the paper size (30.48x21 cm) is a problem.

Re:Not so popular?

[mirabilos]

Ok, thanks, but how I circumvent those?
wm2 is ok. But...

Anyways, the network architecture is slow,
eg. compared to Win32 local architecture.

goodn8

Re:Not so popular?

[mirabilos]

Thanks for the info, I have OpenBSD, but I don't
know about the paper size. Is 30.48x21 cm any
"standard" size (letter, ...)?
As for the printer driver, I'll have a look at it.

I won't upgrade to a newer printer as I always am
cared of those plastic devices that they go defect,
and I can't afford the ink either.
Only if I had money I would use a Tektronix wax
printer. I dislike Laser and especially Inkjet.

My printer is rock solid ;)

Mirrors and useful info

[Adrian Voinea]

There are a few mirrors of the GNUstep pages. Choose the one that is closest to you:
Georgia, USA [403forbidden.net], France, Europe [sbuilders.com], Germany, Europe [peanuts.org].

GNUstep is an attempt to provide an Object-Oriented application development framework and tool set for use on a wide variety of computer platforms. GNUstep is based on the original OpenStep specification provided by NeXT, Inc. (now Apple).

GNUstep is written in Objective-C, the language from which the Signal/Slot concept of Qt was borrowed. Objective-C is basically standard C with one single syntax addition and a dozen or so additional keywords. That is all that is needed to implement an object system that is more powerful than that of that other language. In Objective-C all method calls are done via a mechanism that is similar to, but slighly more efficient than, the signal/slot mechanism of Qt. This has some interesting implications for the implementation of remote method invocation, on object serialization and some other things that are very hip in a Corba context.

Like Nextstep, GNUstep has a record of technical excellence that even today is unmatched by any other object framework, and of abysmal PR performance (also unmatched :-). A current commercial implementation of the same API (same API, different code) is the foundation of MacOS X.

Re:Can I?

[Anonymous Coward]

PI mmx, 166 to 233 mhz: $5-15 on ebay
edo sticks, 8 to 32 mb per: $10-30 new, $cheap on ebay
not having to look at twm/fvwm any more: priceless

;-)

I used a p166 w/ 48 ram for quite a while with Blackbox. It ran like a charm and looked good to boot... GNUstep, sort of like KDE and GNOME, relies on background daemons for some of it's functionality, so there will be more overhead than a "plain" windowmanager. When I played with it I found it to be less resource intensive than either KDE or GNOME. YMWV.

Yes

[nicestepauthor]

The window manager for GNUstep is WindowMaker, and it is lightweight to run on anything. I have run it on a 486/33 with 16 meg of RAM. I also use WindowMaker every day on a Pentium I. with 64 (formerly 32) meg of RAM. It is definitely lighter weight than KDE or GNOME, both of which should still be useable on your Pentium.

So?

[Anonymous Coward]

This story would be more informative if it included a project status report. Such as "Another year has passed and GNUStep is close to reaching 60% compatibility with OPENSTEP 4.0. Three Cheers to the 1 and half guys working on GNUStep every third weekend!"

Not to discourage anyone, but GNUStep has to be the most seriously overhyped project in the open source world. It moves like a snail, and runs no applications and is based on a programming language that nobody wants to use and is generally useless. Even though OpenStep clawed it's way out of the grave, there's still only like 20 programmers that use it.

Why not cover the interesting stuff where there's some development action -- VirtualDub or some of the other video stuff, for example.

Re:So?

[morbid]

Oh, I don't know. I'll be giving it a try since I want something more lightweight than GNOME or KDE and less band-wagon oriented (.NET/C++).
I also fancy learning a bit of Objective-C.