Release Candidates :: DSL v4.2RC1



Change log for v4.2RC1

* New mtpaint replaces xpaint.
* New folder for better support of Visual Styles for JWM .jwmrc-theme and downloadable themes.
* New setTheme.lua, drag-n-drop or double click application style.
* New folder for better support of backgrounds, downloadable "DSL Classics"
* Updated wallpaper.lua, drag-n-drop or double click application style.
* Improved support for JWM keybindings with .jwmrc-keys
* Improved support for battey names in torsmo, fetched from /proc
* Fixed "?" icon to open "Getting Started"
* Updated iconViewer for mtpaint change.
* 21 icons have been changed, updated, or replaced.
* Updated /opt/.dfmext with more associations.
* Cleanup of usused files, modules, and directories (pnp & xfs)


Files that have changed and likely in your backup.

/opt/.dfmext
.bash_profile
.dfmdesk/
.dfminfo
.fluxbox/menu
.jwmrc
.jwmrc-tray
.xinitrc

First impression of 4.2rc1 - very clean & sharp looking with the new icons. Keep up the great work.

One point I have meant to raise some time ago - DMIX: it doesn't work properly with systems which have more than one mixer device. The way John coded the 'grab and stack' function in mixer_common.lua duplicates the entries for all mixer devices other than the first one. This is because the device name 'mixer'  results in the command 'umix -d /dev/mixer' outputting the device list for all mixer devices, not just the first one. I haven't found the method to just list the first mixer device on it's own (called just 'mixer'  when umix -q is executed, in my case the second mixer device is called mixer1). I did have a different way of resolving the problem of multiple mixers, but that was coded before DSL changed to murgalua & it gave segmentation errors under some conditions. I will try & have another look at it.

In the meantime just a note to some people that they may see some channels listed twice as they click through the devices in DMIX.

It would be useful if people could report the output of umix -q, in particular the lines at the start of each mixer section so that some common identifying feature can be found to search for to delimit between different mixer sections in the output (the last time I looked at my output the string 'OSS' was a suitable search candidate to identify the line at the start of each mixer device section in the umix -q output).
Quote (andrewb @ Dec. 10 2007,23:43)
First impression of 4.2rc1 - very clean & sharp looking with the new icons. Keep up the great work.


I disagree.

The mixture of all those rainbow colors on the command menu is very, very disturbing.  The old icons had more pizzazz at full size.  The desktop looks worse now. It's funny that you replaced the good looking icons with worse ones, but all of the amateur looking set is untouched.

Why don't you completely remove the ugly little icons from the command menu? and continue using professional looking icons as you used to have?  Slax has a nice variety showing up on their modules page: pleasant icons.

Sorry for the criticism, I wish I didn't feel this way, but it's getting worse with each iteration.

I've downloaded them all, they are in a zip file here.

Just so you understand, I wouldn't care so much if I didn't think this is a kick-ass product!  DSL is the number one distribution in my books!  I've tried a bunch of others and nothing compares to what you've produced here. As always, my congratulations on the great work done - I'll continue using the good and eventually fix the bad.
Quote
I disagree.... I'll continue using the good and eventually fix the bad.


DSL isn't about eyecandy, it's about function. It's also not butt-ugly. Aesthetics is a subjective issue and something every user can choose to handle on his or her own. There are tools in and for DSL to make this easier. I think enough concession has been made in this area.

The icons in your zip are PNG and aren't uniform in size. DSL has tried to settle on a uniform 32x32 xpm. You will not get those to scale and convert to xpm and have the same level of smoothness without increasing them significantly in size. It doesn't help your case that DSL doesn't use smoothing/blurring graphics libs, so curves and diagonals are going to break and will only look pleasing on certain backgrounds depending what color the icon borders are.

Here. I scaled them down to 32x32 and converted to xpm. My ugly folders are 1.5kb each. Your pretty icons are nearly 10kb each. I'll try to get a screenshot of them after I get off this conference call. Don't be surprised if they look as crappy as the smaller ones do per what I said above.
http://lucky13linux.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/iconhysteria.png

EDIT: The display icon is fine, but it's 10kb. They'd look a lot better on a dark background to hide the jagged edges -- but not everyone wants a dark background. They'll look worse when force-scaled down into the tray or the menu. The default set in DSL are generally much smaller and users can find their own icons, create their own themes, etc. This is enough talk about the aesthetics. Please.
http://lucky13linux.files.wordpress.com/2007....ves.png
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* Cleanup of usused files, modules, and directories (pnp & xfs)

Is it necessary to leave some of those other fs modules in the base? How many people need Mac (hfs/hfs+) and BeOS (befs) filesystem support, and can't they be accomodated via module extensions? If we don't have the progs to take advantage of the modules, why retain them?
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