Why not linux?

**rocken** · 10-12-2006, 03:33 PM

Yep, GPS is one killer app that does not exist yEt on linux, roadnav/gpsdrive all sux.

Another (for me) would be some new kind of window mngr, maybe XGL will pave the way...

There are insanely gr8 linux apps/projects but they all need a way to tune their UIs for carPC use. If we could skin a collection of the best apps and get them into one rich carPC UI then we could go a real long way.

Would there be a way to somehow emulate in X another X-session? then you could do your own UI/window manager and piggy back off of another x-session for your apps ... cr8zy approach likely. Maybe better to hack an official windower but damn you still can't avoid bad UIs, unless you only supported a limited set of apps.

**tdb30_** · 10-12-2006, 03:45 PM

Why do we need a front end. Can't one be simulated by using multiple windows and having components (like play buttons or whatever) you want on all of them to be associated with all windows? Can't you just take apps and allign them around the window so it looks like a front end?

**sama** · 10-12-2006, 04:57 PM

comon, one of you brave souls step up to the challange!

**tripzero** · 10-15-2006, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by tdb30_

Why do we need a front end. Can't one be simulated by using multiple windows and having components (like play buttons or whatever) you want on all of them to be associated with all windows? Can't you just take apps and align them around the window so it looks like a front end?

That makes one ugly front-end. yes I suppose you could just arrange everything around to simulate a front-end but that could become problematic because you run into the fundamental problem of: "Linux wasn't created to be used in a car." Neither was windows for that matter so hence the idea spawned: "Let's write a front-end to make it easier for people to use Linux/windows apps in a car." and "lets tie everything together in one simple gui interface."

I'm hoping/wishing that google earth for linux will be able to be usable without the internet. That could solve the GPS app problem.

**afterdigital** · 10-17-2006, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by jpuype

I won't retype everything there is to know about Mono :-)
The Faq can be found at :
http://www.mono-project.com/FAQ:_General !
But in short it is a reimplementation of the .Net technology to allow Unix/Linux developers to develop cross-platform .Net applications.

Jurgen

hoover damn!!!! that sounds pretty promising for linux to be able to install applications directly onto linux (or did i misread that)!!

in the meantime XP will have to do :sigh:

**Jeeve5** · 10-18-2006, 03:41 AM

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Running Debian Etch at the moment. One problem with Debian is the packages are usually a ways behind (which is good for stability, but alas).

Also, it seems whenever I upgrade anything important, it causes major issues, which isn't too suprising considering it's a testing distro.

Maybe I'll have to give Gentoo a whirl.

Have you tried InitNG yet? I switched to InitNG from the regular init that Gentoo uses. Pretty much cut the boot time in half!

http://initng.thinktux.net

**shotgunefx** · 10-18-2006, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by Jeeve5

Have you tried InitNG yet? I switched to InitNG from the regular init that Gentoo uses. Pretty much cut the boot time in half!

http://initng.thinktux.net

Not yet, last I looked, I don't think they had a package for etch.

Thanks for the tip!

**Jeeve5** · 10-18-2006, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Not yet, last I looked, I don't think they had a package for etch.

Thanks for the tip!

Why do you need a apackage for etch?! Just compile it from source

**shotgunefx** · 10-18-2006, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by Jeeve5

Why do you need a apackage for etch?! Just compile it from source

Honestly? I'm trying to avoid source on this install as much as possible, having maintained a mixed bag of intel and sparc stuff over the years that were pure source installs, I'm looking for the easy route. That and any time I touch anything major on this install it *****s the bed. Something invariable stops working.

Anyway, I installed initNG and.... my boot now takes longer (37 seconds) as opposed to 32.

**blk** · 10-19-2006, 03:15 PM

take a look at this thread for WM (WindowManager) based frontends, chris did a very nice job on this one, although it can still be improved much.

currently i'm into MythTV and it works pretty well it also supports mouse gestures (touchscreen), unfortunately i'll probably have to find a way to have it switch to the external gpsdrive.

as distro i'm currently using ubuntu since it's very easy to install packages, but once i'm comfortable with a setup and don't change things around all day i'll switch to archlinux. for the faster boot i'm running initng, i get a running myth frontend in 20s from power on on a ViaC3 1Ghz 512Ram board (wm is ratpoison on mythtv and fvwm when using the wm-based solution, which is very nice too, but i'll have to make peace with the fvwm config file first

)

gpsdrive is a "navigation" software (currently it only supports raster maps) the mid-/long term support although is clearly to include OpenStreetMap vector data. Some support is already in the codebase (CVS repo). Gpsdrive has speech output via festival.
If you'd like to see improvements in linux navigation i strongly recommend participating at OpenStreetMap, it's a lot of fun and if you don't have time to edit roads you can still upload your gps tracklogs for others to edit them. I'm totally into it since about a year! (i'm mapping switzerland and it's kinda addictive

)