[H-GEN] X-Windows + Lycoris

[Hilton Travis]

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Hi Harry,

On Thu, 2003-02-06 at 22:33, Harry Phillips wrote:
> > I have Lycoris on a single machine in my office for much the same
> > reasons as you like it - it looks like Windows and it is easier
> > to convince people they should try it.
> >
> > It is very "lite weight" as you have no doubt discovered in that
> > there is not a lot of integrated supporting software.  Open Office
> > has just been "Lycorised" and is available for download but at a
> > price.
> 
> Yes it is a "lite" version of Linux. Paying for a "Lycorised"
> OpenOffice defeats the purpose.

Don't forget that there is a commercially available version of Lycoris
too - it comes with support.  http://www.lycoris.com is the commercial
site, http://www.lycoris.org is the freebie site.

Personally, I don't have an issue with a company trying to make a
living.  We all need to eat somehow.  If someone is running Lycoris in a
business situation, then I'd suggest that they should look at buying
licenses for it - it is only US$29.95/$24.95 for a full/licensed
product.

As for paying for their OpenOffice.org version, well, if a business
wants to theme OpenOffice to fit in with Lycoris, then the US$49.95
price is quite reasonable, when compared to Microsoft Office.  The fact
that it is twice the price of the OS itself is a bit strange.  If they
were charging US$24.95 for the productivity pack, that'd make a bit more
sense.

As far as I am aware, the normal OpenOffice.org installer will run on
Lycoris, but there will be no automatically generated menu entries for
it.  To add these, you need to modify the /opt/kde2/share/applink menus
manually, or use kmenu (I think) to do this graphically - on CD2.

> > > My question is how do I get XWindows on a Mandrake system to
> > > look exactly like Lycoris?
> >
> > I think you would have to do what Lycoris have done - redesign KDE. [1]
> 
> If they did that then shouldn't the source code be available?

I believe that they have released all their mods back to the originating
projects.  I'm sure this is stated somewhere on the .org site, but I've
not the time right now to hunt for this.  You *could* probably just look
for the icon files, and the theme, and "install" this on Mandrake 9.  It
may be a rather manual installation, however.

> > > Is it just a theme?
> > > Can I just copy over some icon and config files and hey
> > > presto it's done?
> > > Is it a bit more co-dependent on something else?
> > > Where do I even start looking?
> >
> > See [1] above - I don't think there is anywhere to look.
> 
> Bugger, I hope you are wrong.
> 
> > > I believe that Lycoris uses KDE, how do I check? How do I check which
> > > version of KDE it is?
> >
> > It does but has been "refaced" - see [1] above.
> 
> I did notice tonight when my test machine at home here started up it
> indicated that it was KDE, however which version is still a mystery.

KDE 2.2, I think.  It is most definitely KDE2, not KDE3.  :(

> > No doubt it will develop in time to add software but AFAIK, it is based on
> > Caldera so any Caldera RPM's or tar balls for that matter should
> > install OK
> 
> Haven't used Caldera.
> 
> > but I haven't tried yet.  I know from experience that it does not like Red
> > Hat RPM's.
> 
> Dam, I thought that using the RPM format would give some sort of uniformity,
> you get any RPM and it installs on your RPM based system.

Nope.  RPM is just a format.  There are many variants of Linux using
this format for their packages.  It is a right PITA, really.  Caldera
RPMs will install in Lycoris, but menu items will not necessarily be
generated.  That's what happens to a rather-modified Linux distro - and
this is Lycoris.  Take Caldera, munge it a fair bit, release Lycoris. 
Its a shame, but that's what happened.

> > The warning is that if you do install RPM's, they will probably look like
> > KDE 3 programs and will not have the pretty skin that the Lycoris
> > stuff has.
> 
> Would that just be a case of changing the icon used?

Not just that.  You'll also need to add menu entries.  Maybe some moving
of files, too.  :(

> > As an aside though, I have had the pleasant experience of putting basic PC
> > users on the Lycoris box and they were surprised when I told them
> > it wasn't
> > Windows XP.
> 
> Especially since by default they use a VERY similar background to the
> default XP background. Blue sky, white clouds and very green grass. It even
> has about the same ratio of sky/ground. Maybe it is the same hill from a
> different angle :)

hehe

> > They were able to email and browse which 90% of the
> > home users
> > just do anyway.
> 
> I found most home users also play games. Something Lycoris is very lacking,
> I have even tried to get a 3D game on it yet, like Tux Racer (My 6 year old
> just loves "the Duck Game")

Yup.  Games (Windows Games) on Linux (of any flavor) is one major reason
for a lack of mass migration.  Ease of use of the OS is another - but
releases such as Lycoris, Xandros, ArkLinux and SUSE 8.1 are making this
part of the transition a lot more palatable.

> > Hopefully, someone will tell me I am wrong about being able to
> > "Lycoris" Mandrake as I am constantly pushing the Linux wheel
> > barrow and it is so much easier when the offering looks something
> > like what they are used to using.
> 
> I am hoping for the same thing, anyone?

I dunno about "Lycorisising Mandrake", but I just wish there was a
usable Desktop Linux that is up to date - Lycoris is far from up to
date, with KDE2 and old TC/TKL, and a number of other things (lack on
Gnome libs, therefore Evolution is a right BIYATCH to get running).

-- 

Regards,

Hilton Travis                   Email: Hilton at QuarkAV.com
Manager                         Phone: +61-(0)7-3343-3889
Quark AudioVisual               Phone: +61-(0)419-792-394
Quark Computers
(Brisbane, Australia)            http://www.QuarkAV.com/

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