Drobe logo
Beta! | About us | Contact | Submit news | RSS | Twitter Webspace | Tech docs | Downloads | BBC Micro | Gallery | Wallpaper

ROX desktop in new Debian package

Published: 28th May 2006, 14:31:22.

Doing more with less in the X Desktop

ROX Desktop screenshotThe spirit of the RISC OS desktop can now be easily installed on Debian GNU/Linux systems, after the ROX desktop collection was released in a Debian package. The package came about after Dennis Tomas decided pull the suite into one place for users to download and install.

The ROX desktop takes familiar user interface components from the RISC OS desktop, such as drag'n'drop and the filer, to create a more friendlier desktop for users of Unix-like operating systems.

User Dan Macdonald told us: "It is now incredibly easy for people to install a full ROX (RISC OS on X) desktop, complete with auto-mounting of removeable discs, under Debian Linux.

"Finally we all now have a quick and responsive, fully-featured, lightweight, open source desktop that is also easy to use and has good documentation. What more could you ask?"

To install the unofficial package, users must add the line:

deb ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/rox4debian binary/

to their /etc/apt/sources.list file, and then run:

apt-get update
apt-get install rox-desktop

After the installation, punters should log out of the X desktop and then select ROX in the X log-in window. It's recommended that GDM or xdm is used for this.

Dan commented: "I was so impressed that I dumped KDE and GNOME and now I now run Debian/ROX as my primary desktop environment. I installed a 'KanotixROXbox' for a friend recently- their computer only has about 96MB RAM and Debian/ROX runs like a dream on it.

"The ROX filer is so much more responsive than konqueror and Nautilus, ROX boots in a fraction of the time taken by the big two desktops, it consumes less than half the RAM and it requires much less in the way of disc space and libraries."

The ROX filer component exists as an official Debian package, available from all good Debian mirrors.

Links
Installing ROX on Debian

Discussion

Viewing threaded comments | View comments unthreaded, listed by date | Skip to the end

Sadly installing ROX desktop doesn't magically make all the applications have pop-up menus, support drag-and-drop loading and saving, make good use of the Adjust button, etc, so the applications will continue to be almost as horrible to use as on Windows :-(

is a RISC OS Userhelpful on 30/5/06 6:21PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Please login before posting a comment. Use the form on the right to do so or create a free account.

Login

Username

Password

Create a new account
Forgot your password?

Search this website

This week's poll

Recent developments have left me feeling...
Assured ROS will appear on new hardware Assured ROS will appear on new hardwareAssured ROS will appear on new hardware 55%
Pleased OS desktop features are being developed Pleased OS desktop features are being developedPleased OS desktop features are being developed 10%
ROL and ROOL will eventually kiss and make up ROL and ROOL will eventually kiss and make upROL and ROOL will eventually kiss and make up 5%
App developments are critical App developments are critical App developments are critical 10%
Dave Holden sleeps easy at night Dave Holden sleeps easy at nightDave Holden sleeps easy at night 19%
Discuss this | Archives

Featured articles

  • Wakefield 2009 wrap-up, photos and video
    The weekend's RISC OS event has been and gone and we've got the rest of our lives to look forward to. Here's a round-up of extra news and Drobe's show-related coverage and some photos taken from Wakefield 2009 - plus a video from the show floor.
     16 comments, latest by AW on 29/4/09 7:41PM. Published: 27 Apr 2009

  • RISC OS 5 pictured running on ARM Cortex-A8 kit
    Picture exclusive - This grainy photograph shows a port of RISC OS 5, sourced from the RISC OS Open project, running on a Beagleboard - a device powered by a 600MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor with a built-in graphics chip. The port, developed by Jeffrey Lee with help from Uwe Kall and ROOL staff, is seen as a major breakthrough for the shared-source project as it proves the OS can be ported to new hardware without the need for a large team of engineers.
     75 comments, latest by rjek on 30/4/09 3:15PM. Published: 25 Apr 2009

  • Open documents from Windows-using pals with handy online tool
    It can be a pain when someone sends you a file that can only be opened on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux - but with the help of a free-to-use website and NetSurf, Paul Stewart reveals how these documents can be viewed on RISC OS.
     6 comments, latest by AW on 8/5/09 12:12AM. Published: 19 Apr 2009

    • Useful links

    News and media:
    Iconbar • MyRISCOS • ArcSite • RISCOScode • ANS • C.S.A.Announce • Archive • Qercus • RiscWorld • GAG-News

    Top developers:
    RISCOS Ltd • RISC OS Open • MW Software • R-Comp • Advantage Six • VirtualAcorn

    Dealers:
    CJE Micros • APDL • Castle • a4 • X-Ample • Liquid Silicon • Webmonster

    Usergroups:
    WROCC • RONE • NKACC • IRUG • SASAUG • ROUGOL • RONWUG • MUG • GAG • RISCOS.be

    Useful:
    RISCOS.org • RISCOS.info • Filebase • NetSurf

    Non-RISC OS:
    The Register • The Inquirer • Apple Insider • BBC News • Sky News • Google News • xkcd • diodesign

    Recently logged in: Archie is a RISC OS User Archie • tduell is a RISC OS User tduell • Hoyt is a RISC OS User Hoyt • msww is a RISC OS User msww • CrazyRisc is a RISC OS User CrazyRisc • gazza_fp is a RISC OS User gazza_fp • ioanene is a RISC OS User ioanene • stevek is a RISC OS User stevek • jmb is a RISC OS User jmb • Phlamethrower is a RISC OS User Phlamethrower •  Stats
    © 1999-2009 The Drobe Team. Some rights reserved, click here for more information | Powered by MiniDrobeCMS, based on J4U
    "Such behaviour on a portal such as Drobe brings down the reputation of the whole platform"
    Page generated in 0.0893 seconds.