URL Changed Phinx Desktop Site and Repo Nam Change

A few days ago Kori let me know that the URL of the Phinx Desktop site had changed. With this Phinx has her own real home now on the web. The new URL is:

http://phinxdesktop.co.uk/


Ongoing with some changes are the looks of the website itself and.... the repo name changed too.

So it's very important to change it in Synaptic. Here are the steps how it's done:

1. Open Synaptic

2. Go to it's Settings and then click on Repositories

3. Highlight Phinx’s Repository containing the url http://cozmodesigns.co.uk

4. Edit the URL from cozmodesigns to phinxdesktop

5. Click OK, click Reload, Mark all Upgrades (to check for any updates available, if so click Apply to install them) and you're good to go again.

Phinx Desktop 2012 64bit Beta 1 Released

Last night the Phinx Desktop lead developer Sproggy released the first Beta of the Phinx Desktop 2012 64bit for testing.

This release comes with the latest PCLinuxOS 3.2.18 BFS kernel and Xfce 4.10.
Keep in mind that there are still some issues:

-Some broadcom chips might have minor connectivity issues or dropping signal


-Upgrading to the latest nvidia drivers can break your xorg.conf and cause graphics crashes



You can download the Beta 1 from here:

Phinx Desktop 2012 64bit Beta 1 Iso

MD5SUM:

Phinx Desktop 2012 64bit Beta 1 Iso


All feedback and bugs found can be reported on our Testing Group:

Phinx Desktop Testers


Please note that this release is a work in progress, under heavy development and thus not suited for a daily work environment or production machines.
If you want a more stable work environment we recommend to download the current 32bit version.

A final release of the 32bit version will also be released in the very near future.


For now, if you are into testing, go on and grab your copy of the 64 bit Beta 1, test it and help us to sort out any bugs found.

Thank you all, have fun testing and.... Enjoy! :D



Here's a screenshot of my current 64bit Beta1 setup with some changes I made today:

The Future Of The Phinx Desktop Project

A while ago Kori announced on IRC that he was planning to search for a new base for the Phinx Desktop project and step away from it's current base PCLinuxOS.

Today we come to know that he is going to re-roll PCLOS as a distro and that he will be incorporating parts of Mandriva, Mageia, CentOS, OpenSUSE and Fedora to help create a unified base.

This has not much effect on the current users but...... for the new users it's going to be a new experience.

Kori also says he hopes to get a 32bit final and a 64bit RC1 ready by the end of the month.

At the moment there are also a few updates for Phinx ready to be downloaded which include a re-branding from the PcLinuxOS to the Phinx Desktop brand.

Info Source: http://phinxdesktop.slyip.net/phinxdesktop/?p=299

Xfce 4.10 Final Entered The Phinx Repo's

Last night our good friend and lead developer of Phinx, Kori, sent the Xfce 4.10 Final onto the Phinx repo's. Just now I pulled them in while having a nice cup of coffee.

He also updated about 95% of the plugins but there are a few that won't build against 4.10 yet. Kori is working on it so that they will buld against it in the end.

Other great news is that there is a 32bit Final iso planned of the Phinx Desktop for the end of the month.  Together with this 32bit release will also come a 64bit RC1 release of Phinx.

I'm already looking forward to the 64bit for sure. :D


Info Source: http://phinxdesktop.slyip.net/phinxdesktop/?p=293

Xfce 4.10 released

After 1 Year and four months of development, the Xfce Team released the final 4.10 version of their well known Desktop Environment which is used by various distro's out there.

Our Lead Developer is currently working on getting the stable Xfce 4.10 to our Phinx Desktop distro.

Quote:

Today, after 1 year and 4 months of work, we are pleased to announce the release of the Xfce desktop 4.10, a new stable version that supersedes Xfce 4.8.
In the 4.10 cycle we mainly focused on polishing the desktop and improving the user experience in various ways. Highlights of this release are:

• A new application finder that has been completely rewritten and combines the functionality of the old xfce4-appfinder and xfrun4.
• The panel now has an alternative vertical display mode (a deskbar). What is more, panel plugins can be arranged in multiple rows, which is particularly useful in the deskbar mode.
• A new MIME type editor that allows you to easily change applications used for opening different file types. The mouse and touchpad settings dialog and the settings editor were extended in terms of functionality. The former now supports tablets in a much better way.
• It is now possible to launch applications and open files on the desktop with a single click of the mouse. In addition, the 4.10 desktop can display thumbnails and automatically advance through the wallpaper list.
• The window manager can be configured to tile windows when dragging them to the screen edges. The tab window (Alt+Tab) supports more flexible theming and cursor key navigation.

An online tour of the changes in Xfce 4.10 can be viewed here:

http://xfce.org/about/tour

A detailed overview of the changes compared to Xfce 4.8 and Xfce 4.10 preview releases can be found on the following page:

http://xfce.org/download/changelogs

This release can be downloaded either as a set of individual packages or as a single fat tarball including all these individual versions:

http://archive.xfce.org/xfce/4.10

Thank you all the contributors, bug reporters, as well as translators and packagers for your efforts in making this release possible.

Best regards,

The Xfce development team

Info Source: http://www.xfce.org/about/news/?post=1335571200

Phinx Desktop 2012.04 RC2a is Released

Our lead developer has released a RC2a iso yesterday, 2 days after the RC2.
He has fixed most of the bugs encountered in the previous RC2 release.

This, we hope, is a last RC before Xfce 4.10 is released and the big Final 2012 Phinx release. Before we get there it's important that we, the users and testers, give it a real good spin and provide all feedback on the forum and the Phinx Desktop Testers Google Group. This so that a great final iso can be released.

Also installed with this RC2a come a few codecs and Flash Player to give you a more out of the box experience on the web and with the multimedia players.

Enjoy this release and the further testing.

I also would like to thank Kori for his hard work on this. It's really awesome.

You can download the RC2a from here:

Phinx Desktop 2012.04 RC2a

Info Source:  Phinx Desktop

Phinx Desktop 2012.04 RC2 Released

Today our head developer has released the long awaited RC2 from the Phinx Desktop project.

Currently the RC is available for download in a 32 bit version and it has the Xfce 4.10pre2 on board.

Grab yourself a copy of the RC iso at:

Sourceforg Phinx Desktop Project Page

All feedback is welcome on the Phinx Desktop forum:

Feedback Thread


Any bugs or other problems can be reported on the Phinx Desktop Testers Google Group:

Phinx Desktop Testers

Enjoy the further testing!


Info Source:  http://phinxdesktop.slyip.net/phinxdesktop/?p=280

Xfce 4.10pre2 has entered the Phinx repo

Kori has been working on packaging for and uploading the Xfce 4.10pre2 to the Phinx repo's.

Open Synaptic, click Reload, Mark All Upgrades and click on Apply to pull in the updates. Reboot after that.

Only one thing isn't amongst the updates and will be kept back by our developer, due a packaging error, until a patch or new version is available to fix the bug.
It's the xfce4-panel package/update. Thunar seems to keep removing it somehow.
So we have to wait for that.

Everything else works fine.

Enjoy! :)

Info Source:  http://phinxdesktop.slyip.net/phinxdesktop/?p=268

Turpial in the Phinx Repo's

Yesterday Kori build and uploaded the twitter client Turpial to the Phinx repo's so that we are able to enjoy our twittering on our desktop.

Turpial is a great twitter client with many great features. More info can be found here about Turpial:

 http://turpial.org.ve/

Enjoy.

Many thanks to our Phinx developer for this. You rock! :D

XFCE 4.10pre1 now available in the repo's

Yesterday, after working the whole easter weekend on it, the head developer of the Phinx Desktop project, Kori, finished up packaging Xfce 4.10pre1 and pushed them to the repo.

Since i'm running Phinx on both machines, my good friend Kori asked me to open up Synaptic, click reload and mark all updates to pull in the new Xfce packages.
I have to tell you... it's really awesome and worth it. We noticed a drop in memory usage straight after the reboot. I went from 308MB to 243MB RAM usage on my main machine, the laptop, with only Xchat and Htop open.

Another thing that is worth to mention which made us go speechless yesterday and today.... At 17:10 Phinx was dowloaded 68 times. 3 hours and 20 minutes later 250 times. And today in total..... 383 times downloaded.

This is really amazing. Thanks to all who grabbed a iso and gave the current 2102.03 RC1 a spin or maybe even installed it. :D

Here is the changelog of Xfce 4.10pre1:

Dependency Changes:

• GTK+ dependency >= 2.20 and GLib >= 2.24.
• Libxfce4util soname changed.
• Garcon has a new libxfce4util dependency.
• Exo has a new libxfce4ui dependency.
• Libxfce4util only depends on glib (was gobject).
• Xfce-utils is not needed anymore. Functionality has been moved in xfce4-session, libxfce4ui, xfce4-appfinder or is removed.
• Xfce4-session does not (optionally) depend on xfce4-panel anymore. The plugin has been integrated with the actions xfce4-panel plugin.
• Xfce4-session does not check for consolekit, hal, upower and polkit. It has soft dependencies on consolekit and upower (communication over DBus).
• Xfce4-session does not (optionally) depend on gconf anymore.

Development Tools (xfce4-dev-tools):

• Add support for LT_PREREQ (bug #6920).
• Remove spec file and rpm build target.
• Do not create a gzip tarball.
• Never use xdt-autogen in autogen.sh.
• Fix FSF address and add missing licenses.
• Only use -fstack-protector on Linux systems.
• Don't use -g3 for full debugging.
• Support xldscope for Sun Studio.
• Skip -Wredundant-decls on OpenBSD.
• Disable --as-needed on OpenBSD (bug #7546).
• Use pkg-config macro for detection (bug #7787).
• Port exo-csource to xdt-csource (bug #6449).

Utility Library (libxfce4util):

• Make licenses static. You can only use xfce_get_license_text(...).
• Remove unused .h files.
• Remove xfce_strip_context(), use g_strip_context().
• Remove XfceDesktopEntry.
• Don't generate enum types.
• Only link against glib.
• Set version string to 4.10.
• Remove spec file and rpm build.
• Missing fallback for AC_RUN_IF_ELSE() when cross-compiling (bug #8166).
• Fix XfceRc group parsing with brackets in name (bug #8150).
• Reduce XfceRc structure size from from 216 to 176 bytes.
• Use some macros and drop unneeded strlen's in XfceRc.
• Use GSList in xfce-resource.
• Bump verinfo to 6:0:0.

Widget Library (libxfce4ui):

• Open docs.xfce.org when Help in xfce4-about is clicked.
• Cache header icons and avoid large icons in XfceTitledDialog.
• Restore glade directory information in .pc file.
• Update translator credits.
• A lot of improvements in the shortcuts code.
• Add Alt + F1 as a shortcut for applications menu.
• Remove unused code from the internal header widget.
• Add xfce4-about from xfce-utils package.
• Use xdt-csource instead of exo-csource, depend on xdt 4.9.0.
• Update to new xfce4-appfinder commands.
• Fix build against 3.9 Glade (bug #7334).
• Add shortcuts for XF86WWW and XF86Mail.
• Simplify the xfce_gdk_screen_get_active fucntion.
• Add xfce_dialog_show_help function.

Extension Library (exo):

• Drop gtk 2.24 api (bug #8461).
• Bump libxfce4ui dependency for help function.
• Send exo-open startup-id to child instead of using it (bug #7093).
• Add preferred app helper for Chromium (bug #8398).
• Remove package manuals and link to online documentation.
• Queue an icon view resize if the requesitions don't match.
• Add new API exo_icon_view_get_item_{column,row}.
• Add keynav-failed to ExoIconView.
• Show Preferred Application in settings category.
• Don't destroy already destroyed widget.
• Translation updates: Chinese, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Norwegian, German, Bulgarian.
• Do not insert symlink icons in the icon chooser.
• Use libxfce4ui instead of support library.
• Drop the python bindings.
• Use new libtool macros and versions (bug #6920).
• Remove spec file and rpm build.
• Silenty save to local application is permission denied to origional file in exo-desktop-item-edit.
• Support hexadecimal xid and center exo-desktop-item-edit on parent.

File Manager (thunar):

• Fix crash when trying to thumbnail a file with unknown content type.
• Fix properties dialog crash with files with unknown content type.
• Fix crash when hovering a CD drive with a special icon (bug #7309).
• Use portable abicheck.sh from xfconf.
• Avoid segfaults due to interpreting display names as format strings.
• Improve the UI according to bugs #7496 and #7497.
• Treat backup files as hidden as with thunar-vfs (bug #7615).
• Fix crash when opening a mountable drive with no media (bug #7308) in a way that does not break SMB shares (#bug 7774).
• Fix segfaults in case icons are missing or not found (bug #7880).
• Allow exec bit of MS-DOS executables and MSI to be changed (bug #3545).
• Prevent falling back to an unexpected locale (bug #4746).
• Show translated names of desktop files (bug #7393).
• Fix sorting of filenames with large numbers (bug #5356). Patch by Eric Koegel.
• Respect ThunarIconFactory::show-thumbnails. Fixes a regression.
• Fix crash when removing an ancestor of the current folder (bug #8168).
• Fix handling %U when launching multiple files with an app (bug #7456).
• Improve sorting of file names that include numbers (bug #5359, bug #8022, #4269, #5286).
• Add a "Skip All" button to the file overwrite dialog (bug #4263).
• Compress icons and images.
• Remove the manual.
• Use 32 instead of 36 pixels for small icons.
• Show Thunar settings in category.
• Don't update UI more then fourth per second in deep count job.
• Fix sorting of applications in chooser dialog.
• Depend on Gtk 2.20 and Glib 2.24 and drop some workarounds.
• Fix removing custom application launchers again.
• Prevent looping in some renamers.
• Fix segfault when plugin returns a NULL suffix.
• Remove spec file, rpm build and update libtool.
• Lowercase the thunar executable and install a Thunar symlink.
• Make the clipboard persistence (bug #7060).
• Use glib functions for get/set cwd (bug #7522).
• Don't interpret file display names as format strings
• Paste files in correct order (bug #6504).
• Fix truncated strings when loading and storing emblems (bug #7171).
• Only erase top-level items from trash (bug #7147).
• Don't interpret file display names as format strings (bug #7128).
• Ship stock_folder-copy.png and stock_folder-move.png icons with Thunar itself (bug #6851).
• Fix segfault when calling strcasecmp with NULL parameters (bug #7206).
• Only change the Name field when renaming desktop files (bug #7155).
• Force desktop file reload after changing the Name field.
• Fix memory leak caused by not destroying the rename job.
• Allow installation of helper scripts in a custom location using the --with-helper-path-prefix=PATH configure option.
• Improve thumbnailing by avoid sending thumbnail requests while theuser is scrolling in a directory.
• Cancel thumbnail requests when leaving a directory.
• Avoid regenerating thumbnails when files are copied, moved, linked or trashed.
• Update the thumbnail cache when files are deleted permanently.

Application Finder (xfce4-appfinder):

• Add Help button to preferences dialog.
• Make sure the header icon does not shrink (bug #8489).
• Set single line label for icon sizes is small (bug #8490).
• Add option to disable the background service.
• Block maximize and fullscreen in collapsed mode (bug #8491).
• Chain-up unmap.
• Start in collapsed mode if xfrun4 symlink is used.
• Select entry when Ctrl+L is pressed.
• Quit the mainloop when receiving an exit signal.
• Avoid xfconf error when closing windows on quit.
• Add icon view mode and add preferences to set icon sizes.
• Only show categories with items.
• Add keybinds to switch modes (Ctrl-1 and Ctrl-2).
• Improve reloading of items and directories.
• Add popup menu to edit, hide and revert desktop files.
• Add refcount debugging.
• Remove xfrun from the utility menu.
• Fix some segfaults.
• Add option to save custom command matches.
• Insert and reload history command in model.
• Change treeview filter prio to avoid window resize.
• Add left/right navigation to the treeviews.
• Add a custom completion match function.
• Use long option, looks better in code completion.
• Drop usage of new Gdk keycode api (bug #8044).
• Fix launching in collapsed mode.
• Don't ignore arguments of the desktop file command.
• Always allow up/down unless the completion menu is shown.
• Fix segfault when loading default actions.
• Rewrite of the the application finder to merge the functionality of the appfinder as we know it in 4.8 and xfrun4 (start with --collapsed).

Panel (xfce4-panel):

• Panel: Don't destroy window when focussed and Alt+F4 is pressed (bug #7378).
• Panel: Use new help function to redirect to docs.xfce.org.
• Docs: Remove mallard documentation.
• Docs: Don't install the gtkrc README.
• Clock: Don't use sigval_t (bug #8297).
• Panel: Add support for pluggable dialogs.
• Panel: Save changed plugin ids if a plugin failed to load.
• Directorymenu: Fix prefered app not working without snotify (bug #8298).
• Launcher: Small=FALSE in deskbar mode with label visible.
• Actions: Limit size of action buttons to row size.
• Panel: Removed item size checks.
• Clock: Fixing clock orientation in vertical/deskbar mode.
• Pager: Fixing infinite loopin in the WNCK pager aspect ratio workaround.
• Pager: Fixing plugin->size updates.
• Pager: Fixed workspace ordering in the vertical mode.
• Pager: Workaround for aspect ratio error in WNCK pager in deskbar mode.
• Pager: Changing orientation depending on the panel mode.
• Clock: Changing default value of rotate-vertically to TRUE.
• Pager: Fixed preprocessor macro.
• Pager: Removing broken workaround for aspect ratio in deskbar mode.
• Pager: Making use of a fixed libwnck version (>=2.31.0).
• Revert "Use realtime POSIX timers for the clock."
• Revert "Clock: Don't use sigval_t (bug #8297)."
• Launcher: Show the desktop file in the tooltip (bug #8536).
• Panel: Make string in about translatable (bug #8545).
• Panel: Don't ask for panel when inserting items (bug #8544).
• Panel: Reply to the caller for plugin events (bug #7365).
• Applicationsmenu: Fall-back to xfdesktop for xfce4-popup-applicationsmenu (bug #7365).
• Applicationsmenu: Recurse application menu selection-done gignal (bug #8541).
• Panel: Add (un)lock option to panel menu (bug #6980).
• Panel: Add confirmation before creating launchers from dnd (bug #6926).
• Applicationsmenu: Allow non-squared icons in applications button (bug #7381).
• Panel: Save plugin-ids when removing and moving items in ed.
• Tasklist: Bringing back 4.8 max-button-size property.
• Tasklist: Capping buttons height when button labels are visible.
• Tasklist: Reverting "ceil" to "floor" (as in 4.8).
• Actions: Query visibility and save as strings.
• Panel: Add option in preferences dialog to disable struts (bug #7202).
• Showdesktop: Allow middle-click to shade windows (bug #7177).
• Panel: Add style property to control size of autohide window.
• Panel: Make compositing settings insensitive (bug #7862).
• Tasklist: Add option to disable mouse scrolling (bug #6996).
• Tasklist: Make the plugin shrink instead of expand (bug #7389, #7129).
• Drop AC_PROG_LIBTOOL and AC_DISABLE_STATIC for LT_PREREQ and LT_INIT.
• Clock: Use realtime POSIX timers for the clock.
• Actions: Merge functionality of xfce4-session plugin.
• Applicationmenu: Show menu on button-press-event (bug #8047).
• Migrate: Add version based config migration.
• Clock: Fix typo in tooltip (bug #8137).
• General: Add deskbar mode and nrows property to plugins.
• General: Add small property for plugins.
• Separator: Remove new line option.
• General: Make plugins work with deskbar mode and small property.
• Panel: Change drop highlighting to a red line.
• Applicationmenu: Reload menu on directory changes.
• Panel: Make sure the panel has a position on startup (bug #8287).
• Panel: Work with a unique id for each panel.
• Panel: Remove autosaving on exit and with timeout.
• Panel: Only save what is required and when needed.
• Docs: Update to latest version.

Session Manager (xfce4-session):

• Add accelerators to logout dialog buttons (bug #6982).
• Add support for starting assistive technologies.
• Remove optional dependency for gconf.
• Remove Xfce4-tips.
• Remove early xfsettingsd autostart and add it to the session.
• Fix crash if save timeout for a client is triggered (bug #7320).
• Add a way to delete sessions (Bug #5730).
• Drop usage of G_CONST_RETURN macro.
• Add Xft.xrdb, startxfce4, xinit, xfce.desktop and xflock4 files from xfce-utils.
• Explicitly link to libm where needed (bug #7953).
• Remove the xfce4-panel logout menu plugin.
• Don't try to remove the $HOME directory (bug #8154).
• Remove manual and link to docs.xfce.org.
• Show dialog in settings category.
• Link to gmodule (bug #8340).
• Improve fadeout code with compositing enabled.
• Start screensaver with autostart.
• Support the TryExec key for autostart in the settings dialog.
• Rework the logout dialog code.
• Cleanup the power management code.
• Let xfce4-session handle the dbus-launch checking.
• Add support for launching xfce4-session in consolekit.
• Add --with-ck-launch support to startxfce4.
• Add option to lock the screen on suspend/hibernate.
• Remove unused icons.
• Show all applications in autostart (bug #8014).
• Drop gpg-agent and ssh-agent handling.

Settings Manager (xfce4-settings):

• Xfsettingsd: Don't set large dpi in xrdb (bug #8415).
• Include xscreensaver in the manager dialog.
• Complete theme installation script.
• Settings editor: Set sensitivity of save button on init.
• Xfsettingsd: Properly round display refresh rate to find match.
• Add mime icons in the mime-editor treeview.
• Store window and column sizes in xfconf.
• Add cateogry based settings manager.
• Re-add support for pluggable dialogs and enable them always.
• Rework settings editor.
• Clear out keyboard shortcuts before resetting to defaults (bug #8138).
• Use daemon() for xfsettingsd if available.
• Hide the xfconfd-already running message completely.
• Excluded items with NoDisplay=true in the settings dialog.
• Remove duplicated accelerators (bug #7734).
• Add theme dnd-installation by dropping in a treeview.
• Drop AC_LIBTOOL in favor of LT_PREREQ and LT_INIT.
• Wait for the window manager before setting workspace names.
• Add option to disable numlock restoring (bug #8302).
• Add Help button and make existing buttons work with wiki.
• Add new MIME Type editor.
• Depend on Gtk+ 2.20 and Glib 2.24.
• Merge xfce4-settings-helper into xfsettingsd.
• Add support to xfsettingsd for pointing device properties.
• Rework the mouse dialog and add support for basic synaptics and wacom settings.
• Add option to enable assistive technologies during login.
• Add fontconfig monitoring (bug #5011).
• Improved debugging with XFSETTINGSD_DEBUG=1.

Configuration Manager (xfconf):

• Use sh as interpreter in tests.
• Add hook to skip the xfconf tests.
• Make the abicheck work on Solaris and PPC64 (bug #7416).
• Fix licenses and use new FSF address.
• Fix compiler warnings on Solaris.
• Avoid GCC 4.6 compiler warning.
• Add toggle option to xfconf-query.
• Remove unusable import and export options from xfconf-query.
• Translate all error strings in xfconf-query.
• Cleanup Makefile.am files a bit.
• Improve --version output in xfconf-query.
• Cleanup #includes.
• Drop usage of the G_CONST_RETURN macro.

Desktop Manager (xfdesktop):

• Fix menu without desktop icons.
• Enable pseudo-transparent backgrounds again.
• Prevent multiple instances of xfdesktop from running (bug #8488).
• Change xfdesktop's menu icon to "applications-other" (bug #8500).
• Keep the image width to something sensible for xfdesktop-settings (bug #7086).
• Use the preferred file manager when opening folders (bug #6537).
• Drop AC_PROG_LIBTOOL for LT_PREREQ and LT_INIT.
• Remove docs and link to wiki.
• Thumbnail desktop icon previews using tumblerd.
• Added a check for GDK_GRAB_INVALID_TIME in xfdesktop_popup_grab_available to mitigate slow menu popups on a right mouse click (bug #7172).
• Add the code required to perform a paste on the on the desktop (bug #3804).
• Display correct trash icon on menu and desktop.
• Fix for shift + drag selections/
• Icon positions are saved/restored per resolution.
• Backdrop image cycling on a timer.
• Modified xfdesktop_icon_view_drag_drop to allow all selected files to drag and drop (bug #5025).
• Fix for moving files instead of copy when src isn't writable.
• Fix typos in the README file.
• Unmounted volumes are semi-transparent.
• Stretch background across all monitors setting (bug #5690).
• Arrange icons on the desktop menu item (bug #2833).
• Single click option to open items on desktop (bug #1797).
• Require libexo and update min requirements in readme.
• Comments in .desktop files are displayed in the tooltip (bug #8509).

Window Manager (xfwm4):

• Add tiling feature (bug #6648).
• Navigate with arrows in task switcher (bug #4752).
• Show dialogs in settings category.
• Do not cancel pending focus transition and use actual meaningful timestamp to avoid setting focus on wrong window in focus follow mouse (Bug #8323).
• Remove docbook documentation.
• Remove older themes from main package (moved to xfwm4-themes now).
• Add patch for themeable tab-window (bug #8238).
• Use themeable icons for the settings manager and the menu, rework the default icons for the settings manager and the window menu and add SVG version.
• Reintroduce the double-click timeout.
• Drop AC_PROG_LIBTOOL in favor of LT_PREREQ and LT_INIT.
• Simply double click detection logic.
• Add special icons for the button layout in settings.
• Remove some XFlush() calls.
• Upon restart, restore the previous selected workspace.
• Improve horizontal/vertical maximization toggle so that de-maximizing in either direction while fully maximized gives the expected maximization result.
• Change the default theme to differentiate from 4.8.
• Update mouse cursor theme and size dynamically (bug #6854).
• Optimize transients for group evaluation while withdrawing windows.
• Increase timeout for other WM to exit with "--replace",
• Rework focus and fullscreen windows to make xfwm4 simpler and more predictable.
• Get rid of old GNOME 1.x protocol.
• Get rid of legacy fullscreen emulation.

Theme Engine (gtk-xfce-engine):

• Improved menu theming
• Theme gtk-tooltip (bug #8494).
• Scale radio and check boxes (bug #8456).
• Draw inset border around default button (bug #8454).
• Changed rendering of GtkSpinButton.
• Pixel align checkboxes in the Gtk+-3.0 engine.
• Link against libm (bug #6253).
• Added Gtk+-3.0 theming engine.
• Changed drawing routines to use cairo.

Info Sources: 

http://phinxdesktop.slyip.net/phinxdesktop/?p=247

http://www.xfce.org/about/news/?post=1333238400

http://www.xfce.org/download/changelogs/4.10pre1/

Phinx Desktop finally on Distrowatch

After being added on the waitinglist back in October last year, the Phinx Desktop project has now been officially added and got it's own page on Distrowatch.

Phinx Desktop Page on Distrowatch

Also stay tuned for more exciting news to come in the near future. Things are going to change.

Phinx Desktop Testers Google Group

We decided to create a Phinx Desktop Testers google group for reporting bugs and feedback. The groupforum is only for the Phinx Desktop test iso's like the recently released 2012.03 RC1.

In that way we can keep track on bugs and feedback in a more cleaner way.

Every one who is interested in testing can download the 2012.03 RC1 and is free to join in on the group.

http://groups.google.com/group/phinxdesktop-testers

For help and support on the current 2011.08 iso please use the main Phinx Desktop forum.

Enjoy testing and see you on the Phinx Desktop Testers group.

Phinx Desktop 2012.3 RC1 Released

Our head developer and maintainer of the Phinx Desktop project, Kori, has announced the availability of Phinx Desktop 2012-03 RC1.

RC1 Announcement

It includes a whole set of new wallpapers, with some of them provided by a great guy and forum member, who i call "The Master of Themes" or better "The Master of Theming", lkj.

There is also a new set of themes to be found in the RC1 next to the Phinx 2011 theme:

-Phinx Azure
-Phinx Chalk
-Phinx Ocre
-Phinx Slate

And it has a new icon theme: Faience. Which has been adjusted and split up into other icon themes to match the new Phinx themes:

-Faience Azur
-Faience Claire
-Faience Dark
-Faience Ocre

The menu icon has changed too to fit the branding of the Phinx Desktop.

Go ahead, download it for a spin and further testing.

Phinx Desktop 2012.3 RC1 Download

Make sure to check the md5sum after you downloaded the iso.

MD5SUM: 2369f281e189ea769a6cc43542cd9c95

All feedback is welcome on the forum:

RC1 Feedback topic

Enjoy and have fun testing.

The Phinx repo and the Xfce4 weather applet

Hello all,

After a huge delay and some other stuff i've been going through, i am back again to post news about the Phinx Desktop project. The update that i post below is almost a month old, sorry about that. But from now on i'll try to keep up with news again and post it as soon as news is available.


Kori finally got the repo populated with the current rpms. Please follow the instructions below to add it to your current Phinx install:

Open Thunar as root and goto /etc/apt and open your sources.list and paste the  line below at the bottom of the list:

rpm http://cozmodesigns.co.uk/repo/phinx/x86/apt/ phinx/2012 athlon i586 noarch

When you have done that be sure to save the sources.list

Open Synaptic and go to Settings and then Repositories. Remove xfce4 from the PCLinuxOS repo but don't remove the PCLinuxOS repo itself!

Click ok , reload Synaptic and mark all xfce4 packages for reinstallation.
Click apply to install all files. 


Xfce4 Weather Applet:
 
Kori has also updated a few more applets to work with the latest xfce4 4.9 panel. One which he is especially pleased with is getting the weather applet semi functional.

It can only be installed manually at the moment: Instructions can be found here

This will allow the applet to be re-added to the panel and display the Weather for your local area. The only function missing is it will not populate the 5 day forecast. This is being worked on though.



Have fun, stay cool, tuned and until the next time peeps!

Phinx Desktop 2012 development update

Kori has been working hard on the upcoming Phinx Desktop 2012 iso's (32 and 64 bit!) and is still busy putting a few default themes together for the new releases along with some other updates.

If all goes well we can expect the Beta iso's soon for testing.


Here's a sneak peek of one of the default themes Kori has been working on:

                               Source: http://cozmodesigns.co.uk/phinx/archives/171

I'm looking forward to the Beta iso's already and test them once available.

Always remember this: Don't ask when it's ready..... It will be ready when it's ready.

We'll keep you updated for sure.

Phinx Rising now on Twitter too

Phinx Rising can also be found now on Twitter. A extra gadget has been placed on this site with a link to the Phinx Rising Twitter profile.

Feel free to follow and recieve the news updates on Twitter too.

Enjoy! :)

Phinx Desktop On Softpedia and Distrowatch

While going through some stuff on the web I found out that Phinx Desktop has entered Softpedia on October 17.

Have a look here:

Phink Desktop 2011-08 On Softpedia

The second spotting was on Distrowatch were I noticed that Phinx Desktop has entered the waiting list on October the 5th:

Phinx Desktop on waiting list Distrowatch


This means that the word about the Phinx Desktop project is spreading and noticed by other sites. Awesome stuff going on here!

Phinx Desktop Repo and IRC channel

Phinx Desktop Repo:

Last week Kori set up repositories for both x86 and x86_64. The repo's have been tested by him and both work well. They are empty at the moment but will be filled in the nearby future with packages and it will allow him to create the tweaks and features in Phinx without having to break any compatibilities with the main PCLOS repository.

Source of the news can be found on the Phinx Desktop site itself:

http://phinxdesktop.slyip.net/phinxdesktop/?p=130


 Phinx Desktop IRC Channel:

Another step forward and slight change is that we decided to set up a Phinx Desktop IRC channel where the Phinx users can ask for help and not to overload the PCLinuxOS-Support channel with questions related specific to Phinx Desktop.

If you're looking for us.... we can be found on Freenode IRC in the #PhinxDesktop channel. If you have a IRC client like Xchat for example you can join the channel i mentioned above. Another option is by logging in with a web based client that is to be found on the Phinx Desktop site itself in a sidebar.

Total Switch

After running Phinx for a while now on my netbook and since i joined up with Kori on the Phinx Desktop site plus forum, i decided to install it also on my laptop.
So both of my machines are running Phinx now. This is my current desktop layout on the laptop:

 

I use the standard iconset that comes pre-installed with Phinx, the theme is Shiki Brave and i changed the font to Liberation Sans size 9. I set Alpha of both panels to 80 making it a bit darker but still translucent.
Also i installed some other applications like Firefox and Thunderbird, Asunder, Orage, Pidgin, Xchat, Gimp and Audacious because they fill in my main needs.


Phinx, with Xfce as it's desktop environment and PCLinuxOS at it's base, is a great system and with Ubuntu's Unity around plus Gnome 3 coming up more and more which turn some users away, it's also a great alternative for people who want to keep a more similar, familiar, easy to use and configurable desktop environment like Gnome 2.

Remember the previous article, the focus on the Phinx Desktop is in staying a pure Xfce environment. That's where my focus will also go to, using some apps that are recommended for the Xfce environment and trying to learn some more about Phinx and Xfce.

Xfce Recommende Apps

What can i say more... I'm a 100%

now and i'm proud of it. It's been a while since i enjoyed using a Linux distibution but this one is it for me.

Also a nice surprize, Kori has uploaded some additional wallpapers on the Phinx forum in courtesy of HD Wallpapers which also feature the new Phinx Desktop logo:

http://cozmodesigns.co.uk/phinx/forums-2?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=18

From The Ashes....

From the ashes of the Phoenix rises another new but familiar project, it's the amazing, beautiful and pure Phinx Desktop.

   Original Screenshot of Phinx 2011.8

The Phinx Desktop is a linux distribution with the well known PCLinuxOS as it's base that uses Xfce as it's desktop environment and it has been the little sister of the PCLinuxOS Phoenix community edition before.

Now Phinx has gone it's own way. The developer, packager and maintainer Kori (a.k.a. Sproggy) wants the project, where he worked on for 18 months, to stand on it's own feet from now on.

Things will be explained soon by my good friend Kori in an exclusive and indepth interview a bit further below in this blogpost.

But first i would like to give some more info about what happend through the years and most of all lately, which is related to me, PCLinuxOS and the Phinx Desktop project.

I used PCLinuxOS in the past when i first started out with linux myself somewhere in 2007 and was amazed by it back then that i worked with it for a few months. After that it was almost four years of distrohopping, sometimes even switching to another distro within the same day.

Last May or June, can't recall that exactly at the moment, i found the test 2 iso of the upcoming PCLinuxOS 2011.6 32bit and installed it on my laptop. Since almost 3 to 4 months i've been running the various PCLinuxOS versions and to be very honest... i've been sneakpeaking at another rolling release... LMDE. But however, i came back 100% to PCLinuxOS, the community on the forum and even on IRC.

Soon i found myself trying all the newly released 2011 editions and have to say they are all great in their own way. Even the 64bit KDE test 4 version was running very fast and smooth on my laptop. It's too bad that i can't run all of them because i own only a netbook and laptop. Virtualbox is something i don't like so i don't use that. While running the 64bit KDE test 4 version on the laptop, with the Phinx edition to the left of me installed on my netbook and hanging out on the PCLinuxOS IRC channel,  i took notice of a little conversation which got me confused at first, after that, while getting small pieces of info..... more confusion because it still wasn't clear to me what was about to happen.

I thought that Kori just put up another blog or site to keep the Phoenix and Phinx editions more or less separated from each other to give each one of them their special place on the web.
That they would be separated is true but.... i never thought that it would turn out into a lot more than just separated blogs.
The Phinx Desktop site took shape and i figured out that a forum had been added. The first post on the new site, the added forum and a post on the PCLinuxOS forum made clear to me that  what was and is about to happen is indeed a lot more than i ever could imagine. Phinx is going it's own way!

If there is something i like it's new projects and to be honest, i like Kori's work. So i found myself running his PCLinuxOS Phoenix Edition in no time on my laptop instead of the 64bit KDE and Phinx still running on the netbook. I registered myself on the new site and forum, leaving a reply with the offer to help Kori on the board as a moderator only if he wanted and liked to.
That choice was quickly made by me.... I know if something is good and i want to be a part of that, no matter what.... I love to see it grow, evolve, help and even help to promote it where possible. Within a day it was all settled. Kori plugged me in as a moderator and i entered the new Phinx Desktop realm.

For me this is a new beginning, also rising from the ashes sort of speak together with the Phinx Desktop project. PCLinuxOS and it's community gave me back the feeling that i lost somehow. The feeling when i first started with linux..... lot's of fun that want to get you involved more and more, bit by bit. I've been in various places but no other community achieved it to keep me hooked and to stay like they do. And now with the rise of the Phinx Desktop project it has been made complete.......

Screenshot of a slightly customized Phinx 2011.08

Now.... let's switch over to the promised interview with the man behind the Phinx Desktop project and the PCLinuxOS Phoenix Edition: Kori.

M: How long ago did you start with Linux, what's the first distribution you

used?

K: Mandrake 7.2 ... couldn't get it to do dialup so binned linux for a while ...
 then did the full distro hopping thing ...


M: When did you get involved in the PCLinuxOS project and how long have you
been developing the Phoenix and Phinx editions for now?

K: i kinda fell into helping late 08 early 09 ... some things we not right with the Dev team at that time and they all departed ... leaving just a few Dev's and Tex... i first started with Providing Artwork ... 2009.2 was the release that i orchestrated, altho alot of the original work was Geminiguy's he gave me   carte blanche to make it into a full theme ... which is the beautiful sky blue  theme for 2009.2 ...

At that time there was an XFCE called SAM ... when the Dev's left they took SAM
with them and based it on something else ... this left a massive XFCE user
base without an iso to install ... from this event came Phoenix ... 2009.4 ...
the story of how she has her name is old history but if you don't know ... like
a Phoenix that DE rose from the ashes ... Phinx came later as a project to
create a smaller and purer XFCE experience ...


M: Not to long ago i picked up on IRC that the Phinx edition took a departure
somehow, which shocked me at first, and is no longer a PCLinuxOS community
edition anymore but has become a project that you want to stand on it's own feet
if i'm not mistaken. How did it come to that?

K: The decision was made for Phinx to stand alone because PCLOS has always had a drive to keep certain things across all the DE's exactly the same ... the Menu is a good example of this ... with the arrival of XFCE 4.8 ... there also arrived a new menu structure ... look ... and feel ... this would not be in keeping with the PCLOS look and feel ...

We have seen many times that reviewers always give PCLOS the bad turn when
something new is introduced ... and rather than a negative review delivered to
PCLOS ... in creating Phinx with the XFCE defaults ... the reviews should not
have any negative effect on PCLOS ...


M: Curious as i am sometimes i couldn't help myself and went on to take a look
on the new site you have put up for the Phinx Desktop project. To be honest...it
got me hooked on it from the very first look and really like what you have set
up there knowing it's still a 'work in progress' at the moment. Are you working
alone on the site and it's looks?

K: Yes all the work is mine alone ... whether you are aware or not i am quite multi talented ... artwork and internet go hand in hand with me ... so creation of the site was quite easy ... my bigger issue's is to ensure the user base start using
it ... and filling it with new ideas etc ... after all it is for them


M: Who designed the Phinx logo? Realy like that one.

K: The Phinx logo is the head of the Phoenix logo but twisted to an upright
position as if ready to receive food from it's parent ...


M: As you know i'm running the Phinx edition on my netbook which i really like a lot by the way. The Phoenix edition took it's place on the laptop for now which
is also a favourite of mine. Would you be so kind and explain to our readers
what the differences are between the two editions, besides from that Phoenix
still remains a community edition and Phinx has become a more 'stand alone'
project with PCLinuxOS as it's base?

K: It's simple ... the 2 editions are seperated by 1 simple thing .... Phinx is a
pure XFCE environment ... using only XFCE recommended Applcations, Settings and Tweaks ...

Whereas Phoenix ... uses all apps and settings from any other DE ...


M: I have read that you have been working on Phinx for 18 months now and that
you have released a 32bit version. Those 18 months... are these the 'development
months' for the currently released Phinx version only? If so... How was it for
you to work on it that long, what was your experience during that time?

K: Well it has taken 18 month solely because i have spent 9 months with a jaw break and shoulder seperation ... so in realiy i have only had 9 months of development... packaging .. testing and tweaking ... and working on it has been fun all the way along ...

M: Knowing that PCLinuxOS is a rolling release distribution and Phinx Desktop
uses it as a base, does this mean that Phinx will also remain a rolling release
distribution?

K: Quite simply yes ...


M: You have told me and i have read it on the Phinx Desktop site that you're
planning a 64bit version too, which i'm waiting for to be released by the way.
But what are your further future plans for the Phinx Desktop project, what
vision do you have?

K: Yes a 64bit version of both Phoenix and Phinx are in the plans ... with regards
to the vision ... i am hoping to ensure Phinx stays the purest of desktops ...
and hopefully move it into getting more native XFCE apps available for it ...


M: Do you appreciate the input from the users to help shape the Phinx Desktop
distribution with their ideas? And are you willing to change it here and there
that might help it to grow to achieve your goal?

K: Absolutely ... any and all feedback is listened too ... i hope to find great
individuals who can share the vision and help with their great ideas and input
to help it become the great environment i believe it can be ...


M: Thank you so much Kori for taking your precious time to do this interview,
which was my first one ever by the way and i hope you enjoyed it as much as i
did. I appreciate it a lot.

K: you are very welcome dude



So there you have it, another awesome project explained by a great guy.

For those interested in following the great Phinx Desktop project that provides a more pure Xfce desktop environment can have a look at the site and feel free to join us on the forum to provide us with feedback:

Phinx Desktop

Phinx Forum 

For a download of the iso have a look here:

Phinx 2011.08