Introduction to Enlightenment DR17

[ichi]

Just in case anyone is interested in trying it, despite still being under development.

Introduction to Enlightenment DR17

What's Enlightenment DR17? (www.enlightenment.org)

So far it seems to stand somewhere between being a Window Manager and a Desktop Enviroment. As WM, being built on top of the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, it's a fast one, and also quite lightweight considering all the bundled eye-candy.

As DE, there're several applications that might be part of the final DR17 release:

-Entrance (display manager)

-Evidence (file browser)

-Elicit (graphics examiner, with color picker and zoom)

-Entice (image viewer)

-Erss (rss app)

-Engage (dock app)

-Eclair (media player)

-Emblem

-Entangle (gui for editing menus, engage, ibar and startup apps)

Installation

You'll need to install the EFL in order to install E, and you also have to install those libraries in a specific order:

1. e17/libs/eet

2. e17/libs/edb

3. e17/libs/evas

4. e17/libs/ecore

5. e17/libs/embryo

6. e17/libs/imlib2

7. e17/libs/edje

8. e17/libs/epeg

9. e17/libs/epsilon

10. e17/libs/esmart

11. e17/libs/emotion (note that you'll need to have xine-lib installed as emotion uses it)

12. e17/libs/engrave (this is currently needed for e_utils only)

13. e17/libs/ewl (also needed for e_utils)

14. e17/libs/etox (this is only needed if you want to install eRSS, otherwise you can ignore etox)

Check this for instructions on how to access the Enlightenment anonymous CVS:

http://enlightenment.org/Enlightenment/Get...ment/index.html

These are the apps that run on top of the EFL:

* e17/apps/entice (image viewer)

* e17/apps/entrance (login manager)

* e17/apps/eclair (media player)

* e17/apps/e (E17 windowmanager)

* misc/engage (dockbar and E17 module)

* misc/erss (RSS feed application)

* e17/apps/e_utils (user-friendly utilities for the E17 WM)

* e17/apps/e_modules (additional modules for the E17 WM, note that this does NOT include the Engage module)

Basic layout and usage

Much like other WM such as fluxbox, there's no button to open the menu. All the menus are opened by clicking on the desktop:

-Left click: opens the main menu

-Right click: opens the "favorite applications" menu.

-Middle click: opens the "windows" menu. This allows to easily find any existing window: visible apps have the checkbox checked, minimized apps have it unchecked. Checking/unchecking that box will show/hide the selected app.

Editing the menus can be done either through a gui or editing text files:

a) Using the GUI:

Left click on the desktop and go to Configuration->Menu Editor. Entangle will open.

Select the item you want to edit on the top of the app (Favorites, iBar, Engage, Startup, Restart). A list of the current apps and submenus will be displayed, along with a list on the left with all the available icons which can be added.

To add a new icon just drag and drop. To remove an icon, middle click on it. To add a submenu just click on the "Add Dir" button at the bottom of the app window.

b) Editing text files:

Menus' settings are stored in the directories inside ~/.e/e/applications/

Inside each directory will be an .order file which looks like this:

games

firefox.eap

sylpheed-claws.eap

amule.eap

gimp.eap

rhythmbox.eap

Each .eap item launches an application, and items without extension are directories. In the example above, that .order file would be in ~/.e/e/applications/favorite and we would have a ~/.e/e/applications/favorite/games directory with it's own .order file inside.

Icons and background

E17 uses it's own binary format for icons and background images.

Icons are stored inside .eap files. Those files contain both the icon and info regarding the application which will be launched when clicking on it. That info is also used to identify running apps and show their icons on the dock.

All available eap files are stored in ~/.e/e/applications/all. If you download a pack of eap files, that's where you have to extract it.

There're several icon themes available at get-e.org, but we can also create our own icons using e_util_eapp_edit. Just launch the application specifying the name of the eap file you want to create/modify, and a gui will pop up.

Another way to create eap icons for applications is left-clicking on the upper left border of the application window and going to the "Edit icon" option in the pop up menu.

Backgrounds are stored in the edj binary format. Edj files can store several images with transparencies and display them in layers. You can also animate those layers.

To create an edj file from any image, use e17setroot:

e17setroot -s /home/username/picture.png

The line above will create and edj file from picture.png and set it as background on all desktops.

If you already have several edj files, you can manage them with Emblem:

Modules

Most of the addons that spice up E17 are built as modules. Some of them might do it into the final release and some might be droped along the way. Currently there're 8 modules loaded by default, and some more that can be loaded manually. The most interesting one out of the later ones is engage. To load it execute:

enlightenment_remote -module-load engage

You can also try the snow and flame modules. Once loaded it will always load (loading doesn't mean activating, they will only be running if you left them that way on logout) on startup unless you manually unload them

enlightenment_remote -module-unload <modulename>

All loaded modules can be enabled/disabled and configured from the menu:

To move and resize modules you have to put them in edit mode, either using the option in the menu->gadgets->Edit Mode, or right clicking on a module and choosing the Edit Mode option in the pop up menu. Hadles will appear around the modules so you can resize them:

Themes

Themes are also in edj format. To add new themes copy the .edj files to ~/.e/e/themes.

You can select the theme to be used in the menu->themes

If you feel like extracting the contents of the theme, you'll have to decompile it using one of the tools bundled:

edje_decc filename.edj

A new folder will be created, and all the theme elements will be put inside. There'll also be an script to re-compile the theme inside that directory (build.sh), which can be useful to make your own custom themes modifying existing ones.

Transparency

There's no support for fake transparency (eg. on consoles) as the point seems to be to implement real transparency later on when HW acceleration gets implemented, so you'll have to use a little hack to get that: use Esetroot <imagefile> to set a fake background, which won't be visible but that's what will appear as background in fake "transparencies". Obviously you'll want to set as fake background the same image you're using as background.

Being a nasty hack as it is, it wont work with animated backgrounds.

Note: E17 is still under development, and the way some things work might change in next versions.

Edited July 13, 2005 by ichi

[shrike]

:woot:

I tried Enlightenment a while ago, but didn't find the guides on it to my liking (not basic enough to get me there :p)

Thanks for this. Might give it a go over the weekend

[markwolfe Veteran]

Wow. I have never looked at Enlightenment before. Looks very nice. :yes:

[pixated]

I'm probably going to post some pics and stuff for it as well. Still busy in RL but I'll have time to make the 'switch' soon. :D

[SonGoCHaiN]

Nice introduction :) korn :p Will u post it in GNUinOS too? I think it can be interesting

[ichi]

Will u post it in GNUinOS too? I think it can be interesting

586212723[/snapback]

Sure, as soon as I translate it :p

[Crimson Behelit]

Smooth lookin' WM/DE!

Thanks ichi, I'll play with this in the future! Currently a GnomeDE user.

[m2rT]

Little E17 video http://www.rasterman.com/files/e17_movie-02.avi

[SonGoCHaiN]

I need help with e17, i've read the guide from e17 official site but i need more help :p Someone knows where i can see more?? Also sites with themes,icons,...

[ichi]

I need help with e17, i've read the guide from e17 official site but i need more help :p Someone knows where i can see more?? Also sites with themes,icons,...

586233650[/snapback]

The only site I know with a decent amount of info, themes, icon packs, backgrounds, etc... is get-e.org

[mugwhump]

Enlightenment is a work of art. I've loved it since I first saw it a long time ago. One thing...unless you really know what you're doing and are confident in your abilities, then hold off. It can be a PITA to compile from source. I spent weeks trying to compile the DR14 branches back in the day.

Edited July 18, 2005 by mugwhump

[mugwhump]

Wow.  I have never looked at Enlightenment before.  Looks very nice. :yes:

586211930[/snapback]

The linux mod hasn't seen E before? That's...disheartening. Seriously Mark, check it out. DR17 is still pretty bleeding edge, but the DR16 branch is very usable and pretty easy to set up.

If I remember right...didn't Gnome use E as it's windowmanager when Gnome first came out?

[rezza Veteran]

If I remember right...didn't Gnome use E as it's windowmanager when Gnome first came out?

586233919[/snapback]

I always thought that gnome used Sawfish as its window manager before Metacity...

[ichi]

I always thought that gnome used Sawfish as its window manager before Metacity...

586236205[/snapback]

I think you're right :unsure:

Anyway, you can still use Enlightenment as WM for both KDE and Gnome, replacing their respective WMs.

[Crimson Behelit]

Can any Gentoo users comment on enlightenment as a default/primary windows manager? Particularly is it stable, usable, practical?

[ichi]

Can any Gentoo users comment on enlightenment as a default/primary windows manager?  Particularly is it stable, usable, practical?

586245932[/snapback]

It's stable and it's usable (I'm currently using it as my default wm), but it has still some bugs/lacks of functionality. Some things I've seen:

-Going fullscreen with mplayer (no gui) doesn't always work, sometimes video appears displaced to the left (works ok with gmplayer though).

-When launching gmplayer, only the mplayer-video window shows, the window with the play controls stays hidden.

-kget window won't show. The app works, but stays "minimized".

-The utils to customize the E wm are still under heavy development. They work, but there're several bugs.

Besides that everything seems to work fine. I'm using the following programs on E with no problems:

-firefox

-rox

-konqueror

-amule

-sylpheed-claws

-UT2004

-Doom3

-EnemyTerritory

-The Gimp

-Gedit

-file-roller

-Eterm

-Rhythmbox

-Xmms

-gxmame

Anyway bugs and stability can easily vary as new code is merged in the CVS tree.

Using gentoo, if you really want to use E as primary desktop, once you find a CVS version that works ok tell portage to build binaries out of the code and store those binary packages somewhere. That way if something is broken in the next E update you will be able to revert to the previous working version.

[chavo]

Thanks for the article. I updated e a couple of days ago, but was having some problems. I zapped my ~/.e and now it's working very well again.

Gotta say it's looking very nice.

It won't tear me away from KDE, but it's a great project. I'll definitely keep my eyes on it as it evolves.

Edit...

Oh and by the way Enlightenment was the windowmanager for Gnome for a little while. Back in the Redhat 6.0 days. I've been using Linux off and on since Redhat 5.0 (1998ish). I think it was ~2000 when E (.15) was included with Gnome.

Edited July 22, 2005 by chavo

[Crimson Behelit]

It's stable and it's usable (I'm currently using it as my default wm), but it has still some bugs/lacks of functionality. Some things I've seen:

-Going fullscreen with mplayer (no gui) doesn't always work, sometimes video appears displaced to the left (works ok with gmplayer though).

-When launching gmplayer, only the mplayer-video window shows, the window with the play controls stays hidden.

-kget window won't show. The app works, but stays "minimized".

-The utils to customize the E wm are still under heavy development. They work, but there're several bugs.

Besides that everything seems to work fine. I'm using the following programs on E with no problems:

-firefox

-rox

-konqueror

-amule

-sylpheed-claws

-UT2004

-Doom3

-EnemyTerritory

-The Gimp

-Gedit

-file-roller

-Eterm

-Rhythmbox

-Xmms

-gxmame

Anyway bugs and stability can easily vary as new code is merged in the CVS tree. 

Using gentoo, if you really want to use E as primary desktop, once you find a CVS version that works ok tell portage to build binaries out of the code and store those binary packages somewhere. That way if something is broken in the next E update you will be able to revert to the previous working version.

586246880[/snapback]

Thanks ;)

Perhaps I'm better off going the Flux route? Would e16 be a realistic stable alternative to e17? The reason I ask is because mplayer (specifically gmplayer) is one of the programs I use most... if not the most :|

A quick clarification... are you suggesting that the (currently) masked version of enlightenment available via portage is outdated? If so are you suggesting I find a source that offers later builds (CVS)?

Thanks again ;)

[ichi]

Thanks ;)

Perhaps I'm better off going the Flux route?  Would e16 be a realistic stable alternative to e17?  The reason I ask is because mplayer (specifically gmplayer) is one of the programs I use most... if not the most :|

A quick clarification... are you suggesting that the (currently) masked version of enlightenment available via portage is outdated?  If so are you suggesting I find a source that offers later builds (CVS)?

Thanks again ;)

586255393[/snapback]

I've never ever had problems with any app on E16, so in that sense yes it seems a better alternative. The downside is E16 is not based on the new enlightenment libraries and therefore it's not as fast as E17.

Fluxbox feels different from E16, choosing the former or the latter is a matter of taste, in my opinion. I've E16, E17 and fluxbox installed, so I can choose which one I'll use depending on my mood :p

The 9999 masked version (the one masked as -*, not the ~arch one) in portage is live CVS code, and therefore as updated as it gets. What I meant is that if you emerge E17 today and you find everything works fine, you might want to tell portage to build binary packages of that code just in case tomorrow's (or next week's) E17 CVS code brings some broken stuff. That way you can revert to the working version, as being live CVS code there's no way to emerge a previous 9999 version.

[basttrax]

I like what i see :).

I'm using Ubuntu 5.04, can I use Apt-Get to get Enlightenment?

[theotherdave]

It is possible to get enlightenment via apt. However, as I understand it, it's only the 0.16 wm without any of the apps that come with it (and possibly with old libs).

Hope this helps. If anyone does know if it is possible to install the whole shebang with apt, I'd be very interested too.. :p

[vhane]

It is possible to get enlightenment via apt. However, as I understand it, it's only the 0.16 wm without any of the apps that come with it (and possibly with old libs).

Hope this helps. If anyone does know if it is possible to install the whole shebang with apt, I'd be very interested too.. :p

586564308[/snapback]

e17

Using elive's repo:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=61488

Using some third party repo:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php...t=enlightenment

[MindTooth]

Thanks for the guide :D I really like E17..

[kozaki]

Using e17 as my primary WM since 2005 until a few days ago when I switched thoroughly to 64-bit (and now, need to find or make it as Archlinux x86_64 are yet to be done for e17).

enlightenment DR17 has seen some great improvments regarding it's configuration tools last year.

+ I barelly had a single real problem using it until thismonth :)

Here are some screenshots of my desktop with e17 :