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As you read these lines, ISO images of wmlive release 2013-03-06 for both amd64 and i386 are now available from sourceforge.net/projects/wmlive/files for immediate download.
A complete list of highlights and changes are included in the README_2013-06-05.txt and the ChangeLog.
Don't be mistaken, Window Maker is alive and kicking! The latest development code is available from repo.or.cz/w/wmaker-crm.git. Discussion about further Window Maker development is currently happening in lists.windowmaker.info/dev and also lists.windowmaker.info/user. Regularly updated daily builds of the above mentioned git repository code is available from www.the-little-red-haired-girl.org/pub/wmaker,
The Window Maker Live CD applies the Window Maker window manager as default graphical user interface, and successfully manages to integrate well known standard open source components in a very attractive and usable user interface.
This is of special interest for Linux users, who are not really happy with the recent graphic user interface developments of the more commonly applied Linux distributions. As Window Maker provides a very good balance between usability and a light interface, there is no reason to bother with the overhead of a full blown desktop environment.
Once the Window Maker Live CD is created and booted, it will automagically start up with a Window Maker session. Thanks to the extensive preconfiguration of the desktop, after having become acquainted with the Window Maker basics, one can just start using it for normal productivity, without having to bother about any major configuration tasks.
For the integrated GNOME components, Window Maker Live contains suitably modified gconf settings. Firefox and Thunderbird are included in their latest versions, and are already enhanced with some essential productivity addons.
Another requisite for Window Maker Live is to also to do without mostly pointless toys, games and gadgets, in order to make room for much more useful system administration features. Gnome2 applications are reduced to a bare minimum, essentially only leaving GDM and a few minor utilities, and instead more or less equivalent GTK2 and XFCE4 programs are installed.
The installed packages also contain a wide range of proven console applications (mc, rsync, screen, sshfs, vim, mutt, openssh, etc.) and advanced features like LVM and the system-config-lvm GUI to manage it. Naturally, quite a few of the most practical Window Maker dockapps were added on top and are already part of the default desktop. A detailed listing of all included software packages can be found in the Window Maker Live download area at sourceforge.net
Thanks to the Debian menu system, the Window Maker menus are regenerated and updated every time a package is installed or removed, so they are basically kept up to date.
Since one of he main objectives consists in unifying the overall looks in accordance to the Window Maker widget style, only Gnome2 and GTK2 based components were taken into account for this release, as only these support the GTK2-Step theme. In order to provide a homogeneous graphical user interface, a lot of additional icons and the very important GTK2-Step theme for Gnome2 are included.
While the main focus of Window Maker Live definitely is about overall usability and functionality, for the more visually oriented, here are a few screenshots from a former relase to give you an initial idea about the default user interface. Click the thumbnails to open a larger image in a new window:
There is also a nice short video by youtube.com/user/hungarianunixportal available at youtube.com/watch?v=R2t-1LGQU1k which was made for a former release version, and which very nicely demonstrates the Window Maker desktop of an older release version.
As these ISO images are basically standard Live Debian installation media, they work just fine for installation to hard disk, and can therefore be used to bootstrap a new system. The Debian installer used for these ISO's is based on the current "wheezy" release version. We have included a work around for the grub boot loader installation, so that installation usually succeeds with no further issues.
The technical basis for the Window Maker Live CD mastering is relying on the packaging infrastructure provided by the Debian Live Project. The single most important components are live-build - System Build Scripts and the closely associated live-installer, which both rely on and integrate the live-boot - System Boot Scripts and the live-config - System Configuration Scripts. Some in depth documentation for the Debian Live Project components can be found at Debian Live Manual web site.
The specific configuration customizations for these Window Maker Live releases are also available for download at http://sourceforge.net/projects/wmlive/files/. The wmlive-debian-config archives contain the necessary material to build the Window Maker Live ISO images with the Debian Live Build system on your own.The package assortment used is largely based on the current stable ("wheezy") branch of the Debian archive, with only a few selected packages taken from "unstable" ("sid"), and also from the former "oldstable" ("squeeze") and even some "experimental". This essentially means that Window Maker Live does not come with any stability warranties whatsoever. According to my own humble daily experience of around 15 years of primarily relying on debian/unstable, the advantages far outweight the assumed dangers of instabilities.
Window Maker Live is by no means a brand new project, and is in development since more than two years. The first released versions were created on the basis of remastering and customizing already existing Ubuntu Live CD images with the very nice Ubuntu Customization Kit. Unfortunately, the possibilities provided by this procedure were too limited for our goals. The Ubuntu innovation approach is unfortunately trying to make away with legacy components, which has proven to be counterproductive for our customization efforts. So we just switched to Debian, and definitely do not regret this decision, as it has opened a whole new range of possibilities for our project.
Contact and Feedback via wmlive at users dot sf dot net
Development of wmlive costs lots of time and money: Please consider a small donation to support and speed up our work on wmlive.
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