Lemur 5

[lemur]

The Lemur 5 News / Status thread...

I am hoping for a June 21st release of the first Lemur 5 Alpha release, in honor of my mother who recently passed. June 21st was her birthday.

The first release will be very rough around the edges, as I get my feet wet in Lemur development again. 

As with the last Lemur release, this will be based on Debian stable (Bookworm) and 64bit only. However, this time there will be two editions. I will release a pure Window Maker edition, setup in the traditional Window Maker layout. I will also release a hybrid Window Maker edition (my favorite), setup in a more modern layout. Both editions will be Window Maker at the core, just different cosmetically. Once I'm able to recode the Lemur Morpher and Themer tools, I will return to releasing only one edition. Then the user will be able to switch back and forth from stock Window Maker to Hybrid, using these tools. Until then, I will keep two editions for those that prefer one layout over the other.

Prior to the first release, these forums will be completed / rebuilt. Until then, it will just be this thread.

I will post weekly updates to this thread...

[lemur]

I managed to recode two of the custom Lemur apps so far, Lemur Quit and Lemur Menu Updater. I'm working on the new Lemur Control app, APEman 2. This is the "everything, including the kitchen sink" app. It will take some time to code...again. 

I created a "Liquid" version of the current wallpaper (image on the main website). 

I am also working on the custom bits for the installer and the package updater. I haven't fully decided how I plan to handler the updates just yet. The app I used before was coded by Ikey for Linux Mint and he helped me make changes for use in Lemur. It's a bit dated and I'm not sure what Ikey is up to these days. I'm leaning towards making my own updater app from scratch. Time will tell.

More to come next week...

[lemur]

I'm making progress...

I had to update the kernel in the base, because the default kernel didn't fully work with my laptop. Which is a first, because I've never had that problem on this particular laptop. Anyway, the new kernel solved the issues.

While I was messing with the base, I started work on the boot-up (plymouth) graphics and the theme for lightdm. I'll post some screen shots once it's all complete.

I managed to get a couple of more Lemur apps recoded. That would be the Lemur Conky app and the newly created Lemur Desktop app. The Desktop app will combine the following apps; Lemur Dock (formerly wbar), Lemur Themer, Lemur Morpher, Lemur Panel, and Lemur iDesk apps. The Themer and Morpher bits are functional, but still need some tweaking.

Stay tuned for more...

[lemur]

I was on call at work last week and the weekend. So, I didn't get much done with Lemur. A couple of the custom, Lemur apps started acting up all of a sudden after the last Debian update. So, I'll need to figure that out. I may end up changing what I use for coding the custom apps. More to come on that one..

I'm probably going to take the main website back to the original site. Between yesterday and today I had over 1,800 new user registrations...all scammers. I didn't know Lemur had such a huge following in the scammer community.   There is really no reason for user registration on the main site anyways (except maybe to comment on the Blogs). Once Lemur 5 is released all conversations will move to the forums as planned. I'll do some research before making a final decision.

Things are still progressing, albeit slower than I had hoped. Still looking at a June 21st release date for the Lemur 5.0 Alpha.

Stay tuned...

[lemur]

Work continues...

Unfortunately I have to work today, so that will cut into my Lemur development time. So, work continues, but slowly...

The Lemur Quit app stopped working after a recent update. I will need to figure that one out. The new Lemur Desktop app is the latest app to act up after recent Debian updates. Which is pushing me closer to switching what I used to code apps. 

On the plus side, the Lemur base ISO is almost complete. I'm doing the Hybrid version first and then the stock Window Maker one. If, by some chance, I can get the Lemur Morpher and Themer bits to work in time I will just release one version of Lemur. We shall see.

People are starting to sign up for the forums, but so far all spammers / scammers. I miss the old days when we didn't have to deal with these idiots so much.

Another little tidbit... I'm planning to return Lemur to its original colors. Currently, it's a blue and silver theme. I'm not sure when I switched over to that. I think it was when I did the KDE version of Lemur years ago. Anyway, the original Lemur Window Maker was more of a green and black theme. Years ago, I made a custom PC case for Lemur that was green and black. I'm currently working on a new PC case for my personal Lemur setup. Originally, I was planning on blue metal flake with a silver logo. But I'm going to do green and black instead. I'll post pictures when it's done.

For now, work continues slowly but surely. I'm still hoping for a June 21st release, but my paying job is cutting into my free development time.

[lemur]

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

I got the Lemur Quit app fixed! I'm making some changes to the Lemur Conky app (more to come once it's finalized). I'm making changes to the APEman 2 app as well. I've decided to drop the Lemur Desktop app and just add it to APEman 2. Things are progressing nicely with APEman 2 (see attached screenshot). There is still a lot of work to be done on it though. It's a huge and complex app. 

I've also been working on some updated graphics and themes for the upcoming color change to Lemur. I'll post screenshots once they're done.

Someone asked me about bringing back the original taskbar / panel that was in Lemur...bmpanel2. I'll admit that I like it better than tint2 (that Lemur currently uses) from an aesthetically pleasing point of view. However, bmpanel2 hasn't had any real updates in years. I did download the source this morning and compiled it. I got the panel itself to run, but the config tool doesn't work (some sort of python conflict in the latest Debian). If I have some extra free time I'll look into it. But it's not a priority.

Also, I'm not feeling optimistic about a June 21st release at this point. Which makes me sad, but such is life. Between my real job and getting injured recently (cracked two ribs) my schedule is out of whack! Maybe a July 4th release date is more realistic? We shall see.

Stay tuned for more...

   

[lemur]

Unfortunately, the planned release date of June 21st, 2025 is not going to happen. The release date has been pushed out to July 4th, 2025. 

In preparations for the upcoming release, I have added new forum categories to the Lemur Forums. 

The Lemur 5.0 Alpha 1 release will be more of a proof of concept, to get a functional base out in the wild. Then we will build from there going forward. As mentioned before, Lemur 5 will be based on Debian 12 (Bookworm) and in 64 bit only. I had planned to release two versions. A pure Window Maker setup and the Window Maker Hybrid setup. With all the delays due to a chain of events in my world, I will only release the Window Maker Hybrid setup. If you prefer the pure Window Maker setup, the Lemur Morpher tool (in APEman2) will convert the Hybrid back to pure Window Maker.

We're almost there...

[lemur]

I'm a little behind on my updating...

I've been working on the boot process for Lemur 5 this past week. For the most part it went as expected. However, Plymouth (splash screen) will not run with my Nvidia card. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. A friend of mine, Tyler (the man behind a lot of the Lemur graphics back in the day), brainstormed with me and we just couldn't make it work. I have never had these kinds of issues with Plymouth. So, for now, Plymouth is out.

Tyler made a couple of new wallpapers for the upcoming Lemur 5. I'll post them soon. Lemur 5 will be released with one of them...unless Tyler makes a new, better one before then.  

Also, with the release of Debian 13 around the corner, I have moved Lemur 5 to the testing branch so we can just transition right into Trixie.

I will say, the July 4th release date is not looking good. I spent way too much time on the boot process and automations. So, at this point, I'm not setting a release date. It will be ready when it's ready. Just know we are really close to releasing.

I'll post more soon...

Hang in there! We are close!

[lemur]

I'm a bit behind on my news updates...

Please read the blog post on the main site for more details. Just a quick FYI, Lemur is back on Bookworm (stable) for now.

Work continues...