Here is a screenshot of the Lemur 5 base. This is full Window Maker (not the usual Lemur Hybrid). It is by no means polished and fine tuned. I will get to adding the custom graphics, themes, icons, etc. soon. My main focus is the custom Lemur scripts and apps, that I will have to code from scratch. This will take some time to complete.
Tag: window maker
The Return of Lemur – The Sequel
I’m not sure where to begin with this post. Lemur has been on a roller coaster ride for awhile now. And it took me with it! So, here we are again…
I’ve tried many times to bring Lemur back, but each time either I had trouble with the build or too much going on in my world. From COVID, to work, to my own health issues, and my mom passing away. It was a struggle just to survive, much less work on Lemur. However, things have finally settled down here. So, I’m eager to bring Lemur back.
I have a new PC coming this week that will be my main development machine. I’ve already prepared the build scripts for building Lemur from the latest Debian release. I solved the issues with Window Maker and the dock apps. Using my laptop, I am rewriting the custom Lemur apps from scratch while I wait on the new PC. I’m also working on a couple of new apps for Lemur. I have some ideas for new graphics, sounds, icons, etc. Maybe I can talk Tyler into dusting off his creative graphic skills?
So, if you’re new to Lemur…Welcome! If you’ve been here before, Welcome back!
The Return of Lemur
I’ve been away from all things Liquid Lemur for awhile now. I started rebuilding Lemur from the ground up a couple years ago. I managed to get a prototype running on Debian 11. However, when I moved to Debian 11 (the last Lemur, 4.1 was on Debian 10) a lot of things broke. Several of the third party apps I used within Window Maker no longer worked. Several of the Window Maker dockapps stopped working as well. In order to keep using Window Maker, Lemur would have to remain in its hybrid state. This resulted in me pausing development until I could come up with a solution.
This brings us to 2023. I’ve started developing Lemur again. I’m not sure if I’m to remain on Window Maker, even in its hybrid state. So, I’ve toyed with the idea of switching Lemur to a new DE. The image in this post shows one such idea. Liquid Lemur Openbox. I have thought about switching back to Xfce (Lemur’s original DE). But I just can’t seem to let go of Window Maker for some reason.
In the coming weeks I will be building the Debian base that will host the next Lemur. During that time, I will decide on Lemur’s DE.
Welcome back!
Lemur 5 Reborn!
Liquid Lemur is about to be reborn with Lemur 5. Yesterday I finally figured out the issues with running a default Window Maker layout and the dockapps. As seen in the above screenshot from my laptop, it’s working fine.
Due to this recent discovery, I am changing Lemur back to a default Window Maker layout. This will give users a more “pure” Window Maker experience. I will leave the hybrid bits installed though, for those that like the hybrid layout.
So, what was the issue you might ask… It was just a simple “*” in a script. Yes, it was that simple… This “*” worked just fine in older versions of Lemur (Debian and Window Maker). The “*” in this script makes Window Maker cleaner on the desktop, so I’m hoping to find a workaround.
So, now we have a default Window Maker layout, UEFI compliant, and USB thumbdrive booting. All is right with the world! It will take some time to get Lemur 5 built and fine tuned, but it will be worth the wait!
Lemur 5 Coming Soon!
Development is underway on the next release of Liquid Lemur Linux, Lemur 5. The release will bring some major changes to the Lemur OS and fix a lot of issues.
The Debian base that Lemur uses will still be Debian 10 as in Lemur 4, but it will be rebuilt from scratch this time. The WM/DE will still be Window Maker, but in its hybrid form (as it is in Lemur 4) as shown in the screen shot above this article. The Morpher tool will be discontinued, as plans going forward call for Lemur to stay in its current hybrid state.
There will be changes to the custom Lemur apps, as noted below:
Apps to be discontinued: Lemur Dock, Lemur iDesk, Lemur Panel, and Lemur Installer (replaced by Debian Installer/Calamares). Apps to be updated: Lemur Quit, Lemur Apps Menu Updater, Device Manager, Plymouth Manager, and Lemur Updater (mint-update). Apps getting a complete redesign: Lemur Control Center (replaced APEman), Lemur Autostart, Lemur Favorites, Lemur Welcome, and Lemur Conky.
Lemur 5 will finally bring UEFI compatibility and support for booting from USB thumb drives to the table. Both of these have been thorns in Lemur’s side for awhile now. I’m glad to have these resolved now.
Lemur 5 will also see changes in default apps lineup. I will be trimming the fat, so to speak. Additionally, Lemur 5 will be less dependent on Xfce bits. There will be new themes / artwork, as seen in the screenshot. A quick-start guide will be ready for Lemur 5 as well. This guide will help you with the basics of operating Lemur. A more in depth guide will follow sometime later. And last but not least…Lemur 5 will ship with the 5.x kernel.
A lot of work on Lemur 5 has already been completed. However, there is still much work to be done before a release. Stay tuned…
Liquid Lemur 4.0
Above you will see a simple screenshot of Liquid Lemur 4.0 that is currently under development. This is an early prototype and not ready for testing.
Lemur 4.0 is running on Debian Buster. I trimmed down the default Conky, removing the redundant bits. I am slowly working to rebuild the Lemur custom apps and other custom bits. A new theme is also in the works.
Stay tuned…
The (re)Building Begins
Let’s get back to building a better Lemur! Over the last few months I’ve been building and rebuilding all things Liquid Lemur. During that time a lot has happened. I had a career change, continued to devote time to my own business, family, and life in general. I had a huge setback with the data loss. A lot of Lemur bits were lost. Former Dreamlinux dev, Nelson, provided the old Dreamlinux build scripts (glad he still had them) and the reBuilding of Liquid Lemur began. It’s a lot of work to start over…and over…again!
During the last two months or so, I’ve heard from a lot of people. Mostly via email or IM. The general consensus is to focus on Window Maker as the default and only desktop for Lemur. Most did not want to go back to the barebones Lemur of old, and preferred a little more meat (apps) out of the box. Many also would prefer the default Window Maker layout for the ISO, instead of the Hybrid.
So, taking all this into consideration, the next Lemur (3.2) will come with the default Window Maker layout active. If you prefer the Hybrid layout, it can easily be switched via the Lemur Morpher tool. Also, Lemur will come with more (everyday) apps installed out of the box. Editions will still be available in APEman, but they will be trimmed down a bit. As mentioned before, Tyler (dgf64) created some new artwork for Lemur and the 3.2 release will showcase that. There have been other ideas, thoughts, etc. and I will try to incorporate those into Lemur if they are deemed beneficial as a whole.
I have spent the last couple of months tweaking the old Dreamlinux build scripts for Lemur and I can safely say, they have been tweaked! So, the (re)Building of Liquid Lemur now begins…
State of the Lemur
I thought I would update everyone with the current state of all things Lemur…
As you may know, Lemur development has been moving at a snail’s pace lately. To add to the slow development, I’ve had a couple of family members that were sick and in the hospital. I’ve had to work different shifts at my job which threw me out of sync. I’m working a full-time, physically demanding job and trying to run my own business at the same time. It can be exhausting at times! These things have been a big reason for slow development of Lemur. And now… Lemur development is at a standstill. Recently, my PC died. I thought it was the hard drive, but it was actually the motherboard. I didn’t want to put more money into an older PC. So, I got a new-used PC online. It was a nice little machine that could compile code 10x faster than my old one. The graphics card was lacking but I was planning to upgrade it. Well, this PC started acting up so I sent it back. My laptop had Windows 10 on it and I do have a Mac Pro I use for my business. I decided to put Lemur development on hold till I decided what to do. During that time, I needed some files from my external drive (an ext4 drive) for my work. I used a third party app to force Windows to read the ext4 partition. I got the files I needed and disconnected the external drive (properly I might add). Shortly after that, I decided I would use my laptop for Lemur development. I wiped it clean and installed Lemur 3.0. I then attempted to access my external drive to move my Lemur files over to the laptop. The external drive was corrupt somehow and I was only able to save bits and pieces of Lemur. In addition to losing Lemur, I also lost most of my other backups. Luckily about 90% of it was still on my Mac.
So, what did I save? I have the Lemur ISO, the build tools, and some of the custom scripts. What I don’t have is any of the custom Lemur apps, to include the installer, custom Window Maker bits, or any other custom bits for that matter. I was planning to re-code all those apps, but I had hoped to do them one at a time and slowly phase them in.
Where does Lemur currently stand now? Well, Lemur is installed on my laptop. The build tools are in place, but pretty much useless without all the other Lemur bits. My priority right now is to get the custom Window Maker bits back in place and then start working on the custom apps. I haven’t decided if I will code them in Python or go back to Ruby (used in the early Lemurs). I do know I will not go back to Gambas.
My question is…is this all worth it? It seems like there is only 3 or 4 people using Lemur (I use it full time, btw). I know Window Maker isn’t the most popular and a Hybrid Window Maker is even less popular. But it would be nice to get some feedback. So, do I continue or throw in the towel? I would like to hear from people on this…
Thanks!
Ed
Latest Lemur News
Liquid Lemur is working its way back to where it once was, minus a few desktop editions of course. The image above is from the first “official” Liquid Lemur Linux release years ago. This was the release where Liquid OS became Liquid Lemur. This was the Xfce edition (no longer in production). It was built on Debian “testing” and more or less a rolling release. So, why bring all this up? Well, besides taking a trip down memory lane, as mentioned before, Lemur is going back to its roots. To once again be a base distro (OS). To once again be based on the testing branch of Debian and more or less be a rolling release. The Alpha 2 release (coming soon to PC near you!) will complete that transition.
That’s right, From Alpha 2 going forward, Liquid Lemur will once again be a base distro built from Debian testing branch. It will be a rolling release (more or less). The custom Lemur apps are being updated. APEman is getting a major overhaul (under the hood). And after many years of using the LMDE based installer (which I’m grateful to Ikey for sharing) Lemur will be transitioning to the Calamares Installer. I feel that it will better suit my needs for Lemur in the long run. The default desktop apps suite lineup will change as well, but I haven’t finalized the list yet. Also, you may have noticed I’m bringing back the Window Maker Resurrection Project (WMRP). Check the forums for more details.
I’m working on Lemur as much as I can and hope to have Alpha 2 out soon. Thank you for your support and your patience!
Liquid Lemur 3.0
So, I recently released the first Alpha of Lemur 3.0 (Seen in the image above). It actually was more of a pre-Alpha release. I probably should have held it back, but I needed to test the waters on a few things. Yes, it was missing a thing or two…okay, it was missing a lot! However, it was stable enough to use and what was missing could easily be added via Synaptic.
I made the decision to take Lemur back to its roots and the recent release was only partially setup for that decision. This may have led to some confusion for those not familiar with the Lemur of old and I do apologize. Originally, Lemur was a CD based distro but as time passed it became more difficult to keep it CD size and I had to move to DVD. The idea of old Lemurs was to have a base distro that users could build from/customize to their liking. Not everyone likes using the same apps so Lemur provided the base and then via APEman (aka: Easy Lemur, Control Center) users were given options. APEman is back and being updated to work like it did before…giving users the choice. With all that being said, I’ve been asked by a couple of people if I could provide a more complete (stocked) Lemur as I did before. Unfortunately, I won’t be doing that. First, it goes against the concept of being a base distro and makes APEman pointless. Second, the Lemur installer will eventually have the option to install those extra bits during installation of Lemur (which would be the same as me providing a more complete Lemur.). I’m working on the second Alpha release of Lemur 3.0 and it will be more polished and fine tuned. APEman will be updated properly as well.
In other news, I’ve been asked about the Xfce Lemur. It used to be the main desktop in Lemur and some are wanting it to make a comeback as well. Honestly, I’m on the fence with this one. If I did another desktop, I would lean towards a Budgie Lemur. However, Budgie in Debian Stable is old and I would probably end up having to build it from source (which is not a problem…just more work.) or I could pull it from Debian Testing (and deal with dependency issues I’m sure). I started a poll in the forums to get feedback on this. Feel free to vote!
The next release shouldn’t take too long…stay tuned!
