Nebula will be a lightweight desktop environment designed specifically to run on top of the ToroWM window manager in ToroOS. Its goal is to provide a simple and functional graphical environment that allows users to launch applications, manage windows, and perform common operations efficiently. Although Nebula will be a separate project from ToroWM, both will be closely integrated to offer a cohesive user experience.
The main objective of Nebula is to create a minimalist desktop environment that complements the lightweight and efficient nature of ToroWM. Key goals include:
- Providing a simple and user-friendly graphical environment.
- Maintaining low resource consumption, optimizing performance on systems with limited resources.
- Offering essential desktop functionalities, such as window management, a workspace, and basic user interaction.
- Ensuring a seamless integration with ToroWM for window management.
Nebula will rely on ToroWM to handle basic window operations such as opening, moving, resizing, and closing windows. Nebula will provide a graphical interface that facilitates user interaction with the window system without taking over the internal management of windows.
- Single workspace: Nebula will provide a workspace where applications can open their windows.
- Icon management: It may include basic icon management on the desktop for quick access to essential applications.
Nebula will include a basic taskbar that allows the user to view open applications, switch between them, and close them as necessary.
The application menu will be simple, allowing the user to launch available applications within ToroOS.
Nebula will allow basic customization of the graphical environment, such as setting a wallpaper and changing the color scheme, to suit user preferences.
While Nebula will be designed to work alongside ToroWM, it will remain an independent project, allowing it to evolve separately and potentially be used with other lightweight window managers in the future.
Nebula will communicate with ToroWM using the established IPC protocol, allowing the desktop environment to control windows and manage user events. Nebula will provide a graphical interface for users to interact with ToroWM without compromising system efficiency.
Like ToroWM, Nebula will be developed in Object Pascal, ensuring compatibility and consistency in resource management and codebase integration.
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Initial Phase:
- Develop the workspace and taskbar.
- Implement basic communication between Nebula and ToroWM.
- Test the integration of Nebula with ToroWM for window creation and management.
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Intermediate Phase:
- Add desktop icon functionality.
- Develop the application menu and basic desktop tools.
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Final Phase:
- Optimize performance.
- Implement basic customization (wallpapers, color schemes).
- Conduct extensive testing and fine-tune the user experience.
The initial development of Nebula will focus on providing a functional and lightweight graphical environment. In the future, it could expand with more features, such as support for multiple workspaces, basic widgets, or enhanced customization. Nebula will be modular, allowing other developers to contribute new functionalities without compromising its core philosophy of being a lightweight and efficient environment.