GettingStartedWithUnity2D

Dev Week -- Getting Started with Unity 2D -- Kaleo -- Thu, Mar 3rd, 2011

   1 [17:01] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/03/03/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
   2 [17:02] <dholbach> Kaleo has been caught up in something else important. I'll keep you posted. Hold tight.
   3 [17:05] <dholbach> thanks a lot Kaleo
   4 [17:05] <dholbach> with just 5 minutes delay, I give you Florian "Kaleo" Boucault, one of the masterminds behind Unity 2D
   5 [17:05] <dholbach> enjoy the session :)
   6 [17:06] <Kaleo> Thanks people for joining in
   7 [17:06] <Kaleo> I will give a brief overview of Unity 2D
   8 [17:06] <Kaleo> And let you guys shoot questions my way
   9 [17:07] <Kaleo> Unity 2D is essentially an implementation of the Unity user interface using Qt and QML
  10 [17:07] <Kaleo> it reuses the same backend technologies used in Unity proper
  11 [17:07] <Kaleo> libbamf, libdee, libunity, places, etc.
  12 [17:08] <Kaleo> and intends to provide a UI that matches Unity proper as much as possible
  13 [17:08] <Kaleo> The rationale behind Unity 2D is that we want to run on platforms that do not provide accelerated OpenGL
  14 [17:08] <Kaleo> QUESTION: < jack002> what are those: libbamf, libdee, libunity, places,
  15 [17:09] <Kaleo> BAMF provides application matching services: it tells you what applications are running on the desktop and informations about them
  16 [17:09] <Kaleo> libdee is a way to publish lists of data over D-Bus
  17 [17:10] <Kaleo> places are the providers of data for the dash (the dash is the thing that comes up when you click on the Ubuntu button in the top left corner)
  18 [17:11] <Kaleo> For those who want to try out Unity 2D, you can find it in a PPA for Natty
  19 [17:11] <Kaleo> We also provide a stable version for Maverick in the same PPA but it does not contain the latest features
  20 [17:12] <Kaleo> < monish001> QUESTION: how to find it in a PPA for Natty?
  21 [17:12] <Kaleo> https://launchpad.net/~unity-2d-team/+archive/unity-2d-daily
  22 === dholbach_ is now known as dholbach
  23 [17:13] <Kaleo> Unity 2D is the default interface for ARM based Ubuntu isos
  24 [17:15] <Kaleo> For developers
  25 [17:15] <Kaleo> and people interested contributing to it
  26 [17:15] <Kaleo> we have a home on the ubuntu wiki
  27 [17:15] <Kaleo> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity2D
  28 [17:16] <Kaleo> In terms of architecture
  29 [17:16] <Kaleo> Unity 2D is divided into:
  30 [17:16] <Kaleo> - window management (using metacity)
  31 [17:16] <Kaleo> - a top panel
  32 [17:16] <Kaleo> - an application launcher on the left
  33 [17:16] <Kaleo> - the dash search interface
  34 [17:16] <Kaleo> - a workspace switcher
  35 [17:16] <Kaleo> they are all separate applications/processes
  36 [17:17] <Kaleo> the code (hosted on launchpad with Bazaar) reflects that separation of components
  37 [17:18] <Kaleo> each having its directory:
  38 [17:18] <Kaleo> - panel
  39 [17:18] <Kaleo> - launcher
  40 [17:18] <Kaleo> - places (= dash)
  41 [17:18] <Kaleo> - spread (= workspace switcher)
  42 [17:18] <Kaleo> metacity being mostly upstream with around 3 small patches
  43 [17:19] <Kaleo> 18:17 < chadadavis> The current natty seems to already have it in the default repositories.
  44 [17:19] <Kaleo> That's correct
  45 [17:19] <Kaleo> We pushed a recent version into Natty last week
  46 [17:19] <Kaleo> but I really recommend the PPA
  47 [17:19] <Kaleo> which contains critical bug fixes
  48 [17:20] <Kaleo> 18:19 < abhinav> QUESTION: what languages can we use for development ? and can development be done on Maverick or Natty is absolutely necessary ?
  49 [17:20] <Kaleo> Unity 2D is written in C++, QML and incidentally Javascript
  50 [17:20] <Kaleo> C++ is used to create APIs that the user interface written in QML uses
  51 [17:21] <Kaleo> QML is a declarative language to describe user interfaces; it is part of Qt
  52 [17:21] <Kaleo> Development is now only done on Natty
  53 [17:21] <Kaleo> We stopped developing on Maverick 2 weeks ago
  54 [17:22] <Kaleo> Only backporting essential bug fixes
  55 [17:22] <Kaleo> 18:20 < rsajdok> QUESTION: Can you describe how to run unity-2d-launcher with gdb and any function?
  56 [17:22] <Kaleo> If you have Unity 2D installed from the PPA
  57 [17:22] <Kaleo> and if Unity 2D is running
  58 [17:22] <Kaleo> you can attach gdb to the unity-2d-launcher process
  59 [17:23] <Kaleo>  ps aux | grep unity-2d-launcher will give you the PID of it
  60 [17:23] <Kaleo> sudo gdb -pid PID_OF_LAUNCHER
  61 [17:23] <Kaleo> will give you the gdb prompt
  62 [17:23] <Kaleo> rsajdok: does it answer your question?
  63 [17:26] <Kaleo> < jack002> QUESTION: Is there any plan to implement "windows tiling" like in Windows? I constantly need two programs opened like Firefox and Terminal.  Switching between them is annoying, resizing windows is time consuming...
  64 [17:26] <Kaleo> There is no plan for windows tiling as far as I know
  65 [17:26] <Kaleo> Sorry :(
  66 [17:27] <Kaleo> < monish001> QUESTION: Could we expect projects from unity 2D for GSoC 2011?
  67 [17:27] <Kaleo> We have not thought about it at all
  68 [17:27] <Kaleo> It sounds like a great idea
  69 [17:27] <Kaleo> I would love any help we can get :)
  70 === ClassBot_ is now known as ClassBot
  71 === jussi01_ is now known as jussi
  72 [17:30] <Kaleo> For people who want to chat about Unity 2D in general
  73 [17:31] <Kaleo> we hang out on #ayatana on freenode
  74 [17:31] <Kaleo> with the Unity proper people
  75 [17:31] <Kaleo> agateau, oSoMoN and uriboni are the people to talk with
  76 [17:31] <Kaleo> by uriboni I meant nerochiaro!
  77 [17:35] <Kaleo> Ok, well
  78 [17:35] <Kaleo> I feel we are running out of questions
  79 [17:35] <Kaleo> Thank you all for the good questions and your time
  80 [17:36] <Kaleo> I will stay here longer in case any question comes up
  81 [17:36] <Kaleo> 18:35 < raki__> i would want to help too how can i start?
  82 [17:36] <Kaleo> Start by installing it and trying it out
  83 [17:40] <Kaleo> If you like it
  84 [17:40] <Kaleo> I suggest you find something you would like to improve
  85 [17:40] <Kaleo> And start from there
  86 [17:40] <Kaleo> The wiki page is a great starting point
  87 [17:40] <Kaleo> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity2D
  88 === leila is now known as Guest82995
  89 [17:40] <Kaleo> < monish001> QUESTION: do we have something called unity 3d also>
  90 [17:40] <Kaleo> Unity 3D is a nickname for Unity proper, Unity you get by default in Ubuntu Natty
  91 [17:41] <Kaleo> < Mkaysi> QUESTION: Is Unity2D going to be shopped with Natty, if someone uses computer, which can't run Unity 3D?
  92 [17:41] <Kaleo> No, it will not be installed by default
  93 [17:41] <Kaleo> It will not be on the CD
  94 [17:41] <Kaleo> but it is installable via the packages very easily
  95 === Kmos is now known as Guest60040
  96 [17:41] <Kaleo> < rsajdok> QUESTION: It started but I can not set backtrace on function launcherapplication::launch()
  97 [17:41] <Kaleo> for that you will need to run from the source code
  98 [17:41] <Kaleo> by that I mean
  99 [17:41] <Kaleo> get the source code as indicated on the wiki page
 100 [17:41] <Kaleo> compile it
 101 [17:42] <Kaleo> and then start the launcher from there using gdb:
 102 [17:42] <Kaleo> bzr branch lp:unity-2d
 103 [17:42] <Kaleo> cd unity-2d
 104 [17:42] <Kaleo> cmake . && make
 105 [17:42] <Kaleo> gdb ./launcher/app/unity-2d-launcher
 106 [17:42] <Kaleo> should do it
 107 === yofel_ is now known as yofel
 108 [17:52] <Kaleo> QUESTION:
 109 [17:52] <Kaleo> < raki__> suppose if i want to develop something for unity then will i have to learn qml or c++ is enough?
 110 [17:52] <Kaleo> < raki__> and what are you using javascript for?
 111 [17:53] <Kaleo> if you are going to touch the user interface at all you will need to understand QML
 112 [17:53] <Kaleo> Javascript is used inside QML
 113 [17:53] <Kaleo> but no worries, QML is really as easy as it gets
 114 [17:53] <Kaleo> the learning curve is not so high if you did UIs before
 115 [17:56] <Kaleo>  monish001> QUESTION: could you provide any good tutorial for QML to get started?
 116 [17:57] <Kaleo> the QML documentation is quite good
 117 [17:57] <Kaleo> and there is an official tutorial
 118 [17:57] <Kaleo> http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7-snapshot/qml-tutorial.html

MeetingLogs/devweek1103/GettingStartedWithUnity2D (last edited 2011-03-04 05:02:29 by 111)