PCLinuxOS Graphics

[Archie]

As many of our members, especially those who'd been with PCLinuxOS for a few years, know that there is a Beautification group. I guess I am still a member but frankly I do not know what became of it. With the recent surge of activities in the Art and Graphics part of PCLinuxOS, I noted that there was no centralized area, no hub to accommodate all the proposals.

I would very much love to revive the Beautification project but as such, it's probably covered with layers upon layers of cobwebs, and in disarray. So I took it upon myself to set up another attempt to centralize this important portion of our beloved distro.

I would like to invite all our veteran and budding artists to join me at pclinuxos-graphics.

It will be a gallery that would make it easier for our developers to pick-up anything they might need for their purposes. Plus it will be an excellent canvas to fuse together two or more art concepts.

Also, I am not a natural leader, as many in our community would attest. But I am avid supporter and give my all to a particular goal, as many would also attest to this. In time, I would like to hand over this project to someone with the dedication (like parnote of the PCLinuxOS Magazine) and commitment to see the project through.

Hope on over to Google Code's pclinuxos-graphics and help PCLinuxOS be the most beautiful, exciting ... best Linux distro that any user can be proud of using!

Thank you for reading.

Archie

[Neal ManBear]

Thank you very much, Archie!

[Archie]

It's the least that I could offer, Neal. I do hope others with better advantages than I do will follow.

[Neal ManBear]

It's the least that I could offer, Neal. I do hope others with better advantages than I do will follow.

I hope so. But don't sell yourself short. You have talent, plus a way of pulling people together.

[Archie]

I have confidence in our community, and this call for unity will be answered.

[Rudge]

It's the least that I could offer, Neal. I do hope others with better advantages than I do will follow.

I hope so. But don't sell yourself short. You have talent, plus a way of pulling people together.

+1 ,, the brown part.    

[rubentje1991]

How can artists register themselves?
Or what kind of workflow do you want?
=> just general question (I've looked at that google-projects page, and I don't see a register place, that's why I ask this...)

[timeth]

Hey Archie, sounds good    Got some questions.

Should we not use the beautification Google Group anymore? Does this new Google code 'project group' have a gallery?  If there is a gallery, can SVG files can be uploaded/viewed in the gallery?  How do we join? How do we upload images?

EDIT: rubentje1991 just got in before me  

[timeth]

Oh, I just tried logging in at the top right corner and it seems you can just join in. No registration needed.

[rubentje1991]

@timeth:

# Non-members may check out a read-only working copy anonymously over HTTP.
svn checkout http://pclinuxos-graphics.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ pclinuxos-graphics-read-only

=> I've used Google Code Projects several times the last couple of years, and I (as admin) had to add people manually;
One suggestion on the page is about a Google mailing-list where you would be possible to register yourself (and add you automatically to the Google Code Project)....

And indeed, I was sometime ago on the Google PCLinuxOS-beautification mailing-list, where hadn't been any activity since months (even years I think)...


If it would be a little more clear, it would be very helpful for some graph-heros (then they don't have to spend time to struggle with this one  )
But a very good initiative, Archie
(last time something alike was used is back in 2009 I think)

[timeth]

Thanks rubentje, I haven't used it before so I don't really know how to use it. I'll wait for more instructions. 

[Archie]

Thank you all for responding. In all honesty, like timeth I have not used Google Code before and for a time before registering the project, I even thought it was an overkill since most of our dealings will be visual.

If anyone is willing to assist me in the setups, it would be a big help. I really have no idea whether we can use Beautification since there really hadn't been any activity for a couple of years now.

So do we get one with this or just throw it in the dump? rubentje1991, would you like to be admin for this project?

I personally like to have a central place for the graphics and art side that are specific to PCLinuxOS.

[rubentje1991]

Well, I checked another code-project (where I'm the owner):

Max upload size: 100 MB.
Your project is using approximately 9.7 KB out of 4096 MB total quota.

=> files are maximum 100MB (no problem I think), and total amount of data we can upload is 4GB (so that's also enough I think)

But the whole code-things is just made for programming together...
=> downloads are just listed (I submitted a picture in my code-project, no thumbnails or something alike): then I think something like DropBox is equal in usability (except for not all artists loving DropBox  )
=> issues-tab is to post bugs (how to reproduce, etc etc - not focused on posting artwork-suggestions...)
=> wiki-pages are static pages, with just some info (equal to our PCLinuxOS-wiki)
     : however it is possible to add images to the wiki-page (so we can share our thoughts there, incl. images, etc...)
=> source: submitting and getting the project-code at once (can also contain pictures) -- but then everybody has to have work with subversion or another versioning system. Maybe that's what you want (there are some simple tools for it in the repository): people can change a file, or commit a new one; and everybody else will get that changes by 'getting the latest version'.
But no gallery on the place itself (or canvas, or whatever you call it)
People also need a Google Account (however they can keep their own mail-address with the help of following link: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount)

We can't stay using this one: http://groups.google.com/group/pclinuxos-beautification-2009;
because within some months, uploading files etc. won't be available anymore
Even existing files will be removed (extra warning for the people who worked there once!!!)

Maybe we can use Google Sites?:
https://sites.google.com/site/pclinuxosbeautification/home (just an example, nothing final!!! - I'd like some shorter name, but I do not have any fantasy at the moment  )
=> here I just have to add some editors or owners (the artists...)
:: We can have a separate 'file cabinet' with all files, which we link to from other pages... or just upload images to a page (e.g. "wallpaper heart beat"  - where you can find progress, or asking for help...)
Also an Announcement-page is possible, or a 'List'-page to track various things...
It is also possible to collect ideas/requests from people:
http://sites.google.com/site/sitetemplateinfo/tips/work-with-forms
=> not a 'contact me' but an 'idea' page  [ I haven't add such forms at this time ]
=> this way it's also possible for new people to ask for registration as editor / owner...
Some examples (this is really an ugly site...): https://sites.google.com/site/redmille/formulieren
(just open the whole site, there is also a file cabinet, a guest book, etc... -- sorry, but it is in Dutch (and a little bit in English...  ))
One warning: we only have 100MB here!
=> this can be solved by using a different file storage, e.g. here: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwCz_TX4tzJWZTBjOTc3ZTAtY2EwZS00Njc4LWE3YzAtMzJiMjNlZDMxNzQ1&hl=nl
(where I also can add the people working on the artwork - or that even can be at Archies docs side; just what we choose;
or even something like Dropbox.... -- because Google Docs is limited to 1GB)
=> maybe it's even possible to use the code project where we have 4GB of file space... 

Another possibility is adding a group on kde-look.org or something alike...
:: http://kde-look.org/groups/?mode=0
=> I didn't take the time to test that one... (maybe someone else has experience with it?)
: but I think this is very public (all things you do are directly visible to the whole world - everyone who visits kde-look.org; or is that not true?)

So we have many choices (maybe other people around here have even better suggestions -- please let it know  )
And, Archie, I'd say it's up to you what you want to choose... (I have no real preference
=> I'm willing to help building up the central artwork place - but I have to know what you exactly want
(else, if you say: I want to use this technology (e.g. google sites), I also can just make something, add some editors and owners (incl. registration possibility); and then afterwards everything can be changed (just to make it practical to use)...

Thanks for reading this long post  (my longest until now I think  )
And throw in your ideas please!

[Archie]

Such is your longest post so far, Ruben, and it certainly removes any doubt that you are seriously going to be a big part of this venture, Ruben. And I am glad for that. I actually had to brew coffee, copy and paste your reply on Kwrite and compose a well-laid out response. Forget about well-laid out but the coffee is good.

So, what do we really need? How do we plan to collaborate? Obviously, a central place where PCLinuxOS graphic artists can work and communicate together. IMHO we will need a simple UI that can easily keep an up-to-date record and roster of who is working on what. A member can be working on a set of Devices icons, and that's not too bad. But if two or three others can work together on the same set, the time it would take to complete the set would be less. Also, members' ideaa are great ideas but if you put two great ideas and fuse them together, that fusion would either explode or worst, just implode.

Short name, please. pclinuxosbeautification is a typo waiting to happen. It is just the same with pclinuxos-graphics! How about something simple and obvious, like pclos-art?

Storage space. Each of us have our own preferred storage (whether it is online or local). So I don't think that is a big issue ... did you know that SkyDrive actually offers 25Gb of online storage? ... and I hope I won't get barbecued for even mentioning it! My concern will be a list of links that members will be exchanging with each other. Most of the work will not be online and it is only something is worked on that we would be uploading the files but where will the final file be kept? So we would still need a good deal of cloud for storage.

I like the idea of adding a group on KDE-Look.org ... but I am also not sure whether we should put a veil on a project or keep it transparent. I am for transparency but only within the project group.

Yes, we do have many choices but we need to take steps and move forward.

I'll keep this reply shorter than rubentje1991's and I'm sure we'll have more of our artists chipping in their POVs.

[Archie]

I received an excellent suggestion on a PM from "one of us" who rather remain anonymous at this point. How about a FORUM. I thought it was a good idea and it still is but something knocked behind my head and whispered, "Do you all wanna detach your self from the main forum?" Then I said, "but the project is going to be just that ... Google Site, Google Code ... they're not exactly at the main forum." Then another whisper, "Yeah, a collaboration site ... but a forum?"

What's the difference?