Matchbox window manager for small X displays gains i18n, GConf

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Oct. 13, 2003

Project Founder Matthew Allum has announced a new release of the open source "Matchbox" window manager and desktop for small, low-resolution X window displays. Matchbox 0.7 features optional international language capabilities (i18N) through Pango and GNU Gettext/NLS support, optional support for storing application preferences with GConf, and an automated regression testing suite.

(Click for larger view of Matchbox menu on iPaq)

Matchbox consists of five main components: a window manager, a panel, a desktop, a shared utility library, and a number of small panel applications. It is designed specifically for resource-constrained X11-enabled devices such as handheld computers, PDA's, set-top boxes, and consumer devices where display size, storage, CPU bandwidth, and input mechanisms are limited. It is also recommended for use on desktops for children and those with disabilities.

Matchbox running in titlebar-less mode
(Click to enlarge)

Matchbox follows the FreeDesktop.org standard, and can be used with Gnome2 and KDE3, as well as PDA app stacks such as GPE, Open Palmtop Integrated Environment (OPIE), OpenZaurus, or the recently GPL'd PIXIL.

Matchbox running Minimo on Sharp Zaurus SL-C760
(Click to enlarge)

Pango (

) is an open-source framework for the layout and rendering of internationalized text that aims to support output in all the world's major languages. Gettext offers a complete toolset for translating messages output by C programs, and aims to enable Native Language Support (NLS), which comprises internationalization (the technical capability to support multiple languages) and localization (translation into specific languages).

Part of Gnome 2.0, GConf is a library that provides a simple configuration data storage interface to applications, something like the Windows Registry, enabling applications to share configuration data and enabling configuration changes to instantly cascade across the system. It also provides an architecture that tries to make things easy for system administrators (unlike the Windows Registry).

Matchbox running on HP Journada
(Click to enlarge)

Matchbox's new testing suite automates the process of testing for bugs after modification of the Matchbox source code.

Besides optional GConf, Pango, GNU Gettext/NLS, and the testing suite, the new release features "many other enhancements and bug fixes," according to Allum.

Complete release notes for the new version are available here. Additional screenshots of Matchbox are available on the Matchbox Website.

Matchbox was conceived soon after Allum got Linux running on a Compaq iPaq, a PDA with a 240x320 X Server. "I realized a window manager designed with these constraints in mind would prove a great help. I bought a book on xlib and began work."

For more about Matchbox's history, see Matchbox -- a Small Footprint Window Manager for Embedded Devices, a LinuxDevices.com article by Allum.

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