Thank you for contributing to this topic Joel, seems to me we need this.
The topic of native (non virtualized) applications is very dear to me, so can't resist adding my two cents:
Stickynotes are cute and would be easy to implement, but here is my real Genode wishlist:
Right on. Even more so than you suspect:
Some windows with a yellow background and editable text are very easy to do (in their early, simplier feature set at least), provided a bit of help from the SDK. No need to bring the extremely powerful and extensive Qt framework in the mix IMHO, using Qt would be like killing a fly with a sledgehammer.
Indeed with the API I'm used to (and for which I would like to see an improved, cleaned up, better variant in Genode) it would be a matter of minutes for an experienced dev to put things together and start compiling and testing. The code is simple enough that it could be the subject of a "tutorial", to introduce people to the API:
The tutorial could go something like..
- Introduction: explain what we're going to learn, program, why, how
- Learn the bare minimum about the "window" class (which in my 'previous' culture is called BWindow). Explain in a couple lines the BWindow ctor with its few params, then mention calling BWindow.Show() to display the window in the framebuffer (which in the case of Genode, belongs to Nitpicker).
- Learn the bare minimum about the "view" class (BView in old parlance). Incl. The SetViewColor() method, to set the background color (to e.g. pastel yellow), the DrawString() method to draw text etc.
- storage: load/save the text (I don't feel qualified to talk about Genode's persistency mechanisms yet)
- putting it all together: instantiate a window, a view, call win.AddChild(view), and lastly..
- text editing: I'll go on a limb and claim this is "left as an exercise to the reader".
- give a short "if you want to learn more, go read up here and here" paragraph
How far are we from making such a tutorial, making it very easy to develop (e.g. small) GUI applications for Genode ?
Discuss :-) (I want to say "not very far", but want to hear from others)
Email client - I would be happy with anything
IRC client - I love communicating with IRC chat, and the folks at #genode are very helpful :)
RSS Reader - I have my most important news sent to me via RSS, and it seems most Genodians like RSS as well
Native Firefox - this is but a dream
Office Suite - I hear LibreOffice is being ported to Genode?? Cool stuff indeed
VPN - Wireguard/OpenVPN
GUI audio player
Somewhat related to item #1: class BMailMessage is part of the code base that Genode got "for free" with the haiku-on-genode port.. Contrarily to other parts that were not easy/possible to adapt to Genode (audio/video code ..etc). In theory, that opens the door to the "mail_daemon" POP3/IMAP daemon, and the "Mail" application. (in practice, didn't yet attempt to compile Mail for Genode, might be missing something). Gotta dig up some screenshots somewhere to illustrate...
Might not be the best example though -- in this case, we're talking of a not really "native" app, strictly speaking, since it comes from a 'foreign' OS and runs with a (sizeable) compatibility layer.
The sticky notes example is a better one since the implementation that would come naturally for it would be a truly native implementation..
Anyway point being, three or four of the above would be doable quickly, one way or another, if the stars align.
**
Some additional (sticky? *g*) notes regarding this topic...
Basically, to make the above stuff happen, a few things would help on your end..
* offer bounties (not necessarily the most critical aspect: a surprising number of people can work "pro bono", for the good of the community, including of course among genodians, or for small/symbolic amounts, even 1 or 2 digits)
* offer to test everything and anything that contributes to the above, coming from devs, and give structured feedback
* if you're a developer, even with little availability, offer to get started on a simple project (sticky notes?) yourself, so long as another dev(s) accepts being your sherpa/mentor, guiding your steps.
With all of this, I would be able to switch to Genode without needing to virtualize anything. I would be as happy as a clam
_______________________________________________
+1 !
Cedric (available on-list and off-list to further discuss this)
p.s. - @john: will respond soon about that "HoG screenshots" thing, thanks!