The Final Zone project

The current default layout Layout with the main toolbar Here is how LibreOffice Writer looks after removing the toolbar and only keep the sidebar located on the right. To achieve that result, set View -> Toolbars -> Standard unchecked. The benefit is a more focused and uncluttered layout without distraction and also more touchscreen friendly. It will be nice that user interface layout will be more responsive depending the size of the screen. This example is made with LibreOffice Writer 5.0.0.5 running on Fedora 23 Release Candidate 3.

F23-backgrounds is recently updated with the newest wallpapers including extra and is now available in stable repository. Simply update via Software application on latest Fedora 23 Workstation or command pkcon update f23-backgrounds-base f23-backgrounds-extras View the update In addition f22-backgrounds received a much needed update with the inclusion of previous supplemental wallpapers winnners . Please test them for all version to push them to stable release. Here is also the directory for distributions looking to package these wallpapers.

I upgraded the Asus X550ZE to Fedora 23 Beta Design Suite. So far, the majority of hardware is functional except the Fn hotkeys and the poor power optimization. For Fn hotkeys, after looking at all possible solutions, it turned out majority of Asus X series laptops is affected due to the lack of proper documentation of wapf function found within asus-nb-wmi module from the kernel. The ball is on ASUS to make hotkeys functional and provide needed information. The second case related to poor power optimization is due to radeon driver. In addition, the lack of functional hybrid driver only make the laptop running on R7 265 GPU for performance while the R5 230 is permanently disabled for better power saving. It will be a while before Linux kernel will support hybrid graphics for Dual AMD Radeon.

Fedora Magazine did a good job exposing more Fedora Labs notably Fedora 23 Design Suite Beta. No much update occurred other than the tutorial section currently under work thanks to one of notable contributors Andrew Walton, who also provided one of his excellent pictures available as part of Fedora 23 wallpaper. Final phase will be tweaking and update the tutorials on the wiki section before passing to the incoming 24 release. Feedback is welcome for users looking to have their favourites applications and fonts included by default as long they abide to Fedora Project policies .

Looking and talking at Ask Fedora , it will be nice to share suggestion for proper networked scanner support on HP all-in-one printers. One of solution is to install hplip-gui via terminal. sudo dnf install hplip-gui Or su -c "dnf install hplip-gui Unfortunately, the frontend is not listed on Gnome Software due to appdata missing. Another solution is to directly edit /etc/cups/printers.conf and change the device URI. To find the correct URI with HP protocol  of your networked HP all-in-one printer, use hp-setup -i or hp-setup hostname . The URI should be listed like hp:/net/name_of_hp_printer?zc=hostname Where hp:/net/ is the protocol replacing dnssd:// , zc=hostname is the name of hostmane for the all-in-one printer sometime subsituted by ip=ipaddress For example, the uri of Photosmart eStation C510 is  hp:/net/Photosmart_eStn_C510_series?zc=HPFFBBC9 hp:/Photosmart_eStn_C510_series?ip=192.168.1.64 Save the change and restart either the system or simply ...

Fedora 23 Rawhide within Gnome Boxes Gnome Boxes is an application similar to VirtualBox that allows installing a operating systems via virtualization or use it remotely. The main focus is the simplicity to casual users wanting to try their system.  One of new features is the ability to do an express installation with minimal interaction which is convenient for a quick setup for say Microsoft Windows system up to 8.1. One of weakness is the lack of transferring data within the virtualizer as done on VirtualBox useful to do the work on format not supported by applications on Linux distribution notable Fedora which is my main system. On some occasion, Boxes will not detect the existing virtualized system I installed on the main session until the restart. It can be annoying but not enough to detract the experience. Overall, Gnome Boxes is a very useful tool for developers and also designers wanting to run their operating system without dual boot. The test was done on ASUS X...

I updated a status report for aiming a full out of box experience for ASUS X550 family laptop . It is a AMD Kaveri powered laptop featuring Dual Radeon GPU. Known issues are missing functional hotkeys (Fn), broken webcam support and lack of optimized power management.

For artists and designers (i.e. graphics and web), Fedora 22 Design Suite is now available and received a new website located on https://labs.fedoraproject.org/en/design-suite/ . Listed features from the wiki : Now based on Fedora Workstation media . Addition of Sparkleshares, PDF Mod and Shutter applications. Inclusion of plugins for Blender (Lux Render and YaFaRay) and Inkscape (Sozi and Table). Latest versions of Entangle (0.7.0) and Inkscape (0.91) Gimp gained a new G'Mic plugin replacing Greycstation as default. Two shortcut icons for documentation of both Design Suite and Design Team Updated the list of tutorials related to design Users preferring installing  Fedora Workstation from network can add Design Suite category from the installer.

I recently bought an ASUS X550ZE to replace the venerable Sony VAIO N250E laptop. The reason of choosing an AMD powered laptop is for long term support i.e. the use of Vulkan API in future AMD GPU driver. In summary, here is the ASUS X550ZE specification taken from ASUS website : Processor AMD® APU A10-7400P /A8-7200P/FX-7600P Processor Chipset AMD A76M FCH Memory DDR3L 1600 MHz SDRAM, 8 GB Display 15.6" 16:9 /Full HD (1920x1080) Graphic AMD Radeon® R5 M230 + Radeon® R7 M265 DX Dual Graphics with 2GB DDR3 VRAM Built-in A10-7400P Storage 2.5" 9.5mm SATA 1TB 5400/7200 RPM Optical Drive Super-Multi DVD Card Reader 2 -in-1 card reader ( SD/ SDHC/ MMC) Camera VGA Web Camera Networking Integrated 802.11 b/g/n Built-in Bluetooth™ V4.0 (Optional) 10/100/1000/Gigabits Base T Interface 1 x COMBO audio jack 1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor 2 x USB 3.0 port(s) 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert 1 x HDMI Audio Built-in ...

Design Suite Alpha 22 is available for downloading along the Workstation edition of Fedora 22 Alpha which is based. The spins includes plugins for both Gimp (Gmic), Inkscape (support of making tables) and Blender (LuxRender). Shutter, a screenshot tool for desktop, is  added at the request of Design Team. More documentations related to Design Suite and Design Team are added for informing users, however known issue is swapped names of the correct url address which is fixed for beta release. In addition, the installer received similar updates for users looking to use Design related group of packages via either Server  edition or other spin variants.

Image speaks itself. gimp-paint-studio package just got an metainfo needed for Gnome Software Center as add-on for Gimp based on related Richard Hughes' blog . The updated package will be shortly available in Rawhide and also in Fedora 21 updates-testing repository . It will not be included for Fedora 20 due  to the preview release of Gnome Software lacking addons support. Next step will be contacting upstream adding that metainfo.  Hopefully other add-ons maintainers for applications such as Inkscape and Blender will do the same to bring a richful experiences to users.

A quick summary of the events. I met some Mofamiliar and new faces behind their IRC nickname including gnokii which is strong sense of humour and pro-active. The process was about reorganizing the Design Team by priority of the project. Mo covered the brainstorming where the rough task is pictured on https://luya.fedorapeople.org/fad-2015/ The complete edited version will follow soon.

It appears GMIC is now available in Fedora repository meaning it will be included in Design Suite 21 as replacement of the obsolete GREYstoration by default. That plugin is very useful for the excellent tutorials from Pat David who also contributed to the GMIC project thus removing the need to manually compile and install it.

Design Suite Live Spin has a shortcut for a list of tutorials related to graphical art and visual studio. The actual link is on http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Design_Suite/Tutorials which needs more links for tutorials using free and open source tools.

Yes, I am currently using XO 1.75 laptop to write this blog which needs more update. I am really busy outside Fedora  world while waiting for the infrastructure for Fedora 21 in order to refine Design Suite.  This XO 1.75 has interesting apparently unavailable on most mobile device, a type of sensor that turns off the back light from the screen in plain sunlight. Surprisingly other device seems lacking that feature.  That will be a useful information for demonstrating the XO Laptop in local cafe as requested by my friends. I guess I will need a touch screen XO 4 laptop because of frequent question of touchscreen support, a trending norm in portable industry.

Based on the good writing about the goal of Fedora.next by Adam Williamson, Design Suite may be made on top of Fedora Workstation as the logical choice. Doing so will help focusing on key areas like configurations and proper distribution of applications to display better technologies (For example, Design Suite is using AppFolder provided by Gnome Shell as default). Fedora Workstation is a base with the ability to add group package like Design Packages in this case. Only difference with the spin is the optimization while staying close to upstream.

I had conversion with a new Fedora user who like Gnome Shell asking if it is possible to move Tweak Tools to Settings. I think it makes sense under Personal category and labeled as Advanced.

The latest itteration of Design Suite was successful using the latest stable release of Gnome 3.10.x. This time the testing went much better with some fixes to address. The goal to include applications with the style of Adobe Creative Suite is nearly complete with: Gimp (Photoshop), Inkscape (Illustrator and Framework), Scribus(InDesign), Premiere (PiTiVi), Acrobat (Evince, PDFShuffle, Xournal), in addition of Paints, Blender 3D and Hugin. Looking at the future release, here are some possible updates to implements: Add more categories for Gnome Shell (see  How to enable categories in Gnome 3.8 Shell application menu ), More plugins for Gimp notably gimp-separate+ for rudimentary CMYK support although Scribus does a better job, Inclusion of Tweak Tools . I personally think that application should be part of Setting Tools and possibly renamed as Advanced Settings, More Gnome 3.12 features Stay tuned...

I recently discovered it is possible to listen to a music from smartphone connected with a laptop via Bluetooth. The test was done using a custom cyanogemod for a discontinued Samsung Galaxy Mini Dart and an updated Fedora 20 beta using BlueZ5 . The sound is jerky probably due to probably the hardware limit.

Design Suite includes new tool like Gimp Paint Studio and Phatch. Inkscape course icon has moved under the tutorials section made in Design Suite wiki. If you have more tutorials you would like to add, simply edit the wiki section.