Rather than the 2-pane approach, and a separate setup interface we used to have, we've gone for a single pane device list, as you've probably seen on your smartphone.
We also do away with the "Discoverable" switch (your computer will be visible when this panel is opened, invisible if not), and nearby devices will show up at the bottom of the list. Simply click on one to set it up.
Clicking on an already setup device will bring up the properties, allowing you to connect to the device if necessary, or link to related preferences.
Finally, the biggest part of the work was making sure that the new setup mechanism worked at least as well as the stand-alone wizard. This means that I got 17 of my most representative devices out, and set up every single one of them. Edge case.
There's a good chance that we'll make some additional, minor, adjustments to the wording, spacing and behaviour of this panel before the GNOME 3.12 release. I'd particularly like to make clicking on a device connect to it if already setup and offer some other way of accessing properties.
8 comments:
I'm glad to see some news about the bluetooth part of Gnome, thank you!
You said that we will have to click on the devices to open the properties panel and to connect it. Is that mean that the automatic connection of bluetooth headsets wiil be removed?
If not, will it be reviewed/fixed for some devices? My Motorolla S305 can't be connected automatically for some reasons, but I see Gnome making attempts :( )
m0z: There's nothing in gnome-bluetooth that automatically connects to your headphones, it's the headphones connecting to your computer. That'll still work as it did before.
While you're at it, any chance you'll add PAN server support to NM/Gnome-Bluetooth? With BlueZ 5, I can't use blueman anymore.
Looks great, but who has a phone like that anymore?
I enjoy seeing these dialogs evolve. Keep up the work and posts!
ocrete: What's "PAN server"? There's PAN or NAP. Try using test/test-nap in the BlueZ sources?
krh: Loads of people's phones still look like that. But if your phone is Samsung, Apple or Google branded, I've made a little fix :)
Pete: thanks, I'll certainly try to!
I'm already impressed by the quality of GNOME interfaces and bluez stack in GNOME 3.10!
just an idea, show the device icon, left to the label of each device in the device overview. So people can more easy recognize the devices.
Older people will not know what a certain mobile phone is, but if you show a mobile phone icon, they certainly will understand.
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