• Allow Theme to set cursor theme and size
• Use Xfixes if available to hide cursor.
• Improved debug output
• Various minor tweaks and bugs squashed (See Changelog)

Grab it here.

Expect a matchbox window manager 1.2 release very very soon.

Work is also progressing on matchbox-panel-2 and matchbox-desktop-2 (see subversion repo) with them both being now close to 0.1 releases. These newer versions use GTK+ and because of this aim to eventually offer more functionality than the original xlib only based versions.

matchbox-window-manager however will always be buildable with xlib alone. The in progress also yet to be released matchbox-window-manager-2, will potentially have GTK as an optional dependency. All these newer version 2 eventual releases will also not use libmatchbox, with the plan being to phase that out in the future.

• Support for decoration-less application windows.
• New command line option for keyboard shortcuts config file path.
• Various fixes for key shortcut handling.
• Window gravity support for dialogs.
• Various Maemo related and other minor bug fixes / tweaks ( see ChangeLog )

A new Libmatchbox 1.9 has also been released;

• Disable various non critical stderr warnings.
  (Set MB_WARNINGS env var for old behaviour )
• Correctly set _NET_PID in mbtray applet code.

• Numerous tweaks and minor bug fixes.
• Themeing improvements.
• Maemo related improvements
• GCC 4 warnings cleanups
• and much more .. see the tarballs ChangeLog for gory details.

Grab the 1.0 release source from here.

I’ve also rolled a new libmatchbox release ( containing GCC4 warning and minor bug fixes ) and a matchbox-panel release ( containing performance improvements and numerous tweaks to applets - ACPI battery support on x86, better wireless and support for 2.6 kernels ).

I have made 0.1 releases of matchbox-keyboard and libfakekey.

As some keen eyed folks may have noticed, I have started work on matchbox-window-manger-II in SVN. Progress so far has been slow ( but its getting there ) and it doesn’t really do much as yet. Its a ground up rewrite still having the aims as m-w-m I ( small, fast etc ) but with a much more managable, flexible and modular code infrastructure allowing for easier tailoring and extending to a devices UI needs. Watch this space … more info soon.

Of course I still plan to work on maintaining m-w-m-I for the forseeable future though my focus will be on maintaining rather than adding any major new features.

For the case of matchbox-panel and matchbox-desktop I plan to drop them, focusing efforts more on just the window manager. So for now I intend to add just bug fixes and any interesting submitted patches. With the panel and desktop using just raw xlib, they have been pushed as far as they can really go in current form.

You’ll need to resubscribe by sending a mail to;

matchbox+subscribe <at> openedhand <dot> com

And then follow subsequent simple instructions in reply.

The old mailing list is still running but please migrate as soon as possible as it will eventually be shut down. Sorry for any inconvenience!

As well as a new look, there is a new logo, new content, updated documentation and screenshots as well as other new features. The current site should be considered beta , theres bound to be a few rough edges - if you notice one please be sure to let us know.

matchbox-keyboard is the much promised rewrite of xkbd.Its a lightweight software or ‘virtual’ keyboard for X improving much on my original ‘xkbd’. Features include easy flexible XML configuration of layouts, international support, low footprint and few dependencies. It also scales to larger displays much better than the original xkbd.

For more info see the README

matchbox-stroke
is another software input method which is stroke based. Its very much based on ideas from xstroke but with XML based stroke configuration, better international support and both fullscreen and input window modes. There is no screenshot as yet, but koen
kindly made a small video of it running on his Zaurus.

Both matchbox-stroke and matchbox-keyboard have not yet achieved a 0.1 release and exist only in the matchbox subversion repository currently ( See here for info on building from subversion ).

matchbox-keyboard is fully useable and close to a 0.1 release. matchbox-stroke is still a little rough around the edges and needs more strokes configured but basically works. Im announcing early so people can test, provide feedback and hopefully supply alternate
configurations for the eventual releases.

To build, they need a modern xlib, expat and libfakekey( also from subversion ). LibMatchbox is not currently required. Both matchbox-stroke and matchbox-keyboard are available under the GPL.

• Basic (optional) session manager support.
• EWMH fixes and improved GNOME integration.
• New matchbox-remote options.
• Some minor speedups and bug fixes.

Nokia has been funding much of Matchbox Window Manager development over the last couple of years. This has led to; improved speed, lower memory usage, more flexibility, bug fixes and many new features within the window manager. All of these improvements have happened in a generic way, fully usable across various platforms and devices. They are fully Open Source available under the GPL ( LGPL for libmatchbox ) and exist the the main matchbox source tree and release tarballs.

I hope to update the site with some more info soon. In the meantime, matchbox-window-manager 0.9.5 is due for imminent release. If you can please give current SVN a spin and see how it works for you.

• Composite Engine fixes.
• Fixes to alternative toolbar win handling.
• Misc minor fixes and improvements.

libMatchbox-1.7;

• Unit test packing fixes.
• Minor fixes to mbtray.
• Minor misc fixes.

matchbox-panel-0.9.2;

• Wireless Applet now uses libiw for better reporting.
• Clock applet is more accurate and uses less CPU.
• Battery applet reporting improved.
• Minor misc fixes.