Contribute to GNOME Apps

First meeting - Introduction to GNOME

Introduction

GNOME is easy and elegant way to use your computer. GNOME is one of the most popular desktop environments for Linux.

GNOME’s software is Free Software: all our code is available for download and can be freely modified and redistributed. This activity will introduce you to some of GNOME's newcomer-friendly applications. It will also prepare you for your next meeting in which you will start diving more into Contributing to GNOME Apps.

Get Started - 15'

Idea Generation - 25'

Now your Club is fired up and ready to go, we invite you to look at the information for each app in detail either as individuals or together as a group.

Break into small groups (less than 4 people) and look at the projects presented in the slides Teach GNOME Apps

Now that you have seen the applications you can contibute to, work as a group for answering the following questions:


What programming languages are you comfortable with?


What level of difficulty do you want?

The projects in the slides range in difficulty. Once you've decided on difficulty level and programming language, look through the project's code. Is it clear what the code is doing if you put some effort into reading it?

Would you like to learn to develop a particular type of App?

For example, are you interested in learning about the Linux file system API? Music playback? Communication protocols? Discuss this with your team members and find the application that you are most interested in.

Connect with the Community - 10'

Now that you have decided what GNOME App you are interested in contributing to, introduce yourself to the community.

In GNOME we use IRC to hang out together and the newcomers mailing list to discuss issues and support each other. In the #newcomers chatroom and mailing list you can ask questions. You can also find a link to the chatroom for the project you chose in the slides

Wrapping Up - 10'

Congratulations! It's time for all student groups share what they've learned with the other members of your club!

Spend a few minutes presenting the app you chose to the other club members.

Are you ready to take the next step and build the GNOME App you chose? Ask your Club Captain when the next meeting will be.