The Board Makes Progress, Now with Distro Packages

Last summer a cool little app began development and it has progressed to the point that packages are now available for several popular distributions. But what is The Board and why should you care?

The Board is a desktop application that will allow you to treat your computer desktop much like you would an actual desk - or perhaps a pinboard. It basically allows you to take notes, pin pictures, keep a diary, temporarily place a video or music file for easy reach, or just about anything you can imagine you do at a desk. Some of its listed features include:

* Add, load, remove pages

* Photo, video, note and label elements

* Add, edit, remove, resize elements in a page

* Basic Firefox and Chrome extensions

* Basic Nautilus extension

* Sound elements with Voice Memo support

* Select, move, align, distribute, and remove multiple elements

* Five backgrounds

Lucas Rocha began work on this project last summer and has released a couple of test versions. Version 0.1.0 was released on December 23 and 0.1.1 was released last month. Earlier on it was a bit difficult for the average joe to get going, but recently distro packages have been made available. Robert Ancell and Rocha have created a PPA for Ubuntu Natty. Packages have also been made for openSUSE, GNOME live CD, Gentoo, and Fedora.

See Rocha's blog post for more information, installation instructions, and tips. Be sure to read the comments as well.