wow... +1 Linux

ReRuss · Post by **ReRuss** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:00 pm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xC5uEe5OzNQ

That's some impressive eye candy imo

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:39 pm

That's is Beryl which has been depreciated in favor of the newer Compiz. There have been quite a few developments since that video - here's a good overview:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=epRjN9EkYY4
A lot of eye candy no doubt, but a lot of it is extremely useful.

DOLLS (J) [!] · Post by **DOLLS (J) [!]** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 1:38 am

Actually, Beryl was a fork of Compiz.

darkbenny · Post by **darkbenny** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:19 am

unimpressed

PHoNyMiKe · Post by **PHoNyMiKe** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:43 am

I would love for my computer to do all that fancy lookin stuff. the only problem is I won't be able to utilize my hardware to it's fullest for free like I can in windows. I can download any program to do whatever in windows for free.

so the only trade-off that I want now is switching desktops. I wish I had like 4 desktops, that could change via key (alt+tab) in a split second. that would enable the user to have many applications open and easilly accessible. I could switch to screens with docs opened already, then switch back. opposed to minimizing shit, then bringing other files up. that's the only feature that would honestly improve anything for me. but ya, computers should have enough megahurtz to spare on awesome looking guis, come on, it's fricken 2007.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:23 am

phOnYmIkE wrote:so the only trade-off that I want now is switching desktops. I wish I had like 4 desktops, that could change via key (alt+tab) in a split second. that would enable the user to have many applications open and easilly accessible. I could switch to screens with docs opened already, then switch back. opposed to minimizing shit, then bringing other files up. that's the only feature that would honestly improve anything for me. but ya, computers should have enough megahurtz to spare on awesome looking guis, come on, it's fricken 2007.

I saw a mac G5 do that, I dunno if it's a feature of the latest MacOS or what, but yeah, it looks convenient.

Kajuru · Post by **Kajuru** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:57 am

Apparently phOnYmIkE wants an alternative shell(most of which are freeware or opensource) for Win. Most shell have virtual desktops. Particularly, I like bblean.

Nightcrawler · Post by **Nightcrawler** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:28 pm

Am I the only one that just fails to see the usefulness for any of this? My 2D desktop and taskbar is all I need as far as I know.

Demios · Post by **Demios** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:59 pm

DOLLS wrote:Actually, Beryl was a fork of Compiz.

And is now merged in Compiz Fusion. I for one find this shit pointless. I have mltiple desktops already, which I barely use. ALT-TAB is where the functionality line is at. Anymore is just insipid.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:13 pm

again, people with too much time on their hands continue the insipid drive to copy every feature of every commercial OS, regardless of actual benefit.

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:26 pm

Nightcrawler wrote:Am I the only one that just fails to see the usefulness for any of this?

Nope.

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:07 pm

Again, the framework lets you do a lot of fluff along with some genuinely nice things.

Legitimate niceties that come to mind:
-It's nice and pleasing to the eye to have your GUI hardware accelerated, a la Vista and OSX.

-Visual queues are helpful, such as vibrating a terminal window instead of playing a system bell

-Clicking on the virtual desktop icons and having all of your programs just disappear isn't intuitive. The visual queues for desktop switching (either sliding or rotating) make it easier to see what's going on, and make it easier for people like my girlfriend and parents to use virtual desktops.

-The Expo feature is very useful, along with scale. Scale (the plugin that shows you all open windows) has some great features such as being able to middle click on windows to close them, like a tab in firefox

-The ring switcher is better and more intuitive than a regular alt tab

-It has a lot of nice highlighting and opacity stuff built in to help focus on windows in the foreground

-It has a lot of nice regex options that allow you to do things like always open Pidgin on desktop 2, or always resize a certain program to a specific resolution

People like to bitch about Compiz, but it does add a lot of usability. Sure it's not necessary to have your desktop rotate when you change virtual desktops, but then it's not necessary to have a window gracefully slide down to your taskbar when you minimize it - but it is nice.

MisterJones · Post by **MisterJones** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:17 pm

Nightcrawler wrote:Am I the only one that just fails to see the usefulness for any of this? My 2D desktop and taskbar is all I need as far as I know.

I can see potential use in grouped windows (for document comparison) and real time transparency that could be calibrated with a mosue wheel gesture. Improved desktod/window switching is nice as well. Sadly, that's pretty much it for me.

As much as I hate mac (moreso their users), tiger provided some nice features (in particular the new "thumbnail/preview" system and the time machine) i really would like to see on royalty free Open Source projects other than just 1001 ways to see my window minimize.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:17 pm

casualsax3 wrote:Again, the framework lets you do a lot of fluff along with some genuinely nice things.

Legitimate niceties that come to mind:
-It's nice and pleasing to the eye to have your GUI hardware accelerated, a la Vista and OSX.

Bullcrap. Hardware acceleration by itself doesn't make things pretty, and in Vista's case, it made things a lot worse.

-Visual queues are helpful, such as vibrating a terminal window instead of playing a system bell

If a window on XP started doing that, most people would think they just got a virus, or a had a stroke.

-The ring switcher is better and more intuitive than a regular alt tab

As long as the keyboard shortcut is still there, then its a good thing.

-It has a lot of nice highlighting and opacity stuff built in to help focus on windows in the foreground

-It has a lot of nice regex options that allow you to do things like always open Pidgin on desktop 2, or always resize a certain program to a specific resolution

the first's point's issue never required a hardware accelerated API to solve. thats solved in high-level design. Gnome and KDE both had the second point for a long time.

People like to bitch about Compiz, but it does add a lot of usability. Sure it's not necessary to have your desktop rotate when you change virtual desktops, but then it's not necessary to have a window gracefully slide down to your taskbar when you minimize it - but it is nice.

no, it doesn't it just pretties up already existing functionality

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:36 pm

this is news how? I barely use Linux and have known about this for ages. As far as multiple desktops, it sounded cool, but the thing is now that I have them I really never use them, I don't need to, I desktop is fine.

plus it slows down my computer so as shiny as it is, it isn't worth it. This is just linux users trying to be Windows and MacOSX

Post by **badinsults** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:50 pm

Although I would not abandon Gnome for this, it is quite pretty, which is something some user's demand. Personally, I prefer the interface to be a simple as possible, and Gnome fits the bill quite nicely.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:54 pm

waiting for KDE 4.1 here ( 4.0 will come out in january, and 4.1 will have all the revisions after the general public gets there hands on 4.0 this is my logic)

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:42 am

Nightcrawler wrote:Am I the only one that just fails to see the usefulness for any of this? My 2D desktop and taskbar is all I need as far as I know.

No, all I see on there is a hundred different ways to alt-tab.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:57 am

funkyass wrote:
-Visual queues are helpful, such as vibrating a terminal window instead of playing a system bell
If a window on XP started doing that, most people would think they just got a virus, or a had a stroke.

Or were using MSN MEssenger/Live Messenger and just recieved a nudge(hate nudges, disable them immediately).

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:34 am

Gil_Hamilton wrote:
funkyass wrote:
-Visual queues are helpful, such as vibrating a terminal window instead of playing a system bell
If a window on XP started doing that, most people would think they just got a virus, or a had a stroke.
Or were using MSN MEssenger/Live Messenger and just recieved a nudge(hate nudges, disable them immediately).

I nudge people to piss them off.

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:22 am

badinsults wrote:Although I would not abandon Gnome for this, it is quite pretty, which is something some user's demand. Personally, I prefer the interface to be a simple as possible, and Gnome fits the bill quite nicely.

It works on top of Gnome - it just replaces Metacity as the window manager. It also works with KDE, XFCE, and maybe others I don't know about. It won't clutter anything up if you don't want it to. When you enable it, by default all it does is make windows fade in and out smoothly, adds a nice minimize and maximize animation, and it slides when you change virtual desktops. It's quite nice, and since you're not really using the GPU for much of anything during desktop use it doesn't add much overhead.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:12 pm

windows live is complete CRAP

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:19 pm

adventure_of_link wrote:windows live is complete CRAP

...and has nothing to do with this thread.

kick · Post by **kick** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:56 pm

phOnYmIkE wrote:I wish I had like 4 desktops, that could change via key (alt+tab) in a split second. that would enable the user to have many applications open and easilly accessible. I could switch to screens with docs opened already, then switch back. opposed to minimizing shit, then bringing other files up. that's the only feature that would honestly improve anything for me. but ya, computers should have enough megahurtz to spare on awesome looking guis, come on, it's fricken 2007.

If that's the only problem that plagues Windows,then here's a cure for it
(you'll love this):

http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/

Free and OpenSource.Install and enjoy.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:16 am

kick wrote:
phOnYmIkE wrote:I wish I had like 4 desktops, that could change via key (alt+tab) in a split second. that would enable the user to have many applications open and easilly accessible. I could switch to screens with docs opened already, then switch back. opposed to minimizing shit, then bringing other files up. that's the only feature that would honestly improve anything for me. but ya, computers should have enough megahurtz to spare on awesome looking guis, come on, it's fricken 2007.
If that's the only problem that plagues Windows,then here's a cure for it
(you'll love this):

http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/

Free and OpenSource.Install and enjoy.

There's also MS's own "Virtual Desktop Manager"
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/down ... rtoys.mspx

And both nVidia and ATi offer VD functionality with their drivers.