Compiz Fusion

[Nick333]

Since I got this up and running I've done very little on my PC except stuff around with settings and play . Awesome stuff.

 

[jaarik]

Thumbs up. Enjoying it, too. Dwarfs Vista Aero.

 

[nihilist]

Compiz rocks, apart from it being bling for your box, it's got some pretty practical uses.

Zoom: you can zoom in and out your desktop realtime, and even while flash/video/opengl is being used (depending if your GFX card drivers support it)

Invert: you can invert the desktop colours, useful for those shoddy apps with bright white backgrounds or for night reading of PDF's

ADHD helper: One nice thing I dig is the ability to fade inactive windows so that they have a lower opacity, useful for desktop clutter.

Unlike Vista's half arsed hack at implementing Aero, Compiz actually provides useful features to improve the desktop, not just dress it up.

 

[jaarik]

Yeah. And the Expo plug-in is something that I use a hundred times a day to switch between my 5 desktops. Funny enough, switch your desktops to 5 columns and 1 row and the cube will not be a CUBE anymore!

 

[nihilist]

Don't use the cube myself, but I do like the Expo and Desktop Wall plugins, usually set mine up to 2x2 or 3x3 and then Expo appears as a nice grid with all my desktops.

Nice when you've got a few things on the go and you can watch all activities at once

Yeah. And the Expo plug-in is something that I use a hundred times a day to switch between my 5 desktops. Funny enough, switch your desktops to 5 columns and 1 row and the cube will not be a CUBE anymore!

 

[jaarik]

One feature I REALLY miss is a compiz plug-in to enable real time video preview while zooming out into Expo. Today I was trying to watch a movie and at the same time keep an eye on 2 apps running in the background on other desktops. You kinda loose the feel for the movie switching back and forth.

Does anybody know how to tweak this?

 

[nihilist]

You mean you want to see the video in Expo? If that's disabled I think you need to change your video rendering mode in your media player, or its a driver problem.

I had that with the onboard Intel 965 graphics chip.. but I could be misunderstanding you entirely

One feature I REALLY miss is a compiz plug-in to enable real time video preview while zooming out into Expo. Today I was trying to watch a movie and at the same time keep an eye on 2 apps running in the background on other desktops. You kinda loose the feel for the movie switching back and forth.

Does anybody know how to tweak this?

 

[jaarik]

You mean you want to see the video in Expo? If that's disabled I think you need to change your video rendering mode in your media player, or its a driver problem.

I had that with the onboard Intel 965 graphics chip.. but I could be misunderstanding you entirely

My laptop has an old ATI Radeon 9000. Video rendering mode? Where in Totem do I change it

 

[nihilist]

I don't use Totem, try Mplayer or Xine or Gxine etc; So not 100% sure what to suggest.

VLC lets you change video rendering modes.

 

[jaarik]

I don't use Totem, try Mplayer or Xine or Gxine etc; So not 100% sure what to suggest.

VLC lets you change video rendering modes.

Ok. Got VLC. Where, could you prompt?

 

[Cadavre777]

Compiz is ok, but I prefer Project Looking Glass. No having to muck around trying to fix missing title bars. The ability to view your apps at any angle would be nice for compiz

 

[flarkit]

I luvvit, also use "the ability to fade inactive windows so that they have a lower opacity" and have become dependent on sorting my apps onto different cube-faces.

Lovely stuff

 

[Kasyx]

Compiz is ok, but I prefer Project Looking Glass. No having to muck around trying to fix missing title bars. The ability to view your apps at any angle would be nice for compiz

Yeah, that has also been my biggest issue

 

[jaarik]

Compiz is ok, but I prefer Project Looking Glass. No having to muck around trying to fix missing title bars. The ability to view your apps at any angle would be nice for compiz

Despite the fact the Java is my first love, Project Looking glass would still have to evolve much to be a substitute for Compiz, imo.

It would be cruel, but what I saw from their WebStart demo was not very much impressive at all.

 

[Cadavre777]

I wouldnt go as far as saying its a substitute, its an alternative. Their objective is to change how users interact with the system, not just change how it looks.

 

[w1z4rd]

Since I got this up and running I've done very little on my PC except stuff around with settings and play . Awesome stuff.

Install Emerald now... so you can make your windows even more funky It works real well with compiz.

 

[milomak]

one of the greatest features of compiz for me is when i send my mouse to the top right corner of the screen. great stuff.

 

[.Froot.]

i installed compiz a while back. had so much hassle with it (complete chaos) that i uninstalled it...

 

[jaarik]

i installed compiz a while back. had so much hassle with it (complete chaos) that i uninstalled it...

maybe, it's worth a shot this time. mine started out as chaos on hardy beta (worked with feisty), but after tampering with xorg.conf everything went back to normal.

 

[.Froot.]

Ok sure, will try that. Basically what happened was that my windows' title bars went missing (Title, minimize, maximize, exit) and a right click meant that it flickered before opening.