..::B:R:A:D::..

I recently installed the latest Ubuntu Dapper release (6.04 Alpha 4). The first thing I did was use the following instructions to install the new Xgl/Compiz packages.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XglHowto

Earlier in the week I also installed OpenSuSE 10.1 beta 4 and surprisingly getting Xgl/Compiz to work on Ubuntu was a thousand times easier than trying to get it to work on SuSE.

After playing around with it over the last week I must say that Xgl/Compiz is cool! Here are some of my notes after a week of fun:

One of the quickest ways to learn what all the key combo’s were for Compiz was to go into the gconf-editor and look through all the plugins. You can also see a good list on the OpenSuSE site here:

http://en.opensuse.org/Compiz

In regards to the Cube plugin (the one that spins your screen around when you change virtual desktops), I have found that I prefer the “In” setting rather then the default which puts the desktop images on the outside of a cube. For me it just seemed more fluid and more appealing with the “in” setting.

My favorite’s are:

Switch windows = Alt + Tab

Arrange and View All Windows = F12 turns on or off; clicking a window will zoom it to the front

Switch desktops on cube = Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right Arrow

Switch desktops on cube with active window following = Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Left/Right Arrow

Rotate cube manually = Ctrl + Alt + left-click

Another suggestion I would make is to download the transset utility which allows you to make windows transparent. On Ubuntu it was as easy as:

apt-get install transset

It’s clearly early in development but at least somewhat usable and fun even at this point.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Linux. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.