Linux Debian support - [OT] What's the hoot about compiz?

Author

[OT] What's the hoot about compiz?

sk8r-365

2007-11-17, 1:12 am

Not wanting to offend, but what's the value of compiz on Debian Etch or, for
that matter, with any computer? What useful aspects has compiz? When it's
running can one play games such as Q3A without having to unload compiz?

--
sk8r-365
The U.S. government is destroying our freedoms daily
but are themselves enjoying "liberties" at our expense!

J.O. Aho

2007-11-17, 1:12 am

sk8r-365 wrote:
> Not wanting to offend, but what's the value of compiz on Debian Etch or

It's just eye-candy, it don't make the computer faster or better in any way.
You may want to try Beryl, there are people who thinks it's far better for
eye-candy than compiz.

> that matter, with any computer?

No, you need a good 3D card, even if you can get it to work, I wouldn't
recommend anything less than midrange+ nVidia or AMD graphics cards.

> What useful aspects has compiz? When it's
> running can one play games such as Q3A without having to unload compiz?

There are a lot of troubles with both compiz and Beryl, for person X Q3A works
fine while the 3D-eye-candy runs, but for person Y the game just locks, for
person Z the game works, but has a lot of graphical glitches. Person X, Y and
Z has almost identical setups, hardware and software vise.

--

//Aho

sk8r-365

2007-11-17, 1:12 am

Horton heard a Who named J.O. Aho saying:
> sk8r-365 wrote:
>
> It's just eye-candy, it don't make the computer faster or better in any way.
> You may want to try Beryl, there are people who thinks it's far better for
> eye-candy than compiz.
<snip>

If it's just some "ooo, ahhh" factor I'm not interested in wasting my
time.

Thank you, Aho.

--
sk8r-365
The U.S. government is destroying our freedoms daily
but are themselves enjoying "liberties" at our expense!

Davorin Vlahovic

2007-11-17, 7:15 am

On 2007-11-17, sk8r-365 <sk8r-365@sk8r.debian.etch.invalid.org> wrote:
> Not wanting to offend, but what's the value of compiz on Debian Etch or, for
> that matter, with any computer?

None.

> What useful aspects has compiz?

Things you can say to Vista users

> When it's
> running can one play games such as Q3A without having to unload compiz?

Yes.

--
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Fredderic

2007-11-17, 7:13 pm

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:46:02 +0000 (UTC),
Davorin Vlahovic <nrubA@ylf.krs.ref.rh> wrote:

> On 2007-11-17, sk8r-365 <sk8r-365@sk8r.debian.etch.invalid.org> wrote:
> None.

I don't know about that. I find translucency to be handy at times when
you're stuck for space. You can just roll back the translucency a bit
to read through to the window underneath, then roll it back up to
opaque when you're done.

And live previews in the task switcher, also. Many a time is it that
I've been waiting for a web page to load on another desktop, and it'd
be useful to be able to just pop up the task switcher to see if it's
finished, rather than having to switch desktops. Or even the desktop
cube, just roll it a little to see the other side. Compiz forces the
system to keep an image of everything in memory, so it's almost
instantaneous. As long as you still have enough memory to run your
apps. ;)

Though mostly, for me, the appeal of Compiz is the translucency
support. I do also, however, rather like it's customisable. I'm still
hanging onto the old outdated sawfish, for just that very same reason.

> Things you can say to Vista users

Pretty much what I was going to chime in with...

I do have to say, though, that when you're a little stressed, a bit of
eye candy goes a long way. Just tugging at the edge of a window, and
watching it flex while you're trying to nut out a problem you're
having....... Or swap the minimise effect setting, and just sit there
minimising the window to watch it burn, then restore it, just to
minimise it again. I can find some small satisfaction in that. At
present I mostly settle for groach, or this screen hack that turns your
cursor into a hammer, letting you bash holes in the screen. It'd be
awsome, combined with Compiz, to let you bash holes in firefox while
you wait for a slow page to load. ;)

I just wish I could fit Compiz and a couple applications onto my small
system at the same time. After about 10 minutes my system drags to a
crawl, trying to fit several applications into the few MB of ram left
over by Compiz, and just forget about Firefox entirely. Ode to that new
system I almost could afford. heh

Do I do agree, on a purely practical system, I don't think it has a
place. But neither does Aero Glass in Winblows. At least Linux is
still better, IMHO, except for Aero's fade effects. They're
impressive, and I'll be happy when Linux's standard desktops catch up.

Fredderic