And that's why Beta's aren't for fun!

[Derek Djons]

The last couple of weeks I've been playing around with Ubuntu Linux 6.04 Dapper Drake and openSUSE Linux 10.x Both of them are beta's as we all know.

My experiences with beta Operating Systems are always a bit twitchy since the product isn't final but I do want to experience new versions or apps.

Installing the Dapper Drake Beta on my notebook was especially to screw around with Gnome 2.14 I've tried to install Gnome 2.14 on my Breezy installation but I can't pass the scripting. The info I found using Google on installing Gnome was too vague. Gnome 2.14 looks promising indeed. I really noticed it has grown in performance and features some new handy stuff. Only my problems was that Dapper Drake doesn't recognizes my mouse anymore and using the Touchpad it costs me numerous time to simply scroll to a menu. So I really hope this are just some minor beta flaws.

My experience with openSUSE was a bit more dissapointing. The system installed itself flawless on my notebook. Since I fancy Gnome I chose it as my standard Desktop during the installation. But as soon as I log in, a powerdrain emerges which slows down my whole system. If I try to launch an application or access a configuration Yast/ Sax / Gnome the system temporarily hangs. I've tried a reinstall but it didn't helped. Choosing for KDE as default Desktop or installing it on my normal Desktop Computer erases the problem.

So it was fun yeah! openSUSE has already a new beta available and I'm downloading Ubuntu's Flight 5, since I used only Flight 4.

[Iandefor]

Cool! I have a quick question for you: once you get Flight 5 installed, can you tell me if metacity seems to be able to do compositing? That was one of the features promised for GNOME 2.14, but I see no compositing on my metacity.

[Jucato]

@Derek Djons: I thought Dapper was supposed to be using GNOME 2.14 already? or was that only added in Flight 5?

@Iandefor: I'm curious too. Have you installed xcompmgr? I'm not sure if the new Metacity came with it's own composition manager (like KWin).

[mstlyevil]

If you update Dapper you will get Gnome 2.14. At least that is what Synaptic is showing as installed on my Dapper.

[benplaut]

metacity has a composoting manager, but it's not in Ubuntu's build, due to instability. From what i've heard, it's really unstable.

Look in the dapper forum for info on XGL and Compiz - that's where the real stuff is :)

[mstlyevil]

XGL and Compiz blows away both Kwin and Metacity. If you use Dapper and have supported 3D enabled video, it is a must to install and use XGL/Compiz.

[Iandefor]

I'm aware of XGL/Compiz, it's just that I don't care. My desire for compositing isn't so great as to necessitate changing X servers and window managers.

[Jucato]

Isn't xcompmgr a general X Composition Manager? Or is tied to Metacity, just as kompmgr is tied to KWin?

[Iandefor]

Isn't xcompmgr a general X Composition Manager? Or is tied to Metacity, just as kompmgr is tied to KWin? It isn't tied to Metacity, it's just crappy and no longer developed actively.

[mstlyevil]

I'm aware of XGL/Compiz, it's just that I don't care. My desire for compositing isn't so great as to necessitate changing X servers and window managers.

There is more to it than composting. It gives the desktop a smoother more modern look and feel. The best part is it is as easy as installing any other package. If it required a lot of hard work and compiling, then I would agree with you.

[Iandefor]

There is more to it than composting. It gives the desktop a smoother more modern look and feel. The best part is it is as easy as installing any other package. If it required a lot of hard work and compiling, then I would agree with you. Compositing is good enough for me. And I'm not really satisfied with xgl/compiz- lots of fun effects, sure, but nothing I can tolerate for long. I'm also aware that you can hand-pick the effects you want, but why bother if the default works well enough?