Compiz story end

[kansasnoob]

Almost off-topic, but I notice a lot of talk about Metacity (which I've known and loved since Gutsy) and the demise of Untity-2D (which I liked, but not loved).

This takes me to my own "real-time" testing of how fast an OS/WM is after I click on something or execute a command (whether via terminal or dash).

First on this bland, but good set of Intel Hardware;

Intel Atom CPU 230 @ 1.60GHz
Intel 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
Intel N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
2GB DDR2 RAM

I found that after they dropped "dodge windows" I could quite easily use Unity in 12.04. The speed was good .... no waiting for anything to happen

With the same hardware in Quantal (aka: 12.10) I found myself twiddling my fingers waiting for things to happen, it really was like dropping back to dial-up from DSL

I tend to blame the combo of Compiz+llvmpipe, but I'm a true dummy so I don't know. The same hardware runs the Ubuntu-GNOME-Remix very well running a standard out-of-box gnome-shell session so I think it's fair to say that Mutter (aka: gnome-wm) is better.

Then using Cinnamon from two different sources I find their fork of Mutter - Muffin - is almost as bad as Ubuntu's Compiz. It seems that Mint has recognized that because they're even talking about a 'fallback-session' for Cinnamon using Openbox!

So, I've tested Ubuntu's version of Compiz, Cinnamon's Muffin WM, and GNOME's own Mutter ................ the winner is ...... hands down ...... Mutter!!!!!!

I can even get the Ubuntu-GNOME-remix to run on this anemic hardware:

VIA C7 CPU @ 1500MHz
VIA CN700/P4M800 Pro/P4M800 CE/VN800 Graphics [S3 UniChrome Pro] (rev 01)
VIA VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
1GB DDR2 RAM

No doubt the performance is better with plain old Metacity or Openbox, but GNOME's Mutter is the winner against Ubuntu's Compiz and Cinnamon's Muffin.

While some people have their panties in a twist over DE's this is really a war of Window Managers

Maybe it's time to admit the GNOME devs know what they're doing.

[kansasnoob]

It worked just fine with Lucid. Ok .. I conceed then I guess Mark's goal of 200 million users will have to be most likely 60% of tablet users because the way things are going now there will be a lot of old towers and desktops going to the recycle bin (with the exception of those die hard hanger-on-ers with Lucid .. etc..

Sure, 10 or 12 people can just hunker around my 10" tablet to watch a video

Might as well toss my 32" monitor in the recycle bin

[jfernyhough]

So, I've tested Ubuntu's version of Compiz, Cinnamon's Muffin WM, and GNOME's own Mutter ................ the winner is ...... hands down ...... Mutter!!!!!!

Like you I've tried a number of options and the one that has help up best has been XFCE. xfwm4 is very responsive on both my laptops, much more so than Unity and Cinnamon, more flexible than GNOME, and more attuned to the way I work (applications and settings) than KDE. I recommend it.

I'm currently installing a new, clean VM to test Unity2D 6. Should be interesting.

[kansasnoob]

Like you I've tried a number of options and the one that has help up best has been XFCE. xfwm4 is very responsive on both my laptops, much more so than Unity and Cinnamon, more flexible than GNOME, and more attuned to the way I work (applications and settings) than KDE. I recommend it.

I'm currently installing a new, clean VM to test Unity2D 6. Should be interesting.

There is no doubt that Xfce's window manager and the use of Openbox by LXDE/Lubuntu are great light replacements for low end hardware, but I'm talking about the lack of support for quite capable hardware.

Certainly GNOME's capability to support older and slightly lighter hardware is a + in their column

IMHO GNOME is doing things right and everyone else is wasting time, and resources tying themselves in knots

[jfernyhough]

You're probably right about the approach GNOME has. The problem arises when they remove features without any way of restoring them, and removing configuration options even without any "advanced" ways to configure them.

I have the new Unity2D packages installed on a VM. There's a fair bit not working yet (or I don't have all the necessary extra packages installed), and it uses Metacity as WM, but by crikey it's responsive. It really does put Unity to shame.

I imagine their next step will be to replace Metacity with Mutter, or even KWin as has been suggested (or even KWin-Active) , seeing as how unity-2d-shell is written in Qt/QML.

--edit
OK, this is quite exciting. There are preview/test/mockup versions of TV and tablet interfaces within the configuration options. I'll try and post some images.

[Stinger]

OK, this is quite exciting. There are preview/test/mockup versions of TV and tablet interfaces within the configuration options. I'll try and post some images.

Please do I'll like to see what that's all about

[jfernyhough]

OK, here you go!

https://plus.google.com/photos/11020...78178670830033

Note it's very early stages so think of it as a proof of concept; it shows that unity-2d-shell would work as an adaptive/responsive UI for multiple device form factors.

[Stinger]

@jfernyhough
Yeah I can see that 'desktop' , 'TV', and 'Tablet' modes are available.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing

Seems that the Qt, Qml path is prefered ?

[ventrical]

OK, here you go!

https://plus.google.com/photos/11020...78178670830033

Note it's very early stages so think of it as a proof of concept; it shows that unity-2d-shell would work as an adaptive/responsive UI for multiple device form factors.

Nice work!

[tartalo]

I wanted to see that bleeding edge Unity myself so I installed Ubuntu 12.04 in a VM without 3d acceleration. But before upgrading I tried several window managers with 12.04's Unity 2D.

The Dash didn't work for me with Openbox and xfwm4, and Mutter and KWin "worked" (with minor issues).

What I found interesting was that while Mutter was painfully slow, KWin performed incredibly well, the difference with Metacity was almost unnoticeable, even with all the default desktop effects active.

After upgrading to bleeding edge, with every windows manager except Metacity the desktop breaks sooner or later.