when will the desktop be snazzier?

**maniacmusician** · April 28th, 2008

Originally Posted by picpak

Hit Alt+F2 and type in gconf-editor. Go to apps > metacity > general and put a checkmark on compositing_manager. Is it cumbersome? Yes. Is it inconvenient when you wanna turn it off? Yes. But it's better than nothing.

For more proof that you don't need compiz to create a nice desktop, look at some Openbox screenshots. Those are stylish and a lot of them don't use any transparency effects. Heck, they barely use any resources at all! I go back to Openbox every once in a while, and once you have it set up the way you want it, it's great.

Nope, compiz is not a necessity at all for having your setup look good. But, at the same time, there are some people that are willing to trade off the performance hit they take by running compiz because of what it gives back to them. Looking good is one thing, and a lot of people savor the 3D effects, but I personally like how it lets me stay organized in a pretty easy way. It's also useful to be able to make windows translucent, negative, etc. So I'm not going to say compiz doesn't have any worthwhile merits, since I seem to believe it has enough to make me run it.

I just know I'd be a lot more disorganized and lost without it, being the type of person that usually has tons of windows open, working on 3 different things, etc.

**picpak** · April 28th, 2008

Originally Posted by maniacmusician

Nope, compiz is not a necessity at all for having your setup look good. But, at the same time, there are some people that are willing to trade off the performance hit they take by running compiz because of what it gives back to them. Looking good is one thing, and a lot of people savor the 3D effects, but I personally like how it lets me stay organized in a pretty easy way. It's also useful to be able to make windows translucent, negative, etc. So I'm not going to say compiz doesn't have any worthwhile merits, since I seem to believe it has enough to make me run it.

I just know I'd be a lot more disorganized and lost without it, being the type of person that usually has tons of windows open, working on 3 different things, etc.

I wouldn't know, I've never been able to use it. I got a new computer for the sole purpose of testing out compiz and it still doesn't work.

**maniacmusician** · April 29th, 2008

Well that's a downright bummer. Did you forget to do your homework on video cards or were you expecting fully-developed 3D ATI drivers by this point? I've actually never had too many problems with Compiz, so I've been lucky. Well I hope you get it to run on your computer someday soon. It certainly has its place.

**sstusick** · April 29th, 2008

Ubuntu looks like Windows 95? There is no comparison between the two.

Ubuntu by default looks better than any version of Windows. Windows XP Fisher Price theme, anyone?

**picpak** · April 29th, 2008

Originally Posted by maniacmusician

Well that's a downright bummer. Did you forget to do your homework on video cards or were you expecting fully-developed 3D ATI drivers by this point? I've actually never had too many problems with Compiz, so I've been lucky. Well I hope you get it to run on your computer someday soon. It certainly has its place.

Well, at the time the site didn't mention much about the graphics card, but I assumed it would work with it considering how the computer was being sold with Ubuntu and all. I can't complain too much, because it works pretty amazing considering how dirt cheap it is.

**benjaminjames** · May 3rd, 2008

lol about the win 95 vs ubuntu screenie but if you added the same background to the win 95 shot and had a window open in the ubuntu shot you would see what im talking about the WINDOW MANAGER in ubuntu is SO ugly it makes my eyes hurt

**cardinals_fan** · May 4th, 2008

Originally Posted by benjaminjames

lol about the win 95 vs ubuntu screenie but if you added the same background to the win 95 shot and had a window open in the ubuntu shot you would see what im talking about the WINDOW MANAGER in ubuntu is SO ugly it makes my eyes hurt

So why don't you change the theme?

**madjr** · May 4th, 2008

Originally Posted by benjaminjames

lol about the win 95 vs ubuntu screenie but if you added the same background to the win 95 shot and had a window open in the ubuntu shot you would see what im talking about the WINDOW MANAGER in ubuntu is SO ugly it makes my eyes hurt

here dude problem solve:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=776915
http://www.gnome-look.org/

no more feeding trolls guys

**SunnyRabbiera** · May 4th, 2008

Honestly, I think vista is ugly and a horrible template to compare with.
OSX now there is a different story, but even it can get a little dull sometimes