xgl--why I have chosen not to use it

[4KvRMU7Nnv]

Hey! I'm a new member of Ubuntu forums! I'm also fairly new to Ubuntu as well. I'm using edgy and it's looking great.

The purpose of this post is to discourage people from using Xgl with Beryl. Yes, it does look cool. I have tried it several times and I truly wish that I could use it on my computer. There are problems that I cannot tolerate. Sometimes, randomly, it will not work. One problem that I had on occasion was when I logged in, all the window boarders were appearing and disappearing quickly. Several other things failed whenever this happened and it was impossible to use the computer. Each time that happened I had to restart X.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when the computer randomly crashes, something is not right. It worries me because I really don't like the idea of my Ubuntu not being stable when the default setting works perfectly.

I don't want people to hate me for this because I am a noob and don't know what I'm talking about. I have messed with different settings and setups of xgl over about 16 installs of ubuntu. I'm really tired of messing with it and it seems that there will always be little problems. If I'm wrong, tell me, but for now I think I'll stay away from it and I would recommended to anyone new to Ubuntu to stay away as well.

[meng]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've never even been tempted to try XGL, and I'm happy to wait until it's more dveloped before I adopt it. While I also feel that newcomers to Ubuntu are best advised to keep things simple (walk before you run), in the end everyone is free to pursue their curiosity, and bling is very seductive! What I'm saying is that I wouldn't expect your advice to dissuade users from trying it for themselves.

[taurus]

As far as I know, Beryl is a beta and when it's a beta, it means it will crash or freeze every now and then. Again, some people get it to work beautifully while others can't even get it to boot!!! Therefore, if you need your machine to do some serious work, then don't even messing about with beryl, xgl, or any other goodies/eye candies right now.

Move to Cafe.

[PriceChild]

I completely agree!

Xgl,beryl, compiz are all bits of software in heavy development. Xgl hasn't got that long left IMO with the introduction of AIGLX into xorg7.1

NONE of these are beginners subjects! I have moved countless threads from beginners to general help to try 1. give them better help & 2. shield compeltely new users from something that will break their system first time.

I think i'll leave this thread here though - but seems like taurus moved it instead

Pricey

[chaosgeisterchen]

XGL will surely die. AIGLX is the future and very stable. The factor of instability is excessive usage of 3D-accelerated desktop features or in short terms: Beryl.

[ComplexNumber]

XGL will surely die. AIGLX is the future and very stable.

i've heard that too. one of the reasons is that XGL is a hacked Xorg whereas AIGLX is nothing more than a plugin for Xorg. when Xorg gets updated with the necessary additions, XGL will be superfluous.

[maniacmusician]

but doesn't aiglx only work with open source drivers? or is this a misconception? unfortunately, open source drivers aren't cutting it for some people at the moment...neither open nor proprietary work for me so i'm out of luck for the moment.

[chaosgeisterchen]

The nVidia beta drivers are not open source and they work perfectly with AIGLX. Need I say more?

[bodhi.zazen]

I am sorry you had trouble.

The purpose of this post is to discourage people from using Xgl with Beryl.

1. You should not discourage others.
2. Just state why Xgl is not for you.

Xgl is known to be "buggy" and IMO is in development.

When you run Linux you have a choice of stability vs. bleeding edge. When running bleeding edge applications you should be willing to accept a few bugs if not outright crashes.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when the computer randomly crashes, something is not right. It worries me because I really don't like the idea of my Ubuntu not being stable when the default setting works perfectly.

Unlike Windows, the problems you are describing are not causing any "damage" to your hardware, it is just a software crash.

If you run bleeding edge you should be willing to debug and file bug reports with developers.

In my experience, although they may be "geeky" developers are typically very helpful.

I don't want people to hate me for this because I am a noob

LOL No worries. Ubutnu is noob friendly. Welcome to Linux.

My advice is to learn a little about Linux before you run bleeding edge. Personally I have a "production" Linux install I depend on and do not fuss with.

I "play" on several experimental partitions, and have broken Ubuntu more then once. If, however, I break one of these patitions no worries.

If I find an improvement that I consider stable, I will install it into production.

HTH

[CatKiller]

but doesn't aiglx only work with open source drivers? or is this a misconception?

I installed Beryl with the beta nVidia drivers on my friend's computer with no problems. So I guess you're misinformed, to some extent.