Xgl

As Xgl is included in the Dapper repositories, I thought it would be a good idea to submerse myself for once in the eye candy that is available. There are several howto's available and basically it's just adding two lines in /etc/apt/sources.list, and create the Xgl server entry in gdm.conf and the compiz-start script.

Xgl is fun to watch, but I have the same feeling when I use KDE : lots of eye candy, but in the end everything is keeping you from being productive. The 'wobbly' feature will be the first thing probably that I'm going to disable, cause it blurs the fonts on the screen when an item is moving, which wearies the eye. It also takes a second or so to stop a menu from wobbling, which is somehow annoying in the case of right-click menus.

For the rest, everything is like in the Xgl promo video : changing a workspace gives you the image of a rotating cube, and Alt-Tab displays a column with previews of available windows. What I really like in Xgl/Compiz, is the fact that inactive windows are displayed grey, which gives you a better view/attention on the focussed window.

There are still some little issues with other OpenGL programs, and the fact that the standard Xorg server is still started, which disables the 'Switch User' functionality. But that are issues to look at later.