Feb
5
2007
Preview of Beryl 0.2.0
Posted by luna6
Beryl is simply creating some of the most exciting and innovative work on any computing platform. Amazingly, Beryl came into existence only 6 months or so ago. The Beryl project originally forked from the Compiz 3d desktop group around September of 2006. At the time I had a hard time understanding why we needed another 3d desktop project, but now that I have had a chance to watch Beryl develop, their decision makes a whole lot of sense. As nice as Compiz is, Beryl is the group that is really pushing the envelope of what a next generation desktop should be like. A new version, Beryl 0.2.0, will be released shortly and I spent time the last week testing out Beryl 0.2.0 RC2 on Kubuntu’s Edgy Eft. The improvements found in 0.2.0 are simply amazing. Improvments in usability features, improvements in the pure 3d eye candy, and even the Beryl Settings Manager has been improved (the layout has become much more logically laid out). As you read through this preview of Beryl 0.2.0 and see some of the screenshots, I think you will get a firm grasp on how impressive Beryl can be. Basically, Beryl makes OS X and Vista look old and antiquated. Enough said..click the read the rest of this entry link for the rest of the article.
All the settings for managing Beryl can be found in the Beryl Settings Manager. You can launch it via the terminal or right click the little red diamond icon on your taskbar (if you have Beryl installed). After seeing the improved layout of the Beryl Settings Manager, I was quite excited to try out some of the new features in Beryl 0.2.0. The following would be some of the more the impressive features that I found while using Beryl.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Extras –> Window Previews
Here you can control the settings for live window previews of the applications that sit within your taskbar. One of the more impressive aspects of the Window Preview function is that for videos - the image is live. You can listen to a minimized television show or a dvd and then hover the mouse over the application icon on the taskbar, then see a live thumbnail size video of the program in realtime.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Window Management —> Application Window Switcher
If you are heavy multi-task user and find yourself looking for an application that is open on your desktop the Application Window Switcher will most likely bring a huge smile to your face (as well as some envious looks from anybody that happens to be looking at your desktop). With a simple press of the ALT + TAB keys, the Application Window Switcher will appear. The active application within the Window Switcher will be highlighted, while the other programs are translucent. If you keep your finger on the ALT key and then tap the TAB key, you can toggle through all of the open windows on a desktop. If you have programs running on multiple desktops, you can easily cycle through all the programs on all your desktops by pressing CNTRL + ALT + TAB. I absolutely love this feature!
Alternatively you can hit the Super(Window)+Tab key to get a circular view of all the applications opened on the desktop. *Thanks to Brad C for pointing this out.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Window Management —> Scale
The Scale feature is similar to the expose feature on OS X. With either a press of the F8 key or if you slam the mouse to the upper right corner of the screen, you will see a thumbnail shot of all your open applications, organized neatly in rows. Within the Scale tabs, you can control the spacing of the windows, control the opacity of the applications, change the default keyboard settings and much more.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Accessibility –> Input Enabled Zoom
With the click of Super/Windows + Scrollwheel, you can easily zoom anywhere on the desktop. This feature is probably most useful for people that have vision problems, but it is also useful for everyday usage. In the same manner that you can zoom in on a photograph in Photoshop or Gimp, you can zoom in on details of any application on the desktop. As an example the photos below show VLC playing a movie at regular resolution, and then I selected Super + Scrollwheel (while the mouse was over the video area) to zoom in on the application. The Zoom feature can be applied to any application (Documents, Web Pages, Spreadsheets, etc).
Beryl Settings Manager –> Desktop –> Rotate Cube
One of the areas that has always gotten the most amount of attention from Beryl and the users, would be the ability to rotate your desktops in a 3D cube fashion. In version 0.2.0 of Beryl you will notice significant improvements in this area as well. With a simple use of ALT+CNTRL+LEFT or ALT+CNTRL+RIGHT you can see spin your desktop, to get a better perspective of your desktop. Also if you hover your mouse over the pager area on the KDE taskbar you can rotate the desktop in the same manner with the scrollwheel. As you can see below notice how the applications rise above the actual desktop in 3d fashion. The animated 3d special effects makes quite an impression when seen in motion.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Desktop —> Rotate Cube —> Misc. Options –> Rotation Speed
Beryl Settings Manager –> Desktop —> Rotate Cube —> Misc. Options –> Acceleration
With the default settings, the desktop spun so fast I could not really notice the 3d effect. If you want to slow the speed at which the desktop spins you can do so with these options. I set the Acceleration at 2.3 and Rotation Speed at 2.15.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Desktop —> Desktop Cube —> Transparency –> Transparent Cube
This is a new feature in Beryl 0.2.0 and it simply looks wayyyy wicked! This is the stuff that makes OS X and Vista look dated.
Beryl Settings Manager –> Desktop —> Desktop Cube —> Option –> Inside Cube
Another area where Beryl has improved upon, is desktop rotation in an Inside Cube manner. If you select this option and select CNTRL+ALT+LEFT or CNTRL+ALT+RIGHT you will notice that the desktop spins from the viewpoint of being inside a cube. Alternatively, you can click Cntrl+ALT and then Left Click (Mouse), while dragging your mouse left or right, to rotate desktop. From here, you will notice some very sweet looking improvements. The desktops are now animated and move slightly away from each other as each of the applications rise above the desktop. Once you click back to the standard 2D view, the desktops will slide forward as the application moves backwards on to the desktop.
Other Special Effects (Water Effects, Wobbly Windows, Animations)
Besides what was covered earlier, there are more special effects included within Beryl. One of my favorite effects (although I don’t use it regularly), is the water effects, which you can activate from Beryl Settings Manager –> Extras –> Water Effects. Literally your desktop will bubble over with real time water drops. For more special effects you can look in Beryl Settings Manager –> Visual Effects. There are settings for Animations, Blur Effects, Fading Windows, and Wobbly Windows. I preferred to keep these to a minimum but you should try out the settings to see what you prefer.
Beryl Settings Manager –> General Options –> Level Of Focus Stealing Prevention
I had a problem where if I tried to open an document from an application, the new window would be buried underneath the first application. If you have this problem, I would recommend you set the “Level Of Focus Stealing Prevention” to Low or None.
Emerald Theme Manager
If you right click the Red Diamond logo for Beryl on your taskbar, you will see “Emerald Theme Manager.” This the place to pick and chose dozens of skins for your window decorations. If you have the inclination, you can click the “Edit Themes” tab and modify each theme to your heart’s content. I was pretty happy with the Crystal-Ice Theme and left it with the default settings.
I must say that the improvements in Beryl 0.2.0 are impressive. The live window thumbnail previews and the application switcher are features that I use on a daily basis. The improvements to the rotating 3d cube, makes Linux feel fun and exciting. To think that the Beryl project is only 6 months old, its definitely exciting to think of what they may be able to accomplish in another year or two. Now that I am happily using Beryl 0.2.0, other desktops (Windows, OSX, non Beryl Linux Desktops) just feel really antiquated. Awesome job guys!
————————————————————————————————————
If you have an Nvidia card and want to install Beryl here are the steps I took to get it installed on Edgy Eft and Fedora Core 6.
Edgy Eft :
If you don’t have the latest Nvidia drivers, I would first recommend you install the drivers with ENVY.
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Then add the beryl repository to the bottom of /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ edgy main
Then :
sudo echo && wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install beryl emerald emerald-themes
If you are using Kubuntu/KDE as well then also do :
sudo apt-get install aquamarine
Now lets add some lines to xorg.conf to make it work with beryl. You need to stop X11, so you can type in the terminal “sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop” and you wil be placed at a terminal wihtout X11 (if you don’t get to the terminal hit cntrl+alt+F1). Then type :
sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals
Now reboot or start X and then type in the terminal
beryl-manager
———————————————————————————————————-
Fedora Core 6 :
yum install beryl-gnome
or
yum install beryl-kde
Make sure to include these relevant parts under “Module” “Screen” and “Extensions” in your xorg.conf file, if you have an Nvidia card :
Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "GLCore"
Load "dri"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
...
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
Option "RenderAccel" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
...
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
Now reboot or restart X (startx), once your in Gnome type in the terminal :
beryl-manager
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OH, and linuxnoob, something cannot be common and uncommon at the same time. It’s impossible. You seem to be the stupid one here. Oh, and going to linux forums to figure out how to use your operating system whenever you want to do something simple (ie, changing and icon) does NOT count as “social skills”
Okay, Im back.
For what its worth, I really tried to like Linux, but we just did not get along.
“Its smoother, faster, and less labor intensive while running the necessary OS processes than XP”
That’s because Linux is made by poor people, for poor people without jobs who live with their mother and can afford the time to learn it. Get a job, upgrade your old hardware, and you shouldnt have problems with XP or Vista for that matter.
“If you want to feel like some kind of hero for purchasing retail copies of all your warez like a badge of self-proclaimed honor then you’re probably a current Vista Home-Premium user with a decent day job, no criminal record, and no social skills.”
Now thats a Linux defense that is really getting on my nerves. “Linux is free”. Because you cannot get any business from it the way it is. Windows can be free also, if you know where to look. BUT I will still pay for a copy of Vista than take a free copy of linux anyday. No social skills? Let’s see… I can install my windows and programs and not have to sit and learn about the operating system all day, thus, more time to do other things (i.e. LIFE)
“Not those who value a kindergarten OS made for average users. XP and Vista are like the Toyota corolla of the OS world.”
If that be true, then Linux is the Geo Metros of the OS world. Why? Support for ALL my hardware (without having to compile crap or run the risk of breaking my installation, and the quality of software floating around for Windows. Let’s face it, Ive checked out the software for Linux and it was pure garbage. Sure, windows doesnt have the kind of quality software as OS X, but it beats Linux with a wiffle bat.
“that slowly bind our electronic futures. (ie: No cracking games in Vista, google why”
WHAT?! now your making up shit. ALL the games (even the most popular and recent) are cracked on my compy and play fantastic. Look ma, NO WINE!
“For users like T-Heezy who is by just vocab alone a younger guy…this is the younger generation. LAZy.”
Are you like 50 or something? Im a 26 year old man who works 6 1/2 days a week to feed and put a roof over a family. I have my own house,wife, 2 kids, two 2007 vehicles, jetski, chopper, ect. If by “LAZy” you mean that I’m not going to take the time to learn all kinds of effin commands to make my computer work, then I’m guilty as charged. I like my computer to work FOR me. not the other way around.
“Linux has more options, better software, better eye candy with the addition of compbiz and beryl 0.2.0, more free software that actually works better than alot of software I’ve bought from MS.”
More options. What you say is the beauty of Linux is actually its Achilles tendon. The problem is TOO many options, everyone gets to put in their weak code. There is no uniformity. Look at all the different types of install packages (.tar, .deb, .linsux, ect.) Oh, and each comes with it’s own horrible instructions on how to install (minus the .deb). I have never heard of “combiz” eye candy, but i have heard of beryl. I actually used beryl and compiz fusion. I’ll admit that I was utterly impressed. But once I actually started to use the system such as net surfing, typing documents, and such, the eye candy sits there in the background unused.
CLOSING: For every 10 positives about linux I could give 20 positives about windows without blinking. Linux is easily broken, low quality software (hence being free). Yes, microsoft does run 90 something percent of market share for computer OS’s. But there’s a reason for that. Which Im too tired to type (and if you are not a closed minded dimwit, you could figure out why). Windows is always on the cutting edge of technology with games, software, and hardware. The excuse of Linux being free is a poor excuse. I have thousand upon thousands of dollars of software (which i didnt pay for) on top of my Vista installation (which i didnt pay for either). If I find a software or game that I really like, then I pay for it. Why? Because THAT”S, THAT”S the beauty of Microsoft. You pay people to continue giving top quality software, way beyond the standards of Linux. In terms of stability, I would have to say that Windows comes out on top again. I have NEVER had a windows install not boot because of something I installed (like a driver *cough* linux *cough*). Spyware and adware? If you get spyware or adware on windows then your dumba$$ probably deserved it (porn sites, stupidly clicking on ads, going to crack/warez sites). Other than the kick butt Compiz, I see no TRUE reason that linux is better than windows.
LINUXNOOB: I have no problems with my Vista Ultimate installation. Your hate for Vista seems a bit immature and unfounded. It seems that you jumped on the “I hate Vista because it sucks” bandwagon. You said you have been using Sabayon for 2 days and seeing your name “linuxnoob” you are saying big words for someone who’s just dipping your toes in the Linux world. Wait until you start trying to actually do things. I would dare say that you are going to soon eat your words like I did. Wait until you want to install a peice of software in Sabayon, wait until you want to play that latest game, wait until you get tired of that junkyard of code and “software” called Linux, wait until your Sabayon crashes and won’t get back up by installing something. You will be back, just like I am. Ha.
P.S. Im loooooving my Bioshock, F.E.A.R. Combat, MOH Airborne, World in Conflict, Photoshop CS2, Nero 7, Office 2007, ect.(all free of charge) Have you tried the Windows DVD Maker? Man, that thing has some AWESOME, HIGH QUALITY menus. Standard on a home premium or ultimate! Whooo, man, I cant wait for Crysis!!
Oh, but you still have your Quake 3 engine shooters, though. And Gimp (if you can even stand it long enough to use it). And WINE (which has a 5 year lapse in game support). Well, enjoy your Linux. Later!
Ok, i’ve been using Sabayon linux for 2 days and previously never strayed from xp since it came out. I love XP for what it does and is capable of…but because of my long-time use of it, i also know it’s outdated and simple by comparison to Newer releases of Linux such as Ubuntu, Sabayon, Gentoo, etc. Its smoother, faster, and less labor intensive while running the necessary OS processes than XP. Vista, for what it is, is a total waste of money as it is basically a facelift, and an upgraded padlock (as prev mentioned sec sucks and its full of big brother spyware).If you want to feel like some kind of hero for purchasing retail copies of all your warez like a badge of self-proclaimed honor then you’re probably a current Vista Home-Premium user with a decent day job, no criminal record, and no social skills. The beauty part of Linux is for those that crack, torrent, and think for themselves. Not those who value a kindergarten OS made for average users. XP and Vista are like the Toyota corolla of the OS world. Made for the common and uncommonly stupid user that would most likely not take parts of his day in years to ever crack a book or forum and learn how to actually use/understand what it is he plays with everyday. Linux goes beyond all that and offers the chance to go under the radar with legit software and not contribute to funding Microsoft the chains that slowly bind our electronic futures. (ie: No cracking games in Vista, google why) Beryl is fantastic. I’ve played with vista for a few months on a demo notebook from my company and it blows. I’m even running the $450 retail “Ultimate” version. It has high points, but overall is XP overcomplicated. I think of Vista as a slightly better planned Windows ME. It’s just Win98SE with better desktop themes, and in the current case, Aero Glass. Same diff. For users like T-Heezy who is by just vocab alone a younger guy…this is the younger generation. LAZy. That’s why Windows exists, other than it was the biggest pirate this side of silicon valley. Windows exists as the #1 Supported OS because it is essentially the Short bus of OS. The tricycle, the bike with training wheels…etc. Vista ripped off it’s competitor’s visual designs obviously…just like GM ripped off the “Altezza” chromed out stocker tail lenses from Import companies. What is the Major diff? Linux has more options, better software, better eye candy with the addition of compbiz and beryl 0.2.0, more free software that actually works better than alot of software I’ve bought from MS. So where’s the problem? MICROSOFT OWNS THIS WORLD. for now. They have all the author’s contracts, and all the pre-established business contacts. So as previously, and well put, the issue is drivers and HW support for existing HW made for use natively with windows. Once linux is more for the common man, or at least has distro’s out there on that level, and HW support for many types of HW then we’re set. Linux FTW.
I use it on Ubuntu, and it’s simply amazing!
I really can’t figure out how to do this either. I can’t find it anywhere in the configure panel settings you get when you right-click on the task bar.
“Brad C Says:
February 5th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
“It really sucks that Beryl does not support separate taskbars. All desktops must share the same task bar and that is really the downsize for having multiple Desktops.”
I am not really sure what you mean by this? All you have to do is set your task bar to only display applications for your current workspace…just like you would with or without Beryl.
Also, most task switching apps (expose like plugin, alt-tab plugin, etc) have key combos for displaying just apps on the workspace or across all workspaces…so please explain, maybe I am misunderstanding what you are complaining about.”
WOW! I have been trying so many distro’s to date. Freespire, Ubuntu (and the ultimate edition), Uberyl, so on and so on, but all just didnt have a connection with me…. but today I have downloaded what seems to be the perfect distro. I found one called SABAYON. Now that is the kind of distro I was looking for! Beryl works perfect on the live cd run. Even for an old ATI 9600 pro! I havent installed it yet, but it is guaranteed a partition spot on my main computer right along side OS X. If you know anyone who would like to try a Linux distro out then recommend them Sabayon. It really changed the way I see Linux. Sabayon is the WOW.
T-Heezy : I use OS X on mylaptop (powerbook) and Linux on my desktop computer. They both offer good solutions and if simplicity is what you want, then OS X is probably the best choice, though Gnome / Ubuntu / Linux gives it a good run for its money.
Subjectively speaking I love Mac hardware, but find Linux the perfect operating system for myself.
The one scary thing about Linux is the rapid growth in improvements. Kind of like a snowball effect, but the more people use it, the more people help in the development area and the better it gets. I would say if you are curious about Linux..download Mandriva’s Spring One 2007 iso. It is a live disc so the disc won’t touch your harddrive unless you tell it specfically to install but you can still see the operating system in action. Beryl and Compiz work in Live Mode …so give it a spin. Ubuntu has a nice live disc as well but beryl and compiz doesn’t work in live mode. Cheers
Well, as of this writing, I have done away with Windows. I am using exclusively OSX86 on my PC. (I know, completely illegal, but Im one who cannot afford a real Mac). I am completely satisfied with it’s simplicity and cleanliness. After using OS X, I have felt as though my computer has been filthy for so many years with Windows. One day, if Linux were as clean or simple to use as the two previously mentioned OSs then I would switch.
as a long time mac user I have this to say:
Ubuntu edgy eft with Beryl is REALLY cool, especiallly considering its in early development (they’ve been around for less than a year!). I am looking forward to future improvements.
Ubuntu runs smooth on older machines, it even runs smooth in Parallels desktop or the recently released VMware emulation on any decent mac.
as I am writing this I’m installing a third partition on my Intel Macto run Ubuntu natively (multiboot system).
And yes, this is one of many reasons for me to cash out some extra for a Mac. Intel Macs run anything - any OS, any software - natively. Cocoa/Carbon is also high on my list when it comes to making a desktop choice. Won’t run on any non-Mac platform afaik (legally).
beryl rocks. OSX rocks as well. I’m happy I can run both on my machine. I can also run windows DLL hell natively but… what’s the point.
T-Heezy:
Its more interesting to look at facts than to be driven to narrow opinions by mere emotion.
Ok, so there are clingy Linux users just like there are clingy Windows users. To see where each side is coming from, it is far better to try and understand the situation from their point of view.
I use Windows XP, Vista and Ubuntu on my business workstation. I’ve found (as Duke has), that the SOLE reason that I don’t use Linux EXCLUSIVELY is because some apps/hardware are made for a specific OS or are proprietary.
Other than that…..Linux really is a good alternative. From a IT Pros. perspective, you can’t beat Linux. Its SO flexible and scalable….things which I have found that you need to PAY for in other OS’s and even then…the things you pay for haven’t worked as efficiently as the Open Source alternative.
For my situation specifically….two things are keeping me from switching exclusively to linux:
> No good drivers for our Minolta Di650
> No program that opens Publisher documents (we have millions of .pub’s)
When you think about it….Linux is narrowing the gap - in many areas it is ahead - but there is still a way to go.
In 9 years, Linux will have more than 20% of the desktop market share. Garuntee it.
Okay, you just got butt hurt and missed my point. If you google XGL or Beryl, all you get hits on are pages where people try to put XGL in Vista’s face. All XGL is for is to make these insecure Linux users feel good about their scrappy OS.
I agree with Kelly Mac. Mac users expouse the virtues of OS X to justify being ripped off for hundreds of extra dollars by Apple. They want to bash anyone who doesn’t use OS X while simultaneously trying to convert everyone to a locked-in OS on locked-in hardware. Perfect example of the saying “Misery loves company”.
Best description of Feisty on the intarwebs, jsyk. But one thing: i had bout two seconds of trouble installing beryl, because i have an ATI card, but if anyone has any trouble, this works superbly: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_install_Beryl_.28ATI.29
Other than that, by far the best linux distro out there, and I’ve tried my share.
I love that Compiz is coming along with stability prioritized. Beryl seems really beautiful and at this point it can obviously do quite a bit that compiz can’t, however, stability should be the base of any software. You can build on security much more than you can on workarounds and such. In the end, I suspect Compiz will cover the ground Beryl has made and surpass Beryl.
Regarding Linux vs. Windows comments. I use both operating systems. I have been trying to fully migrate to linux for several years now but there is one fatal flaw that constantly prevents me from being able to drop windows entirely. That is, there is insufficient driver support for lots of hardware. As I already own a copy of XP, which does have drivers available for all my hardware, it would be financially prohibitive for me to make a full switch to linux right now if it meant I would have to by new hardware that is supported by linux. I’m willing to bet that lack of driver support is one of biggest remaining reasons why Linux is still out of reach of many users. considering the leaps and bounds of certain distros like opensuse, ubuntu, etc, there is very little else needed to cover the needs of most users besides more hardware support. How is that problem going to get solved. In time, with more users migrating to linux, I’m sure more venders will be willing to author drivers for linux, but until then, it’s basically a waiting game for me. I know that some venders provide details on there hardware and the linux community can make the drivers themselves, but it seems that even in such cases the drivers are slow to come…Why not allocate more energy to drivers?
Great review, but I think the best thing about it is the picture of scarlett johansson’s ass.
Holy cow, T-Heezy you are a moron. Apparently you know how to install video games, and your friend told you about these things called “drivers” and now you are hot stuff super-geek. Lets look at some of your claims:
1. The world is not ready for linux because coders are wasting their time on things like beryl.
Hmmm. That is like saying Windows is insecure, because coders are wasting their time making things like Photoshop.
2. Vista does not need all this.
Vista would love to have all this. That’s why Vista has a lot more eye candy than XP, to the detriment of its performance.
3. Installing drivers and changing icons are too complicated; There are webpages dedicated to performing these tasks.
Feisty generally works, drivers and all, right out of the box, much easier than Windows. Changing icons? I am struggling to understand how you could not figure out how to change icons in Linux. Its like a two-click process!
4. Vista is completely different from XP. But, to a linux user it appears to be the same.
Vista is hardly different than XP. I am a lifetime Windows user. Vista is basically a graphical update, and some slight security updates (the security still sucks).
5. What do you expect from Vista???? Holograms that pop out of the screen?? Beryl type effects? You must remember that this is a PROFESSIONAL company who release PROFESSIONAL products
What makes nice effects unprofessional?? Remember that your beloved Microsoft added eye candy to Vista. Did they lose some of their “proffesssinal” appeal?
6. So next time you try to say that Vista is the same as XP, why dont you look under the hood next time.
Why don’t YOU look “under the hood”?
WOW… ok first beryl not a stand alone OS 2) linux is open source.. therefore beryl is an add-on customizing the os to change hte GUI… now..
i read something about professinable.. what ever.. think about what your saying.. if your looking for word processing etc.. it has everything.. and well it depends what your using your os for.. bah think of it this way if your a guy who just checks email etc. and browses the web both windows and linux will do the job.. linux will be faster.. more realiable.. and easier and can run on outdated systems.. which u will have to learn a thing or 2 to be able 2 work your way around a few harder tasks.. but honestly just because you cant learn a few new things dont have a sour taste.. just understand u cant do it..
so before u bash something.. THINK
Linux is a way better OS
beryl gives it some extra functionality..
only reason in my mind to use windows or other OS’s is if u have a must use software for what u do that requires a certain OS..
else
linux..
The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)
“”"”Vista may be an OS… However the only thing really new in it compared to XP is the Aero GUI. There is NOTHING new in the rest of the OS. So 7 years to produce Aero??? Is this the most efficient way Microsoft is managing their new releases?”"”"
You have obviously no idea what you are “trying” to talk about. Vista is completely different from XP. But, to a linux user it appears to be the same. Look at the difference between Windows ME and Windows XP!! Im sure some shmuck like you said this about XP. “Ohh, all they did was add Luna” But as you can see, it is a much more stable operating system. What do you expect from Vista???? Holograms that pop out of the screen?? Beryl type effects? You must remember that this is a PROFESSIONAL company who release PROFESSIONAL products. So next time you try to say that Vista is the same as XP, why dont you look under the hood next time..
P.S. Guess I am sick of everyones whining about Vista. I only hear complaints from two types of people 1. people who dont know how use a computer 2. people who complain that their “X” product doesnt work with it. This is NOT Microsofts fault, blame your X company for staying behind the power curb while the Beta’s and RC’s where downloadable. As an OS it is great.
Vista user here. Hmmm… well, okay, I see now why the world is not ready for linux yet. It’s because coders are wasting their time on junk like this. Look, yes beryl has more effects than Vista. Effects that say “you want special effects, well here’s a trailer full for ya!!!” Vista does not need all this. Vista’s aero is more for functionality, aesthetics, and well…professionalism.
As a Vista user, I can say that I am not in any way jealous of this. It seems more of something to show off.
I think time was wasted on this. I think that time would have been better used to provide easier usability for a MS user to switch over. I tried to switch one time…. all I wanted to do was either install a driver, or change an icon. Both tasks had a full webpage of instruction to do it.
I think coders need to develop more into creating a uniformity within the “distro’s” and start making a uniform installer (much like MS .exe’s)and a uniform file system that the installers can go by. The sheer sight of what I had to do to install a simple driver utterly made me reformat my drive and switch back to windows.
It’s not that it scared me, it’s not that I am that “whipped” by Windows (though I am slightly). But I refuse to give my time to an “OS” that is, as of right now, feels like some kind of beta….nay more like an alpha.
When I zip around an Ubuntu install, it feels like I have an uncompleted project. Yes, Windows does cost money. But free does not mean better..
The Beryl or XGL (whatever it is called) is nice, but does not help the overall advancement of the OS. Please, if any coders read this, quit with the eye candy and make an OS that “regular” people can use.
A very good guide! I have show it to the M$ “fans” and they thougt it was a “vista better clone” ;-(
Thanks!
Vista may be an OS… However the only thing really new in it compared to XP is the Aero GUI. There is NOTHING new in the rest of the OS. So 7 years to produce Aero??? Is this the most efficient way Microsoft is managing their new releases?
Sean : I don’t have an ATI card so Im not exactly sure the hows and whys of your situation. If your beryl themes are not working, make sure you have beryl running as your window manager. Right click beryl icon —> Select Window Manager –> Beryl.
Although beryl 0.2 install successfully. I am unable to get any selected theme to work by double clicking one of the options in Emeraly theme manager. Beryl 0.1 worked fine for me. I have an ATI graphics card. Please help I love beryl, I can’t stand not having it :).
Can you put up a link to your background?
$ top
USED MEMORY CPU%
lumina 15 0 40380 23m 4336 R 1.0 3.1 5:41.09 compiz
lumina 15 0 22216 11m 9952 R 0.0 1.5 0:05.74 kde-window-deco
For Beryl and Emerald, the diagram goes to ~60m for both, and 5% CPU usage, for a comparable setup (disabling all Beryl’s new plugins). This skyrockets with Beryl to 100% CPU usage if I disable VSync, when in Compiz with a comparable setup I never reach more than 30% CPU usage. (Sempron 2500, x86 standard setup, mileage may vary with more powerful CPUs)
Compiz 0.3.6 is safe, and it won’t eat your CPU like Beryl, specially if you aren’t in state-of-the-art machines, like everyone in the developing world.
For the people who mentioned that Vista took 7 years to build and Beryl only 6 months. Well, Beryl is not an operating system, Vista is. GNU/Linux is the OS and it’s taken alot more years than Vista to build. It’s taken more time, more people and was built on a much, much smaller budget.
Consequently, it’s a much better operating system.
Sorry, you’re wrong about most of those… OSX has all but the transparent cube and water effects.
I was most impressed when I first noticed that I could watch a movie in the Dock.
Vista is the shiiit. It doesn’t do 1/10 of what just Beryl does. And you have to pay for it! It still doesn’t had a good security model, it still doesn’t have a decend file-system, it has *nothing* interesting. Vista took 7 years because they had to take back Windows at the beginning. Vista took 7 years because they had to put a full system to destroy your sound and video quality until your hardware “trusted”. Beryl took 6 month because the whole GNU/Linux infrastructure was ready for *years* to this kind of evolution, and mainly because it was open. Start by learning before speaking, and stop your stupid FUD. The “if you pay more it’s better” thing works only for stupid people.
After trying to follow various directions for install, this is the first set that actually worked for me. Thanks Luna :)
Beryl is the shiiiit. You must remember this is free. Vista is pay for, if Bery can do 1/10 of what vista can do the it is still better. and it did not take 7 years.
>Jorge
>I think Windows Vista is much better than Beryl.
Honestly, I’ve used Vista for few months, but installed beryl yesterday… after using it for few hours, Vista’s “new” graphical innovations seemed dull, only thing that was fun, was the 3D task switching carousel.
Altough I must admit, that some of the Vista’s gizmos seemed to work better, like the small preview window on the task bar.
The thing I missed the most in Vista, was the customizability of Beryl, you can’t change any of the elements, transistions or anything. (maybe later through themes?)
EH?????….WTF??
I was trying to say that the wallpaper people are asking about is just a plain wallpaper with actual raindrops running down the screen thanks to beryls water plugin(actual virtual raindrops that is).
It`s just one of the many cool effects possible although you do need to have a graphics card with pixel shading abilities for the rain\water effect.
Something none of my two beryl enabled pc`s have with the mx4000 nvidia cards they use but every other effect works like a charm and i`d like to see Vista and it`s areo effects run on any of these machines.
I`ll stick to the FREE wobbly windows and use the money i was about to spend on some new Wonky Windows to much better use!!
>do you have a link for that rain on glass wallpaper?
Zooming has many very convenient uses, for example, you are in a meeting and someone asks how to spell a particular name or web site. You simply write it in your laptop, turn the screen and zoom in to the URL or the name, so that it occupies the whole screen and anyone can read it even across the room. It is easy to focus somebodies attention to a part of you screen that way. Very useful.
(This has been answered in the comments on page 1 & 2 already) :
About the wallpaper ….It was mentioned in a comment earlier, but I’ll leave the link again. (From kde-look.org)
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=25334
Also the movie shown in the screenshots : http://lunapark6.com/?p=2203
I think Windows Vista is much better than Beryl.
Nice preview!
I’ve seen howtos for ATI and nVidia but haven’t seen any for my Intel chipset yet. It manages XGL without much lag so I’d be interested to see Beryl running. If anyone knows of a link I’d be grateful.
the wallpaper rocks!
any link?
#51 (Bjerrk)
About 3Dwm, most of the website has disappeared, but there are some leftover documents that reappeared recently:
http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~elm/projects/3dwm/
http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~elm/gallery/ (scroll down the page for screenshots)
It was even more than a window manager, and quite a complex project IIRC.
You are right, 3Ddesktop was also in that field (from 2002). It was a desktop switcher.
http://desk3d.sourceforge.net/
So both projects can be seen as ancestors of beryl/compiz.
And Enlightenment also had nice effects (snow, fire, water) for the desktop or the window (animations for the windows decorations, like the alien theme, animations for the windows minimization) before 2000. BeOS could also display videos on moving spheres or cubes IIRC. In other words, my point is that all of those neat effects were is no ways invented by Mac OS X, they existed before, so there is no point to claims any copying.
“In the same manner that you can zoom in on a photograph in Photoshop or Gimp, you can zoom in on details of any application on the desktop”
How is that useful? Beryl when zooms just blows up the window image, it doesn’t actually show any more data. Zoom in with gimp and you’ll see more detail that wasn’t present previously, Beryl *cannot* do that.
#46 (Oliv):
Are you sure that it was called 3DWM? I seem to remember using a desktop switcher similar to the XGL cube quite some time ago. I think it’s name was 3ddesktop. :-)
Cewl. First time I see responses from OSX and MS users that say (something like) we can do this/we have this, just requires prog x or y/it’s been “borrowed” from my OS/(or even) I’d like this to be ported to my fav OS.
I remember the times this was the other way around.
Maybe linux desktop will take off someday ;)
Oh yes you can use beryl with an ATI X700 — I’m doing so myself, although that’s the 0.1.1 version for now (and ubuntu dapper).
here’s how:
http://customisinglife.wordpress.com/2006/11/10/xubuntu-edgy-xgl-and-beryl-ati/
do you have a link for that rain on glass wallpaper?
-thanks
Great tour. I like beryl, but I cant use it with my ATI X700 video card
For the record, the 3D cube effects were already available on Linux in the previous century. It was called 3DWM. Unfortunately, it got abandoned since, but started in 1999. This was just to point that this predates OSX. Consequently, Beryl is not an OS X copy, unless you call OS X’s desktop a copy of 3DWM :-)
Look! This car has tyres! You should not build a new car with tyres since other brands already had tyres before!
I think the main features should be advertised more prominently: The plugin mechanism and customization.
I have not seen something like Emerald Theme Manager neither for OSX nor for Vista ( is there something? ). The cool thing about the raindrops ( not the wallpaper ;-) ) are not that they look cool but that you can easily do such things. If someone finds something that might enhance usability, he can just go ahead and implement this thing ( like live thumbnail previews ) - you can not do this with OSX or Vista. This is what I find highly innovative.
heya,
Looks quite sweet, shall have to compile this =).
Just two quick questions.
1. What movie is that? One of the actor looks familiar…
2. The cool backgrounds with the raindrops, do you know the source/author?
Thanks,
Victor
[...] Anybody see this lunapark6 link over at Digg? This thing looks amazing. The water effects and scaling are almost as great eye-candy as Kirsten Dunst. Vista ain’t got nothing on this app. Linux-native, too. [...]
Why is it that whenever there is an article like this, people will go on posting something like, “i can do this in OS X” or “OS X is waaay cooler!”…
Well folks, this ain’t OS X. And we want to continue improving it, regardlessof what you already have or have not in your precious OS X.
First of all the points AJ mentions are:
- not Linux problems, but desktop problems
- unfair since Windows and Mac also have such problems
I’ve seen ancient windows software that doesn’t follow cut and paste or even drag and drop rules.
Athena and Motif widgets are ancient just like the old Windows software. I don’t see anyone complaining that the windows software breaks those rules.
What shouldn’t happen is new software breaking rules.
Disallowing incompatible widgets is rather childish. Don’t use it if it misbehaves. Or fix the code. Or point a coder to the program and ask for help.
What shouldn’t happen is KDE or GNOME or any other desktop (including Motif, GNUstep, etc) having incompatible widgets among their own software. Standards are already here. And in the case of KDE, you can make every KDE app act like Mac apps if you choose.
The incompatibility is no longer a problem. Just stop pretending that a program using an ancient library is going to behave.
Have you noticed the different places door handles are in cars? How in the world do we manage?
The cut and paste function is the same within each desktop and as I said KDE can behave however you like.
Installing and uninstalling is quite easy. Don’t mistake powerful for complicated. Synaptic is a very usable installer.
Really? Cool…where can I get Leopard?
WOW…… looks just like leopard, and most of all apples have been able to do alot of that stuff for a few years.
[...] Preview of Beryl 0.2.0 [...]
thats right Kelly Mac
I don’t see anything that you couldn’t easily do on OS X as well. Actually some of it is heavily inspired by OS X or is done by older OS X utilities (the desktop switching using diverse 3D eye candy is fabulously handled by TWO open source apps available for OS X).
But in the end most of it is eye candy. I can’t see anything that would really increase my productivity much.
I have to agree with AJ’s post first get fundamental things like cut & paste and drag & drop fixed on Linux and we can start talking about any kind of 3D peniscomparison eye candy.
I want Linux to be the best desktop especially for creative people. I cannot wait for the day I can say “now as a designer I can finally switch to a completely open platform”, but for now it’s still missing too much to be worth the hassle.
Kelly Mac Says:
“go drool over yer Ifone’ douche bags…”
First off, what the heck is an “Ifones” and why do they have douche bags? Here is another gem from the same post:
“All you fools that PAID to have it a Apple, need to say what you say cause you ponied up the cash for the Apple…”
Wow! That sentence above is just too much. A a veritable cornucopia of illiterate writing! Would you be willing to come to my school and speak about the pros and cons of a career flipping burgers?
When Linux can do these things I’ll believe the desktop revolution is coming:
1) You can cut an paste between every app and it works. No, I don’t care what X library you used - it *should* work between Athena widgets and Qt frameworks. If that is impossible then disallow incompatible widgets.
2) The cut and paste method must be the same from app to app.
3) When my father-in-law can easily install and remove applications - it must be as easy as OS X.
Keep in mind that I’m a long, long time Linux user - kernel 0.98 or so. I’ve had (and have) Linux desktops. I use Linux on my colo server as well as my internal (house) file server. I work for a company whose product only works on Linux. But my desktop should not get in the way… and in my opinion Linux desktops still do that.
So, for now, it’s OS X on my desktop. I *cannot wait* for Linux to be better than OS X - and beryl is very encouraging - but it isn’t there yet in my opinion.
Does that mean you are a fool for using KDE/Gnome/whatever? No, of course not. It probably means that your needs and mine differ, that’s all. Kelly Mac needs to get back on the meds.
Oh pleeeeeeeease somebody make a port for Win32!!!!! When you are stuck at Windoze thanks to your job, it’s not funny to see all that you WOULD have if you only could… :(
[...] Preview of Beryl 0.2.0 若想要和 Vista 一樣炫畫面，可以安裝 Beryl，不需高階設備。 [...]
OSX— blah blah, I never ponied up the cash (considerable) for an OSX box…
So I may be stupid, But on a throw away pc you can do all this(IE pIII 1ghz) for free with ubuntu/AIGLX…
All you fools that PAID to have it a Apple, need to say what you say cause you ponied up the cash for the Apple…
Linux is comin’ OSX and Vista .. And I love it!!!!!! Apple fan boys are always the same., go drool over yer Ifone’ douche bags….
About the wallpaper ….It was mentioned in a comment earlier, but I’ll leave the link again. (From kde-look.org)
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=25334
Also the movie shown in the screenshots : http://lunapark6.com/?p=2203 .
Thank you Brad C who shows that it doesn’t matter what side you choose you can still appreciate good work.
Look I agree with all the MacOX fans and even the Vista guys that will say that a lot of these effects have been done before. I totally agree. But one major thing people forget to to realize is that this project belongs to you the open source community, not a bunch of greedy companies whose main objective is to make money instead of bringing innovation.
Did i mention this belongs to you the community? The compiled binaries, the source code, the artwork if any, everything!! It’s all yours to view, use, and modify if you’d like for free. FREE!
When can you say that the Apple or MS stuff is truly yours? You can’t! Its not yours, you can only use it as they see fit and when a new upgrade comes about you’re welcome to use it again as long as you pay them. You’re always at their mercy when it comes to new features, effects, etc.
Did i mention Beryl you can get it all for free (damn my memory, can never seem to remember) and not just the old stuff, nooo the latest and greatest. And if you feel up to it, you can even get the latest in nose bleed which is all the “in dev” stage.
Honestly I’m very impressed. Beryl has done a fantastic job, and apparently it’s so well done that Apple and MS followers are actually getting defensive about it. Ha.
Good preview and awesome background! It’d be even cooler if those raindrops were animated.
Great preview! I’ve been using Beryl for a couple months now and my windows friends are really envious. I can’t wait to get that update balloon for 0.2.0!
thanks for the review, I love the wallpaper you’re using, where did you get it from?
Thanks,
-B
I am wondering can beryl work with Ati Rage 128, that old card gives about 480 fps in glxgears, (I used to use 3ddesktop package some time ago)?
If not, what is correct place to file a bug or ask someone to modify driver or beryl itself to support all these wonderful effects - my father could definitely use zoom feature and I very like this alt-tab preview.
Thanks for this preview of baryl-2.0 and thanks to all that make this possible!
I can’t wait to try this out!
As an aside, where’d you get that bitchin’ wallpaper?
“It really sucks that Beryl does not support separate taskbars. All desktops must share the same task bar and that is really the downsize for having multiple Desktops.”
I am not really sure what you mean by this? All you have to do is set your task bar to only display applications for your current workspace…just like you would with or without Beryl.
Also, most task switching apps (expose like plugin, alt-tab plugin, etc) have key combos for displaying just apps on the workspace or across all workspaces…so please explain, maybe I am misunderstanding what you are complaining about.
“All these features are already in OSX, including the 3D cube. ”
Really? First off, let me say that I have an iMac (core 2 duo) that I absolutely love. I am a huge OS X fanboy and have always had a thing for Mac’s. The iMac is my primary “personal” computer, I use my Ubuntu machines for work and programming.
Yes a lot of stuff from OS X has been brought over to Beryl like the expose-ish plugin (which is sweet) and the genie effect for minimizing/unminimizing windows.
The only 3d cube affect I have seen on OS X is when using fast user switching, so yes the effect is the same but not the same function. OS X (at least not until Leopard) doesn’t have virtual workspaces built in (unless you use a third-party app)…
The alt-tab task switcher only on OS X only shows icons not “live updated” thumbnails of the windows, hell the thumbnails in the dock aren’t even “live updated”..doesn’t have the ring task switcher.
You don’t get a “live updated” thumbnail when hovering the mouse over minimized applications in OS X.
Windows don’t become transparent when you move them (which is useful, wobbly windows really aren’t) in OX X.
You can’t group/tab open windows in OS X
etc, etc, etc…
So yes, MacOS X has been doing this since 2000, and yes many aspects of Beryl/Compiz are similar to MacOS X but they aren’t nearly the same. MacOS X also doesn’t run on anything but Apple hardware (legally).
Absolutely loved Beryl on my SUSE 10.1+ Xgl . Can’t wait to try out 0.2.0…Vista sure has some catching up to do now :-)
Seems a lot more stable than previous versions - can handle suspend to RAM quite nicely, which Compiz was doing but not Beryl (I think that was quite an old version, though). Better performance, too. All in all looks great!
I forced myself to use Beryl on Ubuntu from versions 0.1.2 through 0.1.5. I noticed a few things:
a) It’s REALLY slick. I mean… just totally amazing. Seriously, get an NVidia card, and run Beryl on AIGLX. Just mind-blowingly cool.
b) It’s buggy. Really irritatingly buggy. The cool effects made me not care at first, but eventually it put me so on edge I couldn’t stand it. Weird window positioning bugs, app incompatibilities (random example: Totem freaks out under XGL in odd ways), etc.
c) I’m one of those people who wants things to just happen. Immediately. I’m not a big fan of waiting. I’m a HUGE fan of keyboard shortcuts. Having said that, I ended up disabling most of the effects after a while, because the animations, while cool, just slowed me down. When I ALT+TAB, I want it to be instant, sans fading and scrolling. The initially awesome app switcher eventually just became incredibly slow and irritating after a while.
Still, definitely use it for a while. Customize the hell out of it and figure out if it’s for you. Regardless of it’s current issues, it’s the future of Linux.
It really sucks that Beryl does not support separate taskbars. All desktops must share the same task bar and that is really the downsize for having multiple Desktops.
“Will beryl work with Intel 855GME graphics chipse”
It should…I have the latest Beryl SVN builds running on my Dell 700m laptop which has an Intel 855 integrated graphics card it works wonderfully. Some of the Emerald window manager themes seem to work better than other though.
well…it didn’t post the key combo for the new ring application switcher in my last post.
It should be:
superkey+tab
You missed some of the more interesting features of this release:
(1) The “ring list” application switcher, which is an alternative to the old application switcher. It is instantiated by using:
(2) Window grouping/tabbing, at first this feature annoyed me so I turned it off on my laptop but kept using it on my primary desktop machine. Now I find it very useful and use it all the time on both machines.
I love the people who say things like “I haven’t used Linux since Red Hat 8″…what a joke. Red Hat 8 was released in what?…2002ish? Linux makes vast improvements almost every 6 months! So distributions on 6 month release schedules have had something like 7 releases since then.
As for it’s stability, I think it has drastically improved recently. I have been running the SVN nightly builds for months now and it has really solidified recently. I think this is partially because they are shooting for a stable version to be added to the next release of Ubuntu.
I hate the people who comment on Compiz/Beryl claiming that it is just all eye-candy and nothing productive, especially when most of these people have probably never even used it. First off, if it makes YOU less productive then by all means DO NOT RUN IT. Secondly, it absolutely makes ME many times more productive, especially given that it makes managing open applications many times more efficient. Yes, some of the features/plugins are absolutely eye-candy but there are also extremely useful ones.
_Total_ OSX ripoff!
It looks nice and everything, but the lines still aren’t very smooth… Maybe it’s the screen shot tool, or maybe it’s just poor graphical programming. I think it’s a nice alternative OS, but it’s not nice enough to get me to drop my OSX.
All these features are already in OSX, including the 3D cube. Although, I do have to say that I like that rain drop screen saver or wallpaper.. It rocked, I’d like to find it for OSX.
Will beryl work with Intel 855GME graphics chipset
“Beryl makes OS X and Vista look old and antiquated”.
I don’t see why.
Because woobly windows? Because the rain effect? The rest of the things you show are already in OS X and Vista.
And most of those things, are already in OS X since 2001. So, let’s avoid those silly comments.
what_movie : The name of the film is Sukida. You can read about it here http://lunapark6.com/?p=2203 .
Nice to run across paths with you again Ragundo….cheers — I watched Sukida again over the weekend, really enjoy that film.
Very good review.
And one of my favourite movies “Suki Da” playing in VLC player :).
The wallpaper also is fantastic.
Greetings from Spain
what movie is that?
3
Larry Says:
February 5th, 2007 at 10:55 am
… but let us be realistic here: will such stuff really improve your computing? …
Does a Ferrari provide a better road trip than a Chevy Cavalier? It’s not just about looks, It’s about a whole new experience. A big problem with computing today is that although we can have 20 different apps open at once, we can’t navigate them efficiently. With the ’scale’ feature in Beryl, you navigate effortlessly through a forest of already running applications. Beryl absolutely nailed this feature. In the future I would not be surprised to see other operating systems “borrowing” this feature.
Peio : The wallpaper is available at kde-look.org and the direct link is http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=25334
…cheers
Beryl hackers work “quick-and-dirty.” The thumbnail preview plugin is a good example; beryl un-minimize the window, take a “screenshot” and then close the window again, wasting resources and introducing a whole lot of ugly hacks in the software core. Compiz doesn’t offer that functionality, yet, because David Reveman prefers to work with the Xorg developers to implement the necessary infrastructure in the X server core instead of using dirty workarounds.
I’m much more confident in the compiz developers approach, even if this means that I have to wait a bit.
Hi,
Where did you get this amazing wallpaper?
tx!
p.
I’m using RC1 in Edgy and I REALLY love what they have done. The thumbnail preview of applications and the application switcher I use daily when I’m working on the computer. The article doesn’t mention this, but you can literally drag and drop folders/documents from overlapping windows as well. Also the most important factor for me is that my girlfriend loves it :)
Yes it does look impressive from an eye-candy point of view but let us be realistic here: will such stuff really improve your computing? I doubt it very much, if fact, I would hazard a guess to say it is actually distracting one from getting work done!
I hope this new version of Beryl is more stable. I liked what I saw from Beryl when I installed it in Edgy, but the program was kind of buggy on my computer.
This really looks amazing. I haven’t used Linux since Red Hat 8, but now I think it’s time to try it again. Nice to have the internet to show how these things work. Last time I tried to install Linux, I had to go out to Barnes & Noble to buy a $40 book about the size of the yellow pages, and attempt to install the o.s., the tricky part was getting the dial up modem to work and finding packages for installing other packages.