Compiz Gets Thumbs-Up for Gutsy Gibbon

Da Chronic writes "After a vigorous debate at the last Ubuntu Technical Board meeting, the board decided to ship Ubuntu 7.10 with Compiz enabled by default. The decision was made despite the fact that Compiz still has some significant issues relating to drivers and Xorg. 'For instance, there are some problems — like accelerated video playback issues with Intel drivers — that can only be resolved by using the EXA accelerated rendering framework which is still not ready yet. When asked why Intel isn't addressing the driver issue, technical board member Mathew Garrett explained that "Intel are working on the basis that composited desktops won't be ready for rolling out until EXA is stable enough anyway, so it's not a concern [for them].' In the end, all but one member voted to include Compiz in Gutsy."

and Compiz is what again?

[ickypoo]

Here's your wikipedia. Thanks, submitter.

Compiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management.

Re:Compiz is...?

[BloodyIron]

yeah, i've been trying to post an appology outlining that my original post was being written as the original reply was being posted, i didnt see it.

sorry.

Re:Bloat++

[notthe9]

No one is hiding a root password from anyone. Ubuntu by default install with no root account. The idea is that you will do all your administrative stuff using sudo. You can easily enable the root account with the password of your choice.

As to removability, I would assume a single apt-get call or a couple clicks in a graphical window manager will remove Compiz completely. (You'd sudo the tasks if you are not root.)

Re:I don't get it

[ericrost]

Maybe this'll help, with a decent 3d graphics chipset, it makes the desktop more responsive by offloading the desktop rendering to the GPU completely.

Re:Does Beryl = Compiz now?

[Nimey]

The old Compiz team is concentrating on the Compiz-Fusion core, while the old Beryl team is concentrating on the plugins (eye candy goodness).

So, Compiz + Beryl == Compiz Fusion.

Re:Compiz is...?

[Adult film producer]

here, watch it.. better than any wordy description.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Fbk52Mk1w [youtube.com]

Re:Bloat++

[Fallingcow]

$sudo passwd root

Type your password once.

Type the new root password twice.

Done.

Re:Bloat++

[Zonk (troll)]

I imagine it would be easy to remove if they just gave us the root password.... (or am i getting my distros mixed up?)

sudo passwd

Now you have a root password.

Still, to disable Compiz all you'd have to do is click on "System"->"Preferences"->"Desktop Effects" and press the "Enable Desktop Effects" toggle button. No password required (it's a per user setting).

If you want to completely remove Compiz from the system, just click on "System"->"Administration"->"Synaptic Package Manager". Type in your password, and then do a search for "desktop-effects" and "compiz-core" (all over compiz packages depend on this, so removing it will remove them as well) and remove them.

Re:Compiz is...?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not certain as I am still kinda new here...

You must be new... Ah, yes you've already admitted that. The GP (that means 'grandparent post' in /. speak) was being silly, although this is a prime example of 'never a truer word spoken in jest.' Most people on /. find it very difficult to admit when they're wrong, that's why that post has been modded-up: 'funny'.

There are a number of other things you should know about /. particularly all the in-jokes: Natalie Portman, hot grits, in Soviet Russia [wikipedia.org], Steve Ballmer's chair fixation [battellemedia.com] the list goes on. If you don't understand one of these, don't ask, you'll probably get modded-down, the maxim here is: 'Just fucking Google it [justfuckinggoogleit.com].'

Another thing: you may note that I am posting as 'Anonymous Coward', this is because I am a 'Karma whore' (a concept you will soon become familiar with). I cannot post as my normal account because this post will probably be--rightfully--modded 'offtopic' and that would damage my karma. So welcome to /. ! Hope you enjoy your time here, mind out for trolls, and may your karma be as great as your intellect.

Re:Compiz is...?

[sYkSh0n3]

MS gets criticized because when they implement it, it hogs system resources and requires bleeding edge hardware to run. My 6 yr old computer will run Beryl with no effect on system performance, but i can't turn on the effects in Vista without my computer slowing to a crawl. (i tried to run it for 30 days so when i said how horrible it was, i could give examples from personal experience. i only made it 10 days, but i got plenty to bitch about.)

Re:I don't get it

[Constantine XVI]

They did quit arguing. Beryl is merging back into compiz as compiz-fusion.

Re:Bloat++

[MMC Monster]

It's not that there is no root account. There is a root account that cannot be logged into without first setting a password (using sudo from a user account that is allowed to run sudo).

The idea is that no one needs to be root except to run particular commands (using sudo or gksudo). If you do need to run root you will create the root password and log in as root and be able to shoot yourself in the foot if you point the run in the wrong direction (ie: rm -R /. instead of rm -R ./).

Re:This is just typical stupid Canonical thinking

[diegocgteleline.es]

Compiz disables automatically in computers that doesn't have enought horsepower to run it.

Re:Bloat++

[GrubInCan]

Export AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit

seemed to fix it for me

Re:Ubuntu

[HermMunster]

He's clueless. Ubuntu is awesome.

Re:Compiz is...?

[Techman83]

I actually use it on a daily basis and some would think it is bloat, but actually my notebook is a whole lot more responsive, longer battery time (more so than the windows xp that was on it and longer than default window manager) and I also am a whole lot more productive. I can monitor many terminals at once in real time just by the flick of the wrist, very very handy!