TAG | From newb to 100 with Ubuntu Linux 8.04 |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Thursday, 15 May 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 3 Click the System/Preferences/Appearance menu. Click the Visual Effects tab page. Here you’ll see three options. The first, “none”, provides a simple desktop environment without any effects. The second, “normal”, is the default. This provides some attractive features but without making any heavy requests that could impact performance.You’ll see the window wobbling and waving as you take it on its journey. It’s a remarkable rippling effect. On my Dell Inspiron this is fluid and without any artifacts or lag. It barely scratches the surface of what Compiz can do but yet demonstrates something already beyond that which Vista presents. Now start up a bunch more windows. Pick some games, some graphics apps, and anything else you like. Press Alt+Tab a few times and you’ll see how you can cycle through the windows. This isn’t a new concept, by any means; you can do this in Windows – but Compiz, like Vista, shows a snapshot of each window as it is running; if the contents are changing the snapshot will also be changing in real time – again, with no lag or slowdown whatsoever. Next use the Windows key + Tab a few times. You’ll again flip through the open applications but with a nifty effect that turns all windows to an angle on the side except for one main window at a time which receives centre focus on the screen. Note that this won’t happen unless you have set the appearance to extra mode. This is not unlike Vista’s Window key + Tab feature, which twists all the open windows to the side and flips through them. Yet, the Compiz implementation is superior because it is usable; one window gets prominently shown on the screen with each press of the key combo. You can much more easily find what you’re looking for and this means of flipping through open apps clearly has a purpose. The Vista model does not give such clarity and purely switches through angled window after angled window. It is as if the Windows + Tab task switching in Vista was implemented purely to show a graphical trick – but with a drop in system performance. Obviously Compiz is not unique, given comparisons can be made to Windows Vista’s makeover. Additionally, MacOS claims its share of visual effects also. However, neither is as smooth or as feature rich as Compiz. You must check out the forums to get loads of tips on getting the most out of Compiz to really give polish to your system. This is something that’ll make you go wow, and your friends and colleagues too. There’ll be no turning back from Linux once you begin receiving acclaim for its stunning good looks. Write a letter I promised you five things you should do right away on a new Ubuntu installation to help give confidence and motivate you to keep going. The fifth is drab by comparison but fundamental. Unless you can process words your time with Linux would undoubtedly be short. Click Applications/Office. There you’ll find the Open Office suite, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation graphics tool, a database and an e-mail client. Fire up the word processor. Write a letter to your family telling them how much you like Ubuntu. Tell them to read this column. And that’s that; so if you’re new to Ubuntu or even yet to try it do so without fear. Once you’ve logged in for the first time it may be a sinking feeling as you wonder “what now?” but if you follow these ideas you’ll be up and running and exploring before you know it. Reader involvement ... So, dear reader, what is something you think a brand new Ubuntu user should do right away to their system? Also, what's your fave - KDE or Gnome?
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