Member Avatar for mikeandike22

Ok here is my new desktop setup for Ubuntu 6.06.
Ive got Linista 3 as the GTK/Metacity theme,
Some Mac OS X icons,
XGL/Compiz installed and running,
CGWD vista aero theme,
A application panel up top that is hidden unless rollover,
some terminal changes (transparency, text, text color),
and I also have Uslab (SLED like menu for ubuntu) in the corner, but I couldnt get a pic of it.

[IMG][/IMG]

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by pty

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Nice, polished desktop — great eye for detail, . A few practical tips and fallbacks for anyone trying the same tricks (or for those who land here years later looking to reproduce this look) so the setup stays stable and usable.

Make sure 3D acceleration is actually active before getting deep into effects — that’s the single biggest cause of odd behaviour. From a terminal run:

glxinfo | grep "direct rendering"

If it says "Yes" you’re on the right track. If not, install the appropriate vendor driver. Keep a fast way to bail out if the window manager crashes: from a text console (Ctrl+Alt+F1) you can restart a simpler WM with metacity --replace & and later bring compiz back with compiz --replace &.

Tuning compiz: fewer plugins = fewer problems. Disable heavy effects you don’t need (animations, large blur/water effects, etc.) in the CompizConfig Settings Manager and keep one saved profile for “showcase” and one for “daily work.” That makes switching between flashy and productive setups trivial. Also use the “Window Rules” or “Opacity” plugins to exclude transient apps (dialogs, file choosers) from special effects so they remain snappy.

Panel and terminal polish: use the panel’s Properties → Autohide for a simple top bar that appears on rollover. For terminal transparency remember there’s “pseudo” transparency (reads the wallpaper) and true alpha transparency (requires compositing); set it in your terminal profile so it survives restarts. Finally, if you’re testing on a laptop (as hinted), watch battery and performance — ’s point about productivity vs. bling is valid: sometimes a plain desktop with a couple of tasteful effects feels faster and is less distracting.

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Member Avatar for John A

Not bad... I see you've used the Vista window theme. I'm planning to add skins, but I haven't got around to (re)installing Linux on my MacBook. I think Apple should add a theme feature to Mac OS X, instead of forcing us to use hacks.

psst.. You need to edit your signature

Member Avatar for mikeandike22

yea I do mainly because
1. I already won the blog thing
2. My podcast sucks and I never do anthing for it

Yea I like the vista theme hopefully someone is working on making a customizable Uslab to look like vista. I went with the Mac OS X icons because well they look good and I have vista icons on my XP and my sister or someone would probably get confused and thing they were in windows.

Member Avatar for pty

yea I do mainly because
1. I already won the blog thing
2. My podcast sucks and I never do anthing for it

Yea I like the vista theme hopefully someone is working on making a customizable Uslab to look like vista. I went with the Mac OS X icons because well they look good and I have vista icons on my XP and my sister or someone would probably get confused and thing they were in windows.

it looks good. i've spent a while playing around with ubuntu/compiz/xgl/cgwd with decent results but i found that i'm just more productive with a 'clear' desktop and 2 normal looking default toolbars.

still though, while im waiting for evolution to download my mail i cant resist giving the progress window a quick wobble

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