Preview: Beryl 0.2.0

Lunapark Blog ^ | February 5th | luna6

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

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.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

The OS 10 desktop still isn't 100% 3d yet, is it?

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

On the outside looking in.

[Mr. Blonde]

I just used Linux for the first time today. I used a LiveCD of Ubuntu. Pretty neat. Now I'm dying to get an external hard drive to backup all my stuff before I go about putting it on my hard drive as well. Don't want to lose everything in the process of getting Linux.

[HAL9000]

The OS 10 desktop still isn't 100% 3d yet, is it?

Mac OS X uses a 3-D imaging system called "OpenGL" for 100% of the Quartz Extreme screen compositing engine, but it's more of a 2-D paradigm on the screen. Of course, Steve Jobs knows all about 3-D because the company he owned - Pixar - was a pioneer in the field and owns many basic patents in the field.

But Apple is not going to display windows floating in space like Beryl. The nausea-inducing Beryl user interface simply lacks good taste as a user interface. It looks like a cheesy sci-fi movie, and it does not make the user interface more productive or easier to use. The Mac OS X Expose feature is a much better way to navigate in multiple windows.

Ultimately, the biggest problem Beryl faces is that Linux lacks coherent, consistent standards for application design. It's just chaos on the screen. Linux is great for servers, but it's still lousy for desktop computer usage.

[Echo Talon]

Beryl and the Italian distro Sabayon are kind of teamed up.... Give it a try...

[Psycho_Bunny]

The OS 10 desktop still isn't 100% 3d yet, is it?

No.  It's every bit as boring as the Windows desktop, only more annoying.  Once all the artsy-fartsy effects are disabled, it's very nice.

Beryl's a lot of fun to use and blows the current Vista and OSX desktops away.  Hopefully, the inane nature of Vista will drive a new Xnux push.

[ShadowAce]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Smart Move....recommend looking at Sabayon....very nice and fast.....running 64 bit...3.26 with Nvidia card , Beryl and Wobbly windows on multiple desktops....nice....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just fired up 3.26.... been running 3.0 I think it is....no Beryl with it....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I want that one.....

[Mr. Jeeves]

The nausea-inducing Beryl user interface simply lacks good taste as a user interface. It looks like a cheesy sci-fi movie, and it does not make the user interface more productive or easier to use.

Exactly. Until 3D virtual reality helmets are commonplace, this type of interface makes no sense on a 2D screen. OS/X gets it right.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

But Apple is not going to display windows floating in space like Beryl. The nausea-inducing Beryl user interface simply lacks good taste as a user interface.

Not sure what demo you saw....that's not the way I see it.

[DreamsofPolycarp]

If you like Ubuntu, you will LOVE Mepis. It is a ubuntu kernel/core, in a KDE desktop environment (much simpler and easier for the novice), but the difference is that Mepis "just works" out of the box. It has found EVERYTHING and just loaded up the drivers for it.

Ubuntu is good, but Mepis users tend to be a bit fanatical in their praises for the distro. I would say use the latest stable release (6.0), which can be found HERE .

[Mr. Blonde]

I would use this, but it doesn't appear to support Macs.

[Vinnie]

I'm on a Mepis Live CD right now.
Haven't explored it much but it seems ok.
One problem I'm having ,and maybe the full install would fix it, I can't change the screen resolution. Consequently the taskbar, etc has very small fonts. I can't lay back and use the comp as I normally do.
Another problem is it doesn't recognize my Logitech mouse, therefore I can't use the 'page down' button.
Haven't tried printing, scanning, etc.

I tried Mandriva and while I have the option of resolutions, it wants to install.
I want to run off a CD for now until I decide whether I want to install it.
I don't think I can get rid of any partition it would create
if I decided to uninstall it.
Am I correct?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What's your video card?

[DreamsofPolycarp]

When you get to the "grub" menu on boot up, you can pick the resolution from there. Just hit f3 when you get to the menu where it asks you what kind of "install" you want, and you should be able to select various resolutions, which should save you alot of hassle. Hope that helps. Here are some nice tips on start up choices in Mepis. You can also go to the mepislovers.com forum. Nicest and most helpful bunch of people you could ever want to meet.

[HAL9000]

I've looked at several experimental user interfaces, including Beryl's spinning cube and virtual reality. In my opinion, none of them are ideal for everyday usage because the 3D paradigm is too complex and disorienting for most users.

Beryl's scale and window minimization animation are more useful than their spinning cube - but they are simply poor imitations of the Apple's patented Dock and Expose features. Beryl's screen effects don't look as good as Mac's because the Beryl system apparently lacks sub-pixel resolution.

I wrote my first program to rotate a cube on the computer screen in 1978 - followed by years of experience in 3D graphics since then. Based on that experience, I believe that 3D is great for games, movie effects, architectual visualizations, etc. - but not so good as a primary user interface paradigm.

[DreamsofPolycarp]

sorry, got the link wrong above it is this: http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/New_User_Guide#Grub

[Vinnie]

Nvidia 64 I think.
If I boot up windows to check, I'll lose my preferences in Mepis and I don't want to right now.
I'll check later.