digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

See the original image at dev.compiz-fusion.org

Compiz Fusion Truly Spherical Desktop View Arrives!

dev.compiz-fusion.org — For those watching Compiz-Fusion recently, many folks have been waiting for quite a while for there to be a plugin to replace the cube with a sphere. We got a cylinder, and then a deformed cylinder, and finally the developers have put the code for a sphere together! Thanks onestone! [Please note that this is in the development version only.]

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • 4DFX, on 05/07/2008, -3/+89The Desktop is not flat. It is actually round!
    *hides*
    • nightman, on 05/07/2008, -1/+31blasphemy!
    • shrewduser, on 05/07/2008, -1/+19that explains why when i drag icons into the distance, they seem to disappear until all i can see is the top of the icon and then nothing!
    • xturmn8r, on 05/07/2008, -4/+12"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin." -- Cardinal Bellarmine (at Galileo's trial)
      • nickert0n, on 05/07/2008, -16/+1***** off Tiki Tiki Tambo
        • richbleak, on 05/07/2008, -1/+10Are you accusing him of having a long name or something? What are you even talking about?
          • nickert0n, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1i was not patient enough to wait another 9 years to say Tiki Tiki Tambo. For I have shamed you all and I am sorry. =(
      • richbleak, on 05/07/2008, -9/+5Interestingly enough, the Cardinal was right.
        • trevorh, on 05/07/2008, -3/+7Why does an article about compiz fusion have to lead to jesus bashing
        • prammy, on 05/07/2008, -1/+5Maybe Jesus uses plain old metacity without desktop effects ?
        • xturmn8r, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3I read the quote recently, and it popped to mind. I realized later a Pythagoras quote would have been more accurate. Apologies!
        • insllvn, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1@trevorh: because Linux users are damn dirty atheist who hate you and your god. Probably. I don't know.

          @prammy: I always pegged Jesus as one of those artistic Mac types. He thinks different.
    • dissurmom, on 05/07/2008, -14/+12Why is this news? Looks like crap.
      • mijelh, on 05/07/2008, -4/+1Yes, but can you imagine how accessible would a spherical desktop be?
        /sarcasm
    • DnasTheGreat, on 05/07/2008, -6/+1Sssh! Don't let the Christians hear that. They may persecute you, or at the least whine about equal time on the desktop.
  • ptFoe, on 05/07/2008, -2/+42They need something at the bottom & top of the sphere.
    • gavintlgold, on 05/07/2008, -1/+14Right now, you can put images there with the same plugin. It currently is not possible to put workspaces there.
    • Balk2K, on 05/07/2008, -1/+27like polar ice caps...
    • ArthurArchnix, on 05/07/2008, -0/+2If you put your workspace on the inside of the sphere (just check a box in CCSM) it looks like what I see when I look out the front of my head through my eyes.
    • jabberwolf, on 05/07/2008, -2/+3And this is useful HOW??
  • rouge568, on 05/07/2008, -2/+44I am definitely getting a Desktop Earth.
  • sirhomer, on 05/07/2008, -1/+43This would actually look very interesting with a space skydome.
    • Philluminati, on 05/07/2008, -4/+81and an Atlas desktop background. You could leave all your icons in specific regions, you know, like put the Trash can in France so you know where it is.
      • wiresjr, on 05/07/2008, -3/+31Dugg for trashcans in France
      • webcrumb, on 05/07/2008, -4/+8Why would you want to know where France is?
      • 4321234, on 05/07/2008, -8/+15When this whole Iraq thing started, the general public in France had a higher opinion of the U.S. than in Britain. But the French didn't support war in Iraq, calling ***** on WMD and ties to Al Quaida, etc, so they became assholes in the redneck world. Turns out the French were right, so I guess it's O.K. to quit bashing them any time now.
        • specialK16, on 05/07/2008, -1/+11No, people have been making fun of france since WW2 I think.
  • thelastknowngod, on 05/07/2008, -3/+24this would be cool if they could implement an actual spherical desktop. get rid of different virtual desktops and just have one round space that you can increase the circumference of. that would be awesome.
    • Calibur, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1there are a couple of projects that do that. I tried SphereXP but im sure you can find better ones.
    • gavintlgold, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1When input redirection comes, that feature will appear, I am sure.
  • OasisGames, on 05/07/2008, -0/+17We can do a single spherical desktop as soon as input redirection comes (because at that point it won't matter where anything is, we'll still be able to pass input to it). However, input redirection has been pushed back an entire year by the Xorg developers. Again.
  • Nougat, on 05/07/2008, -4/+10All this time I've been led to believe that GUI users are lame, and then there's all this crowing about Compiz (or Gnome, or KDE). Make up my mind!
    • nickert0n, on 05/07/2008, -8/+3Ok Gnome FTW k?

      Seriously though used to be a KDE fan but Gnome IMO is where it's at.
      And Compiz isnt a GUI it is a toolset to enhance your existing one.
      • Nougat, on 05/07/2008, -6/+3Even worse! A GUI on top of a GUI! Blasphemy!

        (Oh yeah: WHOOSH.)
        • nickert0n, on 05/07/2008, -3/+1I WEAR THE CAPE I MAKE THE WOOSH NOISES!
      • bruenig, on 05/07/2008, -6/+5Tell me what compiz actually is without going to wikipedia. Judging from your comment, I doubt very seriously you know at all what you are talking about. More evidence of the ubuntu faux expert who thinks he knows something.
        • mrsteveman1, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1afaik its a replacement window manager, right? sitting on top of XGL or the other ones to render etc
        • nickert0n, on 05/07/2008, -6/+1Yeah cause I goto Wikipedia, I dont go into CCSM or anything, Nor do I use it at home with I dont know the aquarium, cube gears, 3D windows, and I especially never have installed emerald to enchance my epxierence.
          Nope thats right I MUST have gone into wikipedia, I dont even know how to sudo compiz --replace. And the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS installed on my computer (which compiz is turned on by default aslong as you have proper video card drivers) must be an illusion too.
          Thanks for shedding the light mrssteveman1! When I grow up I hope I can be as exceddingly ***** idiotic as you, then I can say random garbadge without reason!
          /sarcasim
          • davodavo, on 05/07/2008, -1/+3Why would you run that with sudo?
          • mrsteveman1, on 05/08/2008, -1/+2what the ***** are you talking about.....I'm not even sure about the answer myself, which is why i phrased my comment in the form of a question, you pathetic little *****

            Oh yea, learn to spell, it doesn't look good when you rant in public and spell words wrong.
          • nickert0n, on 05/08/2008, -3/+1little *****? the only thing opensource about you is your asshole cause anyone can go on in and develeop in there. fagget
            And BTW im sorry I dont qualify for your spelling bee
          • mrsteveman1, on 05/08/2008, -1/+2What are you 12 years old?
        • Philluminati, on 05/07/2008, -3/+2I don't like people assuming the guys a Ubuntu user just because he's not upto scratch on what compiz is
    • Knet88, on 05/07/2008, -1/+6KDE FTW.

      Used to think Gnome was nice, but KDE allows one to change their settings simply, without a headache.

      Gnome can't decide who their audience is. New users or experienced. I think KDE is more interested in taking new users through the paces until they are experienced. Give the user what they want, and what they will want.
      • nickert0n, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2Gnome caters to both, I hated GNOME for the loggest time and was a avid KDE fan, however give Gnome a whirl now in 8.04 I wont go back unless they pull a KDE4 lol
    • snuggl, on 05/07/2008, -2/+4That was in 95-05, nowadays guis are the ***** and the terminal talibans are those that shall be mocked.
  • killdashnine, on 05/07/2008, -10/+5Really cool. Have to play with it on my "toy around" linux rig. Unfortunately I have to work on a Windows machine ...
  • LoudMusic, on 05/07/2008, -18/+13I can't imagine actually trying to use that. There's so much wasted screen space, and a huge learning curve. Not to mention everything you're looking at is designed to be viewed flat and would look terrible wrapped around a curved object.
    • Systembomber, on 05/07/2008, -7/+2lol curve
    • thewump, on 05/07/2008, -0/+16Dude, you don't WORK on it like this, it's when you "rotate" through desktops.
    • leodavinci, on 05/07/2008, -0/+12You realize it is not meant for you to use the desktop like that permanently? Look up videos of Compiz Fusion on Youtube, with the cube effect. That is what this sphere is meant for, to switch between the multiple virtual desktops, NOT to write a word document while looking at a sphere.
    • porl, on 05/07/2008, -0/+4this isn't for using the windows directly, like the cube it is used only when switching between desktops (well, apart from just looking cool)
  • Kazbaeden, on 05/07/2008, -14/+3Is the desktop in the sphere supposed to look exactly like vista (because that's what I'm seeing)?
    • ahvi, on 05/07/2008, -0/+8That's actually KDE 4. It is actually quite different looking from Vista, but also uses a dark default theme.
    • canthraxp, on 05/07/2008, -1/+6You can use Emerald themes to customize the borders of the windows, you're not locked down to what the designer wants.
    • mrsteveman1, on 05/07/2008, -2/+3Vistas dark theme doesn't look too bad actually, KDE does tend to adopt things Windows does but in a lot of ways they do their own thing.
  • micklerlop, on 05/07/2008, -18/+24can I say useless?
    • courtjester555, on 05/07/2008, -3/+23You can, but you'd be missing the point.
      • metalstorm, on 05/07/2008, -1/+25That's because there aren't any points, it's a sphere.
        • SteveMax, on 05/07/2008, -1/+7A sphere is made of points. No corners though.
      • ahawks, on 05/07/2008, -4/+2What exactly is the point then?
    • snuggl, on 05/07/2008, -1/+2Ofcourse, else it wouldn't be art, it would just be more work.
    • Knet88, on 05/07/2008, -2/+8If we can say the same about your comment.
    • colinnwn, on 05/07/2008, -1/+2You can...
      But if this was Vista, would you call it eye candy?
    • Armitage2k, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1Yes, you can say useless, and in most cases, you would be right... and again.. this is one of those most cases... useless
  • sandiegodude, on 05/07/2008, -2/+28Absolutely amazing! This would increase productivity by leaps and bounds in the fields of tennis ball, soccer ball, golf ball, baseball and basketball research! Sadly, football researchers are unaffected by this breathtaking new technology.
  • TedinAsia, on 05/07/2008, -15/+10And the point is ????
    • nicktheawesome, on 05/07/2008, -0/+14It's a sphere, there is no point.
    • Knet88, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3and your point is???
    • Philluminati, on 05/07/2008, -1/+4you can arrange windows for maximum productivity and move between them quickly in a visual environment. None of this minimizing and maximising crap or straining your eyes as you roll over 5 window previews which all look the same. This is a smooth visual view of all your windows.
    • DeadPanDan, on 05/07/2008, -0/+2It's fun. Play and experimentation does lead to good ideas now and then.
  • bumcheekcity, on 05/07/2008, -2/+111Utterly useless. I'm installing it now.
  • kiranlightpaw, on 05/07/2008, -6/+2Tried Compiz last night in Ubuntu 8. Still doesn't work in Xinerama across 3 monitors / 2 nVidia video cards.
    Anyone know if the project accepts bounties, because I'd be willing to chip some money towards having that feature?
    • TheManBrian07, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0i'm sure they would like some money if that is what you are asking
  • AzraDarkness, on 05/07/2008, -2/+7Next thing you know they are going to try to convince us that the DESKTOP revolves around the OS. Round Desktop...pfftt..Its flat to hide the bugs!
  • suntzusputnik, on 05/07/2008, -2/+12so what happens when you use google earth while running that?
    • vertexoflife, on 05/07/2008, -0/+6...I just got an awesome idea for a plugin...
    • watcht, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1careful dont wanna cause an implosion with that reckless idea
  • fungifred, on 05/07/2008, -11/+7Is this really some kind of accomplishment?
    • Knet88, on 05/07/2008, -1/+4Well, can you code a program to make your desktop do that under compiz?
  • ShiningSquirrel, on 05/07/2008, -4/+11Looks very cool, but does it really have any practical use?
    • tiuk, on 05/07/2008, -0/+5Yeah, I'm.. fine with a cube for my flat desktops.
    • vertexoflife, on 05/07/2008, -2/+7No...it's just fun. =P Not everything has to be pratical.
    • reclusivemonkey, on 05/07/2008, -1/+4People probably said that when they first saw the wheel. Not to imply that this compares with the usefulness of the wheel, but if no one ever tried anything, where would we be?
    • Knet88, on 05/07/2008, -3/+5Does Aero have any practical use (other than for hardware vendors to sell new hardware that a vista user will need to run that).

      Not really, it's just so that people with enough money to afford good hardware can show off.
    • LingNoi, on 05/10/2008, -0/+2Makes Linux adoption higher.
  • diggerpleez, on 05/07/2008, -4/+15To invoke my Texas roots, useless as ***** on a bull.
    Personally I would rather see them spending 100% of their energy on making Compiz-Fusion more stable. I have optimistically run it in several distros, and inevitably I end up scrapping it due to random bugginess.
    • aladrin, on 05/07/2008, -3/+6Pretty high and mighty there, trying to dictate what other people work on. If he wasn't doing this, there's a chance he'd do nothing at all for the project. And if people ordered him around about it, that chance is even greater. Unless you're paying their paycheck, I don't see as you have much right to tell them what they should work on.
      • djekz, on 05/07/2008, -4/+1software and developers are just more garbage if they have no user base. look at OS2
      • diggerpleez, on 05/07/2008, -1/+4@aladrin - You honestly read the statement "Personally I would rather see them ..." as me dictating what they should work on and ordering him around? What in the name of all gayness are you talking about?
        • DeadPanDan, on 05/07/2008, -1/+3Well, if not dictating then simply naive. This isn't a product of an organization. This is somebody's hobby. Stating that you wish somebody else had a different hobby that benefited you more is asinine at least.
          • diggerpleez, on 05/07/2008, -0/+4Here, let me try it this way...
            While I really *LOVE* the idea of Compiz-Fusion and would without a doubt like to see infinite numbers of creative offshoots like this, they all end up losing value to me as a user who depends on stability, until the foundation that those creative offshoots rely on is made more solid.
            Better?
    • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -1/+2You can still milk the bull. Give it to that guy at work who stole your stapler.
  • canthraxp, on 05/07/2008, -1/+14To people that say it's useless: In fact, it is.
    The same could be said about the vista Alt+Tab effect, the coverflow effect on Mac OS, etc. It's pure eye candy.
    • Duositex, on 05/07/2008, -3/+1Its WindowKey + Tab, and no, it's not useless. Just not frequently useful.
    • sandiegodude, on 05/07/2008, -2/+3Actually, the vista alt-tab preview is handy when you have an assload of windows open. It's a minor timesaver though, certainly not a necessity. As far as the spherical desktop, not only is it useless in terms of usability, it actually makes it difficult to see everything clearly...

      That being said, it looks cool as hell!
      • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3You don't have to have it panning out so far, I think they did that for effect and the niceness of the photo.
    • iamnot, on 05/07/2008, -7/+4Coverflow is not useless eye candy. it provides additional information in an intuitive format.

      This spherical projection is just "look what we can do!". Not particularly useful nor really an incremental improvement in functionality.

      Now a tetrahedral desktop mapping!... THAT would be... something.
    • rouge568, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1Compiz has that too.
  • ArachnidDude, on 05/07/2008, -1/+9Next will be a spherical monitor. Then the "Flat is back" desktop on the spherical monitor.
    • prammy, on 05/07/2008, -0/+4According to the latest 'Games for Windows' magazine Alienware is working on a large curved LCD monitor.
  • jacekpoplawski, on 05/07/2008, -5/+6Hey people, why are you so boring? Why you ask for practical use? Linux is for fun.
  • thewump, on 05/07/2008, -1/+12To those who read this and don't know one end of linux from the other, NO, this is NOT the working desktop.. duh! Compiz supports a "cube" type plugin that allows you to use each face as a desktop - you rotate the cube to get to different desktops. This plugin just makes the cube round during that rotation.
  • Kalimotxo, on 05/07/2008, -6/+2I like using compiz, it makes work fun. It crashes a lot, so I need to disable it. I would be happier with more stability and less gimmicks. Kudos to the devs anyway.
    • vertexoflife, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3It's become much more stable recently. Do you use KDE? It's still buggy, but getting there. KDE4 has it's own eyecandy anyways. It's almost perfect stable in GNOME.
  • warbird, on 05/07/2008, -5/+6Not only is it useless, but its ugly too. I had mediocre hopes for this, but it havent even lived up to those yet. Come on, get some antialiasing going there! The edges looks crap
    • vertexoflife, on 05/07/2008, -1/+5Everything with time, my friend.
    • Knet88, on 05/07/2008, -2/+10Join the dev team, get coding! You're apparently smart enough that you can criticize, you go for it.
    • warbird, on 05/07/2008, -1/+4I probably could, but thats besides the point. Furthermore, you think every film critic can make a movie? or every game reviewer can program a game? I wish people would stop using that lame attack, because it shows zero insight.
  • ahmedinejad, on 05/07/2008, -2/+1Earth!
  • MMaster23, on 05/07/2008, -14/+7ugh .. compiz fusion is total crap. Not only is it useless, it's also hardware heavy

    "well well .. vista is much heavieerr!!1!" .. nope it isn't. Flip3D isn't that heavy and the Vista hardware requirements are mostly due to other components like Photo gallery, Media Center and Windows Movie Maker. MS specifies the absolute top requirements due to these components. Vista itself is much slicker (including Flip3D/Aero)

    Not say Aero and Flip3D are really usefull but I did find out that running Aero on my GPU really offloads my CPU (CPU doesn't has to worry about ANY UI rendering tasks) giving me more processing power. So all the pretty animations aren't just for all good fun.

    Also .. Linux != Linux. Linux is sleak .. but Linux is also extremely heavy. It all depends on which distro you're running. Adding Compiz Fusion to a Linux distro is like adding a 500 pound loser drive a F1 car and still expect top shelf performance...
    • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -1/+4Vista isn't hardware heavy?
      Sure it is.
      You have to turn Compiz on, this laptop came with Aero on. Even with Aero off, it still uses a lot more than Linux ever did.
    • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3And "Linux != Linux"!? I think you'll find it does.
    • maximm, on 05/07/2008, -4/+2please i run compiz on machines i can't run winxp let alone vista. Flipping between eight desktops on two viewports controlling 40 servers in a webfarm doesn't seem useless to me. Just because you can't figure something out doesn't make it useless. Go buy a mac and try not to think too much your head may hurt.
    • MattBD, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1I've run Compiz on an Asus Eee PC 2G Surf fine when running Linux Mint off a flash drive.
  • 3leggedHorse, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1 Hopefully this will be put in cubedesktop.
  • dn11, on 05/07/2008, -0/+2but why? I prefer Expo view personally. A lot more practical IMO
  • trollick, on 05/07/2008, -6/+1Does switching from one window to another REALLY become such a problem that we need all these cubes, spheres and other 3D shapes to help us??? I mean, REALLY???
    • mossblaser, on 05/07/2008, -0/+4No, but it's fun.
    • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1Look, we have nothing to feed you here, try youtube.
  • TroubledMind, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1We don't need it for any reason, we just want to look cool for the invisible person we pretend is watching us use our desktops behind us.
  • wisher86, on 05/07/2008, -1/+3Useless, since display is flat why should I install a spherical desktop?
    • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1It's as useless as allowing me to have Thunderbird open BEHIND Firefox, BEHIND both of which I will find icons on my Desktop, because the screen is flat, why would developers give us this simulated third dimension!
      No wait, it is actually quite useful, it's also fun, but it's all down to how you use it.
  • xen0blue, on 05/07/2008, -3/+2worthless but cool none the less
  • linksus, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1Surely it would roll off the edge.. But hang on. what if the bit the ball is sitting on was on a desktop sphere? surely that would just roll off the bit its actually in? thats part of the sphere that rolls off inside the sphe....
    • dazparkour, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1Think of it like this: The sphere doesn't move at all, your point of view goes around it.
  • martindale, on 05/07/2008, -8/+1This is fail. SphereXP wins.
  • enterneo, on 05/07/2008, -0/+6now shape it like a boob, and i will be happy
  • CCmachined, on 05/07/2008, -0/+2and how the hell do i install it?
    yes, enabled all repos, reloaded... there is NO compiz-fusion-unsupported package. trevino doesnt even have a gutsy repo ... everything is up to date ... i dont care if this is bleeding edge, i live on teh bleeding edge! where's the packages?
  • TomKarpik, on 05/07/2008, -7/+3This is what you Linux people get excited about?

    *yawn* Give me productivity over this drivel any day.
  • smartazz, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3Sweet, now make it bounce.
    • TheWindBlows, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2And all shootin some b-ball outside of the school
      When a couple of guys
      Who were up to no good
      Startin making trouble in my neighborhood
  • zhinker, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1this would make an awesome screen saver
  • AlaskaLoneWolf, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2Why would anyone ever want that? Dunno, but ordered three of them.
  • Mokacoffay, on 05/08/2008, -0/+0Hmmm.... what about a sperical touch-screen monitor? :D
  • Armitage2k, on 05/08/2008, -1/+1I will be sure to install this, once I get a nice spherical monitor.
  • TheManBrian07, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1background as a nipple anybody??
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.