[SATLUG] Beryl - what does it get you?

[Daniel J. Givens]

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:08:09 -0500, ed <etillman93 at peoplepc.com> wrote:
> It looks real pretty; kinda even mimics Macroshaft Windoze Siesta.
> Question?  Why?  What _/does/_  it get you?
> 
> I came to Linux to escape resource-hogging eye-candy for its own
> benefit.  This seems a step backward in the process...

After much internal debate, I am now deciding to jump into this
conversation. Ed, my comments are not directed explicitly at you, but more
at the general crowd.

Remember, everyone has different opinions as to what they want in their
computer experience. I understand the want for streamlined experience with
your applications using as few resources as possible. I personally like to
put my system to full use, but also can't stand apps that hog resources.
Beryl/Compiz put a very little extra load on a system over what 

Why I use Beryl on my systems:

1. Translucent Windows - I like that I can hover my mouse on a window below
another window and have the top window go partially translucent. I don't
have to select the bottom window to see what's in there saving me at least
two mouse clicks.

2. Cube Desktop - Before Compiz/Beryl, I never used the multiple desktop
features in any window manager. By giving it a spatial representation, I
find myself using more workspaces. Even now, I have a hard time getting
myself to use multiple desktops if the system isn't running Beryl/Compiz.
Maybe that's just me, but at least one other person I know says the same
thing. Now, I have 6 workspaces and use all of them when I'm working on
code. Oh yeah, I have dual monitors, so you can imagine just how many apps
I've got going at one time. Most of the time, I have at least three in use;
one for email and browser, one for two fullscreen terms, and one for a
couple file managers. I go up to six when I give my IDE its own workspace,
testing browsers on another workspace, and misc. stuff on the last.

3. Scale Effect - I use this effect constantly. I don't really need a pager
anymore because if I need to change windows, depending on the corner of the
screen I move my mouse to determines what scope of windows I have available
to choose from. For me, top right shows all windows on all desktops and
bottom right shows all windows on the current desktop. In Compiz Fusion,
there is an effect that similarly shows all of your workspaces on the
screen at once allowing you to change to any one by clicking on it.

4. Better utilization of my video card/processor - I find that by
offloading the video processing to my video card (Nvidia 7800GS), I have
more processing power available for consumption. All in all, my system
feels snappier with Beryl than using Metacity with my gnome setup.

There are more reasons, but it all comes down to this. I have my desktop
experience working the way I want it to. I feel like something is missing
when I'm on a system with a GUI not running Beryl/Compiz. I manage plenty
of servers via terms and feel at home there, but I like what I have
available in my setup. 

That leads to the biggest point of them all. I use it because I like it.
You (the collective you) run what you run because you like it. Ed, while
you may see these developments as a step back, they have been developed by
people who see uses for them. They have become very popular and that would
seem to suggest that they aren't some terrible move in the wrong direction.
No one is going to take away your fluxbox, blackbox, what have you. There
will always be a need for light weight desktop environments. If you don't
want to run Beryl/Compiz, then don't. Don't look down your nose (collective
noses) on those of us who do and think you're somehow more l33t because you
use FVWM only to arrange a bunch of xterms and nothing else. It's that
attitude that turns people away from the open source world and holds up
forward progress.

/rant

I love you guys! I really enjoy this list, so no hard feelings! 

~Daniel