staying.cool

having spent 3 hours of my life in trying to get a dual-monitor setup + compiz on ubuntu 8.10, i have come to the conclusion that it is simply impossible.

[note: this is on a machine with 2 X300SE ATI cards which are connected to a dell (1280x1024) and a sony (1024x768).]
observations:

• ATI+ubuntu = configuration hell. always has been and always will be. make it the seventh hell of hells when you add a dual-head setup into the mix. nvidia (from all the forums) is apparently much nicer.

• ubuntu natively picks up my monitors + resolutions. impressive.
• compiz appears to need the restricted ATI drivers to even work, on this latest iteration. once they are in there, it just works (on a single screen setup). beautifully. memories of spending 5 hours grappling with xorg.conf are sweet mythology.
• if one ditches compiz, and sticks to the open-source drivers, there’s still no scope of managing to ensure that different monitors run at different resolutions, and all work together to form a single desktop. the sony seems like the screen is extending way beyond the actual monitor with icons somewhere in the air above it.
• the ATI catalyst GUI sucks. cannot set up monitors at different resolutions, does not understand how to arrange monitors, ends up setting up the 2 monitors as a single LARGE widescreen, $^%#^&^$…
• default for all graphics configs (initially) is to clone outputs on both screens all the time. why?
• due to this lack of configurability, i have to either downgrade res to 1024×768 on both and have wonky compiz effects, or not have compiz at all.
• i somehow managed to enable a 2560×1024 (don’t ask) screen expanding across both monitors, to find that my cards only support upto 2048×2048 (ok, this is slightly invalid, but i was highly frustrated by this point anyway). ergo, compiz still won’t work.
• ubuntu without compiz effects seems dinky to use, and somehow extremely non-intuitive without all the flashiness.

now, while i’ve always been a fan of the terminal and all the cool commands that you pull out of the hat in linux… why isn’t there even an alt-tab command in linux? or any apparently simple way to set it up? compiz has ultra-funky features, and ubuntu has…nothing? what sense does that make?

incidentally, i had to reboot after an update (first time ever, for a non-kernel update). nasty memory of windows rebooting in the middle of my experiments ensued.

i’m impressed with the ease of setup. ubuntu has come streets ahead since i used it last in 7.10. lack of user-interface customization tells. big time.

solution: back to winxp with ultramon installed. such simplicity. maybe i will now move to winvista-32 or 64 on this machine, just for the heck of it.

crossover works great though, installed office 2007 directly on ubuntu. very cool. too bad the one thing keeping me on windows is the customization, rather than office.

the net is abuzz with the latest google move: google chrome. people are trying to figure out why ? what ? how ?

i type this post from chrome, and i see: a combo of ie8 and firefox3. to go. with bits of safari and opera all thrown in. even this review is just thrown together from initial impressions.

disclaimer: i firmly believe that firefox 3 is the best browser around.

back to the show.

we have speed dial. we have the ‘omnibar’. we have privacy. we have cool animations when you move tabs out of windows, for urls on pages, previews, search etc. we have download managers. we have auto-bookmarking. we have combined features from 3 different browsers which attempt to integrate together. and they do, somewhat decently.

however, i don’t like the philosophy.

for the last 5 days, i’ve been on the ‘new’ microsoft interface. one simple comparison:

IE

Explorer

Office

having followed the classic menus of ‘File’, ‘Edit’,'View’ over all their interfaces for the last 12 years, microsoft went ahead and completely revamped their interface. those buttons are hidden away, far from the human eye.

sleekness is one thing, i wonder which genius decided that those menus detracted from the UI…

i have seen more than one post about the brilliance of ubuntu - the linux revolution.. and then of course, the geek in me was blown away by the multitude of videos showcasing beryl and xgl.

and so,

plus of course,

thus exists one of my workstations. it is a matter of time, methinks, before i need it on my laptop.
aero can go suck ass.. triple their effects and you get to about the basics of beryl.

as far as ubuntu itself goes, i’ve used version 3 last. version 6.10 is pretty damned awesome as a step up. simple setup, easy updates, a little googling to get the right setup for beryl, and voila !

even taking into account that i’m a little more fearless than the standard end-user of windows.. ubuntu certainly seems to be on the right path to be a competitor.

simply put, wow. the windows install on this pc might languish a while..

kubuntu, though, needs a lot of work. even if kde is way cooler than gnome.

and i’m now a vi supporter.

too many thoughts, too many things, too much fun. i’m off again.

google reader gets a very interesting update.

while the interface is definitely more functional, and sleek; while retaining that concept of reading all the feeds at once - which is what i liked in the first place.. i’m missing the ‘intelligent tagging’ where it guessed the tag based on what one had saved. other than that very minor glitch.. sweet. very very sweet. i didn’t know of the existence of public reader ‘pages’.. gives me some ideas

i don’t see a beta on the logo anymore either. interesting, but i thought that would happen when its integrated with mail, a la thunderbird.

the small touches are all there, though.. the subtle outlining of the current post thats being read, the AJAX, the ‘views’ concept from gmail being ported over, unlimited post reading (you just keep on scrolling, and scrolling, and…); even the ‘list view’.. which makes the mail integration easier.. possibly.

update: correction to what i earlier said..

Tips and tricks

Here are some useful keyboard shortcuts:

• j/k: next/previous item
• n/p: scan down/up (list only)
• o/enter: expand/collapse (list only)
• s: star item
• + s: share item
• v: view original
• t: tag item
• m: mark item as read
• r: refresh
• + a: mark all as read
• 1: switch to expanded view
• 2: switch to list view
• + n/p: next/previous subscription
• + x: expand folder
• + o: open subscription or folder
• g then h: go home
• g then a: go to all items
• g then s: go to starred items
• g then t: open tag selector
• g then u: open subscription selector

the last two lead to a sub-window like so:

i’m in awe. even better than i first thought. now, for making the interface a little more customizable - like adding or removing interface details - and we’re done

today, i also discovered the existence of the ‘MyLifeBits‘ project.. which is a MS venture.

MyLifeBits is a lifetime store of everything. It is the fulfillment of Vannevar Bush’s 1945 Memex vision including full-text search, text & audio annotations, and hyperlinks. There are two parts to MyLifeBits: an experiment in lifetime storage, and a software resecarch effort.

other than the fact that i love the concept, i wonder how much easier google is making it now. currently, my mail, my news, my social network, my photos, calendar, notes and chat are all part of google. information resource indeed.

to imagine myself only digitally, or rather, electronically reminds of the asimov story ‘eyes do more than see‘. nevetheless, the concept of being purely electronic, completely online in the DRM world of today is not a great idea either

but would i ? hell yeah.

oh, and apparently, orkut is used by dumbasses with no real life too. i foresee a lot of people blanking out their profiles. to think that orkut is invite-based to avoid this kinda thing.. tch tch.

oh well. my logic still applies. i think.

we’ve heard about the eye-candy that is vista today, and seen the innumerable screenshots of the new look microsoft software (including office). and heard about this completely new user experience. which office 2007 delivers, anyway.
one look at this. the mouth drops wide open.

and to ensure it’ll take a coupla days to get over it, lookit the video. remain looking.

vista might just have to go suck ass.