[GRLUG] My review of Ubuntu 7.10: Gooey Gumdrop

[John Harig]

i went to debian testing after playing around with
tribe5 a few weeks ago. . . compiz is still pretty
unstable and i dont think it should be packaged in any
stable distribution.  ubuntu seems to be getting more
bloated the further it develops away from its debian
origins.  the reason i ran it in the beginning was
because it was basically debian with better hardware
support and documentation.  

im somewhat on the fence over compiz even if it were
more stable ... it is nice to show others how wasting
system resources looks much more cool when compared to
microsoft alternatives . . .  but any minutely
practical person can see that using more cpu cycles
just so your windows shake like jello wont do increase
your productivity . . .  and it tends to drains
battery life at a faster rate.  a basic windows
manager works best for me.

--- Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, after spending a day arguing with it and
> researching, I've
> determined a couple things.
> 
> First, Compiz does *not* appear to be enabled by
> default on *upgraded*
> systems.  In fact, I've noticed aggressive appears
> to be due to the
> i810 X11 driver being upgraded.  Setting special
> effects to "normal"
> (enabling Compiz)  instead of the upgrade-default of
> "none" improved
> performance somewhat, mainly by not forcing re-draws
> of windows while
> I was resizing them.
> 
> Setting special effects to "Extra" reveals some
> broken behavior,
> though.  Most folks who use GUIs should be familiar
> with snap effects,
> where a window will snuggle cozily against screen
> edges or other
> surfaces.  With special effects set to "Extra", the
> snap range is way
> too high; Windows within fifty pixels or so of the
> screen size snap to
> an edge, and can't be pulled away.  Combined with
> the gooey gumdrop
> appearance one gets when one drags the title bar
> around, one gets the
> distinct feeling one's in a tug-of-war.
> 
> In addition, the upgraded i810 driver causes lag
> issues with
> Stepmania, making the game absolutely unplayable on
> my system.  Which
> royally sucks, because that's exactly what I'd
> intended to do all
> weekend.  It's likely that the i810 driver has been
> optimized for
> newer graphics chipsets, which means my best course
> of action would be
> to upgrade my video card, which is unfortunate, as I
> don't have
> anything better than a PCI slot. Plus, I can't spare
> $60 right now for
> even a PCI video card.
> 
> Finally, there weren't any "wow" features or fixes
> for me in 7.10.  In
> Edgy, they fixed some wireless weirdness that was
> giving me a hassle.
> The biggest problem I had had with Ubuntu up to this
> point was a high
> latency between volume-key presses and changes in
> system volume. (I
> think it's starting an app to handle the key
> presses.)  So 7.10 is,
> for me, an overall regression.
> 
> I hereby christen Ubuntu 7.10 as "Gooey Gumdrop",
> after the weird
> special effects behavior, and give it a rating of
> two (out of five)
> stars.
> 
> Mike
> -- 
> :wq
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