Window Managers with Special Effects
Many Window Managers have 'special effects' for your graphical enjoyment, for example transparency & 3D.
To get an idea of the difference these effects can make to how to use your computer, static pictures alone won't help.
- Watch some videos. Here's a short one (1 min 11 secs) showing Beryl, Metisse & Looking Glass.
- Try them out for yourself
Below there is information and links to find out more on the following Window Managers:
- Beryl
- Compiz-Fusion
- Metisse
- Project Looking Glass
- Xfwm
Also see, Compiz
Beryl
Originally a fork of Compiz. Now officially re-merged into Compiz to create Compiz-Fusion. Some people still prefer Beryl.- Beryl-0.2.1 for Puppy 4.3 and Puppy 5.2x Lucid
- Beryl homepage
- Beryl wikipedia page
Videos
- Puppy 2.13 with Beryl 0.2.1 (2 mins 15 secs)
- Short video (47 secs)
- Beryl demonstration video (5 mins 39 secs)
Compiz-Fusion
The "hot" special effects window manager, with many plug-ins to add different effects.- PuppyNOP > Compiz-Fusion & Wobbly NOP: combines Xfce with Compiz-Fusion.
- Compiz-Fusion homepage
- Compiz-Fusion wikipedia page
Video
- Wobbly Puppy NOP experimental in action (2 mins 48 secs)
- Compiz-Fusion on Puppy 3.00 (6 mins 11 secs)
Metisse
A somewhat different concept from straightforward 3D WMs like Compiz-Fusion. Apparently lighter on computer resources than the Compiz family.
- Metisse homepage
- Metisse wikipedia page
- Adding Metisse to Puppy
Videos
- Video of Metisse on Puppy by Crusty Lobster (48MB, .mov)
- Video of some of the window organization possibilities of Metisse (46 secs)
- Video of creating you own UI for The GIMP (6 mins, 12 secs)
- Video showing some more effects (50 secs)
- More videos
Project Looking Glass
3D desktop environment using Java3D.- Project Looking Glass homepage
- Project Looking Glass wikipedia page
Video
- Video of PLG on Linux (3 mins 54 secs)
Xfwm
Xfwm is the default WM of the Xfce desktop environment, capable of true transparency & shadows. While not as flexible as Metisse or Compiz-Fusion, it is very stable.- Xfwm homepage
- Xfce wikipedia page
- XfcePuppy, for more info re Xfce on Puppy
- PuppyNOP, a puplet with Xfce & Opera already built-in.
Video
- Short video of Xfwm transparency effects (12 secs)
- Video showing how to enable & change effects in Xfwm (2 mins 46 secs)(loud music!)
eg. root/.icewm/themes/Venusian/default theme
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