Don’t have a graphics card capable of running desktop effects with Compiz on Ubuntu? By enabling compositing in GNOME’s default Metacity window manager, you get some eye candy and can run applications that require or benefit from a compositing window manager. Metacity uses your CPU instead of a graphics card, so it’ll work on anything - even a virtual machine.
I’ve written about compositing with Metacity in Ubuntu 8.04, but Metacity has received some updates since then so I though I’d try it again.
Metacity even with compositing turned on is still very light on the effects. Windows and menus are drawn with shadows, a bit more noticeable than the default ones in Compiz. The Alt-Tab switcher gains previews of the windows it’s switching. Noticeably missing is an animation for minimizing windows; all you get is the same old black boxes effect.
One thing I noticed right away was how smooth windows were drawn when being moved. This has never bothered me in Compiz, but Metacity is definitely much smoother.
One annoyance was switching between workspaces would cause any windows to flicker as they are redrawn. Also, there are still no options for any of the compositing effects, so you’d better like the defaults.
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http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/11/14/metacity-compositing-effects-in...