Visual Effects in Linux with Beryl
A new year, a new desktop. Just a while ago I installed Beryl to my existing Ubuntu Edgy Eft system.
It’s not the first time that I installed an application that enhances the user experience, but this one is more pleasant. A few months earlier I’ve tried Compiz, but that proved to be unstable when the succeeding weeks came that I had to remove it from my system.
Beryl is actually an offshoot of the Compiz project, borne out of some contributors’ dissatisfaction over the direction the base Compiz project is going. In effect, there are come things that both window managers share — most notable is the cube effect used to switch desktops:
Effects when minimizing, maximizing, moving, creating and destroying windows are present. The window manager even provides a ‘genie’ effect similar to Mac OS X when minimizing and maximizing windows, along with others like fire, beamup, and dream.
The good thing about Beryl is that it is stable at its current release. I haven’t experienced any time where the window manager unloads itself after crashing. Unlike Compiz, where I experience the window manager closing several times in single session.
Another plus would be the Theme and General settings utility which makes the configuration simple.
Intalling Beryl on Ubuntu is discussed in this site.