Linux with KDE in its Baghira glory

ncreasingly, people choose to customise their GNU/Linux installation so that it mimics Mac OS X. Just have a look at this screenshot to get a taste of one recent example. But is that what it all comes down to? Are looks all that matters? Can it steal customers?

Businesses need brains for productivity, not eye candy for play. This applies not only to the server room and the office. Package management in, e.g. Ubuntu GNU/Linux, is simpler than that which is found in Mac OS X. Cost and endless hardware support is yet another matter. Linux supports merely every architecture and, provided you do not buy Windows-only/exclusive peripherals (or Winmodems), Linux will handle everything without a hardware refresh cycle.

The notion of “appealing” is not synonymous with merits. It’s more related to superficial instincts which will not ensure and excitement that won’t last for long. I personally disable all shadows, translucency and I have no interest in eye candy (e.g. Compiz/Beryl with XGL/AIGLX) that detracts and distracts. Show-ware for the show room; but it’s not long-lasting.

Wallpaper from Houghi (click image above
to enlarge; non-lossy PNG version)

N ten years from now, Microsoft may have Singularity — another closed source implementation that resembles or fully mimics UNIX. But where would Linux be?


# /.../
# X11 config file


Section "InputDevice"
Driver "voice"
Identifier "VoiceServer[1]”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/vsrv0″
Option “Protocol” “Standard”
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
Driver "glove"
Identifier "GloveRight[1]”
Option “Buttons” “50″
Option “Device” “/dev/input/glove1″
Option “Protocol” “Standard”
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
Driver "glove"
Identifier "GloveLeft[1]”
Option “Buttons” “50″
Option “Device” “/dev/input/glove0″
Option “Protocol” “Standard”
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
DisplaySize 32000 32000
HorizSync 300-450
Identifier "Monitor[0]”
ModelName “MONITOR”
Option “DPMS”
VendorName “@@@”
VertRefresh 430-750
EndSection


Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 128
SubSection "Display"
Depth 128
Modes "100000x90000"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]”
Identifier “HeadMountedDisplay[0]”
Monitor “Monitor[0]”
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]”
InputDevice “GloveLeft[0]” “CorePointerLeft”
InputDevice “GloveRight[1]” “CorePointerRight”
InputDevice “VoiceServer[1]” “Voice”
Option “Clone” “yes, please”
Option “Xinerama” “on”
Screen “HeadMountedDisplay”
EndSection


Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
Option "Taste" "Enable"
Option "Smell" "Enable"
EndSection


The dentiny of Longhorn?

truly enjoy a good Linux screenshot. Here is a nice OS X-type menubar, as well as a showcase for Composite transparency in X server. The menus are a brand-new GTK modification.

Move over to another operating system (Windows Vista under a Linux hypervisor) and find that there still appear to be many problems with the latest beta. It’s a good thing that Microsoft does not name/label its operating systems by the year. With all these delays, this could become very embarrassing and confusing. And I also found the following article this morning.

“I have been testing Microsoft operating systems since Windows 95, and this is the buggiest OS I’ve seen this late in development,” says Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “Look at the older operating systems, and by Beta 2 there is a stable foundation on which the [independent software vendors] can build. Right now, Vista is like a ship on stormy seas.”

ERE is the latest find (a video) which illustrates how beautiful and powerful Linux has become. It is a showcase of dual-head with Compiz/XGL, all under a GNOME desktop. Some continue to argue, backed by myths, that GNOME and KDE are ugly and/or hard to use. I refuted both claims, I hope. Some would say that Fedora does not look so nice ‘out of the box’ (truly a matter of personal opinion). Nevertheless, just like any Linux distribution, it’s extensible and customisable. Here are two visual examples that I could quickly find on KDE-look.org:

1. I Love My Fedora
2. Metal Fedora

Related item: GNOME and XGL Showcases

Future of GNOME (mockup)

ave a look at this astounding XGL/Compiz video (I conceded embedment of videos in page). The video demonstrates the cutting-edge Linux desktop experience (with pleasant background music). As the title of this video says, “the future is now!”; be sure to read some of the bound comments.

I also came across several nice GNOME screenshots in recent days.

• Attractive blue theme in Ubuntu
• Media player (mplayer) skin
• Another look at the skin
• Illustration of desklets (very much like Mac Widgets or what Microsoft calls “Gadgets”)
• Vista-inspired looks

Related item: GNOME is Also Beautiful

Baghira Mac OS X lookalike for KDE

INUX can be assimilated to merely any desktop environment, including the appearance of its rivals’ desktops. It can endlessly adapt, particularly layout-wise, although look-and-feel is getting there too. Different interfaces (achievable through desktop environment), as well as various addons, make this truer than ever before. There are several design sets lying about, which enable Linux to look and behave merely like any other operating system. Here are a few examples that I collected recently:

• KDE posing as Mac OS X
• GNOME posing as Mac OS X
• Another approach/route to GNOME OS X
• KDE as Windows XP (not quite so ‘brushed up’ though)

Another nice style that I found is Noia for KDE (version 1).

Here are some sets of instructions of interest. These are step-by-step recipes to achieving some of what’s shown above:

• Transforming GNOME to become a OSX lookalike
• A recent blog item pointing to Arnaud’s OSX cloning tutorial

Wallpaper from Houghi (click image above
to enlarge; non-lossy PNG version)

HE admirable Compiz/XGL cube has already earned its 15 minutes or fame. However, one alternative that often gets overlooked is 3-D Desktop, which has been available for GNU/Linux for several years.

Here are two 3-D Desktop videos from YouTube. They illustrate that simple function and demonstrate its beauty. Like XGL, speed is highly dependent upon OpenGL with a decent graphics card.

• Video #1
• Video #2