4 ms·

The physicality that Compiz and wobbly windows brought to the desktop was a huge boon to my productivity. Everything was low latency, high framerate, and just

The physicality that Compiz and wobbly windows brought to the desktop was a huge boon to my productivity. Everything was low latency, high framerate, and just felt real. I could rotate my virtual desktops around and they felt like actual spatial locations for organization. I could drag windows and they felt like quasi-tangible objects, not just abstract rigid platonic rectangles. It was far more than just a gimmick, and I really miss the effects today.

rbanffy 5y ago
I have to say the same. It makes the computer "feel" better. It reminds me of discussions around Mac vs PC in the early days. The experience of using a Mac was more "fluid" than Windows. The Mac would draw windows faster, move the mouse faster (as in more refreshes of the cursor position per second) and that made it more comfortable to use. At the same time I also used Sun and SGI boxes regularly and the stark difference between the jerky mouse movement of the Sun and the fluid, Mac-like, movement of the SGI made the former an inferior experience (even though I liked OpenWindows over SGI's window manager whose name I forgot). I'd love to have wobbly windows back.
- ISV_Damocles 5y ago
  If you use KDE wobbly windows are built in to its KWin compositor. :) I forget the exact details of how to get to it since I don't use KDE anymore (long-ish story), but even most of the silly things Compiz did are a configuration checkbox away in KDE.
  - JasonFruit 5y ago
    It's under Desktop Effects.
  - roenxi 5y ago
    Yeah, but it just doesn't quite manage to Compiz/Beryl feel. It is difficult to put a finger on but whoever did Compiz wobbly windows had an eye for it that the KDE devs don't. Using both, I can't imagine getting excited by KDE wobbly windows in the same way that Compiz could get a "wow!" by demoing wobbly windows -> desktop cube. It was a short, beautiful peak of Linux on the Desktop where a high was reached and then desktops just fell away from it.
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  >...SGI's window manager whose name I forgot 4Sight! https://wiki.preterhuman.net/4Sight_Window_System https://wiki.preterhuman.net/4Sight_Window_System http://www.vintagecomputers.info/pitechrep.html http://www.vintagecomputers.info/pitechrep.html http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sgi/iris4d/007-2001-030_4Sight_Programmers_Guide_v3.1_Nov_1990.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sgi/iris4d/007-2001-030_4Sight_... 4Sight Programmer's Guide: GL/DGL Interfaces. NeWS. Window Manager.
- floatboth 5y ago
  https://wayfire.org https://wayfire.org — you're welcome :)
- phaedrus 5y ago
  Your comparison of Mac vs PC user experience reminds me of a criticism I read of Java's cross-platform GUI implementation. The critic compared Java GUIs to an episode of Star Trek where aliens had created a facsimile of a room and table of food, but when the Enterprise crew tried to eat the food they gagged on it. It turned out the aliens, working off of visual TV broadcasts, hadn't realized the food was supposed to taste like anything.
  - philovivero 5y ago
    Are you sure you're not talking about the feast scene from Galaxy Quest?
- howinteresting 5y ago
  It is incredibly ironic that Mac support for high refresh rates is worse than Windows or Linux today. It isn't possible to run an Intel Mac at 4k 144Hz any more, and this is a software issue not a hardware one. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253168625 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253168625
hansjorg 5y ago
Yes, it's a strange effect. I initially dismissed wobbly windows and the desktop cube as very gimmicky bling, but it really did make a huge difference to the feeling of the desktop.
- chrismorgan 5y ago
  It’s funny how many things go like that. I agree on wobbly windows for floating window managers, though I use a tiling window manager now. In a completely different space, I found similar with expression-orientation in Rust: coming from languages like Python, I initially presumed it to be a gimmick that just let you omit the `return` keyword, but quickly found it was bound up in a better way of thinking about data flow and grasping what’s going on (much like wobbly windows), and now statement-oriented languages are just galling (but I still use JavaScript regularly).
dekerta 5y ago
Wobbly windows are still available in KDE Plasma Desktop Environments (I use Kubuntu, but there are many others). Settings > Workspace Behavior > Desktop Effects > Enable Wobbly Windows Enjoy :)
- tomrod 5y ago
  I just tried (on most recent versions with Fedora 35). Did not work yet :( Maybe after restart.
  - dotancohen 5y ago
    Interesting. On my KDE 5.18 (Kubuntu 20.04 LTS) Wobbly Windows worked as soon as I clicked Apply.
pantalaimon 5y ago
You can still use compiz today if you use a modular desktop like MATE or XFCE.

rbanffy 5y ago

I have to say the same. It makes the computer "feel" better. It reminds me of discussions around Mac vs PC in the early days. The experience of using a Mac was more "fluid" than Windows. The Mac would draw windows faster, move the mouse faster (as in more refreshes of the cursor position per second) and that made it more comfortable to use. At the same time I also used Sun and SGI boxes regularly and the stark difference between the jerky mouse movement of the Sun and the fluid, Mac-like, movement of the SGI made the former an inferior experience (even though I liked OpenWindows over SGI's window manager whose name I forgot). I'd love to have wobbly windows back.

ISV_Damocles 5y ago
If you use KDE wobbly windows are built in to its KWin compositor. :) I forget the exact details of how to get to it since I don't use KDE anymore (long-ish story), but even most of the silly things Compiz did are a configuration checkbox away in KDE.
- JasonFruit 5y ago
  It's under Desktop Effects.
- roenxi 5y ago
  Yeah, but it just doesn't quite manage to Compiz/Beryl feel. It is difficult to put a finger on but whoever did Compiz wobbly windows had an eye for it that the KDE devs don't. Using both, I can't imagine getting excited by KDE wobbly windows in the same way that Compiz could get a "wow!" by demoing wobbly windows -> desktop cube. It was a short, beautiful peak of Linux on the Desktop where a high was reached and then desktops just fell away from it.
DonHopkins 5y ago
>...SGI's window manager whose name I forgot 4Sight! https://wiki.preterhuman.net/4Sight_Window_System https://wiki.preterhuman.net/4Sight_Window_System http://www.vintagecomputers.info/pitechrep.html http://www.vintagecomputers.info/pitechrep.html http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sgi/iris4d/007-2001-030_4Sight_Programmers_Guide_v3.1_Nov_1990.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sgi/iris4d/007-2001-030_4Sight_... 4Sight Programmer's Guide: GL/DGL Interfaces. NeWS. Window Manager.
floatboth 5y ago
https://wayfire.org https://wayfire.org — you're welcome :)
phaedrus 5y ago
Your comparison of Mac vs PC user experience reminds me of a criticism I read of Java's cross-platform GUI implementation. The critic compared Java GUIs to an episode of Star Trek where aliens had created a facsimile of a room and table of food, but when the Enterprise crew tried to eat the food they gagged on it. It turned out the aliens, working off of visual TV broadcasts, hadn't realized the food was supposed to taste like anything.
- philovivero 5y ago
  Are you sure you're not talking about the feast scene from Galaxy Quest?
howinteresting 5y ago
It is incredibly ironic that Mac support for high refresh rates is worse than Windows or Linux today. It isn't possible to run an Intel Mac at 4k 144Hz any more, and this is a software issue not a hardware one. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253168625 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253168625

hansjorg 5y ago

Yes, it's a strange effect. I initially dismissed wobbly windows and the desktop cube as very gimmicky bling, but it really did make a huge difference to the feeling of the desktop.

chrismorgan 5y ago
It’s funny how many things go like that. I agree on wobbly windows for floating window managers, though I use a tiling window manager now. In a completely different space, I found similar with expression-orientation in Rust: coming from languages like Python, I initially presumed it to be a gimmick that just let you omit the `return` keyword, but quickly found it was bound up in a better way of thinking about data flow and grasping what’s going on (much like wobbly windows), and now statement-oriented languages are just galling (but I still use JavaScript regularly).

dekerta 5y ago

Wobbly windows are still available in KDE Plasma Desktop Environments (I use Kubuntu, but there are many others). Settings > Workspace Behavior > Desktop Effects > Enable Wobbly Windows Enjoy :)

tomrod 5y ago
I just tried (on most recent versions with Fedora 35). Did not work yet :( Maybe after restart.
- dotancohen 5y ago
  Interesting. On my KDE 5.18 (Kubuntu 20.04 LTS) Wobbly Windows worked as soon as I clicked Apply.

pantalaimon 5y ago

You can still use compiz today if you use a modular desktop like MATE or XFCE.