If you don't know how to install Emerald themes, visit our Ubuntu Newbie Guide, Part 6 which covers this subject.

If you don't know what Emerald is and how to install these themes, see here.

Docky, the new GNOME Do interface in the form of a dock, is getting more and more used and causes sensation among GNU / Linux users.

In today's Ubuntu Newbie Guide part I'm going to tell you about running the Metacity Compositing Manager instead of Compiz Fusion. Why you would want to do that? Because it uses less resources and it may run better for old or incompatible video cards (including Intel). You don’t even need accelerated graphics to run Metacity with compositing and it even works well inside VirtualBox.

As you may know, there were some issues with Intel Graphic Card drivers (965: x3000 or x3100) in Ubuntu after the upgrade to Jaunty - desktop effects could not be enabled - so you could not use Compiz and other applications that needed it.

In the new Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, Intel graphic (video) drivers 965 (x3000 or x3100) are blacklisted so you cannot run Compiz thus your desktop effects cannot be enabled. There is a way to enable desktop effects, though this is not recommended because [...]

Before installing Ubuntu, almost everyone has seen the spinning cube or the classy MacOSX-like dock bar and many other effects (4 desktops with 2 caps) in some videos, but some didn't figure out how to enable/install/use them.

To understand better, this is the dock (look at the bottom of the image):

I’ve been using Firefox’s fullscreen mode on my Eee PC to get the maximum amount of vertical screen space possible. I noticed that the screen flickers black briefly whenever a tooltip or right click menu is displayed. All fullscreen applications seem to be affected.

While running Compiz-Fusion, You wouldn’t be able to see any video play while either moving the window, viewing desktops in expo, 3d cube, or any other cool effect for that matter; instead you would see a blue screen, including when viewing in full screen.

A video tutorial on how to embed the terminal into your desktop

http://icehot.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/ubuntu-linux-video-tutorial-embedded-terminal-into-the-desktop/

If you run applications that are incompatible with Compiz, 3D games, or find that Compiz is unstable, you probably need to toggle or restart Compiz often. Fusion-icon is for you! It’s quickly available from your notification area and allows you to reload Compiz, switch between available window managers and decorators, and change some of Compiz’s options.

In the first Compiz Fusion update since last October, Compiz Fusion 0.7.2 was released this morning and accompanied by an update to Compiz. This Compiz Fusion update was not only the first in five months, but also it was the first in the 0.7 development series leading up to the stable Compiz/Compiz Fusion 0.8 release. Compiz Fusion 0.7.2 has a number of new plug-ins (11 total) and also some changes to the configuration manager.

According to information from upstream compiz 0.7 will be ready for the timeframe of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. compiz will introduce an object system and abstract the output, allowing output plugins based on XRender or OpenGL.

Cairo-Dock is an animated launch bar similar to SimDock or AWN. You can use it to launch applications and utilize small applets that live on the bar. It lacks some of the visual effects provided by AWN, but it my experience it runs a little faster.

The Ubuntu desktop may look a little brown and boring to first-time Linux users but beneath that conservative skin lurks a powerhouse of desktop features just waiting to come out, if you are using Compiz Fusion. Here we look at five of the better Compiz features that actually make us more productive as well as looking good.

Often you need to turn off Compiz desktop effects to play a game, run an incompatable application, or even to watch video on some Intel chipsets. Previously I used the fusion-icon tray icon, which was not updated for newer versions of Ubuntu and Compiz. Until today I used the Visual Effects tab of the Appearance Preferences dialog in Ubuntu 7.10 to start and stop Compiz. Now there’s a simpler solution.

Compiz-Switch is a simple program to switch Compiz off and on easily. If you are looking for a simple yet effective way to switch between Compiz and the window manager of your desktop environment, then this is for you.

Changes are part of Nature so as with Technology.. Though this cannot be True for Windows and Mac cause the life cycle of a single Version is too much which is not the case with Linux.. Open Source evolve at very rapid rate and with evolution comes new & special changes … Today with a hike in Linux acceptance its pretty hard for competitors to provide similar solutions at free of cost. Open Source is known for User Interaction with Operating System which cannot be done with other OS