I’m experiencing a very annoying problem with my computer running OpenSUSE 11.1 64bit.
I use matlab (unix version) for my master thesis. I start matlab using the shell:
matlab
Now I have two windows open: the shell and matlab’s main window. To do my programming in matlab I need to open the editor. So I have 3 seperate windows open now: the shell, matlab main and matlab editor. So I start out having 3 window tabs in the bar at the buttom, that also shows time and desktops.
After just a few minutes of working. This will be reduced to two windows: The shell and a matlab thingy. I can easily [ALT] + [TAB] between all three windows. After a few minutes of further working. The two tabs are reduced to 1: The shell. I can still [ALT] + [TAB] between all three windows. And when doing so the window manager shows that I have three windows open. The bar at the buttom just doesn’t reflect this fact. I can technically still work just fine. But I realise that I spend a lot of energy and time being annoyed by this, so I need to fix this.
I actually find this very annoying as I then quickly loose my overview of whats going on.
I have no clue on how to fix this, and so I haven’t researched the problem yet. I don’t know where to start.
Daqar wrote:
> Dammit…it seems to work fine when I turn desktop effects off…what
> do I do now?
leave it off, maybe ?
you can still do everything but . . . but . . . but, what can not do
without it? write letters? read/write email? browse? download/listen
to music/movies? run a spread sheet or database? design a web site?
process photos? talk on Skype? chat? facbook? twitter? watch online
TV/radio? play games? run simulations of nuclear detonations? edit a
movie? calculate the trajectory of a rocket?
what normal computer functions stops working when you turn off desktop
effects?
Okay palladium, so you don’t use desktop effects or find them redundant or whatever - this is extremely interesting and should be discussed in an extra-thread, maybe even a series of weekly threads. However, this thread is about a user who would like to use desktop effects, so your point of view is not of much use here.
May we go on with the actual topic now or do you have anything else to share?
I just like to have desktop effects on. It looks pretty. I know its a lame arguement and I can live with turning it off when I’m using matlab. However I’d love it if I could get them both to work. But I have no clue what that entails. If it requires hours of configuring something or months on the forums asking uninformed and ignorant questions, then it might be a better idea to just leave it.
How do I see what version of Compiz I have? I’ve somehow lost the Compiz icon…I can’t find it in ‘Control Center’ or ‘Yast’…
Daqar wrote:
> I can live with turning it off when I’m using matlab.
> However I’d love it if I could get them both to work.
as gropiuskalle pointed out, i probably should keep quiet because i
can not help you tune compiz/desktop effects or KDE4 to make any of
them “behave” and let you do your work WHILE it looks pretty…
someone else here have to do that…because i don’t know how to make
it run faster without buying stronger hardware (CPU, RAM and
graphics) or turn off some (all?) of the cycle burning required to
draw smooth curved corners and multi toned (3D) borders, wobblies, etc
etc etc…
and, i don’t know how to make all the weirdness you describe (when
effects are on) just go away…
see, i have made the choice to prioritize usability, stability,
reliability, dependability and as much as all else predictability more
important than desktop effects–which seems to reduce ALL of those
*ilities to a level lower than i can tolerate (others seem happy to
spend days fiddling with “pretty” which is their, and your, right!)…
i was simply simply trying to introduce the idea that to get your
doctorate in math/physics/whatever you don’t really HAVE to have the
fluffy-glitzies…
so, the choice is yours to make…if you decide it is worth the effort
to have both, then perhaps gropiuskalle will be willing to tell you
how to it on a pretty desktop…
If you are using KDE 4.x then you probably don’t have compiz KDE. This appears to be a matlab problem so you would might need to modify and recompile matlab. Maybe there are some settings for matlab that might help.
I’m using gnome desktop. Not KDE.
OpenSUSE 11.1 64 bit
Gnome
@palladium: I like it when the computer looks nice and pretty. Then its sort of invites me to work with it. You know what I mean? I don’t know how to make my computer desktop and all that look nice and inviting without compiz and desktop effects. I notice that when desktop cube is turned on I find it very easy to navigate my various desktops. However I also notice that while its turned off the switch between desktops happens very fast, which is a good thing. But I also find myself looking at the buttom of the screen at the desktop indicator, to figure out what desktop I’m on, this is because the switch happens so fast I don’t know IF the switch was made. I does bug that the cube is wobbly when switching. THAT doesn’t help effectivity. I’m very new to linux. I tried Ubuntu for 1 year and I’ve been running OpenSUSE 11.1 for about 7 months now. For the rest I’ve only been using windows. So I don’t really know the limits of linux and the traps of linux.
Aaaah, it’s a delight to see such a tidy list of repositories, really! There’s just a tiny flaw: non-oss is listed twice, you can remove the ‘NonFree’ repository, since it is only some kind of link to non-oss. But that is not the issue here.
One thing makes me wonder: none of these sources provide Compiz 0.8.4, so how did you install it?
Edit: One small comment @desktop blingbling: I like using (KDE4)-desktop effects because the environment feels less static and more organic to me, plus I do not experience any troubles when using them. It’s a matter of taste, nothing else.
Good question. I don’t really remember. But my repositories list used to be a mess !! Someone here on these forums adviced me to reduce the list of repositories to that. Sometimes I end up installing a program from another repository and then I remove the repository after that. I did so when installing Osmo’s Organizer. I don’t know enough about linux to know if I’m just negating the effect of that advice by doing so.
Is it a trivial task to change from gnome to KDE4? By trivial I mean if its trivial for a linux n00b. I heard that you can have multiple desktop engines, like gnome and kde at the same time. Then when you log on you have to decide what desktop engine to use. Is this a good way for me to go? Or would I just be adding more problems to what I already have?
Good question. I don’t really remember. But my repositories list used to be a mess !! Someone here on these forums adviced me to reduce the list of repositories to that. Sometimes I end up installing a program from another repository and then I remove the repository after that.
Aha! This information might get us a little closer to the solution.
To have a reasonable list of repositories is indeed a good advice, on the other hand: software that is installed should be updated regularly, also keep in mind that software-dependencies occur from one repository to another, meaning: a “freezed” package (freezed because available updates can not be fetched for the respective repository is not active anymore) might affect other packages which would also be freezed, but this time because the potential update is depending on the update which is not available.
My suggestion would be to reintegrate the used Compiz-repository and let it update.
Is it a trivial task to change from gnome to KDE4?
It is pretty trivial to install desktop environments parallel to each other.
I heard that you can have multiple desktop engines, like gnome and kde at the same time.
Or even more. I have six or eight different environments installed.
Is this a good way for me to go?
I don’t know. If you are curious about it, why not? I personally love trying new windowmanagers and desktop environments.
Or would I just be adding more problems to what I already have?
I don’t think so, as long as you keep your list of repositories sane and logic. But I am also not sure wether it would help you - let’s face it, we have not the slightest idea what is going wrong with matlab. It might not be an issue of Compiz at all. The idea of trying to update Compiz seems logic to me, but maybe all this is caused by Matlab itself.
There’s just a tiny flaw: non-oss is listed twice, you can remove the ‘NonFree’ repository, since it is only some kind of link to non-oss. But that is not the issue here.