50 MAXIMUMPC JUNE 2007
Switch to Linux!
The good news about Linux is that
there’s an unbelievable amount of
information available on the Internet to
help you learn to use the open-source
operating system. The bad news isthat it can be crushingly diffi cult to
fi nd said information. There are a mul-
titude of reasons for the search prob-
lems, but most of the time the problem
is that you’re not searching for theright thing. A normal person wouldn’t
know that you need to edit the fstab to
mount new drives or edit xorg.conf to
adjust your resolution. Here’s the info
you’ll need to get started.USING LINUX
If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent more time installing Linux than actually using it.
Here’s what you need to know to get started on a permanent switch to the penguinINSTALL AND CONFIGURE BERYL
Beryl is a desktop compositing engine that works much like
the one included in Windows Vista and Apple’s OS X. It uses
your 3D accelerator to draw your desktop, which gives bet-
ter performance and a better-looking desktop—assuming
you’ve managed to install your 3D accelerated drivers.
To install Beryl, you’ll fi rst want to add the following line
to your repository list (see Finding and Installing Software,
page 48): deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org
feisty main Before clicking reload, open a new termi-
nal (Applications > Accessories >Terminal) and type wget
http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.
me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add – (that’s a capital
O, not the numeral).
These two commands tell your Linux install where to
fi nd the Beryl software and exchange a cryptographic
key so that your machine can verify that the Beryl Project
server is the machine it claims to be. Once you’ve done
that, you can go back to Synaptic and install the beryl,
beryl-manager, and emerald-themes packages. Next, type
beryl-manager in a new terminal window, and your desktopwill be 3D. If you have problems with the installation, visit
http://wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki/Main_Page.
Of course, installing the app is only the fi rst step. You’ll
want to spend some time futzing around with the options. The
Beryl GUI is infi nitely more confi gurable than the Vista or OS X
equivalents. Using the Beryl Settings Manager (right-click the
red gem icon in your system tray), you can adjust everything
from the window open-and-close animation to the amount
your windows wobble when you drag them across the screen.
The other panel of interest to Beryl users is the Emerald
Themes Manager (it’s also accessible by right-clicking the
Beryl gem). This tool lets you change the window fi xtures
common to all apps: the window borders, control icons, and
title bars. Feel free to play around with these settings all you
want, nothing you adjust here can do permanent damage.
Beryl is still early software, so while we had good luck
running it on some hardware, your experience might differ.
For now, it’s a preview of the future—and not something
that’s suitable for most people to use on a day-to-day basis.Beryl lets you map your virtual desktops to the outside of a cube, it’s the next best thing to multiple monitors.
(P.S. You can download the kick-ass wallpaper at http://www.maximumpc.com.)