www.shermania.net

This is true of any linux machine: you probably want to run compiz. Compiz is the desktop compositing software of choice for Ubuntu. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can get a feel for the features in this video I made a while back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBhGt4kEiP8

Anyway, when you install Ubuntu it automatically tries to get that fun and fast desktop acceleration going. By going through the System > Preferences > Appearance menu and selecting the Visual Effects tab, you'll see a whopping three choices.

* None
* Normal
* Extra

The None option will disable all 3d x-effects. boo. The 'Normal' option is the default, and makes the system behave like normal gnome (or kde or whatever), but using 3D acceleration instead of direct drawing. This is nice, but doesn't let you see some of the cooler stuff Compiz can do. The final option 'Extra' basically turns on every whizbang, and it's usually way too much eyecandy to actually be useful. Go ahead, try it. Enjoy the wobbly windows.

What we need is a custom option, a way to play with the incredible depth of options available in compiz. Ubuntu does not provide this ability by default, but there are two things you can do. The first is to install the Easy Compiz Config Settings Manager. The package is named

simple-ccsm

When this is installed, if you go back to the Appearance settings, you'll see there is now a "custom" option. Clicking on the config button next to it will open the simple settings manager, and through that you can easily dork with the settings most people care about. Maybe you like the desktop cube rotation (like my video) more than the wall slide (the default)? This lets you change it. Go ahead and play.

Once you install that, you may want to get even more detail-oriented. There's one more package that lets you tweak absolutely everything:

compizconfig-settings-manager

This bad boy then appears in the System > Preferences menu, right above Appearance, and it lets you tweak every little element Compiz thinks about. It can easily suck up an hour of your time.

One thing I find very valuable using the 'advanced' compiz settings manager is that you can discover what features are actually available, and what secret keystrokes you can use to invoke them. Give it a try. Right now, hold down your meta key (windows key, or the little house on the eee) an hit 'm.' Yeah, stuff like that is hiding, waiting for you to use.

Oh, eeePC users be warned, the settings window itself is too big for the screen, so be ready with your alt-left-click-drag combination to see the whole thing. The easy configurator isn't so bad.