Intrepid Ibex

The latest Ubuntu Linux is available for free download. The release is numbered 8.10 and nicknamed "Intrepid Ibex" (following "Hardy Heron", "Gutsy Gibbon", etc. You get the picture).

No huge improvements in this release compared to 8.04, but there are a few nice touches. Hibernate now works for me, though it takes a loooong time, partly because I have 4GB of RAM in my Lenovo T61.
Jim on 10.31.08 @ 08:56 AM ET [link]

Compositing in Metacity

(Warning: this post has a dangerously high geek content!)
Compiz is pretty unstable on my Lenovo T61 under Ubuntu Hardy, with the Nvidia graphics chip. There are severe repaint problems, and toolbar problems, especially after adding or removing a second monitor dynamically, or suspending/resuming.

I don't need all the fancy eye-candy like wobbly windows, or the flipping cube. But the one thing I do want - the one thing in Compiz that makes an ergonomic improvement - is drop shadows. These provide subtle cues to one's brain that makes working with a desktop full of two-dozen windows much easier.

So Compiz is unusable for me. But I accidentally discovered the other day that Metacity itself has a built-in compositor. This doesn't seem to be widely known. You can only turn it on from gconf-editor. It doesn't provide all the flash of Compiz, but it does provide drop shadows!

The Metacity compositor has a few problems too, though. I hung it up once doing repeated window resizing. And the there are a few minor painting problems too, but it seems much more stable than Compiz on my system.
Jim on 10.16.08 @ 09:11 AM ET [link]

And to boldly go...

On September 28, 2008 the SpaceX Falcon 1 became the first commercial space vehicle to reach orbit. Unmanned, of course. Video available on YouTube here or get HD video from the SpaceX site.
Jim on 10.12.08 @ 03:30 PM ET [link]