Today I upgraded to SUSE 10.1 on my notebook, mostly for its improved wireless network support. Aside from the hassle of reinstalling my wireless network driver after upgrade, I was not dissapointed. KNetworkManager is everything that KInternet and KWifiManager were not. Before I resorted to committing the network keys to my memory. Now I can now save them in a KDE Wallet. Switching between networks is very easy, and it’s something that I do lot. Wireless networking was the single most bothersome feature in SUSE.
Just for fun, I also downloaded Intel graphics drivers for my notebook so I could get 3D acceleration for Xgl and Compiz. Unfortunately, it’s way too slow to use, but the UI metaphors are very effective.
- The cube effect is a nice, intuitive way of switching between desktops. It gives you visual feedback on what’s happening.
- The Apple-like window switching is cool (see exposé), although I think a hover effect would make it more effective.
- The scrollwheel-controlled transparency on Windows could be a very convenient way to quickly check information in other windows without the total loss of context from alt-tab. This is especially useful on notebooks since they have limited screen space.
I’ve reverted back to the two-dimensional world to write this post because, oddly, I prefer being able to get things done over seeing cool effects. But I can’t wait until I can do both.
