My new Xwinwrap gui Gwinwrap

I'm pleased to announce the first public version of my pygtk app Gwinwrap. It's still very new, and most likely buggy, but if you feel like trying it the code is at Google Code.

Basically, it finds all your xscreensavers and lists them, with a preview. You can choose to start the xwinwrap screen with opacity, and choose whether or not to use a nice command before for better cpu management. Xscreensaver Arguments are also accepted in the input box.

Hope you like it!

FusionCast VI -- New Plugin: Stackswitch

Well, here we are already with another episode. Keep in mind that I plan on making shorter, more specific episodes now for easier searching on Youtube, etc. Because of this, the episode numbers are less important and more emphasis is on the plugin/features outlined.

Watch the original video here for annotations, and/or if you're coming from the planet.

Can you Digg it? >> Thanks everyone for putting this on the front page! And welcome, diggers!



This episode, we show you an all-new plugin: Stackswitch! Added by Onestone to gitweb, this plugin is a neat hybrid of the scale and shift window switchers. Take a look at the video for details!

Thanks a whole lot to Kate Linford for personally offering her track, "Hip Hop Bond" to use on this cast. I think you'll find it quite outstanding! A link to the track may be made available later.

Links:
Stackswitch on Gitweb
Original Announcement (onestone's blog)

Please email me at fusioncast at gmail dot com!
I am on IRC occasionally under the nick of gavintlgold on irc.freenode.net #compiz-fusion.
Also, comment by clicking on the link below.

Tip: did you know that you can sort my posts by the label "episodes" to only see my episodes and cut out the announcements and stuff?

FusionCast Episode V - Ghost + Dodge!

NOTE: I would seriously recommend watching this from the Youtube page. You'll get the annotations that way and they'll clarify a few things. I'm putting the video here anyway for lazy people:



Here's a new episode of FusionCast! This time, we run through a couple of things you can do with the similar plugins Ghost and Dodge (not to be confused with the dodge animation!). These plugins are available only with the developmental version of Compiz Fusion (GIT).

Ghost: This plugin (in its default settings) makes all normal windows set to "Always on Top" transparent and inputless. In other words, you can click underneath the window but still see it. This can be useful for typing in commands, but also (I imagine) for image editing without having to import a photo into the image editor (see the video's example).

I changed the settings to this because I found it worked better (Allowing windows that aren't "normal" to ghost too):


Dodge: This plugin also lets you have windows on top without worrying about using their input. Instead of making the window transparent, it slides it out of the way when your cursor would be over it. Other ways of dodging are making the window go all the way off the screen and physically move (where it will remain until it is moved again). The wobbly effect really makes this plugin great. My custom configuration follows:


Oh, for those who thought this was pointless because the plugins are already pretty old, I am active now and you'll get a more useful, up to date video soon. This video is after all geared towards those who don't have GIT compiz I suppose. :) Horray for summer!

Links:
Ghost on gitweb
Dodge on gitweb


Please email me at fusioncast at gmail dot com!
I am on IRC occasionally (at irc.freenode.net #compiz-fusion) under the nick of gavintlgold.
Also, comment by clicking on the link below.

FusionCast on Twitter!

I just joined Twitter as FusionCast. If anyone is interested feel free to add me :) Videos coming very soon... I've updated my compiz and am now figuring out which new plugin to feature! (see the twitter for more updates!)

Youtube Annotations + More Vids to Come!

A very interesting feature that may be extremely useful for me is the new Youtube Annotations feature. Take a look at the page of my latest fusioncast for an example. It allows me to put notes in the middle of the cast. I think it'll be very useful in the future. What do you think?

Speaking of the future, I am now out of school (summer!) That means that I'll have considerably more time to work on video casts. Expect quite a few coming up! And tell me if they should have annotations too. Thanks!

Compiz Fusion Sphere is here! Yay!

All hail Desktop Sphere!

Finally, onestone has managed to code the desktop sphere many people were waiting for! He wrote about it on his blog. It's quite a neat plugin, and also merges the cubecaps plugin with the cube addon plugin, making for less plugins to worry about (the cubecaps plugin was sort of minor in the configurations, anyway).

Only available in git of course, but great to try out for those of us who have access to that ;)

And digg it too so others know: http://digg.com/linux_unix/Compiz_Fusion_Truly_Spherical_Desktop_View_Arrives

Blog post: http://dev.compiz-fusion.org/~onestone/blog/?p=10

Edit: sorry about messing up the planet, it's an annoying bug :(

Edit 2: To clarify, the sphere is available in the "Cubeaddon" plugin.

A call for feedback :)

NOTE: Comments have been closed... please go to the post in the forums instead so we have one thread instead of two! Thanks a lot! :)

Hey, according to the poll on the top right of this blog, a LOT of you liked this recent episode! Thanks a lot for letting me know your opinions (and if you didn't like it feel free to voice that view as well).

I was reviewing the episode just now, (since I made it around midnight and want to make sure I didn't make any horrible slipups, and that kind of thing happens around then), and I was thinking maybe I should post the music info near the beginning of the video as in a music video (and some austrian ads I've seen).

That got me into thinking that I don't nearly get as much feedback as I should. I would really like to know how you think I could make this better. Seems you guys liked the animation at the beginning and the more-smooth syncing with the beat at the beginning.

However, in my current style, I don't really have too much to videoblog about between big visual updates like the cylinder. I just make a video demonstrating the latest and greatest coming out of the great minds of our Compiz Fusion coders. I can't make a videocast about every bugfix, of course.

But I get the feeling that people don't like these long gaps... a videocast should be more regular, it seems. Should I post solutions to common problems? Configuration tutorials? Perhaps other recent developments in the world of Linux awesomeness? Please... let me know via the forum post.

(speaking of which, I hadn't realized that you needed a google account to post a comment with my settings, and have since changed that... all are now welcome as long as they get past the CAPTCHA!)

Fusioncast Episode IV

(if you are seeing this from the planet, without the youtube video, visit the actual blog post to see this episode)

NOTE: I'm experimenting with the new "annotations" feature on Youtube. You'll have to go to the video's page to see them though. Let me know what you think!

Yes, you read that right! It's another episode of Fusioncast, this time reviewing:

• Cube cylinder
• Mag plugin
• Showmouse
• The new expo curve
• Updates to atlantis
• An excerpt about the wii head tracking plugin

Notes:

You will have to compile compiz fusion from source to get the cylinder and other new plugins. Some plugins may already be available in the Hardy beta, however.

I don't have a Wii controller, so I took a segment from Smspillaz's video (see below). Learn more at his blog.

Since everyone always asks about my theme, I'll just let you all know right now: This time, it's the Ubuntu Hardy "Human-Murrine" with customized colors (I like that they finally included this option for the Human theme!). The wallpaper is linked below. Using the "Glossy" metacity theme. Running Hardy Heron beta.

I'm also (as usual) using Kiba-Dock, SVN version. It's extremely alpha software, and quite buggy since it's not a release (I'm not complaining), but I like to run it for fun (and because it looks so cool).

I used Blender to make the little 3d compiz-cube, and I will upload the source files soon. Patience, guys. I intend to upload all the source videos and files as well for your tinkering benefit. It's coming.

EDIT: Sorry for forgetting to mention the video editor! I use kdenlive (as in the other fusioncasts). It's a little improved in the Hardy repos, but still extremely buggy. I'm waiting for all those MLT bugs to get fixed, guys!!

Please comment if I've forgotten to mention something. I'll set it aright.

Links:

Wallpaper
Dock on the bottom of the screen
Link to the website of the amazing cute movie with the rabbit (it's an open source movie!)
The original Wii head tracking video by Johnny Lee
Wii head tracking with compiz fusion by Smspillaz
Where the cool music came from

Kdenlive

Original video file + all source files coming soon!

Please email me at fusioncast at gmail dot com!
I am on IRC occasionally under the nick of gavintlgold.
Also, comment by clicking on the link below.