Ubuntu Noob ?

I just finished installing 9.10 on a shrink partition I created in Windows 7. I have three OSes on my laptop. They are as follows:

Partition 1: Win XP Home (20 GB)
Partition 2: Win 7 Ultimate (120 GB)
Partition 3: Ubuntu 9.10 (12.5 GB) and a 750MB Swap File

I used ext4 instead of 3. So my question is this, does Ubuntu ever need to be defragged like Windows? I read that ext3 file system takes care of it's own maintenance.

 

No. There is no 'need'. ext4 includes an online defrag function. But compared to ntfs/fat systems, ext fragments so slowly you could consider not to fragment at all.

 

Oh OK thanks. !

I have another noob question. I installed Compiz and Compiz Fusion Icon. I can enable the Fusion Icon but I can't enable Compiz so I can get the 3D cube desktop effect. There was a command I tried in the terminal that was suggested to start CCSM but no luck.

Am I missing something or doing something noobish where I can get it to show up on my system? Btw i'm running 9.10 on my Vostro 1500 in my Sig with the latest 3D Nvidia drivers that was suggested by the OS. I'm running nvidia drivers version 185.

The only cool effect I see that I enable was via "change desktop background -> Visual Effects -> Extra. If I grab the top bar the whole window ripples like a wave, very cool btw.

But I would love to get the Compiz Config menu that's if my system supports it?

 

i don't do to much in compiz..but here's a guide that may help perhaps??
http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-install-compiz-fusion-desktop-effects-in-ubuntu-810

 

You need to install the plugins.

 

Thanks fellas, Ice steered me in the right direction. I was able to install CCSM with all the plugins.

Did it require over 1GB of plugins? Now the only thing I need to figure out is how to edit some of the cool themes that use Compiz manager.

Also are there 4 working desktops when you enable 3D cube?

 

You need to have 4 desktops to have a cube. Any more, you can have a 3D cylinder or sphere.

 

Ha ! funny guy

Seriously though is each side an actual independent desktop?

 

Yes. If you want to try switching from metacity to compiz to test you can do the following.

Press Alt-F2 or go to a console prompt and type compiz --replace

To switch back to metacity just do the inverse i.e. metacity --replace

Also you probably want to install Emerald or Beryl for themes. I like emerald.

You can modify the options for compiz-fusion under the admin settings menu i believe.

 

I'm not joking. You can set Compiz to make your desktops into a 3-D cylinder (polygon) or sphere.

 

I did that lol, looked pretty cool. I'm looking forward to 10.04 now.

 

nice! care to share yer desktop in the desktop thread perhaps?

 

I'll be brutally (and sadly) honest, though. I started off on youtube "Wow!"ing the desktop cube and Wobbly Windows and stuff, but over time it just became quite a nuisance. Desktop cube, as pretty as it is, soon got replaced with Expo and Desktop Wall, because they were faster.

 

Haha I'm the same way. Looking at Youtube video's as far back as before Vista and Linux always had the goods with looks. It's nice to play with for a bit, but eventually I get to the point where if I hit the minimize button, I just want you to minimize not put on a laser show.

 

Aye. And then you realise there's much more to Linux than the flash.

 

LOL, add me to the ranks ! :laugh:

 

So fast?

 

Yeah, use shell+lynx for browsing = flash problem solved