21 January 2007 by Lars

3D desktops on SUSE 10.2

After installing openSUSE 10.2 on the Dell X200 (933Mhz, 622MB), I switched to the Xgl desktop. I switched to the Novell builderservice, and upgraded to the latest xgl/compiz (but not beryl). Results:

• the stock Xgl is still fairly slow
• the upgraded Xgl is MUCH faster – to the point that the nifty 3d desktop switch is TOO fast
• but: video is bad. Realplayer video is sluggish, and not usable

That does seem to be a known issue, and it may not matter on faster CPUs – but on slower CPUs, it matters a lot. I switched back to stock Xorg.

No magic bullet.