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Screenshots of Mandriva 2008.1 on an Asus eee PC
Mandriva, Metisse, and the Asus eee
The small screen of an eee poses some challenges. Some windows do not fit on the screen and so have to be moved about to be visible. Some applcations windows such as many KDE configuration screens do not have scrollbars and so cannot be used without great difficulty.
The solution is to use the Metisse desktop manager which is available in Mandriva as a selectable option in the 3D setup section of Mandriva Control Centre.
Metisse allows windows to be individually scaled by simply rolling the mouse wheel in the window header bar.
Despite all the fancy features of Metisse, it is not a processor hog, and my eee is very responsive running both KDE and Metisse.
There are some downsides to Metisse. Applications that require GLX will not run unless you start them in a special way. So for example to run Extreme Tux Racer (from the PLF repository) you need to start it with the command
DISPLAY=:0 etracer
It then runs, but not fast enough to be usable. If you need to run GLX applications then you should turn off Metisse.
Screenshots
Mandriva 2008.1 with Powerpack desktop. The desktop image is actually a very slow animation that takes 24 hours to complete. It changes colour throughout the day. It's a pretty nice effect.
To get the Mandriva Powerpack desktop install the mandriva-theme-Powerpack package from the Mandriva software install GUI.
Metisse has a desktop arranged as a grid of 9 desks. You can move between desks by clicking on the pager, by using Ctl+Alt+arrows to move between them, or by 'Windows Key'+Mouse wheel to see this overview.
Metisse allows windows to be automatically 'peeled back' so you can access a window underneath. Here I am selecting text on a terminal window underneath a konqueror window which peels back to allow me to see the text.
Metisse allows windows to be scaled simply by rolling the mouse in the window header bar. This is the number One reason why eee users should use Metisse and Mandriva. In this example note the 'OK' button is not visible until the window has been scaled.
Finally Metisse gives you pretty effects such as this example of a window becoming transparent as it is moved. It also does fancy things such as rotate windows in three dimensions and make mirror images of windows, but frankly I do not see the point of those features.
Sunday 24th March, 2008
