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LiveCD Lets You Try Out Project Looking Glass

remember_beos writes "Sun created Project Looking Glass (LG3D) as a 'proof of concept' not long ago. It is an environment for Linux, like KDE or Gnome, but with some really great 3D functionality. More than just eye-candy, LG3D provides functional use of an extra spatial dimension on your desktop. Now there is a LiveCD for us all to try it out."

73 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Video link by Virtual+Karma · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:Video link by Psykus · · Score: 5, Informative

      Real Alternative is your friend.

      :)

    2. Re:Video link by PatrickThomson · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nice going, you managed to slashdot the sun, I guess we'll have to implode Saturn now.

      --
      I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
    3. Re:Video link by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 2, Funny

      Doesn't it sound strange to you?

      You sure got that right, what the heck did you just say?

    4. Re:Video link by Koyaanisqatsi · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you were thinking the same I am, it's Jupiter that needs imploding. And all these base belong to you, except Europa, attempt no landing there :)

  2. Finally... the wait is over by L1nux_L0ser83 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have been licking the same screenshots on suns site for the last few months. Now I get to play with it! I cant wait to download it tonight!

    --
    Good Karma, Bad Karma, doesnt matter to me... I'm still going to say whats on my mind!
    1. Re:Finally... the wait is over by evanfrey · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I installed this about a month ago on gentoo. Its little more then a crappy demo. The one I really want to see, is a linux port of sphereXP http://www.hamar.sk/sphere/, OR i would like to see the metisse project http://insitu.lri.fr/~chapuis/metisse/ see the light of day.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    2. Re:Finally... the wait is over by jericho4.0 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Seeing as there is a lot of interest in this thing, and you're the only one who's seen it, can you either post a torrent or expound on what was lacking ?

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    3. Re:Finally... the wait is over by Morgon · · Score: 2, Funny

      2 - Does your screen have a few nasty looking smudges on it or anything? *shiver* Ewww...

      Probably not anymore.... double-eww.

      --
      [DISCLAIMER: This post is a work of satire and should not be misconstrued as a holy text upon which to base a religion.]
    4. Re:Finally... the wait is over by evanfrey · · Score: 5, Informative

      It was kind of a pain to find all of the packages, ( alot of googling =/ ). The following packages were needed and DONT expect to find all of them on sun. Just google the following: jdk-1_5_0_01-linux-i586.bin jai-1_1_2_01-lib-linux-i586.tar.gz java3d-1_3_2-build4-linux-i586.tar.gz java-config-1.2.11.tar.bz2 lg3d-0.5.tar.gz It took a long time to find the packages, but once I did I just used portages emerge to build it. If you want to find the ebuild (build script) google for: lookingglass-bin-0.5.ebuild hopefully this helps out. If I knew there would be all this interest, I would have documented the procedure.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
  3. Acknowledgements in TFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    This project owns much to Chevol Davis who contributed unvaluable serverspace and bandwidth.
    Nice to know that they appreciate all the crappy things they are given :) (at least according to current usage)
    1. Re:Acknowledgements in TFA by geniusj · · Score: 2, Funny

      And are they saying that they own much of Chevol Davis? Isn't that illegal?

  4. Worth it? by Kimos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To me this says all show and no productivity. I'll get a live CD and play with it, but I doubt it'll be worth using to actually get something accomplished.

    Isn't it rough on the video card to have it 3D rendering at any point the the OS is loaded?

    1. Re:Worth it? by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Isn't it rough on the video card to have it 3D rendering at any point the the OS is loaded?

      Isn't this what video cards or for? You might as well ask if it's rough on the CPU.

    2. Re:Worth it? by DavidLeblond · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know, ask Apple. Their UI uses the GPU and it has for awhile now.

    3. Re:Worth it? by Mark_MF-WN · · Score: 5, Funny

      You bet. These video cards can handle marathon 12 hour gaming sessions, but they're gonna break like matchsticks under the burden of running a WINDOWING system.

    4. Re:Worth it? by Kimos · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe I'm remembering back in the day of my first "good" video card. I was running rendered screen savers (cause it was uber-cool at that point) and the card was having heat issues. Guess things have changed eh?

    5. Re:Worth it? by Kimos · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's my point though is that not all cards can support a 12 hour gaming session. Not to mention that if you're talking OS, you need to be able to run for days/weeks/months, not just a mad Quake sesh...

    6. Re:Worth it? by Mark_MF-WN · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Especially given that a 3D windowing system will totally under-utilize even the cheapest of modern video cards. If my roommate's $30 bargain bin video card can run UT2004's million polygons per second for six hours with a smooth framerate, I think it can handle rendering five or six window polygons per second on behalf of the windowing system.

    7. Re:Worth it? by InvalidError · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's where nVidia's new SLI and ATI's AMR come in handy!

      For games, frame rendering usually begins by clearing the frame buffer since the whole screen usually needs redrawing but for regular apps, updating only active windows when changes occur should be far less expensive in rendering time - these would consist mainly of mapping 2D surfaces on some polygons, something even the oldest 3D cards should be able to do decently fast.

    8. Re:Worth it? by Mark_MF-WN · · Score: 3, Insightful
      You're making the totally unreasonable assumption that the video card would keep everything in its own memory, all the time. Video games don't do this and neither would a 3D windowing system.

      UIs are fantastically simple compared to games. They rarely contain more than a few thousand screen elements, only a small fraction of which are active at any time.

      Have you noticed that XWindows (as it stands now) can easily handle dozens of windows without depleting main memory? I have 18 maximized windows running right now at 1280x1024x32 resolution. Guess how much main memory X is using? 27MB -- rather than the 90MB your naive calculations would suggest. And I can activate any one of those windows so quickly that I don't perceive the time it takes to drag the windows contents up from the swap space.

      You don't seem to really understand how graphics systems work. The only things that need to take up video card memory are the pixels visible on screen. ANYTHING else in video memory is there simply to speed things up a little and take the burden off of the system bus. UI elements rarely change, most of them aren't visible, most of them aren't animated, and most of them are so ridiculously simple that the video cards texture compression algorithms (available on EVERY video card manufactured since 1998) can squeeze them down to practically nothing. UIs can afford much higher latencies than the 60fps necessary to convincingly render a video game.

      I could go on and on. The point is, UIs are painfully, appallingly simple from a 3D standpoint. That's why people want to windowing to the video card in the first place. Any video card that can handle Quake2 can eat the most complex GUI imaginable for breakfast.

    9. Re:Worth it? by oliverthered · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes. I don't think you have any idea how 3D rendering works, or if you do it's completely screwed up.
      I can write windowing systems, WYSYWIG editors, and 3D graphics engines that will run on a 268 with a few MB of ram.

      If you want to know how to write a WYSYWIG editor in a few Mb than I'll tell you, I'll also tell you why as soon as you get a little more complex you use tens of MB and even more complex and you start hitting hundreds.

      Here's a simple walk through or a rendering system.

      1: all your textures are pixel maps,
      pixel MyTexture[usize][vsize].
      (not no mip-mapping, volume textures or cube, just simple textures)

      2: You then create a number polygons to render on screen, this is for something simple like Unreal Tournament or X,

      3: at the vertex of each polygon you put a offset into a texture.

      4: The GPU then rasterises the polygons using a linear interpolate of the co-ordinates given for each vertex of the polygon.

      Something like Unreal or Quake will use concave polygons and clip them prior to rendering, this reduces the work required in 4: mipmaps will also be generated to allow for better scaling this increases the memory requirements, multi-texturing will be used to increase the apparent detail level of the textures, and for things like deciles alpha-blending will be uses to generate effects such as light from a blast from a weapon, and cubic or trilinear interpolating will be used instead of linear to create shading effects on the textures.

      Now, for more modern games you can use 'vertex shaders', they allow programmable effects to be applied along a polygon edge, an can crate effects such as underwater.

      Then there are pixel shaders, they are similar to vertex shaders but are calculated per-pixel, they allow things like toon-shading, bump mapping, per-pixel lighting, true phong, and procedural textures, the GPU will all sever on card only 'virtual' textures to be used as a scratch pad for per-pixel shading.

      Got that?

      Now, how do windowing systems work.

      1: Each windows is given a square clipping region on the screen, the window boundaries.
      Each window has a pixel map

      2: The application updates it's pixel map, and notifies the windowing system.

      3: the pixel maps are then composed and displayed.

      Now, because giving each window it's own pixel map requires a lot of memory most windowing system cheat and use a shared pixel map and clip based on the windows clipping region, this requires the windowing system to inform a 'hidden' window to redraw it's self when a windows above it moves.

      Each window is build up from a number of elements, icons (pixel maps), fonts (often vectors) and widgets (line drawn or pixel maps).

      On today's systems all the elements are rendered by the application and presented as pixel maps. Fonts are turned into pixel maps and cached for speed, because processing vectors is hard.

      On tomorrow's system the fonts will be sent to the graphics card, the widgets will be rendered using vectors on the graphics card.

      Yes, it's easy for today's graphics card to deal with our current systems, which are low quality and optimised for the current windowing systems rendered on the CPU, but Apple, Microsoft, and Gnome are already moving away from separating the application functionality from the visual display allowing more and more work to be performed on the GPU instead of the CPU, requiring a GPU with more memory capable of manipulating the windows without having to hog the system bus, CPU and main memory.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
  5. Now My Desktop can be like my apartment by moofdaddy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From what I understand of this project it is very cool. With that extra spatial dimmension you will take what is already a cluttered desktop and make it mess in 3D. Now my computer can look more like my apartnemt.

    In all seriousness though this is really a neat concept. I use a lot of space for my video editing programs. They require a title program, an animator, a sound mixer, a couple of editors, etc. Now this will take my ordinary 15 inch screen and give it dimenssion which will make my life a lot more producitve and a lot oless facinating.

    --
    Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
  6. Maintenance Notice by fembots · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maintenance notice: Saturday, 3/5 noon - 1 pm PST, maintenance to our hosting center could cause interruptions in site access during this period.

    What speed are you guys getting at the moment? Looks like the "maintenance" has come early.

  7. I got your screen shots right here by moofdaddy · · Score: 4, Informative
    --
    Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
  8. I dunno.... by Psykus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I tried something similar for Windows XP some time ago, I didn't really see any advantages over using a normal, 2D interface. Perhaps this 3D interface is different, but the whole thing seems pretty gimicky to me. Kind of like having a 3D interface, just to say you have a 3D interface, not because of any inherent benefits of using it.

    Also, is this a window manager akin to Gnome or KDE, or does it run on top of either one? The window decorations and stuff look pretty fugly IMHO.

    1. Re:I dunno.... by pHZero · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You may be missing out on the point that this opens up a completely new area of UI development.. UI developers don't have to be constrained to the standard 'Two dimensional box' we are accustomed to. A properly designed three dimensional UI could turn out to be more intuitive and productive if designed properly. For an example see the CD jukebox Sun includes with Looking Glass.

    2. Re:I dunno.... by KingPrad · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I just thought of a way this might be made useful. It depends on sensing the location of the user's head. It would work so that a user could tilt his head like he's trying to see 'around' to the other side of the spherical interface and the window manager would rotate in the windows/information from that side. So if you are looking at a text editor and need to check out a document momentarily you could crane your neck (I'm talking a slight gesture, not really craning, but the same motion) and the web browser that is pushed off to the side would slide back in. You could read what you need to, then go back the other way to see the editor.

      Perhaps a head position sensor would provide intelligent focusing for the extra dimensions? I can see something like this being useful in any window manager. You could do it with a camera and some custom recognition software perhaps, so no extra sensor would be required.

      I personally would really like it if I could scroll a document or switch desktops (or the view of a very large desktop) with slight head gestures.

      --
      Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
    3. Re:I dunno.... by suckmysav · · Score: 3, Insightful

      " I just thought of a way this might be made useful. It depends on sensing the location of the user's head. It would work so that a user could tilt his head like he's trying to see 'around' to the other side of the spherical interface and the window manager would rotate in the windows/information from that side. So if you are looking at a text editor and need to check out a document momentarily you could crane your neck (I'm talking a slight gesture, not really craning, but the same motion) and the web browser that is pushed off to the side would slide back in. "

      And the first thing a new user would do would be to get on the internet to find out how they can turn that goddamn crap off.

      Sheesh. The last thing I want to do when using a PC is to have to ensure that I remain absolutely motionless lest my GUI start flipping windows all over the place.

      I suggest you pitch that idea to the folks at Redmond ASAP. It might be just what we need to start turning people away from their Windows boxen in droves.

      --
      "You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
  9. How does it work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The site is already slashdotted, so I can't RTFA, but does anyone know how this works? Does it have drivers ready to go from nVidia, ATi, or the DRI project? Is it a full Knoppix like system, or can I just load the 3D environment on top of an already running Linux installation? Will it also work with Solaris for x86? I simply must have answers.

    The site just loaded and I'm am too lazy to use my backspace key, so I'll share what I can see before it is completely slashdotted. It uses GamesKnoppix and let's you pick between KDE and lg3d, the looking glass 3d environmnet. Also, the ATi drivers are crap, but that's to be expected.

  10. Longhorn by Virtual+Karma · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is what Microsoft is trying to achieve in Longhorn. I'm sorry Bill, somebody just beat you at that...

  11. every time... by to_kallon · · Score: 2, Funny

    every time sun convinces me to never go back they do something that sounds cool and i have to give it a try.
    a plague upon your servers, sun!

    --


    The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
    -Oscar Wilde
  12. ISO link by scottied · · Score: 5, Informative

    It looks like looking glass is gonna be slashdotted... heres the ISO link.

    http://66.194.210.2/lg3d.iso

    Not going very fast... torrent anyone??

  13. Re:but will it run all my sweet windows apps!?! by thryllkill · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes. And your OSX apps as well. They're twice as lickable in 3D!!! Even better you can use this over E17 for a thrice lickable win32/linux/osx environment tour de force. K apps have a little trouble sometimes though. Sorry.

    --

    Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.

  14. Forget the LiveCD by J.+T.+MacLeod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I want to install it on my computer.

    Can I do that? I can't find any information about doing just that.

    A LiveCD is good, because it shows people what a properly set-up environment can do, but why not let us set it up, ourselves?

    Licensing issues perhaps? Whatever the reason, a note on the page would be nice.

    1. Re:Forget the LiveCD by sorrodos · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here are some instructions on how to install it on a Gentoo system.

      Even if you aren't running Gentoo, I'd imagine it would point you in the right direction to install it on other distros.

  15. I'll mirror it by ToadMan8 · · Score: 4, Informative

    If someone can get their hands on it I will mirror it. The University has a 200 megabit pipe to lay to waste, but we're on I2 so edu connections will fly. (I've done this in the past for /.ed things)

    --
    I haven't posted in so long, my sig is out of date.
  16. Apple v. Sun by revscat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does anyone get the impression that there is some subtle but real competition going on between Sun and Apple? Apple seems to be moving in on the server/blade market, and Sun is attempting to do cool GUI tricks. I wouldn't mention this but Sun has made so much of Project Looking Glass that it's kind of hard to not wonder if one of their primary targets here is not Apple and the users who are using it as their preferred UNIX OS.

    1. Re:Apple v. Sun by Queer+Boy · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I wouldn't mention this but Sun has made so much of Project Looking Glass that it's kind of hard to not wonder if one of their primary targets here is not Apple and the users who are using it as their preferred UNIX OS.

      Workstations are one of the few pieces of Unix kit that you can be assured will be replaced as quickly as you can get new tech out the door. In typical graphic and video shops they upgrade their kit every year if there is a speed boost. I have a friend that owns a local design firm and if he can shave 2 seconds off of a Photoshop filter or render video a few seconds faster that's enough reason to upgrade. When you are doing hundreds of image edits a day, it's a compelling reason.

      Sun and SGI are beginning to lose workstation sales to Apple. With the advent of the G5 all of the hardware advantages of a Unix workstation over a desktop have basically disappeared. They have to do something to look or actually be competitive with Apple. A look at a recent Slashdot discussion reveals how many Unix/Linux users are finding Mac OS X an elegant sidegrade/upgrade.

      --
      Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
  17. Re:This is offtopic... by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Insightful

    http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=lg3d-live cd.dev.java.net

    http://lg3d-livecd.dev.java.net was running Apache on Solaris 9 when last queried at 2-Mar-2005 21:56:28 GMT - refresh now Site Report
    Try out the Netcraft Toolbar! FAQ
    OS Server Last changed IP address Netblock Owner
    Solaris 9 Apache/2.0.50 (Unix) mod_auth_svn/0.1 SVN/1.0.1-dev mod_jk/1.2.0 mod_auth_mda/2.0 DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.0.50 OpenSSL/0.9.7b 2-Mar-2005 64.125.133.206 COLLABNET

    however.. i think there might be a problem with the bandwith given to the server with the .iso.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  18. System Shock 3? A True Sequel to Thief?! NO! by Alzheimers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oooh, shame on you! I had my hopes lifted for a moment, before being ripped to shreds by cruel reality.

    Damn. RIP, Looking Glass Studios.

  19. Re:Conflict of interest by UWC · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Sun sells servers. Hosting a torrent would set an example which in the long run could lead to fewer servers sold.

    And having their own servers Slashdotted sets a better example?

  20. Re:This is offtopic... by barcodez · · Score: 2, Informative

    wget -S https://lg3d-livecd.dev.java.net/

    would do the trick.

    --

    ----
  21. Value not yet realized? by Eric+Savage · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I couldn't get the video, but from the screenshots and other stuff I've seen I don't see anyone making a compelling case for this. I admit it has promise, but I don't see any examples of actual utility that cannot also be found in just having two or three monitors. Right now it just seems like eye candy and an interesting concept the developers are waiting for someone else to capitalize on, not a viable alternative to the current 3D (e.g. stacked windows) desktop paradigm.

    --

    This is not the greatest sig in the world, this is just a tribute.
  22. Honest /. recommendation by miketang16 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After reading about 15 requests for a torrent, I got to thinking about the /. effect and bittorrent.

    Wouldn't it be a decent idea to set up a torrents.slashdot.org and if possible, before releasing a story with a large 'attachment', set up a torrent for it?

    Then again, I don't know how hard this would be logistically, considering that one must obtain a copy of the file ahead of time. However, IMHO I think it's worth a shot.

    --
    -------
    "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
    -- George Orwell
    1. Re:Honest /. recommendation by miketang16 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As for the faq question about creating a site cache, this would be quite different since it's not taking away from any adspace revenue based on the site because you would only be sharing a file that that site is distributing. People would still visit the site to read the information, but the bandwidth needs for a large file hosted on the site would be distributed.

      An argument might be that if you give readers a direct link to the file, then they won't visit the site. However, /. already posts direct HTTP/FTP links in its stories. Also, people that only want the file are just going to read the replies anyway to look for a direct link or torrent.

      --
      -------
      "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
      -- George Orwell
    2. Re:Honest /. recommendation by Torg · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually the amount of traffic a tracker gets is substantial. It is directly related to how many users there are in the cloud. The way the tracker works is to track the meta-data from the clients (what parts they have) so it can broadcast it back out.

      It is not nearly as large as the amount of bandwidth needed to distribute your data but it is still quite significant. Don't take my word for it, set one up and try it yourself.

    3. Re:Honest /. recommendation by Lu+Xun · · Score: 2, Funny

      The first rule of slashdot is: you do not talk about solutions to the slashdot effect.

      Any guesses as to the second rule?

      --
      That's not a soda... it's a caffeine delivery device!
    4. Re:Honest /. recommendation by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 2, Insightful

      People have proposed having slashdot itself host large files (or torrents) from stories or copies of the articles to stave off slashdotting, but there are always these arguments against it:

      1. Slashdot cannot assume it has the right to distribute potentially copyrighted material

      2. Slashdot must respect the target site's right to control their content - whether that means registering users, displaying ads before or alongside the content, or charging a fee to view content.

      For example, if someone posts a review of a book, they are free to include excerpts - they post them right into the slashdot story. But they cannot assume that they can attach an E-Book version of the book to the slashdot story, even if that E-Book is free on the author's site.

      The content would need a license that allows distribution, and much of the content we link to here does not authorize free distribution.

      Getting approval from content owners would require tedious effort, and seeing as how the slashdot editors don't even bother to make sure they're not posting a dupe, there's no way they'd bother getting approval from content owners.

  23. Re:MOD PARENTS DOWN -- IS REDUNDANT by chamblah · · Score: 2, Informative
    The page that has the movie also contains the link to the screenshots as well.

    So the post is redundant because the first link contains info about the demo movie and the screenshot link.

  24. Humane Interface by shrapnull · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Probably the strongest point in the development of Project Looking Glass is that it shows GUI developer's that we are far from achieving any sort of happy medium or standard in the graphical experience.

    Coincidentally, with the passing of Jef Raskin recently, there is fear that the concepts of his Humane Interface will go largely ignored and unnoticed, despite there being a desperate need to simplify the user experience while being intuitive without being intrusive, and still allocating the option of low-level interaction demanded by hackers.

    While drawing the connection between Raskin and Project Looking Glass may seem distant, it is surely a nice example to see such a major organization funding open revolts against the norm and doing so in a public arena.

    --
    If you're half as beautiful naked, you'd be 4 times as beautiful with twice as many clothes on.
  25. Re:Slashdotted by schon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sweet jebus, put up a torrent tracker and post the link!

  26. Re:why no torrent by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    You're talking nonsense. What's stopping the project from seeding a torrent? You think maybe it will not work if only 10 people are downloading it? If a torrent was up, we wouldn't have to wait for somwone to complete a download.

    --
    "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  27. Managing the location and size of Windows by Peaker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    is counter-productive.

    Managing their rotation axis and depth is more waste of time.

    Windows should either be auto-maximized or auto-tiled by the windowing system, with the user and application cooperating to define which parts in the visible output of the application are important to the user at every given moment so that those are automatically displayed to the user. Simple example: Newly created messages about errors or events should not be placed on top of some text I am reading, but on some of the all-gray or all-white area that the screen almost always contains. For this to happen, it must know that text is more important than "dead" areas that contain nothing.

    This silliness of attributing physical traits to non-physical entities is counter-productive, even if it is very visually appealing.

    Lets let go of the overlapping windows crap and solve the division of screen-space problem in a more intelligent way.

  28. It is rough on video cards by MatthewNewberg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There is a big issue with cheaper systems in relation to video cards with 3d. At a school I once attended they had a bunch of really fast, but really cheap desktops. They all intergrate video cards. Once after playing counter-strike for about an hour artfacts would appear. This would be even scarier with your windowing system. I would predict most PC sold today would have this issue. There is a big problem with being "too hard" (aka not enough cooling) on the video of cheaper systems. I would say the issue isn't with the normal slashdot user since most of them would likely have atleast cheap gaming video cards that have atleast some sort of cooling. I attest almost all of the video cards I have bought would be able to handle playing long hours even overclocked.

  29. Try BBC Edition by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Informative

    What's wrong with RealOne BBC edition? No spyware there. Also the Linux and Mac OS X version of the standard non-BBC edition seems to lack the advertising you find in the Windows version.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  30. Will no one post a torrent? by Trogre · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is getting silly.

    Seriously, if anyone here has downloaded the iso, torrent it pronto.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:Will no one post a torrent? by ebob · · Score: 2, Informative
      --
      To avoid seeing this message again, always shut down your computer properly by selecting Shut Down from the Start Menu.
  31. Re:Desktop by EddWo · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you get the latest public build, WinHec 2004 4071, and enable the DWM (Desktop Window Manager) and then use Atl-Tab, all your windows stack on top of one another and tilt away from you.
    http://www.stardock.com/video/june2004/longhorn/lh 4074_6.jpg

    Thats about the only 3D effect thats in Longhorn, you must be thinking of the Task Gallery research project or SphereXP.

    Longhorn uses the 3D accelerator to render everything, Avalon the new presentation system is built on Direct3D, but so far theres not much actual 3D in the interface.

    --
    "Taligent is still pure vapor. Maybe they'll be the last who jumps up on Openstep... "
  32. Re:I am lost, will you help me by kinnell · · Score: 5, Funny
    The iso directory is empty!

    You're too late - somebody's already downloaded it

    --
    If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
  33. Re:Maintenance Notice - update by prjames · · Score: 2, Funny

    No we're down to a ? KB/s and an estimate of 80 days so I'm off for a world cruise. I'll send you guys a postcard:)

  34. Looking Glass is nausea inducing by NeedleSurfer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    this is not a flame but a real comment, all videos I watched of this gave me nausea, the idea that the background move when my mouse does is very disturbing and not a good idea to locate items on the screen since everything moves not just the foreground or background. Each graphical element is way too big and actually nulify the idea, if you wanted more space out of this realize you don't because every object on the screen is now bigger, turning them aside doesn't provide much more space than windowshading does (the ability on the mac to collapse a window into its title bar), actually it provide less space because of the drop shadow and extra thickness, plus, now, you have too read from up to down instead of left to right, basically it is less usefull and more clunky than windowshade, but since it is a feature of a software that runs on Linux people will go nuts over it and call it usefull 3D even if its nothing but glitz and wizzbang...

    Actually, Looking glass is like when you give Windows a resolution the display can't handle, it just shows you part of your desktop and now you have to scroll the desktop to go to each corner, imagine this concept in 3D, you have Looking Glass...

  35. The Sun is Out by fm6 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Actually, a lot of Sun sites are rather flaky today. Not very impressive, coming from the company whose motto is "The Network is the Computer."

    They're claiming this is "Java-based". Never heard of this kind of stuff running any way except as native code. A breakthrough in VM technology, or more abuse of the Java "brand"?

    The Schwartz demo provoked lots of applause, but I was pretty underwhelmed. There are a few cool-looking visual effects, like turning a window over so you can write on the back. But no case is made for this making anybody's job easier. Just a lot of noise about "community computing" and other warm and fuzzy concepts that don't particularly relate. Oh yeah, and of course Microsoft doesn't have this and doesn't want you to have this! Please.

    1. Re:The Sun is Out by WebMink · · Score: 3, Informative
      They're claiming this is "Java-based". Never heard of this kind of stuff running any way except as native code. A breakthrough in VM technology, or more abuse of the Java "brand"?

      Take a look at the actual project. You'll find it's all Java code, and that it uses Java 3D as an generalisation layer to control the video card. So actually a vindication of the virtualisation concept, yes.

  36. How to install without livecd by scottied · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.gcclinux.com/

    Installation instructions for linux and windows xp in their forums.

  37. Re:It isn't illegal to ignore your mail by ToadMan8 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They'd, I do believe, attempt legal action against the University. We're trying to keep our students from being sued (which would be fish-in-a-barrel easy - they're not all like you and I are with computers) and the University from being forced to give up the names of the students. Or be taken to court about it. We decided the nicest thing to do was to read the letter, write / call the student and say hey, don't share things like that on the I-net, then tell the organization that we told them to stop, please leave now. Worked just fine, just happened all the time so we blocked things, sadly enough.

    --
    I haven't posted in so long, my sig is out of date.
  38. I BRING LOVE AND TORRENTS by gamepro · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.titaniumforums.com/torrent/software/ind ex.php Your welcome slashdot and thanks to http://www.x1communications.com/ for giving me the file.

  39. Torrent Now up... by BrianHursey · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some one please mirror this file. Im sure this site will go down fast.

    Here is the site that i found serching through the sun forms..

    Get it while its up. lg3d.iso.torrent

    --
    Linux is like a teepee. It has no windows, no gates, and there's an Apache inside.
  40. Torrent Available by msmalley · · Score: 3, Informative

    Found a torrent link on the java desktop forums. its pretty fresh yet, so get this thing cookin'!
    http://www.titaniumforums.com/torrent/software/btd ownload.php?type=torrent&file=lg3d.iso.torrent

    --
    What's your footprint?
  41. Re: TORRENT ISO IS BROKEN - DONT WASTE YOUR TIME by jgaynor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The title pretty much says it all - even if the above link works you're going to spend the next 4 hours downloading a shiny new drink coaster.

  42. Bad idea by danila · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Despite coming from Sun, the project is almost completely useless and goes in the wrong direction.

    What they claim is efficient way to organise the workspace in 3D is a big fat lie. It's just an ugly and useless hack that doesn't even have the "wow" factor.

    There are proven GUI technologies that work. These are
    1) Expose
    2) Virtual desktops, which you can switch between
    3) Smoothly scrollable desktop, preferably with a zoom feature.

    If someone implemented these (rather simple) ideas in one window manager, that would be almost a perfect environment, without any need for 3D (other than to use the 3D card acceleration and for cool visual effects). It doesn't make sense to rotate windows or workspaces, when you can zoom and scroll.

    --
    Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
  43. New Mirror by andjost · · Score: 2, Informative
    Now there is another mirror of the iso here:

    http://javadesktop.org/lg3d/livecd-isos/lg3d-3-mar -05.iso.gz

    Andrew