Looking Glass Beta Released

cereal3825 writes "Well Sun Microsystems Looking Glass has been released for testing. The Project can be found here. Though remember this is beta and a quote from the Getting Started Doc says 'This mode is still very much a work in progress. To date, only a few X11 applications run bug-free in this mode.' so dont expect a work of art."

Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

there are applications that run bug-free?

Where can I get me some of that?

Re:Wait...

[Kick the Donkey]

Well, so far as I know, mkdir is bug free.

:D

Re:Wait...

[photon317]

Not on windows it isn't :) [open-site.org]

Re:Wait...

[Kindaian]

Yes there is... it's called flip flop... and it's the basis for everything!

It it was 0, it will become 1... it it was 1, it will become 0...

Runs endlessly without any problem... and it the end, it's the basis for much of the electronic we know today... ;)

Cube for Windows

[BrookHarty]

Looks like Cube for Windows. http://www.infinite-3d.com/ [infinite-3d.com]

Nice thing about cube, it looks like its all realtime, so all windows still have animation and updates. Not like those cheap 3d-desktops that just use static images of the appliation.

A terminal window would still update, a shockwave would still run, a movie would still play.

Too bad its still beta and no download, the example videos look great.

Re:Cube for Windows

[chochos]

I think it's more the other way around. From the Cube screenshots, it looks like they're taking ideas from Looking Glass and Metisse (another 3D desktop featured not too long ago here on Slashdot).

is anyone having the same problem?

[xutopia]

I try to run the terminal and it just opens up another window all together. Why is this?

Confusing?

[skermit]

Isn't this bookended side-ways toolbar stacking just the same thing as the current windows toolbar? I find it a bit confusing myself to have to turn my head to the side and quickly read off the window titles. Also, while I'm at work and haven't downloaded the beta just yet, I'm wondering how this custom shell will screw up my games... I know I haven't had much luck with ObjectDock/Litestep.

Re:Confusing?

[reverius]

I wouldn't worry about it screwing up your games... it doesn't appear to run on Windows. From the Platform Requirements [java.net]: "Operating System
- Project Looking Glass has been tested on Sun Java Desktop System Release 1 and Release 2, RedHat 9, SuSE Linux 8.1."

Visix

[TVC15]

Is this at all related to the Visix Looking Glass [brighton.ac.uk] desktop manager for UNIX?

Information density

[kindofblue]

One thing that bothers me about new interface ideas is that they suck screen space without providing more information. XP is a great example of that. More flash with less utility. I love flash also, but I want something that gives me lots of useful info in an easy to digest form, with less scrolling and button clicks. The better the interface is, the more likely I could use the same thing on a PDA, cellphone, or laptop instead of only on a 17 inch display workstation.

3-D perspective displays could provide more information density if they are able to provide shrunken 3-D like views that allowed you to fit more onto the screen. From the sample images, it does look like there is some screen space savings, by showing windows vertically rotated. But lots of space is wasted elsewhere. As a work in progress, it doesn't look like it would be a more productive environment yet.

Fantastic!

[Phoe6]

I am not a Java Programmer (yet) and its just second time I was abt to use a Java Program on Linux.
Just followed their instructions [java.net] for getting the Looking Glass up and Running and Yo!. That was a Fantastic Experience. Check out my Snapshots [symonds.net] captured using KSnapShot tool when the looking Glass was running over the TWM Window Manager. This was on a Dell Optiplex Gx260 having onboard Intel845 Video Card running Fedora Core2. When it really gets full fledged, believe me, all the desktops is going to be like playing a 3D game. Whole new features and a good extension to the present desktops. So Sun, I forgot what the business-men are saying, Kudos for your Technology [sun.com]!!!

Translucent windows - nice idea but...

[Viol8]

...it won't work if the X server doesn't support it. AFAIK XFree doesn't though I haven't been keeping up recently. Perhaps X.org will add the functionality? You can simulate transparent windows at the Xlib layer but by god its slow if done this way especially if the X server and client are on different machines if you want the window to be transparent when being dragged around the screen in realtime then forget it.