
3d-Desktop
----------

3d Desktop is a GNOME OpenGL program that allows you to switch virtual
desktops in a 3-dimensional way.  The default "visualization" maps
your screen onto an N-sided "carousel" which is rotated to select the
next screen.  The face is zoomed in and out to make your desktop
appear to be actually in a 3d environment.


Requirements
------------
  OpenGL/Mesa (Hardware acceleration is strongly recommended)
  GLX
  XF86VidMode extensions
  Imlib2
  (The -devel components are necessary for compilation)

Installation
------------

To build and install:

  tar zxvf 3ddesktop-x.y.z.tar.gz
  ./configure
  make
  make install

To setup:
   Run the daemon:
        /usr/bin/3ddeskd --acquire
     The --acquire will cycle to all your virtual desktops
     and grab an image for displaying. *Don't be alarmed!*

   Bind a key to the client:
        /usr/bin/3ddesk

   Pressing key binding (running 3ddesk) activates


Add a global keybinding ("shortcut") via the window manager to run
/usr/bin/3ddesk.  Something like C-M-s (Control-Meta/Alt-s) or
whatever won't conflict with anything else.  When you press this key
combination 3ddesk signals 3ddeskd to start up and it zooms out to
show you the "3d visualization" of your desktop.  Then you select the
screen you want to switch to by pressing ENTER.

In Gnome/Sawfish you can add keybindings by going to the Gnome Control
Center (gnomecc) --> Sawfish --> Shortcuts --> Add --> "Run Shell
Command"

Do "3ddesk --help" for some options.




**NOTE** When you start 3ddesktop without --acquire you will not see
the images of your other desktops.  It can only take a snapshot of
your current desktop -- so either it must acquire them initially by
cycling through all of them or they will not show up until you move
from them using 3ddesktop.  Your other virtual desktops *will* show up
but only *after* you've been to them.

The texture for the current desktop is acquired when you start 3ddesk
so once you start 3ddesk from each virtual desktop your screens will
all show up.  They will only stay consistent if you only use 3ddesk to
switch desktops (if you don't use deskguide).  Mess around with it
you'll see how it works.



Control
-------
KEYS:
Left .................... previous desktop
Right ................... next desktop
Down .................... previous desktop
Up ...................... next desktop
1-9,0 ................... go to desktops 1 thru 10
Enter,Space,Escape ...... choose current desktop
     
MOUSE:
Left button ............. previous desktop
Right button ............ next desktop
Middle button ........... choose current desktop
Wheel down .............. previous desktop
Wheel up ................ next desktop



Window Managers
---------------

All the window managers seem to have different terminology for what
they call virtual desktops/viewports/workspaces.  Here is a breakdown.

GNOME:

In general you can have a grid of "areas" made up of some number of
rows by some number of columns.  Then you can have "workspaces" which
are some number of layers of these grids.  So if you have a 2x2 grid
of areas and 2 workspaces you have 8 virtual desktops (4 areas per
workspace times 2 workspaces).

Right now 3ddesktop will display each row one after the other linearly
- sort of unrolls them into a line.

3ddesktop can be told to use the layered workspaces instead of the
grid of areas with the command line option --workspaces.  You can use
3ddesktop to switch between areas or you can use it to switch between
workspaces but not both (not yet!).  Things get weird if you use both.

This was developed using Redhat 7.1 and 7.2 on GNOME using sawfish.
It does NOT work in KDE ... yet.  If anybody has knowledge about
switching desktops in KDE let me know.  The virtual desktop switching
appears to be GNOME specific so it may not work unless you are using
GNOME.

   Enlightenment:

   In Enlightenment, the workspaces are configured in the "Multiple
   Desktop Settings" dialog as layered virtual desktops.  You
   configure the areas as a grid in the "Virtual Desktop Settings"
   dialog.

   It is recommended you turn off the "Slide desktops around when
   changing" option in Special FX Settings.  This has an unnatural
   effect when using 3ddesktop (thanks Nick!).

   WindowMaker:

   WindowMaker only supports workspaces and calls them by the same
   name.  To my knowledge you can't do any kind of "area" or grid
   setup.  Use the --workspaces option.  Make sure WindowMaker is
   compiled with the --enable-gnome switch if you are compiling it.

   Sawfish:

   In Sawfish you go to the configuration section called "Workspaces"
   and the grid size of the areas is specified with the columns and
   rows values.

   FVWM2:

   Works fine.


   Not tryed: icewm, blackbox, fluxbox, fu-wm, yada-wm etc...

KDE:

I have not been able to figure out how to get desktop switching to
work yet in KDE.




Other random comments
---------------------

This is my first OpenGL program so I'm sure there are lots of things
that aren't perfect or need work.  I'm open to any kind of feedback
positive or otherwise.  Please let me know your thoughts at
bard@systemtoolbox.com

The desktop switching is done with code based off of STPH by Rob
Hodges.  See http://stph.sourceforge.net/ for more info.  Thanks Rob!

For some fun try a command line option like: 
   3ddesk --mode=linear --nozoom

Do 3ddesk --help for more command line options.

There are several things that I know need work.  (See the TODO file)

I believe I've solved the load time by using Imlib2.  The biggest
bottleneck to starting was not the actual capture of the screenshot
but rather the scaling of the image to a size that is a power of two
(required for textures).

Anyway Imlib2 has wicked fast scaling so things are much faster now.
I've also switched to a daemon architecture which won't require
reloading of every texture every time (the opengl context stays
active).  *Please* let me know if this is not working because I do
some funny things with X and glX to make this work.

I switched from using GLUT to using GLX and XF86VidMode extensions to
fix some fullscreen problems.  The problem was that with
glutFullScreen (and game mode) any gnome panels that were "autohide"
would show up on top of 3ddesktop.  Additionally the window
decorations in enlightenment were staying visible.  So by using GLX
and XF86VidMode both these problems were solved.  In addition I was
able to hide the mouse pointer.  If somebody can show me how to do
this in GLUT I'd use glut.

*Please* let me know if anything isn't working otherwise I won't know
to fix it :)

Brad Wasson
bard@systemtoolbox.com





Contributors
------------
Thomas Clausen
 * sawfish only support

Nathan Grennan
 * support additional rows of areas (verticle areas)
 * change to use /tmp/3ddesktop-user

Bryan Smith
 * goto_face()

hope I didn't miss anybody - let me know


Wow, you made it all the way through, I'm impressed!

