I heard a lot about Compiz from Shyam, Priyan and others, but couldn’t install it properly. Today, as Aadithyan said, I installed 3ddesktop from the Debian DVD. It worked, but was not much impressive. When I called Shyam, he said that 3ddesktop was a development stage of Compiz and Compiz is really great. So, I decided to give it a try once more. After installing Compiz and editing the xorg.conf file, I restarted the system and came across the error with loading GDM. But this time, I was able figure out the problem, which was with xorg.conf and corrected it.

When I ran Compiz, it was really amazing. with the Ctrl + Alt + combinations, I could get a 3D view of the workspaces, when I drag a window to the edge of the screen, it will come to the next workspace, Alt + Tab combination giving real time screen shots of programs and much more. It also provides effects while dragging or moving windows. I wonder how the creators managed to have this sophisticated thing in size even less than 500KB!

Though its cool, I encountered a few bugs. I think its because of the low memory(256MB) I have. I couldn’t watch videos while Compiz is running. The video screen goes black and only the sound will be there. Also, sometimes, the title bar disappears and the workspace switcher malfunctions. I have a little old version with me. So, these must have been corrected by now. Waiting for the permission of parents to activate GPRS so that I could download the newer version.

Anyway, Compiz is really GREAT!!!

Here in Kerala, Airtel has introduced recharge coupons of RS 2.00 with the caption “Randil oru Gundu”. It is somewhat like trying luck. Every coupon will carry a gift, starting from a single AirTel to AirTel call to even 1 year validity. Due to the amazement, I bought 5 coupons. In total, I got 6 days extra validity, 1 minute any Local mobile call, 2 minutes AirTel to AirTel and 1 SMS. Its not so bad for RS 10, I think.

Today, the written exams for first series came to an end. Among the 8 subjects, Maths II and Physics were a bit tough for me. Now only Engineering graphics is left and heard that it will be conducted after the Christmas holidays. Everyone is saying that its better to have series exams everyday so that there won’t be any homeworks…!

After a long search for the scientific calculator, 991ES from Casio, today I bought one for 700INR. I enquired for this model in many shops, even abroad, but got the reply that its out off stock. At last, a book shop at Valanchery helped me in getting one. The calculator has got more than 400 functions, 40 scientific and is much helpful for engineering students. Unlike from other models, it has got a Natural Textbook Display and easy to use interface and is slim. It come along with a detailed instruction manual about all its functions.

Today, after two months, the AirTel GPRS got disconnected. As it was time of exams, I didn’t take recharging seriously. Another fact is that I didn’t have the money to pay for it. Anyway, after two months of unlimited Internet usage, I am going to have a few days of no Internet. Hope I could get it recharged for GPRS before 20th so that I could use net during the Christmas holidays.