Virtual Desktop suggestions?

[laughinglizard]

I've been using the Virtual Desktops that comes with Stardock Object Desktop, but, I've been wondering what other programs are out there that you use and like. Or dislike. 

[Darwin]

Dexpot got a lot of rave reviews on DC about a year ago.

[laughinglizard]

Dexpot got a lot of rave reviews on DC about a year ago.

Thanks Darwin, I've downloaded it and will give it a whirl tomorrow.
The Stardock one is ok, but its slow on switching windows on my system.

[lanux128]

there is a similar discussions here..
• Need Virtual Desktop software recommendations

also check out this mini-review by Edvard..
• Virtual Window Managers

or mouser's favourite: VirtuaWin
• my favorite free (open source even) virtual desktop tool

[laughinglizard]

there is a similar discussions here..
• Need Virtual Desktop software recommendations

also check out this mini-review by Edvard..
• Virtual Window Managers

or mouser's favourite: VirtuaWin
• my favorite free (open source even) virtual desktop tool

oh boy oh boy (rubbing hands together) now I have lots of programs to play with.  Thanks all!

[Edvard]

For the record, I am still using jspager.
Just haven't found a comparable replacement outside of Litestep or BB4win that I liked, although Dexpot and Vern have gotten good reactions.

[nontroppo]

Hi, having demoed Dexpot I can heartily recommend it. I also run a virtual desktop manager in Tiger (VirtueDesktops) and so I normally have 3 OS X desktops, one of which has 4 Windows desktops running within (I just need a Linux VM running in one of the Windows screens for the full Russian doll) ;-)

Dexpot has a global overview mode which is nice, and is really friendly to configure, and light in resources.

Screencast of it all working together (any jerkiness comes from the limited framerate to keep screencast smallish...)
desktops.mov (1.3 MB)

[dalchina]

DeskSpace has an intriguing way of switching desktops- 4 faces of a cube (top and bottom aren't usable - alas?? Could anyone cope with 6?

Anyway, takes around 25Mb of RAM with one desktop configured, and the graphics and switching are really neat. Sort of shrinks away so you see the semi tranparent cube with reflections, then you spin the cube- with dynamic springy 'bounce', all configurable, to see your next desktop, then let it expand back towards you.

I'm using a laptop with integrated graphics, shared RAM, i.e. nothing splendid, and it ran painlessly.

So if you like that kind of neat display... but other offerings will have lower overheads I'm sure.

By contrast, SphereXP - a kind of 3D surround-you rotatable virtual desktop where it seems you spin your desktop around you- seemed much more a concept demonstration, signifcantly losing resolution and to me, making life significantly harder.

[siouxdax]

I use Chimera Virtual Desktop and I've never had any complaints. It can be found at http://www.chimera.hu/virtual_desktop/products.php?action=teaser

[Dormouse]

I'm about to re-setup all the family PCs. They will all be setup to run Linux (Ubuntu probably) and XP Pro. After thinking about it, I think I've decided to put one of the OSs into a VM and run it like that.

Any ideas about which makes the best 'base' OS? And how much does that affect the choice of VM? Currently, I'm looking at VirtualBox which runs on all the OSs, but this is not true of them all. Also thinking I will make Linux the base OS since I have more confidence in its security and insulation from threats and that will be the OS most used for internet etc.

[J-Mac]

I've used Manage Desk for a while, though I'm not using any currently - dual monitors has satisfied my desktop needs for now.  Manage Desk has most of the same features as most VD applications, but I found that it also gave me the distinct feel of actually having many desktop - with separate icons, taskbars, etc.  Small outfit, so the developer was pretty responsive most of the time, unless he was on the verge of an impending release or the like - definitely a one-man show there.

Jim

[laughinglizard]

I've dug up another one, its called Multi Screen Emulator for Windows.

http://www.sicomponents.com/msew.html

[attach]

[CWuestefeld]

Following suggestions here, I've been playing with Dexpot for a few weeks now. At first it was just a toy that I wanted to play with and try out, but it's become pretty useful to me, and I thought others might me interested in how I've been using it.

For me, I've found two key advantages: protection from distractions, and protection from mangling due to resolution changes. To take advantage of this, I've set up four virtual desktops: General, Games, and Development. General holds my email, web browser, etc.; Development holds Visual Studio, MSDN docs, and related tools; games should be obvious.

Distractions - When I'm doing development I don't want to be distracted (which is, unfortunately, all too easy (ooh, look, there goes a bunny ). The things that can distracty me, like Outlook or Firefox, are kept away from my development desktop, so when I'm trying to concentrate, I can't notice that an email has just arrived.

Layout mangling - All work and no play makes Chris a dull boy; he needs a game once in a while. Games love to suck the display into all kinds of goofy resolutions, and when they do this, other windows get resized and shuffled around. I'm very anal about my desktop, and this drives my up the wall. By keeping games in a single desktop, and only ever starting them there, I ensure that the serious stuff in the other desktops aren't affected by resolution changes.

So this has been a pretty successful experiment and I plan to stay with it.

[Darwin]

Thanks for posting your experiences with Dexpot, Chris  I might have to give it another whirl...

[rssapphire]

Currently, I'm looking at VirtualBox which runs on all the OSs, but this is not true of them all. Also thinking I will make Linux the base OS since I have more confidence in its security and insulation from threats and that will be the OS most used for internet etc.

That's what I did in late October and after a few initial problems getting some KDE applets to work in Gnome (my solution, don't autostart them as autostarting them would mess up Gnome every few reboots), I found it works well. I'm running XP in VirtualBox's seamless mode. It has a few minor issues (for example, it needs something besides the taskbar displayed or it does not play well with Compitz Fusion -- I display a PowerPro minibar), but works nicely and seems faster than VMWare every was. All the XP Windows display in the same virtual desktop. You can't scatter them between virtual desktops, although I suspect you will be able to with a future version of VirtualBox.

VirtualBox doesn't do DirectX so it can't run many Windows games. I'm not much of a gamer, so this isn't an issue for me. My favorites seem to run well enough in WINE.

[yksyks]

Finally I yielded to all the praise on Dexpot and gave it a try. I must confirm that it's really powerful application. There's one issue that bugs me so that I stopped using it, though. It's a taskbar reordering when switching between desktops. Does anyone know a trick to fix this, please? (The option "Disable taskbar reordering" does nothing. Maybe a bug?)