Live CD environment
Sabayon offers from other distribution in that it offers full 3D support out of the box. This means that if your hardware is supported, you can have Compiz Fusion running the moment you boot into the live environment. There are no configurations needed. Just enjoy the Aero-killer.
After a few moments, you will be asked to choose the Sabayon Linux Desktop Acceleration. Please excuse the poor quality of the image below; it's an actual screenshot of my laptop, booting Sabayon for real (non-virtualized).
We'll choose AIGLX, as it seems the most sensible option. After a few moment, you should enter a very aesthetically pleasing live desktop, running KDE in a comfortable blend of red and black colors.
Compiz
Ah yes! The beauty of 3D desktop. Let's see a few nice tricks. Remember, we're running the live CD. My usual demonstrations, the water and fire effects.
Hardware support (removable media, Bluetooth, Wireless)
In order to take screenshots of these marvels, I had to plug in an external device, since my laptop hard disk is completely encrypted. My only choice was an NTFS-formatted USB drive, but it was instantly and immediately recognized (and writable).
Sabayon popped an icon into the bottom panel of the desktop, allowing me quick, left mouse click access to a number of tasks, like copying or burning the data.
Next, I wanted to see how the Bluetooth and Wireless adapters worked. The top panel has an icon for the Bluetooth manager, which allows you to define the configurations for your adapter.
After doing this, I used my cellular phone to try to locate Rogeriskono - kind of an Italian name, in the spirit of Sabayon - and indeed, the phone found it. Here's a camera shot of my mobile:
And vice versa, my laptop found the cell phone without any problems.
Wireless also worked out of the box. I right-clicked the KNetworkManager icon in the top panel and I had a list of SSIDs to choose from. I did not tamper with any of the options - I simply input the password.
After a few seconds of configuration ...
I was in ...
Excellent! The wired connection also worked flawlessly.
Next, it was time to install Sabayon.