talntid

This will help you get Compiz Fusion working under Ubuntu. To see what it is:


I am writing this for the latest version of Ubuntu at the time of press - Feisty Fawn 7.04

First, if you have already tried to install this and failed, we need to clear everything out first.

Start the Synaptic Package Manager:

System → Administration → Synaptic Package Manager

Search for Compiz. Remove anything that is installed that has to do with Compiz. mark them for Complete removal. If they are installed, they will have a green checkbox.

Search for Beryl. Remove anything that is installed that has to do with Beryl. mark them for Complete removal. If they are installed, they will have a green checkbox.

Search for Emerald. Remove anything that is installed that has to do with the Emerald Theme Manager. mark them for Complete removal. If they are installed, they will have a green checkbox.

Click Apply

Also if you added any repositories to your sources.list for compiz/beryl, remove them!

Ok, now in the Synaptic Package Manager, click Settings, then Repositories. go to the Third Party Software tab and click Add
A box will pop up prompting you to add something:
After we added the repository and closed the window, we need to reload the package informations in Synaptic, click Reload in the top left of the Synaptic Package Manager to do so.

Now we do a search for compiz again.
This will list all the packages that are ready to install.

Find compiz. Click the check box beside it and check "Mark for Installation"

Find compizconfig-settings-manager. Click the check box beside it and check "Mark for Installation"

Find emerald. Click the check box beside it and check "Mark for Installation"

Click Apply
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Start the CompizConfig Settings Manager:
System → Preferences.

• There we click on Preferences and in the Backend section choose "Flat-file Configuration Backend" (this is the most reliable and it won't mess with your previous settings of Compiz in gconf).
• Then create a new profile, so that you can easily switch back to default and back. To do so, click on the [+] in the Profile section.
• Last but not least, click Back and look for the Window DecorationCommand, type gtk-window-decorator (this will prevent the window borders to disappear in certain situations) - if you want to use Emerald as your default window decorator, see below.

Run Compiz

Press [Alt]+[F2] to start "Run Application" and type:

Code:

compiz --replace

This should start Compiz with your standard window boarder. If you want to use Emerald instead, press [Alt]+[F2] again and type:

Code:

emerald --replace

Run Compiz on startup

In order to use Compiz as your default window manager, all you have to do is add the before mentioned command (only the compiz one) to
System → Preferences → Sessions → Startup Programs


Run Compiz with Emerald by default (optional)

Compiz uses the gtk-window-decorator by default, but if you want to start Emerald right away, there are two ways to achieve this:

Remove the package compiz-gnome (it will remove compiz too but don't worry, that's just an empty metapackage)
This will leave you without your window boarders, that you are used to from GNOME (only on Compiz, of course), so you should only do that when you are certain you solely want to use Emerald from now on!

or...

Create a startscript :

Run Applications → Accessories → Text Editor and type the following:



Save the file as start-compiz in your home folder.
Close the text editor.
Open Places → Home Folder.
There you right-click on the file and click Properties
Navigate to Permissions → Check Allow executing file as program

After this, you can use that file to start Compiz - it's even possible to use that file with a launcher in the panel (or on the desktop) and of course use it for the command in the startup programs

Go to System → Preferences → CompizConfig Settings Manager → Window Decoration → Command.

Insert the word emerald into the text box beside Command

Press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart your xWindows session and it should all work! Let me know here if it doesn't.

Questions? Comments?

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Eric Turner // 3.737GHz Q6600 / 15116 3DMarks // GPU-Z Validation // Ubuntu Power User
Linux posts you may find useful:

Mr. Mojo

This is a very nice guide. I believe I did it in a similar but very roundabout way...it took me a little over a week to get it all working the way I wanted. I would definitely like to see this added to the FAQ directory!

For those of you who haven't seen compiz fusion in action, here are a few screenshots that barely scratch the surface of what it can do:

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Mr. Mojo

For some reason, the amaranth repository kept giving me MD5 sum mismatch errors last night when I reinstalled Ubuntu. I used Trevino's repository this time and it worked fine. It also didn't have the issue with constantly wanting to update compiz-core. I have had issues with Trevino's returning 404 errors though, so I guess just use whatever works for you at the time.

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l V l

OMG I can not wait until I get home to do this! OMG!!! Haha looks so nice.

Ch13f121

I compiled mine from git with a script I found on ubuntu forums. Considering I have an 8 series, and nvidia can't seem to get good drivers out for them, it does run a lot faster than it did. I still have problems resizing windows and on certain effects, which is just outright rediculous considering the card I have (8600M GT 256mb DDR2)

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talntid

I used the 8600GTS, and mine seems to do pretty well. I dont think what you are experiencing is a driver issue - Compiz is beta software, and as such, is prone to bugs.

__________________
Eric Turner // 3.737GHz Q6600 / 15116 3DMarks // GPU-Z Validation // Ubuntu Power User
Linux posts you may find useful:

Ch13f121

Well maybe it's on certain ones, all I know is with desktop zoom and or water effects on, my laptop comes to a crawl, and whenever I resize windows or minimize a maximized window, the magic lamp effect is really choppy. I might have to disable a lot of effects so they dont' bother me, but as far as the cube and the panel (where it has all 4 desktops side by side and you can drag in between them) I find those to have some sort of use.

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l V l

Whenever I launch it from the text I made, or just launch it in general, the thing reboots. =/

Ch13f121

Are you doing it via nvidia's steps? or ati? Because ati doesn't support AIGLX yet, you have to use XGL (which I dunno if it's even being maintained anymore.)

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Mr. Mojo

Until ATI gets the new Linux drivers out, it will be hard to get an ATI card to run compiz. Try running "compiz --replace" from a terminal so you can see if it gives any particular error.

Try following this guide. It may help you out.

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