Forlong's Blog

I have just released another version of Compiz-Check

The changes from 0.3 to 0.4 were too many to post them in the Changelog section of the project's homepage, so I decided to post them on a separate blog entry.

What's new

The Script has not changed visually, but has gotten a makeover "under the hood". Various parts have been rewritten or generally enhanced.

Additionally, there are some new checks introduced in this version:

• Check if more than one graphics card is in use
• Check for more than one running X server
• Check if xcompmgr is in use
• Check if Xfce's compositor is in use
• Check if "Composite" has been disabled in the xorg.conf
• Check if a driver not on the whitelist is able to run Compiz

Other enhancements and bugfixes include:

• Made the script (even) more distribution independent, e.g.
  • Extended $PATH at the beginning of the script
  • Various workarounds for commands not found on any system
• Enhanced distro detection (more distros and versions)
• KDE4 detection
• More (clearly explained) error descriptions, e.g.
  • Error message for virtual machines
  • Error message for missing rendering method
• Additional status (SKIP) to make errors less confusing
• More (optional) error fixes inside the script, e.g.
  • Killing xcompmgr
  • Restarting Xfwm without its compositor
  • Explanation how to enable the composite extension

Feedback

Because of the number of changes, I'd like to use the opportunity to set this straight:

It would be impossible for me to test the script on every possible Linux install out there (let alone hardware setups), so I am reliant on your feedback.

Please report any issues back to me that you (or fellow users of your forum/blog) encounter with Compiz-Check.

Those bugs won't solve themselves, if I don't know about them.

I have just released a new version of Compiz-Switch

The latest version is pretty much a rewrite of version 0.2
(I didn't release v0.3 publicly because the changes I made weren't implemented properly).

Features

Apart from switching Compiz on and off on a single click, Compiz-Switch has now additional features.

In addition to that, version 0.4 has now proper argument support – this way you can run

compiz-switch --help

to get a list of all options available.

Then you can use those arguments when running Compiz-Switch in the terminal or add them to your panel starter.

Kill and restore Screenlets along with Compiz

You can now quit all running Screenlets when switching off Compiz.

There are two options available how to restore them, when running Compiz again (use only one of them at a time, of course):

• Restore exactly the Screenlets you were running before
  Add the -s argument when using Comiz-Switch to use this:
  

  compiz-switch -s

• Restore only the Screenlets you added to you autostart programs
  (using screenlets-manager) – the argument for that is -sa:
  

  compiz-switch -sa

I have only tested this for the Screenlets version included in Haryd and the repository for Gutsy, so I can't guarantee it works for the very latest version maintained by Whise.

Use the icon as a status icon (experimental)

When adding the -c argument, the icon for Compiz-Switch will change according to the status of Compiz

compiz-switch -c

This seems to work only in the GNOME panel, if you stored a starter for Compiz-Switch there.

The whole thing was a PITA to implement and it seems to fail even for GNOME sometimes.
Honestly, I don't know if it's possible to implement any better. I guess to function properly it would have to be an applet – but then it won't be independent of the desktop environment in use anymore.

So I'll just leave it this way. After all, it's just a gimmick.

Get Compiz-Switch at http://forlong.blogage.de/article/pages/Compiz-Switch
There is an Ubuntu deb package available that should be suitable for any architecture now.

I wrote a script called Compiz-Check over the past weeks that will test if Compiz is able to run on your system/setup.
If not, it will (hopefully) tell you the reason why.

Additionally you can use the output of the script to look for support in the Compiz Fusion forums or the mailing list / forum of your distribution, which will make it much easier to locate your problem.

Here's how it looks like:

Gathering information about your system...

 Distribution:          Ubuntu 8.04
 Desktop environment:   GNOME
 Graphics chip:         ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AR [Radeon 9600]
 Driver in use:         radeon
 Rendering method:      AIGLX

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

 Checking for texture_from_pixmap...               [ OK ]
 Checking for non power of two support...          [ OK ]
 Checking for composite extension...               [ OK ]
 Checking for FBConfig...                          [ OK ]
 Checking for hardware/setup problems...           [ OK ]

The last check is probably the most interesting one.
The script checks there if

• there's a driver in use, that is known to work with Compiz
• an older version of the fglrx driver is in use that needs Xgl
  (and checks for that as well)
• the resolution in use is not too large
• Metacity's compositing manager is disabled
• a possibly blacklisted PCI ID is in use
• a laptop with the ati/radeon driver is in use (Hardy only)
• the path to the compiz binary could be detected (Ubuntu only)
• a Nvidia card is in use and if it has enough memory

To each of those (possible) fails is an error message available that describes the problem as clear and short as possible.

Some setup related problems (like the one with Metacity) will be even offered to fix by the script.

A brief history of Compiz-Check

There were many reasons why I started this project, those are the three main ones:

First of all, there's the constant lack of info given by the people that are looking for support in forums like forum.compiz-fusion.org or ubuntuforums.org

Then there's the output Compiz (or rather compiz-manager) produces when running in the terminal, which tends to confuse people more than it clears things up.
Particularly the recurring confusion whether Xgl is something fundamental important or not – because Compiz seems to "need" it (it looks for it twice, so it has to be important!).

Last but not least, there was the realization Ubuntu won't be doing something about Bug #152271 for Hardy:

"Desktop effects could not be enabled" – that is all you ever get to know, when Compiz fails to run.
No info what went wrong and if there's something you can do about it.
Not even a hint to run Compiz in a terminal.

Anyway... I decided I'm done with complaining and put my money where my mouth is.
So I wrote this script in order to kill two birds with one stone.

Get Compiz-Check at http://forlong.blogage.de/article/pages/Compiz-Check

Please let me know if you encounter any problems.
The script has been tested to work by myself on Ubuntu Hardy, Gutsy and Feisty (all GNOME) and Arch Linux (GNOME and KDE) so far.

Many people requested an update of my set up guide to the version of Compiz Fusion found in Ubuntu's latest release "Hardy Heron".

From the beginning I was reluctant to do that, because the official current stable release is still Compiz 0.6.2 / Compiz Fusion 0.6.0.

So I decided to start from scratch... well not really, most of the new guide is based on the content of the "old" one.
But I decided it was time for a complete makeover. I hope it's even more easy to follow now:

How to set up Compiz Fusion 0.7.4

P.S. The reason for this separate blog entry here is I didn't want to expose the whole guide to the planets my blog is aggregated on, because it's way too long. I hope you will enjoy it anyway

Update: sorry, I noticed the guide got forwarded to ubuntuweblogs.org nonetheless. Fixed it.

Finally, the long-awaited site layout for compiz-fusion.org has been launched!

RYX did a wonderful job with the design and iXce implemented it.

Thank you, guys!

Compiz-Switch is a simple program to switch Compiz off and on easily.

If you are looking for a simple yet effective way to switch between Compiz and the window manager of your desktop environment, then this is for you.
Compiz-Switch provides this on a single click.

• If Compiz is running, it will switch to the default window decorator of your desktop environment.
  
• If Compiz is not running, it will be launched immediately.

Compiz-Switch is available for Ubuntu Gutsy and Feisty (this includes Kubuntu and Xubuntu), for any distribution with Compiz compiled from (git) source and Suse (though this version has not been tested by me).
Versions for other distributions may follow (go here if you want to help with your distribution).

For download and further informations, see:
http://forlong.blogage.de/article/pages/Compiz-Switch

Andrea Cimitan (aka Cimi) of Murrine fame posted some proof-of-concept screenshots of his GTK engine with transparent background and widgets on his blog:

This is quite an exciting step for GTK+
Up until now, all we could achieve were transparent window boarders, because they are independent from the GTK engine/theme or make the whole window transparent - including text, icons, widgets etc. making it unusable on any background that's not plain-colored.

Cimi claims it doesn't require any dirty hacks but only 10 to 20 extra lines of code.

It does require a compositing manager like Compiz to run GTK themes like this, of course.
But he also states the theme will just switch to a non-transparent version when stopping the compositing manager.

A working version of Murrine (or any other GTK engine) with such abilities has yet to be released.

Believe it or not, I am running Compiz without Xgl on fglrx. Right now.

Here's the new driver

And here's how I managed to get it to run on Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

1. Remove Xgl (whoohoo) (if present)
   
   

   sudo apt-get remove xserver-xgl

 

2. Remove the old driver (if present)

   Go to System → Administration → Restricted Drivers Manager and choose disable.

   Alternatively remove it yourself:

   sudo apt-get remove xorg-driver-fglrx

 

3. Delete old fglrx debs (might not be necessary)
   
   

   sudo rm -f /usr/src/fglrx-kernel*.deb

 

4. Blacklist old fglrx module
   
   

   sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

And insert fglrx - it should look like this then:

DISABLED_MODULES="fglrx"


Alternatively remove the linux-restricted-modules-* package for your kernel (that's what I did, because I don't need them - don't do this, if you use an Atheros chip).

 

5. Download the driver installer to your home folder
   
   

   wget http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run

 

6. Install necessary packages
   
   

   sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++5 linux-headers-generic

 

7. Create .deb packages
   
   

   bash ./ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/gutsy

 

8. Install .deb packages
   
   

   sudo dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-source_8.42.3-1_i386.deb xorg-driver-fglrx_8.42.3-1_i386.deb

 

9. Compile kernel module
   
   

   sudo m-a prepare,update
   
   sudo m-a build,install fglrx-kernel
   
   sudo depmod

 

10. Set up the driver
    
    

    sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf


Make sure "fglrx" is set for the Driver in the Section "Device".

 

And if present, remove (whoohoo again)

Section "Extensions"

        Option        "Composite"        "0"     # or "Disable"

EndSection

As well as


Section "ServerFlags"

        Option        "AIGLX"            "off"

EndSection

 

11. Reboot

 

12. Enjoy
    
    

    SKIP_CHECKS=yes compiz

(necessary because fglrx is not on Ubuntu's whitelist)

If it works, do this:

mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz && echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager

This will create a file in your home folder which makes sure that Compiz will run without the above prefix from then on.

I decided to check (and update where necessary) my blogentry How to set up Compiz Fusion before all hell brakes loose tomorrow.

Most of the changes are very subtle, so you might not even notice them, when you already used the How-To before.

I added a new remark about installing ccsm (because it's not installed by default in Ubuntu Gutsy), where I gave apturl a try.
Please let me know if it didn't work for you (note that apturl requires Synaptic and Firefox).

About the guide

I wrote the How-To in order to show how you can get most of the popular features of Compiz Fusion (particularly the cube).
Additionally, it's a nice walkthrough to get used to CompizConfig Settings Manager, which appears to be a closed book for many people.

Please note that it is not for Ubuntu users only. You should be able to use the guide on any Linux install with Compiz 0.6

I'm always open for further requests, so if you feel your favourite feature should be included in the guide, please let me know and I will consider adding it.

Keep in mind that a lot of settings are a matter of taste. That's why I tried to focus on reasonable effects. I acknowledge there are some useless and potentially annoying settings in the guide but I tried to keep that to a minimum.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a review about Desktop effects by default in Gutsy - how Compiz Fusion enhances Ubuntu's desktop of version 7.10

I published it by the time the beta was still fresh. We have passed the release candidate by now, so this is pretty much the actual state of affairs.
Time to see what has been fixed (and what not) or generally improved.

The following quotes are from the above mentioned review.

Setting workspaces

Quote:
The only problem that hasn't been resolved, is that you can't change the number of desktops in the panel's Workspace Switcher.
You would have to do that in gconf or turn off the effects, change them in the context menu of the workspace switcher and turn the effects back on.

That was an annoying issue and pretty urgent, because ccsm (CompizConfig Settings Manager) is not installed by default in Gutsy. I am very happy to say that this has been fixed. If Compiz is enabled, you can now change the number of desktops in the Preferences of the Workspace Switcher's context menu. Hopefully this will put an end to the confusion about "Horizontal/Vertical Virtual Size" and "Number of Desktops".

Furthermore, it's much easier now to explore the advantages of the Desktop Wall plugin (which is enabled in Gutsy by default). For example having 2x2 desktops is a very good substitute to the cube. In fact, I think it's even more practical. Particularly in Expo mode where you can rearrange your windows and switch to the desktop you want to work on next.

Default animations

Quote:
Only the window animations are a little more intense then I would have thought and, to be honest, I think is appropriate. Particularly the open animation can get quite annoying in the long run.
Same goes for the Alt+Tab switcher, that doesn't really follow the one you are used to from Metacity.

The Alt+Tab switcher has been improved. A little.
They scrapped the annoying "bounce" but unfortunately decided to go with the "Bring to front" option, which makes the live previews pretty useless.
If I want an eye-candy switcher, I go with Shift and Ring but the usual switcher should focus on functionality.

The open animation still annoys me as well (especially since applications that are minimized to the tray use that every time you access them) but that may be a matter of taste.

Screen corners

Quote:
Unfortunately, [Scale] hasn't been mapped to a screen corner in Ubuntu (in contrary to Compiz' default settings), so many people won't even know that such a feature exists until somebody tells them.
[...]
And again, no hot corner for [Expo] in Ubuntu. I know it brakes Fitts' law but those are two killer features of Compiz and acquiring them through the upper screen corners is very effective once you get used to it.

I talked to Michael Vogt (see https://launchpad.net/~compiz) about this and he confirmed they decided to abandon hot corners because of Fitts' law.
I actually received e-mails about this, so in case you didn't know what I meant with "it brakes Fitts' law":
Ubuntu has the shutdown button on the top right screen corner and the Applications menu on the top left. That's on par with Fitts' law, because this way they are very easy to acquire - you just have to thrust the mouse pointer to the corner and click. Since it's not going to go any further, you certainly won't miss.
Now, if you have hot corners enabled - like in Compiz - you have to get used to this, because you can't just move your mouse incautious to the screen corner anymore.

Although I think it would be worth it, I can respect the decision not to enable them. Unfortunately, I don't see any other way of letting the users know about those two features.

Disappointing Extra set

Quote:
The number of additional plugins isn't exactly mind-bogglingly large:

• Shift Switcher
• Wobbly Windows

Yes, that's it. Two plugins.

And while it's perfectly understandable that the wobbly windows aren't part of the default settings, it would have been no problem to add the Shift Switcher to the "normal" set, because it's mapped to another shortcut than the usual one.
And it doesn't require a faster computer, of course.
[...]
So it boils down to this: the only real difference between the normal and the extra set are the wobbly windows. Which is a little disappointing.

Unfortunately, this hasn't been changed at all. No additional plugins will be enabled with the Extra set, except for these two.
I have to apologize for claiming Shift wouldn't require a faster computer, though. Michael told me he tested the enabled plugins on older machines and they had troubles with the Shift switcher - that's why it had been moved to the Extra set.

ATI users and the proprietary (restricted) fglrx driver

Quote:
The problem is, the user doesn't get any information that he needs to install Xgl to get the effects.

[see "Possible problems for ATI users" here for more infos]

Simple answer from Michael: Xgl is in universe and therefore not to be recommended. He also said it hasn't been tested enough by the Compiz team of Ubuntu.
While those are legitimate reasons, I still think a cautious consideration in any of the pointed out possibilities would save a lot of trouble.