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.
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Comments 
My compiz-fusion can't start,here is the result of compiz-check:
*****************************************
Gathering information about your system...
Distribution: Gentoo (1.12.11.1)
Desktop environment: Unknown
Graphics chip: nVidia Corporation GeForce 6100 nForce 400 (rev a2)
Driver in use: nvidia
Rendering method: Nvidia
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 ]
************************************************************
This is the error message when I try to start compiz:
# compiz-start
Error: unable to open display
Error: unable to open display
Error: unable to open display
Using GTK decorator
(gtk-window-decorator:1969): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
compiz (core) - Fatal: Couldn't open display
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Forlong, could you help me? Thanks very much.
jazzi
I'm sorry, I have no experience with gentoo, you should consider asking about this problem on the gentoo forums.
Dear Forlong, Thanks for your kind advice.
I'm using FVWM, can FVWM support compiz? or is there any way to let compiz work with FVWM?
I'm afraid, since FVWM is – like Compiz – a window manager, you can't use both at a time.
so is compiz-check still available? When I click on the link to it in your text above, I get an error from blogage.de that hat page is not available .....
Regards
Mike
Very much appreciate your excellent script. I used it to fix my otherwise intractible problems in one fell swoop! As a relative noob it can be very hard to find reliable solutions to problems - compiz works one day - not the next - then an hour or more searcing forums etc etc. Fortunately what I tried b4 I found your script didn´t break anything else.
Thanx again.
I am getting this feedback when I run compiz-check.
Distribution: Ubuntu 8.04
Desktop environment: GNOME
Graphics chip: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]
Driver in use: fglrx
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... [FAIL]
Checking for FBConfig... [ OK ]
Checking for hardware/setup problems.../usr/bin/compiz-check: line 417: [: 21905: binary operator expected
[FAIL]
There has been (at least) one error detected with your setup:
Error: Composite manually disabled
Would you like to know more? (Y/n) y
It has been detected that the "Composite" option of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf
has been set to "0"
Open the file being root and change "0" to "1"
Then restart X and try again.
I am not sure what to do.
You need to open your xorg.conf like this:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Then look for the section where ist says "Composite" and change the value next to it from "0" to "1"
My problem is the hardware, why?
Gathering information about your system...
Distribution: Ubuntu 8.04
Desktop environment: GNOME
Graphics chip: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY
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... [FAIL]
There has been (at least) one error detected with your setup:
Error: Your current resolution is too high to run Compiz.
> My problem is the hardware, why?
> Error: Your current resolution is too high to run Compiz.
Your graphics chip is pretty old, in fact it's one of the oldest that are able to run Compiz at all.
The Problem is that the maximum 3D texture of that chip is very low. Compiz needs to render your whole desktop and if the resolution in use is set up too high, you need to decrease it in order to use Compiz.
ok, I thank you much
I'm trying to use compiz-check programmatically to make sure that it's possible to run compiz on different hardware. However, return code isn't always different than 0 when an error is found. That is to say, errors are alwasy printed, but error code isn't always returned to operating system.
I would say that this isn't a complex task so I can make the changes to the script myself and send you a patch so that you can review the changes. Please let me know what's the most suitable way to work on this for you.
By the way, it would be great if the script was in a public repository under version control, but it seems it isn't. Do you have any plan to address this issue? This will also make things easier to maintainers to package it.
Since you didn't write any response to my previous comment, I guess that you are no longer interested in compiz-check maintenance. Is that correct?
Hi jcollado,
my projects are kind of on hold at the moment, because I don't have the time to keep up with current developments.
As for your problem: I never regarded compiz-check as a tool to use it any further then it's own output. But you are right, it may be a good idea to fix the proper return codes.
Regarding the public repository: I could upload it to the Compiz git but I never really saw a point in doing it but I think I will do so, when relasing future versions.
Sorry for the late response. Thanks for your input.
Finally I just changed a couple of lines. In case you want to take a look at the changes, please find them at: https://code.launchpad.net/~javier.collado/+jun...
By the way, is there any workaround to overcome this error: "More than one graphics chip detected -- sorry, the script can not handle that."?
By the time I wrote the script, it was very rare that anybody got more than one graphics chip, so I never really cared enough to look into this.
The problem lies with the check for the graphics chip and whether the proper driver is installed.
A proper fix would involve checking both chips and detecting which one is in use etc.
That's a lot of hassle if you ask me and I don't know if it's worth it.
Compiz-Switch
Compiz-Check
Ubuntu
Ubuntu forums
Compiz
Compiz Fusion forum
should be nice to have a windows version...