<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.18.1"> </HEAD> <BODY> Hi all, Since many people seem unfamiliar with compiz-fusion, I thought I'd give a little background info and a quick how-to. It is actually a "fusion" of compiz and beryl and is probably the best option to go with for desktop "bling" since beryl is no longer supported. It might be useful to note that compiz and compiz-fusion, although obviously related, are not the same project. Compiz-fusion is included by default in Ubuntu (since the release of Gutsy) and is what actually runs the desktop effects that can be enabled in System->Preferences->Appearance. However, what most people don't know is that these effects can be customized with the addition of an app called compizconfig-settings-manager. Although a lot of users aren't too concerned with things like desktop effects, I think it can have a huge impact on non-Linux users and can help win a lot of Linux vs. Windows arguments (e.g. "Vista looks so cool!"). After a Hardy (or Gutsy) install: <UL> <LI>Enable universe packages in System->Administration->Software Sources. <LI>sudo apt-get update <LI>sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager <LI>System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings </UL> >From here you can enable the desktop cube, rotate cube, edge flip pointer features, expo, scale, shift switcher and a whole lot more. Those are just my personal favourites. You can also customize screen edges/corners so that flicking your mouse pointer into a certain corner invokes a certain effect (particularly useful for expo, scale and shift switcher). There are also a number of totally useless but fun effects, like paint fire and water effects. And of course you can customize the animations used for events like open, close, maximize, minimize, etc. or you can apply random effects to all of these. You can make your cube transparent, add cube caps, etc. And of course it doesn't have to be a cube. It can have just about as many sides as your hardware can handle. There are also a number of useful shortcut keys (which can also be customized), for example: <UL> <LI>Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right - Rotates cube in either direction <LI>Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left/Right - Rotates the cube, taking with it the currently active window (i.e. moving it to another side of the cube). <LI>Super(Win button)+E - Invokes expo effect if enabled <LI>Ctrl+Alt+Left mouse drag - Rotates cube (and you can set how far it zooms out during cube rotation). </UL> On the down-side, some hardware won't be able to handle desktop effects. You just have to try it by trial and error. Some points that might help though, if you can't get effects to work: <OL TYPE=1> <LI TYPE=1 VALUE=1>Make sure you're using the right drivers for your hardware <LI TYPE=1 VALUE=2>From terminal, run "compiz --replace" so that you can see what the error is. If necessary, search for the error on the net (<A HREF="http://www.ubuntuforums.org">www.ubuntuforums.org</A> is a good place to start). If compiz crashes and you lose your window border/decorations, use "metacity --replace" to activate metacity as the window decorator so that you can continue working. <LI TYPE=1 VALUE=3>When enabling desktop effects, compiz-fusion checks first to see if your graphics driver is white-listed for compatibility. If not, then it won't enable the effects. Now in some cases, even though it's not white-listed, effects might still work fine. You can disable the checks by creating the file ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager. The file should contain the line "SKIP_CHECKS=yes". However, this is done at your own risk. In most cases this has worked well for me, but on some hardware the users eventually experienced random freezes. Once again, just depends on the hardware. <LI TYPE=1 VALUE=4>If your effects are working but it has slowed down your machine badly, do a "top" to see what is chewing your resources. If you see "Xgl" featuring at the top of the list, then you can try disabling it, and in most cases effects should still work fine. To do this, create the file ~/.config/xserver-xgl/disable. Just an empty file. Restart the machine and try re-enabling effects if necessary. Xgl is a 3D accelerator but in some cases, your effects will run better without it. <LI TYPE=1 VALUE=5>If you still can't get it to work, try the forums. Unfortunately sometimes you will just have to face the reality that your hardware is not going to handle it. <LI TYPE=1 VALUE=6>If you're running Gutsy, an upgrade to Hardy could also help get it working as the new release offers wider hardware support. </OL> Hope that will be useful to those who weren't familiar with compiz-fusion. Have fun <IMG SRC="cid:1210251277.6514.75.camel@nit" ALIGN="middle" ALT=":)" BORDER="0"> Regards, Neil </BODY> -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by <a href="http://www.mailscanner.info/">MailScanner</a>, and is believed to be clean. </HTML>