The Composite Manager Guide: How to Get Vista-ish Effects in (K)(X)Ubuntu.

[RAOF]

...
For now I'm going to wait a few more weeks for the stable Dapper release and try compiz, but for now I need to disable all of this stuff so as not to constantly be disrupted by lockups and such. Do I simply remark out the two new lines that were added at the end of the xorg.conf file? Is there something else? I'm running this on an HP zd7000 series notebook with an Nvidia video card.

Thanks again.
Yup. Just comment out the "Composite" "Enable" bit, and don't try to load xcompmgr :)

[dartmusic]

Great...thanks! (But, just to confirm: I'm running KDE, so there is no loading of xcompmgr, correct? I just turn off all transparency in the settings?)

[philcolbourn]

Thanks for the procedure 'PHG'.
It works for me on a compaq evo n620c with ati radeon m7 7500.
I am running dapper if that makes any difference.
firefox doesn't seem to crash.

[RAOF]

Great...thanks! (But, just to confirm: I'm running KDE, so there is no loading of xcompmgr, correct? I just turn off all transparency in the settings?)
Again, yes :)

[StarQuake]

I'm running the latest version of the NVIDIA drivers (8756) on an AMD64 but my logout window does not show up. Can It be fixed?

Also make sure you purged nvidia-glx or it might start complaining after a few reboots about something like fbmmx when starting Xorg.

[glennric]

I installed xcompmgr following the howto on a computer with the nvidia drivers installed from nvidia and a GeForce FX 5200. It worked and looked great. However, I didn't disable the xscreensaver and left my computer for a bit. When I came back the xserver had crashed and I was back at a login screen. I then uninstalled xcompmgr and set the xorg.conf file back to the way it was. Now the xscreensaver still crashes the xserver, and so does any other software that uses GL. For instance running glxgears crashes the xserver. There are two possibilities here. One is that something else was modified and not reset properly in the install/uninstall process. The other possiblity is that running xcompmgr and GL software at the same time burned out the GL part of my video card. Considering the smell of fried electronics that was coming from my computer I think the latter is the case. I will do more testing and see exactly what the problem is. Has anyone else experienced this? In any case I think that there should be a warning in the howto that you may damage your video card using xcompmgr in combination with GL.

[glennric]

I reinstalled the nvidia drivers and now GL works again. It seems that if GL software runs while xcompmgr is running that the nvidia drivers are corrupted. Or something...

[Iandefor]

Wow, people are still using this guide? Must be popular. Or is it that Breezy is no friend of xgl and compiz :)?

[desp]

Quoting the original post:

Second Bug: When you try to logout in Gnome, it seems to crash!

THIS BUG IS GONE WITH NEWEST DRIVERS AND NVIDIA CARDS!!!!! DANCING IN THE STREETS!!!!!
Is this bug really gone? I'm using the latest driver from the dapper repos (8756) and everything seems to work fine except for the fact that every time I try to logout, the screen locks completely.

EDIT: I'm on Dapper and using a card with the GeForce2 MX/MX 400 chip.

[djsroknrol]

Thanks Poofyhairguy...

Gcompmgr makes playing with Xcompmgr alot more fun...

[mannheim]

Is this bug really gone? I'm using the latest driver from the dapper repos (8756) and everything seems to work fine except for the fact that every time I try to logout, the screen locks completely.

If this is the bug where the logout window does not appear (because it's actually invisible), then I think this bug is not gone. At least, it happens to me.

But there's a workaround. You can disable the Ubuntu logout window and use the vanilla gnome logout dialogs instead. (My experience here is with dapper -- might not apply to breezy.) To do this, open up gconf-editor and navigate to apps-->panel-->global. Then check "upstream-session". Restart the panel and you are all set.

The panel's System menu should now have two entries for "Log out ..." and "Shut down...", each of which puts up a simple dialog.

[desp]

mannheim,

You are my hero.

Your workaround worked perfectly.

In case anyone is interested, this has already been reported as a bug for ubuntu:

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/gnome-session/+bug/24221

and also upstream in GNOME:

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157822

although it still remains unconfirmed.

[Aeon17x]

I can also confirm that the logout bug is also present when using the 8756 drivers.

However, I can't use mannheim's workaround because the said option is not present in breezy. =|

[ketsugi]

Despite using the -C option, my gnome-panel still has a shadow. This is particularly disconcerting because I keep my panel at the top, which casts a largish shadow on even the active window's title bar.

Any idea what's wrong? Or is this the proper behaviour?

[twiistedkaos]

Is there any way to exclude certain programs? IE: Gdesklets, I don't want drop shadow on them since they are supposed to be transparent the shadow forms around the transparency.

[slfd2525]

combine this with 3ddesktop... fading out to the selector makes it look amazing!!!

[eokorie]

How do I enable the composite manager in Metacity? It does not show it listed in gconf.

[ComplexNumber]

didn't take me long to get the effects working. but when i configure it using gcompmgr, then save to gnome session, the next time i log in the panel isn't there. i have to go into gcompmgr, switch off xcompmgr, then start it again for the panel to show up and for the drop shadow effects etc to show. if i delete it from gnome session, i've noticed that the next time i log in, xcompmgr is still running because the background of cairo-clock is transparent, but there are no effects such as drop shadows etc. i guess i'll work it out eventually.
using fedora core 5, i haven't had my system crash when using xcompmgr yet. mine seems to be really stable.

[MichaëlVD]

Despite using the -C option, my gnome-panel still has a shadow. This is particularly disconcerting because I keep my panel at the top, which casts a largish shadow on even the active window's title bar.

Any idea what's wrong? Or is this the proper behaviour?

I have the same problem...

[ComplexNumber]

I have the same problem...
it seems to be very temperamental. sometimes theres a shadow...sometimes not.

also, i have no problem using this in my root account(on fedora), but i can't for the life of me find out a way to have the effects enabled when i log into my root account. it just doesn't seem to want to. if, using gcompmgr, i stop xcompmgr, then start it again, i get the effects such as drop shadow etc. but that seems to be the only way. when i log into root, the effects are there, but the panel is gone. i've got round this by adding 'gnome-panel' to sessions so that the panel also shows up along with the drop shadow effects etc.

[detyabozhye]

With the new 8756 drivers, my compositing manager is now completely stable, video works correctly, OpenGL, whatever (I'm running XFCE, btw). But VLC still does funky stuff, I have to shade and unshade the window to make it show video, it won't show when it's maximized, and dragging or having something go by over the window messes the video up. MPlayer, Totem, XFMedia, Xine all work fine. What can I do to VLC to make it play correctly?

[sal]

set VLC video setting for "X11 video output"

thats what worked for me.

[detyabozhye]

Thanks. Works great! ^_^

[horsefactory]

Renderaccel stops Xmame working, at least on the nvidia drivers in the breezy repositories. :( Other than that, it's all great.

[nami]

Hi

How do you ONLY make the windows titlebar and the border transparent like windows vista?

nami

[sal]

Hi

How do you ONLY make the windows titlebar and the border transparent like windows vista?

nami

you click where it has the "apply translucency only to decorations"

[Peepsalot]

I am running xubuntu on a computer with onboard video (VIA S3 Unichrome Pro). I set up compositing, but it runs very sluggishly. Are there any tweaks I can do to improve performance of the xfce compositing manager with an unsupported card? It just looks so crappy without it, with windows leaving trails everywhere they are dragged.

And how do I know if I have the best drivers set up for my card?

[simianstyle]

Haha, awesome - this even works on my old Riva TNT2 Nvidia card. Granted its insanely slow and the windows don't move smoothly, but it's nice to know that it possible!

[galileon]

SORRY, I just found the answer in this same thread, one page behind.....now i feel stupid....
hello all,
I'm running dapper on a pentium d 3ghz with an nvidia 6500,

the xcompmgr thing works great, and i even showed it to my friend who's testing vista - but one thing i omited to mention (and hoping to solve) was this: when I click on the button at the top right to log off, it just hangs my x server so i have to ctrl-alt-backspace into tty1 and kill xorg...i know it says we need newest driver and cards, but can anyone tell me if my card is too "old" or if my driver is old (8762)??

cheers,

Galileon.

[galileon]

but its slowing down my 3ddesktop now, any idea if it can be resolved?

i mean instead of a fluid 3ddesktop switch, it just throws the screen very abruptly ...

thanks.

[Neo Ex]

Hi. I have an ATI Radeon 9600XT graphic card. If I use the fglrx driver I can't get the Composite Manager working properly: instead of transparency and dropshadows, the background become grey and there are many artifacts.
How can I make it working? Theese instructions are for ATI Radeon 9200 or lower and for Breezy, not for Dapper.
Thanks

[JcZndeR]

this is awesome!!
worked perfectly 4 me after i played wit it a little bit..
altho my gdesklets look a little funny with the shadows :neutral: ; is there anyway to disable it 4 specific apps??
and also is there a way 2 make all windows semi-transparent at once (like with a script) on key-combination or by running a shell?
i can't do it of course...;) not much of a programmer except html
it would b an interesting alternative 2 the normal "show desktop",<ctrl><alt>d
thx..

once again
good howto poofyhairguy

[cowley]

hi, is there any screenshots of this in action with transparent window borders etc?

simon

[cajunaggie]

I am confuse by the first part. There is already a section called "Device" in my conf file. Do I edit that one to exactly match the one posted? Or do I need to add an aditional section?

[jannol]

You edit your current section to look like that in the howto.

[cajunaggie]

You edit your current section to look like that in the howto.

Hokay, so, I edited it to match that section word for word. Restart and bam! no graphics. But after a quick restore with a live CD, I return to normal.

I have an ATI 9200SE, not an nVidia (as far as I know). So what do I need to edit in that section to make it work correctly?

[jannol]

zorry if I was unclear

I guess your section

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

looks something like that

and you just need to add whats not in it so it becomes

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
EndSection

so this line

Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"

is the only line you need to add into your device section but the renderaccel is also nice for increasing rendering.

[Amatsu Mikaboshi]

*skips thread*

Anyways I can get all the stuff done up until the part where you type in

sudo apt-get install xcompmgr transset

At that point I get this error....
clay@clay-linux:~$ sudo apt-get install xcompmgr transset
Password:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package xcompmgr
clay@clay-linux:~$


What can I do to resolve this error? You will have to excuse me as I'm a complete newbie to Linux.

Thank you.

[szadek]

terminal
root@szadek-laptop:/usr/bin# xcompmgr -fF -I-.002 -O-.003 -D6 -cC -t-5 -l-6 -r5
No composite extension

This is what I'm recieving when following the how-to. I've followed the instructions and have the file, I must be doing something wrong. Any ideas?

[szadek]

terminal
root@szadek-laptop:/usr/bin# xcompmgr -fF -I-.002 -O-.003 -D6 -cC -t-5 -l-6 -r5
No composite extension

This is what I'm recieving when following the how-to. I've followed the instructions and have the file, I must be doing something wrong. Any ideas?

BAH repost. Sorry

[patrick295767]

Hi,

By chance...

this thread matters only xorg, but for xfree86 ?? :-( :-(

Would someone knows whether there is something similar to composite for xfree86 or if it can be done ?

because
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
doesnt work :-(

thx

[jdunn]

This worked well for me except for one problem.

I'm using the latest version of Dapper Kubuntu and drivers for my NVIDIA Geforce FX. I made the changes in my xorg.conf file and enabled transparency in Kcontrol. Then I ran Unreal Tournament 2004 and ran into problems:

* The startup animated movie sequence in the game is slow.
* I run the game once in a session and have no problems. If I run the game again in a given session, there is no sound for the game.

Is there a solution for this other than turning off transparency in Kcontrol before playing the game? Are there run parameters in Kcontrol that will toggle transparency...so I can add it to Kmenu and do this automatically whenever I run UT2004?

BTW, I love the drop shadows. They are damn sexy.

[flipkick]

It's too slow for me. NVIDIA Geforce4 MX ( Well quite old I know ).

I'd had to spend a lot of money to get really accerlerated working, while most of the effects are enabled. So, nice to know this, still _far_ slow.

I switched from ATI to NVIDIA and had no single problem while installing....

[jdunn]

Well here we are...1 1/2 years after the original post by Poofy Hair Guy. I have to say that there are much fewer bugs than there were back then. I can run the KDE desktop with awesome looking drop-shadows and transparency on Dapper flawlessly for days...provided I don't play full-screen OpenGL games like Enemy Territory or UT2004.

Sorry but among my other hobbies on the computer, I'm a gamer...so as awesome as the drop-shadows look, I had to ditch composite mode. Its just not ready for prime-time, yet. [-(

[jdunn]

I followed the composite manager "How To" written by PHG and used KDE's built in manager to try out transparency and dropshadows. Then, I played ut2004 and enemy-territory fullscreen at 1024x768 (my desktop res is 1280x1024). Since then, I've had wierd X problems which have persisted even after I disabled composite mode. Here are the problems:

* Sometimes I have no sound on ut2004 or enemy-territory
* Every time I exit enemy-territory, my desktop resolution comes up as 1024x768
* When I end a KDE session and return to the login manager, the login manager screen is 1024x768

How do I fix these problems? They don't seem to be in xorg.conf.

[BLTicklemonster]

Eeek, hey poof, if this ever gets stable (you scared me off with your disclaimer) let me know! :)

[Flaringo]

I get some problems:

After I add the stuff to my xorg.conf-file (the "composite" or something at the start) and restart X, I am unable to move any window or anything. :(

[HeyGabe]

Just a note to let you know that this worked great for me, with little fuss. Those am some right sexy dropshadows. Neat!

[HeyGabe]

And Now, Not so much.
I tried to install the gcompmgr, and it seems to have hosed my Package Manager. Errormessage (E: The package for gcompmgr needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.)

Any tips on how to make this error go away? I don't care if I don't get gcompmgr working, so long as I can unbreak my package manger.

[ajm2005]

:)

[TomasRossi]

For me, composite manager effects works fine by for some X hours, then it starts to slow down KDE. Disabling and re-enabling it helps for another X hours. So, it is yet a little buggy.

Tom;

[ultranoize]

I'm using Xfce version 4.3.99.1 (Xfce 4.4 BETA2). I have modified my xorg.conf file enabling the composite extension and adding the options in the device section. I restart the computer and try to enable the composting but dont get the tab in the Window Manager Tweaks window. Any suggestions? Am I missing something?

[detyabozhye]

Try this: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/xubuntu-devel/2006-October/002243.html

[ultranoize]

Thanks, it did help though i still can't make it work. I give up for now i'll try again in a couple of months.

[macewan]

Thanks for this howto. Works well under Edgy.

[blackmh]

Works great on Edgy, thanks

[blackmh]

Oh, it seems I have logout/shutdown bug. I'm using lastest nvidia drivers 9629...

[ajm2005]

:)

[ahren37]

As a newbie to Ubuntu I appreciate the simplicity of the instructions. Thx for the info and for a fun way to strengthen my skills! :)

[FuturePilot]

This is cool, but why does it mess up my video playback when I'm running it? I have to turn it off to watch a video without all this breakage.

[Skrypt]

Hm... I've got an nVidia card with the latest drives but I ran the xcompmgr commands provided and each time, the screen would blank leaving only the shadows. I could mouse over and partially reveal text and the terminal had a long string of errors. anyone have luck with this on Ubuntu 7.04 AMD64 Desktop with Feisty?

[saratchandra]

Worked like magic on my unsupported SIS card. Compiz doesn't work on my computer, thankfully this one does. Downloaded the gcompmgr-amd64 version and it works great with the default setting without slowing down my computer at all.