HowTo: Compiz Fusion in Hardy on cards with "ati"/"radeon" open source drivers

[Rocket2DMn]

Thank you for the enlightening feedback (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4831424&postcount=46) on page 5, RAOF, we all appreciate this very much!

Reason for this thread:
Older ATI cards have been blacklisted for Compiz Fusion because of a bug in the driver, but there is an easy workaround for many cards that use the open source ati drivers. Radeon 9500 are the oldest cards to support the restricted "fglrx" drivers, so everything older requires the open source drivers to function properly. A more technical explanation is offered in RAOF's post, linked above.

The appropriate method is as follows.
Open a terminal and run:
mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz/ && echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager

-> You may also need to install the Compiz settings manager program that you can access from System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effect Settings
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

You can now load Compiz Fusion and/or revert to Metacity (the basic window manager in Gnome) with the appropriate command:
compiz --replace &
metacity --replace &
I prefer making launchers in a panel for this, but it is not the only option.
-A program called "fusion-icon" is available in the repositories (accessed from Applications->System Tools->Compiz Fusion Icon).
-A simpler, cleaner, and equally effective tool is compiz-switch (http://forlong.blogage.de/article/pages/Compiz-Switch) by Forlong. I suggest using the .deb installer file.

Remember that this is a workaround and may not work for everybody. As RAOF also mentioned, do not be terribly surprised if this doesn't work or is somewhat unstable. If you have further problems, you should consider running a forum search and then posting on one of the main support forums if you still need help.
For the record, my card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000.

---------------------------------------------------------
The original method suggested in this thread said to add SKIP_CHECKS="yes" to /usr/bin/compiz - while this works, it is not as solid as the updated method above (see RAOF's post (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4831424&postcount=46)).

To fix this, simply open the launcher with the gksudo gedit code above and place a "#" symbol in front of the SKIP_CHECKS="yes" line that we added, save and close.
#SKIP_CHECKS="yes"
Alternatively, you can delete the line, though I don't usually suggest deleting from files as a precautionary measure (like if you get overzealous or just confused).

---------------------------------------------------------
This guide also works on Intrepid Ibex Testing/Development release.

[say2sky]

I have the same ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 on my Dell laptop. Now I run as your HowTo and have following output, what is the possible problem? Thanks for your help and HowTo.


say2sky@hardy:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Starting gtk-window-decorator
Fontconfig warning: no <cachedir> elements found. Check configuration.
Fontconfig warning: adding <cachedir>/var/cache/fontconfig</cachedir>
Fontconfig warning: adding <cachedir>~/.fontconfig</cachedir>
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.
Fontconfig warning: no <cachedir> elements found. Check configuration.
Fontconfig warning: adding <cachedir>/var/cache/fontconfig</cachedir>
Fontconfig warning: adding <cachedir>~/.fontconfig</cachedir>

[Rocket2DMn]

I'm not sure what those font problems are, but I don't think it is an issue, it seems like it may have created the correct stuff for you. For the rest of the output, I got the same thing, I think this is just normal terminal output.
You should be able to use CF now. You can setup 4 workspaces by right clicking the workspace switcher applet in the bottom panel and hitting Preferences. 4 workspaces is typical, though it started me with only 2. You can then enable the cube and other desktop effects using compizconfig-settings-manager - note that it will prompt you to disable Desktop Wall if you enabled the Desktop Cube.

Again, I suggest making launchers in your panels to enable/disable compiz so you can avoid having to run these commands in terminal every time you want to change.
Right click the Panel area and hit Add to Panel, choose Custom Application Launcher and add the compiz/metacity commands from there.

[say2sky]

I'm not sure what those font problems are, but I don't think it is an issue, it seems like it may have created the correct stuff for you. For the rest of the output, I got the same thing, I think this is just normal terminal output.
You should be able to use CF now. You can setup 4 workspaces by right clicking the workspace switcher applet in the bottom panel and hitting Preferences. 4 workspaces is typical, though it started me with only 2. You can then enable the cube and other desktop effects using compizconfig-settings-manager - note that it will prompt you to disable Desktop Wall if you enabled the Desktop Cube.

Again, I suggest making launchers in your panels to enable/disable compiz so you can avoid having to run these commands in terminal every time you want to change.
Right click the Panel area and hit Add to Panel, choose Custom Application Launcher and add the compiz/metacity commands from there.

Thanks a lot for your help and now it works. I have set 4 workspaces and use Ctrl+Alt+arrow key to switch the 3D show. I am wonder if there is a way to show 3D with 6 faces and have other way to control the 3D cube rotating?

[vexorian]

hmnn Now that ATI got OS drivers I think I will move from nvidia this year when I get my new Desktop on Christmas time :)

[Rocket2DMn]

Thanks a lot for your help and now it works. I have set 4 workspaces and use Ctrl+Alt+arrow key to switch the 3D show. I am wonder if there is a way to show 3D with 6 faces and have other way to control the 3D cube rotating?

Using the settings manager you can control keyboard shortcuts for the cube and other functions. I think the cube works for any number of faces, it just isn't a cube at that point.


hmnn Now that ATI got OS drivers I think I will move from nvidia this year when I get my new Desktop on Christmas time :)

ATI has had OS drivers for a long time, that is what older ATI cards have to use. The proprietary fglrx drivers are suggested for the newer ATI cards. Long story short, you will be using proprietary drivers on newer nvidia or ati cards, but they tend to work OK. The OS ati drivers are nothing to be proud of, they just keep those of us with older cards in the game.

[Uikku]

Thanks a lot. Adding SKIP_CHECKS="yes" to /usr/bin/compiz did the trick. Now the visual effects can be set on normally, that is via Settings menu.

I'm using an old Acer Aspire 2001 with ATI Mobility Radeon 9200.

[say2sky]

to Rocket2DMn:

I have another question about 3D desktop on ubuntu. I think you know a lot in 3D desktop field and use same ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 so ask this question which is not very ralated with Compiz Fusion. If you don't want to answer just ignore it. :)

In the past I also try Beryl on my laptop but it also doesn't work. Now if there are a similar and simple solution just like you provide in this HowTo which can let Beryl run on ATI Mobility Radeon 9000. Thank you very much.

updated:
haha I googled and found it was a stupid question. Now Beryl already merged with Compiz and is named new name Compiz Fusion. Am I right? Thanks! :guitar:

[Rocket2DMn]

to Rocket2DMn:

I have another question about 3D desktop on ubuntu. I think you know a lot in 3D desktop field and use same ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 so ask this question which is not very ralated with Compiz Fusion. If you don't want to answer just ignore it. :)

In the past I also try Beryl on my laptop but it also doesn't work. Now if there are a similar and simple solution just like you provide in this HowTo which can let Beryl run on ATI Mobility Radeon 9000. Thank you very much.

Compiz Fusion replaced Beryl last year, CF is the spawn of Beryl and Compiz, so unless you are using a much older version of Ubuntu, CF is what you are looking for. Back in Feisty (a year ago), I installed Beryl using this guide: http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_feisty_beryl_ati_radeon
However, if you are up to date with Ubuntu, you do not need this. Gutsy and Hardy both use Compiz Fusion in place of the outdated Beryl.
Our cards do not support the proprietary fglrx drivers, so it's important that you get rid of those if you have them. Hardy autodetects our card decently, unlike in past released when we had to reconfigure X.

[say2sky]

Compiz Fusion replaced Beryl last year, CF is the spawn of Beryl and Compiz, so unless you are using a much older version of Ubuntu, CF is what you are looking for. Back in Feisty (a year ago), I installed Beryl using this guide: http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_feisty_beryl_ati_radeon
However, if you are up to date with Ubuntu, you do not need this. Gutsy and Hardy both use Compiz Fusion in place of the outdated Beryl.
Our cards do not support the proprietary fglrx drivers, so it's important that you get rid of those if you have them. Hardy autodetects our card decently, unlike in past released when we had to reconfigure X.

You are right and now I know the transition background and it work very well on my laptop with no lag. :)

[Rocket2DMn]

You are right and now I know the transition background and it work very well on my laptop with no lag. :)

groovy!

[lasombra]

Well my card is not on the blacklist, but compiz was not working:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 02)


Now after SKIP_CHECKES=yes added, I can use the desktop effects again.

[drkjstr]

Had to do a clean instally of Hardy (for other reasons) and did the setup form the first post, and it worked like a charm. Thanks!

[edu77pose]

Thanks for the tip, straight forward & it worked :)

I tried it on my gf's notebook toshiba tecra A1 and it brought compiz-fusion and awn back to life.

Much appreciated.

[neyuru]

Thanks for the workaround. I entered the command compiz --replace and got this:

yorcho@yorcho-laptop:~$ gksudo gedit /usr/bin/compiz
yorcho@yorcho-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package compizconfig-settings-manager
yorcho@yorcho-laptop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.

What does this mean? How can I quit the terminal?

[neyuru]

P.S. The visual effects did work correctly for me. I have a Radeon Mobility 7500 C. I had to do this in Hardy but in Gutsy there was no necessity for this.

[neyuru]

P.S. The visual effects did work correctly for me. I have a Radeon Mobility 7500 C. I had to do this in Hardy but in Gutsy there was no necessity for this.

Never mind the previous two messages. How do I enable the cube?

thanks

[Rocket2DMn]

Never mind the previous two messages. How do I enable the cube?

thanks

You need to install compizconfig-settings-manager
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
Then go to System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings and check the box for Desktop Cube and allow it to disabled Desktop Wall.

[knight666]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice in this thread, it really helped me out. :)
But I still have an annoying problem: I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 with all the latest updates on a Compaq Evo N610c (1.8 Ghz Mobile Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 32 MB), and with some haxxing (manually installing xserver-xgl, changing xorg.conf, etc) I got Compiz working.
But, not entirely.
Scrolling is very slow in windows and even though glxgears says I have an fps of 35-45 (under Compiz) and 75-80 (under Metacity), the window looks extremely choppy.

When I open a menu under Compiz, there is a white bar next to the end of the alpha blend shadow.

Finally, this is the output of compiz:
Checking for Xgl: present.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checkign for Xgl: present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove the value so that operation can continue properly.
The option is set to its default value, "[]".

Help? <:(

[hodenkat]

Dude! YOU RULE!:guitar:

On first boot after making changes I was able to enable effects and they work smoothly just like they were on 7.10! AWSOME!

Thank you!

Running 8.04 on an IBM T-40 laptop : ATI Radeon Mobility 7500

[Rocket2DMn]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice in this thread, it really helped me out. :)
But I still have an annoying problem: I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 with all the latest updates on a Compaq Evo N610c (1.8 Ghz Mobile Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 32 MB), and with some haxxing (manually installing xserver-xgl, changing xorg.conf, etc) I got Compiz working.
But, not entirely.
Scrolling is very slow in windows and even though glxgears says I have an fps of 35-45 (under Compiz) and 75-80 (under Metacity), the window looks extremely choppy.

When I open a menu under Compiz, there is a white bar next to the end of the alpha blend shadow.

Finally, this is the output of compiz:
Checking for Xgl: present.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checkign for Xgl: present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove the value so that operation can continue properly.
The option is set to its default value, "[]".

Help? <:(

OK, let's first uninstall xserver-xgl, I don't think you want that (I don't have it and I don't run laggy). Other people have complained in other threads about lag on all different types of cards and I'm tempted to say its because of xserver-xgl, so you're gonna test that out for me :) It can always be reinstalled of course. Please post the output of all of these commands exactly as they appear in your terminal.
metacity --replace
sudo apt-get remove --purge xserver-xgl
cat ~/.gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge
compiz --replace

[BoardStupid]

I've followed this tutorial (and others) but I still cant "extra" visual effects enabled. I think I'm on the brink of cracking it, but I can't quite figure it out.

My output from compiz --replace is
mark@laptop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:05.0 0300: 1002:5975 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1280x800) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/local/bin/compiz: 409: /usr/local/bin/compiz.real: not found


Rocket2DMn really seems to know what s/he's on about so I'm hoping I can be helped like the rest of the people in this thread. I miss my desktop effects :(

My GFX card is an ATI Radeon Xpress 1100. This is the laptop I'm using (http://www.ciao.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5051AWXMi_Turion_64_mobile_technology_ MK_36_2_GHz_14_1_TFT__6594350#productdetail)

[Rocket2DMn]

I've followed this tutorial (and others) but I still cant "extra" visual effects enabled. I think I'm on the brink of cracking it, but I can't quite figure it out.

My output from compiz --replace is
mark@laptop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:05.0 0300: 1002:5975 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1280x800) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/local/bin/compiz: 409: /usr/local/bin/compiz.real: not found


Rocket2DMn really seems to know what s/he's on about so I'm hoping I can be helped like the rest of the people in this thread. I miss my desktop effects :(

My GFX card is an ATI Radeon Xpress 1100. This is the laptop I'm using (http://www.ciao.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5051AWXMi_Turion_64_mobile_technology_ MK_36_2_GHz_14_1_TFT__6594350#productdetail)

Can you please post the output of the following commands:
lspci | grep VGA
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[b3y0nd]

I followed the instructions above but got this error message:

beyond@beyond-desktop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 02:02.0 0300: 1002:5960 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1280x1024) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.

I have a ATI Radeon 9200

[Rocket2DMn]

I followed the instructions above but got this error message:

beyond@beyond-desktop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 02:02.0 0300: 1002:5960 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1280x1024) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.

I have a ATI Radeon 9200

I've seen this a few times, but people haven't gotten back to me. I need to see the output of
cat ~/.gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge

[BoardStupid]

Thanks for the super quick reply.
mark@laptop:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS485 [Radeon Xpress 1100 IGP]
And:
mark@laptop:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
Driver "fglrx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "uk"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen "Default Screen"
Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection


Could you give a quick brief of what you're looking for so I know why I'm doing this if it happens again? Thanks again for the help

[BoardStupid]

double post. Sorry :s

[Rocket2DMn]

Thanks for the super quick reply.
mark@laptop:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS485 [Radeon Xpress 1100 IGP]
And:
mark@laptop:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
Driver "fglrx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "uk"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen "Default Screen"
Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection


Could you give a quick brief of what you're looking for so I know why I'm doing this if it happens again? Thanks again for the help

OK, it shows that you are using the restricted fglrx drivers for your card. Did you set these up yourself? A brief google search shows that this card probably should be using the fglrx drivers rather than the open source ones (which this thread is about, but that's ok). You should try using EnvyNG to download the correct restricted drivers for your card. You can follow directions here - http://albertomilone.com/envyngfaq.html#A

Earlier you said "/usr/local/bin/compiz: 409: /usr/local/bin/compiz.real: not found" as part of the compiz --replace output, which is strange because that is not where compiz is supposed to be. Hopefully installing the correct video drivers with EnvyNG will get you going, otherwise you may need to reinstall compiz itself.

[BoardStupid]

I already had Envy installed but read that I had to completely remove end install EnvyNG for Hardy, so I went ahead and did that. I then used EnvyNG to automatically install the ATI driver.
I then saw in another post that Compiz and all it's components must be completley removed and re-installed so I did that also.

I will try uninstalling Compiz and my driver again and reinstalling everything again to see if that makes any difference. Is it worth uninstalling other things such as AWN and Screenlets too, as these both rely on advance desktop settings being active?

[Rocket2DMn]

Don't bother with the other stuff, just Compiz and video drivers.

[BoardStupid]

I'm afraid that didn't help. Still no fancy effects.
I wonder why it's not working as both installations went without a hitch. I guess I'll have to work on it a bit more. Thanks for your help anyway.
I came across a thread which I missed before, and compiz is working now. it's http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=766212 in case anybody comes here with the same problem as I did.

[neyuru]

Maybe some of you might find this usefull:

If you want to get the cube, and if you get this:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package compizconfig-settings-manager

when using this command:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

you might want to run:

sudo aptitude update

THIS WILL INSTALL SOME PACKAGES SO THAT YOU CAN USE THE CUBE!

enjoy... and thanks to Rocket2DMn

[krugger]

Adding the SKIP_CHECKS="yes" did work for me, still I wanted to give some feedback. I have a ATI Radeon Mobility M6 and use the ati driver which is white listed.

From glxinfo I know that:

direct rendering: Yes
server glx extensions: ... GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, ...

But running compiz --replace will fail the texture_from_pixmap extension test.

Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.

Then it will failover to indirect rendering:

Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.

This happens because the check is done with:

if [ $(glxinfo | grep GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap -c ) -gt 2 ]; ...

So maybe the glxinfo part has changed and the compiz people did not update their script for the new 1.4 Xserver.

There is also a small problem with gconf:
Starting gtk-window-decorator
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.

This seems to be because ./gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge does not exist, but is mentioned in ./gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/%gconf.xml

content of %gconf.xml:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<gconf>
<entry name="initiate_edge" mtime="1193157882" type="list" ltype="string">
</entry>
<entry name="initiate_bell" mtime="1193157882" type="bool" value="false">
</entry>
</gconf>

so it doesn't like to have empty list of strings. Don't know what to put in it, so suggestions are welcome.

[Rocket2DMn]

Yeah, seems a little buggy sometimes, I have seen people with the pixmap and initiate_edge problem. However, as long as it works, it should be OK. I had one user reinstall compiz and that fixed the initiate edge problem for him/her (since compiz wouldn't even load), but for another user, it failed, so who knows. I will keep looking into these problems.

[neyuru]

Adding the SKIP_CHECKS="yes" did work for me, still I wanted to give some feedback. I have a ATI Radeon Mobility M6 and use the ati driver which is white listed.

From glxinfo I know that:

direct rendering: Yes
server glx extensions: ... GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, ...

But running compiz --replace will fail the texture_from_pixmap extension test.

Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.

Then it will failover to indirect rendering:

Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.

This happens because the check is done with:

if [ $(glxinfo | grep GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap -c ) -gt 2 ]; ...

So maybe the glxinfo part has changed and the compiz people did not update their script for the new 1.4 Xserver.

There is also a small problem with gconf:
Starting gtk-window-decorator
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.

This seems to be because ./gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge does not exist, but is mentioned in ./gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/%gconf.xml

content of %gconf.xml:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<gconf>
<entry name="initiate_edge" mtime="1193157882" type="list" ltype="string">
</entry>
<entry name="initiate_bell" mtime="1193157882" type="bool" value="false">
</entry>
</gconf>

so it doesn't like to have empty list of strings. Don't know what to put in it, so suggestions are welcome.

Maybe you should report this to the people making compiz

[Rocket2DMn]

Maybe you should report this to the people making compiz

They are not likely to help since they don't support the open source ati driver. Remember, we are using a workaround. With any luck though, you might be able to get a developer to at least look at it.

[dr.phees]

Thanks! The solution with SKIP_CHECKS="yes" worked for me. I'm using xubuntu, compiz worked flawless with 7.10 and now again in 8.04.

I don't actually understand why my card is forbidden to run compiz by default. I think a bit more verbose output from compiz would make sense, until now I thought it was my driver or xserver setup. To the developers: JUST TELL IT'S TURNED OFF FOR THE INSTALLED GRAPHICS CARD! That would have saved about two hours on my account. Well, now I could have wobbly windows again, if I'd like to. ;)

Otherwise: Thanks to all who made 8.04 possible!

[splicer]

I don't know if this helps anyone or not, but as I was trouble-shooting getting compiz to work (along with resolving the "Desktop effects could not be enabled" when switching from None to Normal effects), I discovered I had two sets of kernel modules installed:

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24-16-generic

and

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.22-*-generic

Both of which had ati drivers. I removed the 2.6.22 restricted modules (which were probably for Gutsy) and rebooted. Everything appears to work again, I can toggle effects off/on and all my compiz stuff seems to be working again.

This worked for me ... your mileage may vary.

[rekster]

Have problems as well, please pardon me if I misread or missed something said earlier in these posts, I did read them.

Running Ubuntu 8.04 on Acer Ferrari 4000 notebook that has ATI X700.
I enabled the ATI accelerated graphics driver as well which seemed to work well as 3d gaming is great (not sure if this has anything to do with compiz though lol)

This is the console log:

$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:5653 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1280x800) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (video) - Warn: No 8 bit GLX pixmap format, disabling YV12 image format
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.



Any suggestions?

[Rocket2DMn]

I don't know if this helps anyone or not, but as I was trouble-shooting getting compiz to work (along with resolving the "Desktop effects could not be enabled" when switching from None to Normal effects), I discovered I had two sets of kernel modules installed:

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24-16-generic

and

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.22-*-generic

Both of which had ati drivers. I removed the 2.6.22 restricted modules (which were probably for Gutsy) and rebooted. Everything appears to work again, I can toggle effects off/on and all my compiz stuff seems to be working again.

This worked for me ... your mileage may vary.

Thank you for the feedback, that sounds like it could be useful for others having trouble after a dist upgrade. If you have any other threads in which that method has worked for people, please let me know and I will add it to the original post as a troubleshooting method (assuming it's a solid solution).
Commands would probably be something like
sudo apt-get remove linux-restricted-modules-*
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`

[Rocket2DMn]

Have problems as well, please pardon me if I misread or missed something said earlier in these posts, I did read them.

Running Ubuntu 8.04 on Acer Ferrari 4000 notebook that has ATI X700.
I enabled the ATI accelerated graphics driver as well which seemed to work well as 3d gaming is great (not sure if this has anything to do with compiz though lol)

This is the console log:

$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:5653 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1280x800) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (video) - Warn: No 8 bit GLX pixmap format, disabling YV12 image format
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.



Any suggestions?

With your card, you need the restricted ati drivers called fglrx - is that what you are saying you installed? If not, check out EnvyNG - http://albertomilone.com/envyngfaq.html#A
If the problem persists, you may want to reinstall compiz
sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz
sudo apt-get install compiz
If that doesn't work, you should start a new thread to get help with that since this HowTo is for open source ati drivers which you can't use on your card.

[rekster]

Ok, you are right I am using the restricted drivers, not the open source ones. I guess I'll search around some more or maybe start a new forum topic then, sorry for the misunderstanding. One good note is, I'm happy to have found out about EnvyNG in any case however compiz still is not functional. Maybe one of these years I'll get it working (had no luck on prior versions of ubuntu either) lol.

Cheers.


EDIT: Sorry for the bother, I got it resolved I guess the darn thing was working afterall, I just didnt have 'rotate' cube enabled and I didn't understand how it worked. Thanks again for the help.

[neyuru]

They are not likely to help since they don't support the open source ati driver. Remember, we are using a workaround. With any luck though, you might be able to get a developer to at least look at it.

:(

[Rocket2DMn]

:(

Please don't take that too negatively, I do suggest talking to the developers if you can, it is how things get done. Although I don't imagine they are planning on supporting our drivers, we can always try. I suppose if enough people push them, they can at least put some functionality in to enable it after you click a Yes button saying you understand that the drivers are not officially supported.
I will try and remember to look around later to see if I can find who to complain to or where to do it. I may even offer my coding and testing services.

[neyuru]

Please don't take that too negatively, I do suggest talking to the developers if you can, it is how things get done. Although I don't imagine they are planning on supporting our drivers, we can always try. I suppose if enough people push them, they can at least put some functionality in to enable it after you click a Yes button saying you understand that the drivers are not officially supported.
I will try and remember to look around later to see if I can find who to complain to or where to do it. I may even offer my coding and testing services.

Nice! whenever you need support (raising hands, crowd, etc) count on us.

[RAOF]

Firstly, everyone has probably noticed the sticky below this one, but just to reiterate: your cards were blacklisted because things were either unstable or didn't work. Don't be terribly surprised if you find this to be the case after skipping the checks :).

Secondly, editing /usr/bin/compiz is fragile; your edits will be lost if and when compiz is updated. The other sticky describes a better way - namely, to add SKIP_CHECKS=1 to your user's configuration with

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


...
direct rendering: Yes
server glx extensions: ... GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, ...

But running compiz --replace will fail the texture_from_pixmap extension test.

Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.

Then it will failover to indirect rendering:

Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
...

This is because your drivers don't support GL_EXT_texture_from_pixmap in a direct rendering context, which is basically a limitation of the current DRI infrastructure, give or take. I think nvidia are basically the only drivers which do this (and possibly some git Intel drivers, with git libdrm and git Xorg, I'm not quite sure how far along this is ;)) at the moment.

[toobitz]

Thanks a lot for this thread and your effort! I hope I'm not being inpolite by pasting my problem here, but since I upgraded my laptop from Gutsy to Hardy I've been desperately trying to get Compiz to work again with, well let's say, limited success.

I've got a Thinkpad T43p with the following video card:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M24GL [Mobility FireGL V3200] (rev 80)

I was using the Open Source "ati" driver before upgrading (I had no problems whatsoever using Compiz) and I acutally would like to continue to do so, but when I try to start compiz after upgrading in a terminal with compiz --replace &, I get:
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
Found laptop using radeon driver.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:3154 (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap is missing
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Failed to manage screen: 0
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No manageable screens found on display :0.0
Window manager warning: "" found in configuration database is not a valid value for keybinding "toggle_shaded"
Window manager warning: "Disabled" found in configuration database is not a valid value for keybinding "switch_windows"

Xorg.0.log is here: http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/204459/
the output of glxinfo is here: http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/204461/
here's my xorg.conf: http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/204463/

...and here's the output of "LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose glxinfo":
name of display: :0.0
libGL: XF86DRIGetClientDriverName: 5.3.0 r300 (screen 0)
libGL: OpenDriver: trying /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so
libGL error: dlopen /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so failed (/usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so: undefined symbol: _glapi_get_dispatch)
libGL error: unable to find driver: r300_dri.so
libGL: XF86DRIGetClientDriverName: 5.3.0 r300 (screen 0)
libGL: OpenDriver: trying /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so
libGL error: dlopen /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so failed (/usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so: undefined symbol: _glapi_get_dispatch)
libGL error: unable to find driver: r300_dri.so
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
client glx vendor string: ATI
client glx version string: 1.3
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_ARB_multisample,
GLX_ATI_pixel_format_float, GLX_ATI_render_texture
GLX version: 1.2
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_multisample
OpenGL vendor string: DRI R300 Project
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R300 20060815 x86/MMX/SSE2 TCL
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 7.0.3-rc2
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x23 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x24 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x27 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x28 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x29 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2a 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2b 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x2c 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x2d 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2e 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2f 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x30 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x31 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x32 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x58 32 tc 1 0 0 c . . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None

Of course I also tried to use the fglrx driver, tried both methods (using the driver/package provided by Ubuntu and tried building the driver by myself). None of these methods worked, when using the self built driver, I get a segmentation fault when entering "fglrxinfo", "glxinfo", "glxgears" in a terminal or if I try to start compiz. This also happens when I install the whole thing using envy-ng.

I just don't get it why my previous configuration won't work anymore! But what's really strange is the following: when I enter the following
sudo compiz --replace &
then compiz will actually start and emerald too, with the following output:
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
Found laptop using radeon driver.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:3154 (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1400x1050) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Couldn't find a perfect decorator match; trying all decorators
Starting emerald
/usr/bin/compiz.real (video) - Warn: No 8 bit GLX pixmap format, disabling YV12 image format

What's going on here? Anyone has a hint because I'm at a complete loss now...

[Rocket2DMn]

Firstly, everyone has probably noticed the sticky below this one, but just to reiterate: your cards were blacklisted because things were either unstable or didn't work. Don't be terribly surprised if you find this to be the case after skipping the checks :).

Secondly, editing /usr/bin/compiz is fragile; your edits will be lost if and when compiz is updated. The other sticky describes a better way - namely, to add SKIP_CHECKS=1 to your user's configuration with

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




This is because your drivers don't support GL_EXT_texture_from_pixmap in a direct rendering context, which is basically a limitation of the current DRI infrastructure, give or take. I think nvidia are basically the only drivers which do this (and possibly some git Intel drivers, with git libdrm and git Xorg, I'm not quite sure how far along this is ;)) at the moment.

Thank you RAOF, I will update the original post right away. This is exactly the type of feedback I had been hoping for.

[neyuru]

Some reference to restricted drivers, other to open source drivers. How do I know which one is my system using? Which one is better? Has anyone tried installing drivers with Wine? (for example those found in Dell's system drivers?)

[RAOF]

...
Xorg.0.log is here: http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/204459/
the output of glxinfo is here: http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/204461/
here's my xorg.conf: http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/204463/

...and here's the output of "LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose glxinfo":
name of display: :0.0
libGL: XF86DRIGetClientDriverName: 5.3.0 r300 (screen 0)
libGL: OpenDriver: trying /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so
libGL error: dlopen /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so failed (/usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so: undefined symbol: _glapi_get_dispatch)
libGL error: unable to find driver: r300_dri.so
libGL: XF86DRIGetClientDriverName: 5.3.0 r300 (screen 0)
libGL: OpenDriver: trying /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so
libGL error: dlopen /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so failed (/usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so: undefined symbol: _glapi_get_dispatch)
libGL error: unable to find driver: r300_dri.so
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
client glx vendor string: ATI
client glx version string: 1.3
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_ARB_multisample,
GLX_ATI_pixel_format_float, GLX_ATI_render_texture
GLX version: 1.2
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_multisample
OpenGL vendor string: DRI R300 Project
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R300 20060815 x86/MMX/SSE2 TCL
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 7.0.3-rc2
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x23 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x24 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x27 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x28 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x29 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2a 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2b 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x2c 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x2d 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2e 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x2f 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x30 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x31 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x32 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 1 0 Slow
0x58 32 tc 1 0 0 c . . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None

...

I just don't get it why my previous configuration won't work anymore! But what's really strange is the following: when I enter the following
sudo compiz --replace &
then compiz will actually start and emerald too, with the following output:
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
Found laptop using radeon driver.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:3154 (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1400x1050) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Couldn't find a perfect decorator match; trying all decorators
Starting emerald
/usr/bin/compiz.real (video) - Warn: No 8 bit GLX pixmap format, disabling YV12 image format

What's going on here? Anyone has a hint because I'm at a complete loss now...

That's very weird. If it didn't work using sudo I'd suggest reinstalling the 3D stack with

sudo aptitude reinstall ~nmesa

which would reinstall any package with 'mesa' in the name. It might still be worth a try, but I'm not confident. Do you have any strange environment variables lying around? Have you previously tried building mesa from source and possibly have some remnants lying around? Does either of 'echo $LD_PRELOAD' or 'echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH' give any output?

Oh, finally? "It didn't work as my user so I tried running it as root" isn't a particularly good debugging style :). In some cases doing this will break running the software as not-root in the future.

Some reference to restricted drivers, other to open source drivers. How do I know which one is my system using? Which one is better? Has anyone tried installing drivers with Wine? (for example those found in Dell's system drivers?)

System->Administration->Hardware Drivers gives you a list of all the hardware in your system for which a restricted driver exists, whether you're using it, and a button to press to enable it. I'd suggest using free drivers whenever possible - they're generally less awkward, and we're able to support them. If you have problems with 3D you can try enabling the restricted driver and this may help (or may not).

You can't install drivers in Wine. Wine doesn't talk directly to the hardware at all, and doesn't actually implement the Windows kernel (mostly), so there are none of the hooks that drivers would need. Also, that wouldn't be useful for your linux system since they'd only run in wine ;).

[Rocket2DMn]

Just an FYI, this thread was unstickied and linked from this sticky on the General Help forum: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=773851

[neyuru]

System->Administration->Hardware Drivers gives you a list of all the hardware in your system for which a restricted driver exists, whether you're using it, and a button to press to enable it. I'd suggest using free drivers whenever possible - they're generally less awkward, and we're able to support them. If you have problems with 3D you can try enabling the restricted driver and this may help (or may not).

You can't install drivers in Wine. Wine doesn't talk directly to the hardware at all, and doesn't actually implement the Windows kernel (mostly), so there are none of the hooks that drivers would need. Also, that wouldn't be useful for your linux system since they'd only run in wine ;).


ohh.. that's nice to know

[Goombie]

I just wanted to say that this method worked for me, too. I admit, I only did it a couple minutes ago, but so far everything is good. :) If I remember, I'll post if anything is broken. :popcorn:

[john91]

Hmm... this hasn't worked for me.

Here's the output of 'compiz --replace':
mcleanj@mcleanj:~$ mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz/ && echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager
mcleanj@mcleanj:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1680x1050) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No GLXFBConfig for default depth, this isn't going to work.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Failed to manage screen: 0
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No manageable screens found on display :0.0



Any ideas would be helpful. compiz isn't neccessary for me, but it is nice.

[Rocket2DMn]

Hmm... this hasn't worked for me.

Here's the output of 'compiz --replace':
mcleanj@mcleanj:~$ mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz/ && echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager
mcleanj@mcleanj:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1680x1050) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No GLXFBConfig for default depth, this isn't going to work.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Failed to manage screen: 0
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No manageable screens found on display :0.0



Any ideas would be helpful. compiz isn't neccessary for me, but it is nice.

Did you upgrade to Hardy or did you do a fresh install?
First try reconfiguring X
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh
Now restart X with CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE

If it still doesn't work, you may want to try reinstalling compiz
sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz
sudo apt-get install compiz

[toobitz]

Thanks for your reply, really appreciate it!

That's very weird. If it didn't work using sudo I'd suggest reinstalling the 3D stack with

sudo aptitude reinstall ~nmesa

which would reinstall any package with 'mesa' in the name. It might still be worth a try, but I'm not confident.

I just did that but it did not help.

Do you have any strange environment variables lying around?

Not as far as I can see, except for $LIBGL_DRIVERS which is "/usr/lib/dri"

Have you previously tried building mesa from source and possibly have some remnants lying around?

No, I've never tried building mesa by myself.

Does either of 'echo $LD_PRELOAD' or 'echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH' give any output?

Yes, $LD_LIBRARY_PATH is "/usr/lib/xorg", $LD_PRELOAD is empty.

Oh, finally? "It didn't work as my user so I tried running it as root" isn't a particularly good debugging style :). In some cases doing this will break running the software as not-root in the future.

Yes, of course you're right, I know that and normally don't do this but I read in another thread that a guy tried it "successfully" and I just wanted to check. Also, this means basically my environment is able to run 3D applications, just as normal user I'm not. Of course I already tried moving ~/.compizconfig and ~/.emerald out of the way but that wasn't it.

[john91]

reconfiguring and restarting the X server didn't work, and neither did reinstalling compiz.

EDIT: nevermind, I've got it working great now!

[toobitz]

Yes, $LD_LIBRARY_PATH is "/usr/lib/xorg", $LD_PRELOAD is empty.

A follow-up to my own post, I had an idea just after writing it: since compiz was working when started as root and not if started as ordinary user, it must have something do to with my environment (variables). And voilà, I unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH and now compiz starts like a charm.

Now there's my next problem: where is this LD_LIBRARY_PATH being set? I just tried and added another user to the system - and this users has LD_LIBRARY_PATH set to /usr/lib/xorg just like me, so this must be something system-wide.. /etc/bash.bashrc does not contain it and putting "unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH" into ~/.bashrc doesn't do the trick either.. do you have any idea where this variable is being set?

Thanks a lot for your help already RAOF, you put me into the right direction!

[bronsoja]

I followed the steps in the first post to add in the skip checks, and I still wasn't getting compiz running. I eventually figured out that my xorg.conf wasn't configured at all.

this is my video card: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 01)

My xorg.conf was this http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/209267/

I figured out I needed to change "vesa" to "ati". After doing that and reloading x, (and having already put the skip text in), compiz was working.

Since it looks like my xorg.conf wasn't configured beyond default initially, i was trying to get it set up correctly. I haven't had the best luck searching around and I was hoping you guys could point me somewhere to figure out what settings I need to have in there for best performance, or if there is some util to help me do that. I'm also going to eventually be trying to get my second monitor working hopefully, so any tips in that area are appreciated.

thanks for the help

[Rocket2DMn]

I followed the steps in the first post to add in the skip checks, and I still wasn't getting compiz running. I eventually figured out that my xorg.conf wasn't configured at all.

this is my video card: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 01)

My xorg.conf was this http://ubuntuusers.de/paste/209267/

I figured out I needed to change "vesa" to "ati". After doing that and reloading x, (and having already put the skip text in), compiz was working.

Since it looks like my xorg.conf wasn't configured beyond default initially, i was trying to get it set up correctly. I haven't had the best luck searching around and I was hoping you guys could point me somewhere to figure out what settings I need to have in there for best performance, or if there is some util to help me do that. I'm also going to eventually be trying to get my second monitor working hopefully, so any tips in that area are appreciated.

thanks for the help

The new version of X seems to rely more on autodetection than xorg.conf, and to be honest, it has made it a pain in the butt to configure X for cards that aren't autodetected. However, you should be able to use the default xorg.conf (works for me on the same card). If you run
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh
then restart X with CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE, xorg.conf will reset itself to the autodetected defaults for your system. At this point, you should be able to use compiz since you added the SKIP_CHECKS.

[bronsoja]

Yeah, whenever I do the reconfigure to generate xorg.conf according to the autodetection, i get one like i linked in my first post, where it doesn't even have the Driver set "ati".

Is it possible the autodetection is not working correctly since my card is listed as "Mobility FireGL 9000" rather than "Mobility Radeon 9000"?

[bronsoja]

**double posted

[Rocket2DMn]

The autodetection won't show a driver, just the "Configured Video Device" stuff. Is it autogenerating to say vesa?
Can you please post the output of
compiz --replace

[The_Seeker]

Hi Rocket,

Thanks for all the help. I followed your instructions and have got compiz to work :)

But, when i do enable compiz, scrolling in firefox is really slow. Have you experienced this?

[Rocket2DMn]

Hi Rocket,

Thanks for all the help. I followed your instructions and have got compiz to work :)

But, when i do enable compiz, scrolling in firefox is really slow. Have you experienced this?

No, what exact video card do you have? You can post
lspci | grep VGA
Also, if you have xserver-xgl installed, you may need to uninstall that. If for some reason that causes problems, it can easily be reinstalled, though I don't think it is installed by default and indeed should NOT be needed or wanted
sudo apt-get remove xserver-xgl

[The_Seeker]

No, what exact video card do you have? You can post
lspci | grep VGA
Also, if you have xserver-xgl installed, you may need to uninstall that. If for some reason that causes problems, it can easily be reinstalled, though I don't think it is installed by default and indeed should NOT be needed or wanted
sudo apt-get remove xserver-xgl

Thanks for the quick reply,Rocket.
The video card that I am using is :


lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)


and xserver -xgl is not installed.

[Rocket2DMn]

Thanks for the quick reply,Rocket.
The video card that I am using is :


lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)


and xserver -xgl is not installed.

I have noticed other people having problems with this card. Why don't you try uninstalling then reinstalling compiz:
sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz
sudo apt-get install compiz
Then post here the output of
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
compiz --replace

[The_Seeker]

I have noticed other people having problems with this card. Why don't you try uninstalling then reinstalling compiz:
sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz
sudo apt-get install compiz
Then post here the output of
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
compiz --replace

i tried uninstalling and re-installing compiz. But sadly, the issue still persists. :(

Below is the xorg.conf file


# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Boardname "ATI Radeon (vesa)"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "ati"
Screen 0
Vendorname "ATI"
Option "MergedFB" "off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Vendorname "Generic CRT Display"
Modelname "Monitor 1280x1024"
Horizsync 31.5-81.0
Vertrefresh 50-75
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
modeline "640x480@72" 31.5 640 664 704 832 480 489 491 520 -vsync -hsync
modeline "640x480@75" 31.5 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -vsync -hsync
modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@72" 50.0 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@75" 49.5 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
modeline "832x624@75" 57.284 832 864 928 1152 624 625 628 667 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1024x768@75" 78.8 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1024x768@70" 75.0 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1152x864@75" 108.0 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x1024@75" 135.0 1280 1296 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x960@60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 -hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x1024@60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x960@75" 129.86 1280 1368 1504 1728 960 961 964 1002 -hsync +vsync
modeline "1400x1050@60" 122.61 1400 1488 1640 1880 1050 1051 1054 1087 -hsync +vsync
modeline "1600x1200@65" 175.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1600x1200@60" 162.0 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 1600 1200
Modes "1280x1024@60" "1280x960@75" "1280x960@60" "1400x1050@60" "1280x1024@75" "1600x1200@65" "1152x864@75" "1600x1200@60" "1024x768@60" "1024x768@70" "1024x768@75" "832x624@75" "800x600@60" "800x600@75" "800x600@72" "800x600@56" "640x480@75" "640x480@72" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "GLcore"
Load "v4l"
EndSection
Section "device" #
Identifier "device1"
Boardname "ATI Radeon (vesa)"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "ati"
Screen 1
Vendorname "ATI"
Option "MergedFB" "off"
EndSection
Section "screen" #
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Defaultdepth 24
Monitor "monitor1"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "monitor" #
Identifier "monitor1"
Vendorname "Plug 'n' Play"
Modelname "Plug 'n' Play"
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection


When i do enable compiz, i get all the eye-candy but the scroll in firefox is miserably slow.

[Rocket2DMn]

Did you upgrade from Gutsy? The new X doesn't like xorg.conf as much as it used to, so you should try reconfigured X to get a more generic xorg.conf and let X do its new autodetection thing at runtime:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh
then restart X with CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE

[bronsoja]

The autodetection won't show a driver, just the "Configured Video Device" stuff. Is it autogenerating to say vesa?
Can you please post the output of
compiz --replace

Ok.. here's the basic process I ran through.

After i ran "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh" this is what my xorg.conf looked like.


# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection


After doing a ctrl+alt+bksp the desktop loads up without any effects. I run "compiz --replace" at the term and this is the result that gets output.


Checking for Xgl: not present.
No whitelisted driver found
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1600x1200) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No GLXFBConfig for default depth, this isn't going to work.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Failed to manage screen: 0
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No manageable screens found on display :0.0

Obviously the effects don't start working with that.
So I change the xorg.conf manually to use the "ati" driver instead of "vesa" . To make this longer than necessary, here is that xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "ati"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

After making manual change, saving, and then doing ctrl+alt+bksp, the desktop loads up with effects working. If it run "compiz --replace" at this point, here is the output:


Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1600x1200) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.


So at this point effects ARE working for me. I'm mainly wondering if there are other manual configurations I need/can do to improve performance, since I had to make manual configurations to get it to work at all.

Again, thanks for all the help, and apologize for the length :)

[Rocket2DMn]

Normally it should have autodetected the "ati" card, I don't know why it opted to use the fallback "vesa" driver, normally that Driver line isn't even there when you reconfigure in Hardy. Could be because of faulty hardware, a bug in X, or a bug in the ati driver. As far as the slowness in firefox, I really don't have an answer for you. You have to remember that this a workaround since the open source drivers are blacklisted for compiz to begin with.
You may consider starting another thread in this forum so others can try and help you, rather than just me. There have been all kinds of problems with Compiz and Hardy, I'm actually surprised they let Compiz come preinstalled in Hardy which is a LTS version of Ubuntu. Sorry I couldn't nail it down for you, good luck.

[leeyee]

I can confirm that, after did
sudo dpgk-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh
It gets back 3D acceleration and compiz effect to Hardy (i upgraded from Gusty). However, you still need to do the trick given in the first post to enable compiz. However, I just want 3D acceleration, but not compiz (i am in fluxbox). :-)

P.S. I'm using ATI Radeon 9000.

[The_Seeker]

Did you upgrade from Gutsy? The new X doesn't like xorg.conf as much as it used to, so you should try reconfigured X to get a more generic xorg.conf and let X do its new autodetection thing at runtime:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh
then restart X with CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE

Hi Rocket,
I did as you suggested. I issued the following command:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh

and the output of my xorg.conf file after issuing the above command is:


Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection


But when i do enable compiz, the issue with slow scrolling in firefox still exists :(
Is this a problem with my card? or hardy ?

[Rocket2DMn]

The_Seeker, I honestly don't know - it could be either. You are not the only person to experience this problem, I have seen other threads with this. Although I don't know if anybody has found a solution, you should search around to see if you find anything. If you do find a fix, please let us know. I really need to start compiling a collection of known (or at least sometimes successful) fixes.

bronsoja, if you are still reading this thread, have a look here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/209207

[pmgr33r]

Tried the above method and recieved this:

pat@Herbert:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: present.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for Xgl: present.
Enabling Xgl with fglrx ATi drivers...
Starting gtk-window-decorator
/usr/bin/compiz.real (video) - Warn: No 8 bit GLX pixmap format, disabling YV12 image format
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.




just wondering what to do fix fix it

thanks

[Rocket2DMn]

It says you are using the fgrlx restricted drivers, what is your video card?
lspci | grep VGA
Also, have a look at this bug report - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/209207

[terrorsathan]

Hello,

I'm having a problem with my graphics card/drivers, using ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT. When I move any window or if I scroll in a window (f.e. Firefox) a huge flickering appears and it takes a lot of time till the window gets to the place I actually moved it to (I created a thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=777106) to find a solution for this problem, with no success, yet). I'm not using any special effects or compiz at this time.
I have tried to install drivers with Envy, which didn't work. I also tried to install drivers from the ATI site, which didn't help either (actually I'm not sure if I even installed it correctly (?) ...).

Anyway, "$ glxinfo | grep -i direct" returns
direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
As far as I know, direct rendering should return "yes", but I have no clue how to activate it.
I'm new to Ubuntu and all that driver stuff, so I hope someone can help me because I'm really totally lost (and I can hardly use ubuntu with this annoying problem ...).

Thank you.

Best regards,
terrorsathan

[Rocket2DMn]

Hello,

I'm having a problem with my graphics card/drivers, using ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT. When I move any window or if I scroll in a window (f.e. Firefox) a huge flickering appears and it takes a lot of time till the window gets to the place I actually moved it to (I created a thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=777106) to find a solution for this problem, with no success, yet). I'm not using any special effects or compiz at this time.
I have tried to install drivers with Envy, which didn't work. I also tried to install drivers from the ATI site, which didn't help either (actually I'm not sure if I even installed it correctly (?) ...).

Anyway, "$ glxinfo | grep -i direct" returns
direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
As far as I know, direct rendering should return "yes", but I have no clue how to activate it.
I'm new to Ubuntu and all that driver stuff, so I hope someone can help me because I'm really totally lost (and I can hardly use ubuntu with this annoying problem ...).

Thank you.

Best regards,
terrorsathan

Unfortunately you are asking in the wrong place since this thread is for those using the open source ati drivers which you card does not take. If I remember correctly, you should be using the radeonhd driver. You seem to have one of the newer, more advanced cards that is still lacking support in linux. You might start with removing the proprietary drivers you installed, reconfiguring X (see posts 72 and 73 on this page), then reinstalling the restricted drivers. Good luck.

[terrorsathan]

Unfortunately you are asking in the wrong place since this thread is for those using the open source ati drivers which you card does not take. If I remember correctly, you should be using the radeonhd driver. You seem to have one of the newer, more advanced cards that is still lacking support in linux. You might start with removing the proprietary drivers you installed, reconfiguring X (see posts 72 and 73 on this page), then reinstalling the restricted drivers. Good luck.
I see ... didn't know that my card doesn't support open source drivers :(.
Anyway, I'll try to do what you said, lets see if it works.

Thank you.
Best regards

EDIT:
I executed sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh which returned
xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting possibly-customised configuration
file; backup in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.20080505212715

Doesn't look too good ...

[Rocket2DMn]

That is normal, it's just making a backup of your existing xorg.conf file in the format of xorg.conf.YearMonthDayTime and replacing xorg.conf with the stuff it's generating.

[terrorsathan]

Ok, so now this is really weird ... after rebuilding xorg.conf with this command and restarting X the flickering is totally gone and everything seems to work fine :o :) ... that's confusing, because after I upgraded to Hardy the flickering appeared, so it looks like the upgrade 'damaged' my xorg.conf ... hmmm ...

Well thank you a lot Rocket2DMn :) easy solution but very effective ;)
Best regards, have a nice day

terrorsathan

[RAOF]

Ok, so now this is really weird ... after rebuilding xorg.conf with this command and restarting X the flickering is totally gone and everything seems to work fine :o :) ... that's confusing, because after I upgraded to Hardy the flickering appeared, so it looks like the upgrade 'damaged' my xorg.conf ... hmmm ...

Well thank you a lot Rocket2DMn :) easy solution but very effective ;)
Best regards, have a nice day

terrorsathan

More likely is that there was some option set in your xorg.conf which the new ati driver didn't like. Now that you've regenerated a (practically empty) xorg.conf, the driver's happy again :).

[terrorsathan]

More likely is that there was some option set in your xorg.conf which the new ati driver didn't like. Now that you've regenerated a (practically empty) xorg.conf, the driver's happy again :).
Alright, I see :)
Unfortunately now I get I white screen when I try to activate normal/extra effects or compiz ... let me know if you know a solution for this problem. But well, at least I can use my desktop normally again :)

[Swagman]

I get...


susan@susans-desktop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 05:00.0 0300: 1002:5e4b (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: not present.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No composite extension

Thats after adding skip checks.
graphics = X700

[Dav_Criv]

Hello, I am rather new to Ubuntu and Linux and I have been studying and reading up on many forums and many problems that have occured with other users configurations. I am having a specific problem with my ATI driver (ATI mobility Radeon 9100. I have tried to follow this thread as best as I could and have had some success. My effects are working now, but when i activate normal or extra effects my computer runs very sluggish. Any ideas what the problem might be?? Second, I dont beleive i can run anything 3D. For example, the chess game that came with Ubuntu works but i can not run under 3D mode. It says that my python openGL is missing or not functioning. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? I am running the open-source drivers, not the restricted ones from ATI.
Thank you,
Dav_Criv

[Rocket2DMn]

I get...


susan@susans-desktop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 05:00.0 0300: 1002:5e4b (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: not present.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Fatal: No composite extension

Thats after adding skip checks.
graphics = X700

swagman, your video card takes the restricted fglrx drivers, so this isn't the place to get help since we are dealing with the open source drivers here. However, if you upgraded from Gutsy, you may need to reconfigure X to reset your xorg.conf file
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh
then restart X with CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE. Then you can try installing restricted drivers using a program called EnvyNG - http://albertomilone.com/envyngfaq.html#A
If that doesn't get you going, you should start a new thread on these forums and somebody with more experience with fglrx and compiz can help you out.

Hello, I am rather new to Ubuntu and Linux and I have been studying and reading up on many forums and many problems that have occured with other users configurations. I am having a specific problem with my ATI driver (ATI mobility Radeon 9100. I have tried to follow this thread as best as I could and have had some success. My effects are working now, but when i activate normal or extra effects my computer runs very sluggish. Any ideas what the problem might be?? Second, I dont beleive i can run anything 3D. For example, the chess game that came with Ubuntu works but i can not run under 3D mode. It says that my python openGL is missing or not functioning. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? I am running the open-source drivers, not the restricted ones from ATI.
Thank you,
Dav_Criv

Can you please post the entire output of
lspci | grep VGA
compiz --replace

[Dav_Criv]

Thank you for the quick response!! here is what comes up:

davide@computer:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS300M AGP [Radeon Mobility 9100IGP]
davide@computer:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: Segmentation fault
present.
Checking for non power of two support: Segmentation fault
present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Segmentation fault
Comparing resolution (1280x800) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: Segmentation fault
present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
GConf backend: There is an unsupported value at path /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge. Settings from this path won't be read. Try to remove that value so that operation can continue properly.

[Rocket2DMn]

Those segmentation faults worry me, that means the code is either not executing correctly or it is corrupted - that is the first I've seen of it for compiz. However, it kept going, so we will try, too. For that GConf backend error, have a look at this bug report - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/209207
The report has a little workaround in it, do let me know if it works. I'm assuming compiz isn't even starting right now.

[Dav_Criv]

Well, compiz is working and I used the workaround to get rid of the error. That worked but i still get those segmentation faults....here is the output:

Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
SKIP_CHECKS is yes, so continuing despite problems.
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: Segmentation fault
present.
Checking for non power of two support: Segmentation fault
present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Segmentation fault
Comparing resolution (1280x800) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: Segmentation fault
present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.

Compiz does still work but is running sluggish....
Im going to see if any other users have run into this problem and i will post any new info i get....until then...any ideas?
Dav_criv

[Rocket2DMn]

I'm really not sure what is up with those segfaults, but I know sluggish effects are being reported all over the place, and we have yet to figure out why (you have to remember, we already using a workaround, Compiz does not officially support these video cards). You mentioned in your first post that it said something about python openGL, do you still get that error? If so, where, can you show us the command/output?
Also, is your system fully updated? If you are unsure, run
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

[Dav_Criv]

Well....the 3D rendering problem has been fixed....I was just missing some python addons which I downloaded using synaptic manager...
Thank you

[adster101]

I'm having similar issues here.

My Laptop is an EVO N600C with a Radeon Mobility M graphics chip. Until I upgraded the desktop effects were working perfectly with the ati drivers.

I have applied the work around suggested at the beginning of this post and it does seem to work. Now whenever I type fusion-icon the desktop seems to freeze up and stop responding. Then I will have to log off and then log back in. It seems to be worse since I applied the bug fix to the when I switch to Emerald and start using my preferred theme is quite 'buggy' with flashed of the desktop appearing when I maximise a window or the drop shadow effects not working until you click on the window and so on.

It seems OK if I do compiz--replace etc but do I need to do that everytime I log in now?

This is annoying as it was working flawlessly before the upgrade!!

[adster101]

Well, under compiz the desktop is very flaky. Tooltips break up the page.

[adster101]

Thank you for the feedback, that sounds like it could be useful for others having trouble after a dist upgrade. If you have any other threads in which that method has worked for people, please let me know and I will add it to the original post as a troubleshooting method (assuming it's a solid solution).
Commands would probably be something like
sudo apt-get remove linux-restricted-modules-*
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`

I entered sudo-apt-get install into a terminal and got this:

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libglitz-glx1 libglitz1 libnss3-0d
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
linux-generic linux-restricted-modules-2.6.20-16-generic
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.22-14-generic
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24-17-generic linux-restricted-modules-common
linux-restricted-modules-generic
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 6 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 133MB disk space will be freed.

Has this method been tested anywhere else because I don't want to make things worse!

[Rocket2DMn]

adster,
What those commands are doing is removing the restricted modules for all your kernels, cleaning up a little bit, then reinstalling only the restricted modules for the kernel you are using. Some users reported having problems relating to old restricted modules, though I don't know why, and that seems to have helped some people. You are not likely to break anything with those unless you revert to using other kernels, in which case you can install the restricted modules for those kernels using the 3rd command when you are booted into those kernels.

[adster101]

OK I just ran the first two commands but what is the syntax of the third command?

[Rocket2DMn]

The apostrophe like characters are backhashes (I think), the same button as ~ in the upper left of your keyboard. Using these allows you to run a command within a command (uname -r returns your kernel version).
sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`

[adster101]

I tried this and it didn't seem to make much difference. My dekstop is too slow and patchy to allow me to work with it under compiz/emerald. This is mighty frustrating as it worked like a dream under Gutsy.

I was thinking of trying out KDE. Will I have similar problems under KDE?

What is the simplest way to revert back to 7.10 and or what is the liklihood of this being fixed in the next release?

[Rocket2DMn]

KDE is not likely to solve your problem, it may actually make it worse since it requires more system resources than GNOME. The only way to revert back to 7.10 is to do a fresh install. I would suggest fresh installing Hardy first to see if that fixes your problem, most of people's issues seem to come after upgrading, not fresh installs.

[adster101]

OK Thanks, I might try a fresh install of either Gutsy or Hardy then. Bit of a PIA but worth a shot.

[feenstra]

I've seen this a few times, but people haven't gotten back to me. I need to see the output of
cat ~/.gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge

produces
cat: /home/feenstra/.gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge: No such file or directory

However, in gconf-editor there is a key 'initiate_edge' under /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options, type 'list', with its value set to '[]' (an empty list).

Is ccsm barking up the wrong tree here?

By the way, this is a fresh Hardy install, but my user data is inherited from gutsy (and older). Hope this helps!

[feenstra]

-

[Rocket2DMn]

produces
cat: /home/feenstra/.gconf/apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options/initiate_edge: No such file or directory

However, in gconf-editor there is a key 'initiate_edge' under /apps/compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options, type 'list', with its value set to '[]' (an empty list).

Is ccsm barking up the wrong tree here?

By the way, this is a fresh Hardy install, but my user data is inherited from gutsy (and older). Hope this helps!

Hey, here is a related bug report - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/209207

[geoffbeaumont]

It seems OK if I do compiz--replace etc but do I need to do that everytime I log in now?

This is annoying as it was working flawlessly before the upgrade!!

Has anyone come up with a decent solution for this? Like adster101 (and, I suspect, a lot of other people) I had a perfectly functional compiz before the upgrade. It's not the only problem I've got with Hardy Heron*, but even though it's just eye candy it's actually the most irritating one :(

I could put the command to start compiz from bashrc (not sure if that will cause the screen to blank and redraw still, or if compiz will aready be running in time to avoid this), but this seems like a horrible bodge. How is compiz normally started when it hasn't been crippled?

Does anyone know what the bug(s) that resulted in the compiz team blacklisting the FOSS ati driver are? They must be pretty nasty for them to effectively boot out a large number of satisfied users to avoid dealing with them?

* - Hardy Heron is something of a disappointment for me. I recklessly upgraded from Gutsy Gibbon (after a wait to let early is