Installing open source Radeon driver

**pme 72** · October 8th, 2011

It looks to me like the proper driver is installed. You should be able to use Unity. What effects can you not enable?

**ChrisOfBristol** · October 12th, 2011

Originally Posted by pme 72

It looks to me like the proper driver is installed. You should be able to use Unity. What effects can you not enable?

I don't want to use Unity, rather Classic with Effects. I have installed CompizConfig, but whatever settings I change, nothing happens - no Effects/Animations or Blur Windows and no Desktop/ Desktop cube or Desktop Wall.

**pme 72** · October 13th, 2011

Your installation boots into Unity by default? That should indicate that your graphics drivers are working. You are able to boot into the Classic mode? I have yet to try the Classic mode with my integrated card. Will give it a try and get back to you. Have to go to work.

**pme 72** · October 14th, 2011

I enabled my integrated Xpress 200 and booted into a LiveCD of 11.04. It boots into Unity for me which seems to work well. I logged out with Alt+Prnt Scrn+k and logged back in with ubuntu for the user name, changed the desktop to "Classic" and just pushed enter to fill the password screen.

In the lower right hand corner the Workspace switcher was set to Columns 2, Rows 2. The cube needs at least a couple of Columns and only one Row so I set it to Columns 4 and Rows 1. Desktop Wall then worked with Alt+Ctrl+left or right arrows.

I loaded Advanced Desktop Effects Settings (ccsm) from Software Center. Enabling the Cube required disabling Desktop Wall and Enabling OpenGL and Composte. I also enabled Wobbly Windows. Compiz crashed. I ran

Code:

compiz --replace

in a terminal and got just a colored screen so I logged out and back in again. The cube was enabled and I could rotate it with keyboard strokes Alt+Ctrl+ arrows left or right.

Windows opened pinned to the upper panel with no visual menu bar. I went back into CCSM and enabled Move Windows which allowed me to grab a window anywhere by holding down the Alt key and the left mouse button. Windows still mostly opened with out a menu bar but I could use the lower panel to open or close them. Wobbly Windows worked.

I did not feel comfortable in that environment but the effects I tried did work with a little tweaking. I bought a dedicated card several years ago and have had good success with it. I can not explain why desktop effects do not work with your integrated card unless for some reason the installed version works differently from the LiveCD.

**ChrisOfBristol** · October 16th, 2011

I installed 11.10 on Thursday and tried again following your instructions and it has worked at last! The wobbly windows etc are quite amusing.

Originally Posted by pme 72

booted into a LiveCD of 11.04. I logged out with Alt+Prnt Scrn+k and logged back in

This was useful I didn't know that it was possible...

I loaded Advanced Desktop Effects Settings

Another useful tip. I didn't know you could install things when running a live CD!

Compiz crashed.

Mine crashed several times!

Code:

compiz --replace

It only started to work when I did this first. Unfortunately I have to do this every time I switch the computer on.

enabled Move Windows

I did this but it still happens to some windows.

Because of the two reasons above and because I can't edit the top and bottom panels any more (I've just discovered that this can be done with [ALT] right-click) I don't think I shall stick with it. It seems a bit underdeveloped, so like you I am not comfortable with it. Thanks for the help though - at least I have been able to make an informed decision about it now I have seen the effects.

**pme 72** · October 16th, 2011

Yes, the LiveCD is neat that way as long as you can avoid a reboot. Sorry to hear that Unity is not an option. This weekend I have been runing 11.10 from the LiveCD and so far no issues but I have only used the Unity interface.

I think Lucid 10.4 will be supported through 13.04 if you want to give that a spin. It works well for me with a Radeon HD 4550. If it was not for the 4550 I would probably have given the integrated Xpress 200 a try and installed the xorg-edgers drivers from:

https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

From their site I see there is a lot of development going on with that PPA. There were 111 updates added last month.

With the Xpress 200 in Lucid suspend did not work for me with the default driver and the game SuperTuxkart was not playable. Do not know if the xorg-edgers would solve those issues or not.