Compiz Fusion on PowerBook G4

[Apple Guy]

I just installed Hardy Heron PPC on my PowerBook G4. I would like to enable the desktop effects but can't find the driver.

Every time I try to enable it, it just says "Desktop Effects could not be Enabled"

On 7.10 it had the driver preinstalled or something (it worked right after the install)
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My Specs are:
1.5 GHz PowerPC G4
2 GB of RAM
32 MB VRAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
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I hope you guys can help!

[Rocket2DMn]

I don't have any experience dealing with Apples, but here is a short guide to enabling Compiz if you have the open source ati drivers: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=764633
If you run

compiz --replace

right now and it tells you it's aborting because you have open source ati drivers, then that is the problem and can likely be fixed by the link above. It would look something like this:

Checking for Xgl: not present.
Found laptop using ati driver.
aborting and using fallback: /usr/bin/metacity

[Apple Guy]

Ok, I got Compiz working. But it's as slow as hell!!!

On 7.10 it was wicked fast! Is there any way to get the same speed on 8.04?

[Rocket2DMn]

I'm still trying to figure out the new X server in Hardy. You can post your xorg.conf file, but I don't think there will be anything useful there since the new version of X relies more on autodetection.

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Your card is borderline on which driver you can use. Go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and see if it wants to use restricted drivers for your card. If so, give them a try.

[Apple Guy]

I'm still trying to figure out the new X server in Hardy. You can post your xorg.conf file, but I don't think there will be anything useful there since the new version of X relies more on autodetection.

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Your card is borderline on which driver you can use. Go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and see if it wants to use restricted drivers for your card. If so, give them a try.

I will try that tomorrow. I just turned it off and it takes a few minutes to boot up and such. I'm too inpatient right now

[Apple Guy]

I still can't get very fast framerates.

Certain things work very well such as the cube effect. But any window effects are very choppy. Anyone know how to fix this?

[Rocket2DMn]

I don't know how to fix the problem, but you can disable the effects that don't work correctly. Install the configuration tool for compiz (if you haven't already)

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

then you can access it from System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. From here you can disable what doesn't work. A number of other users have been claiming problems with 9600 cards, so it seems to be a generalized problem, not specific to your computer or the fact that it is an apple.

[Apple Guy]

Does anyone else know how to fix this? What I don't understand is why it worked perfectly on 7.10 and not on 8.04.

I would go back but I had the issue where all the windows appear in the upper left hand corner.

Actually I will go back and check the Xorg.conf and what driver it is using. That might help! I will post back soon with results

[Apple Guy]

That didn't help. I just used the live cd and took the xorg from that. The effects work on that.

Can you tell me how to downgrade compiz to 0.6.2. I think that might work

[Rocket2DMn]

Normally you go to Synaptic Package Manager, search for compiz, select it and go to Package->Force Version. However, it doesn't seem to be allowing me to do that. You may be able to if you uninstall it first, then force the version you want. Otherwise, you may have to install that compiz version manually.
If that version is not available for Hardy, you may have to enable repos for Gutsy and force the version from there. DON'T FORGET to disable that repo when you are done. While it is available, do not run apt-get upgrade or install any other packages.