Compiz-Check -- no more "Desktop effects could not be enabled"

[airborne_rodent]

Woohooo, that's interesting.
As Furlong suggested, I ran it allagain, and here it comes:

wojciech@inspiron:~/programs$ ./compiz-check

Gathering information about your system...

 Distribution:          Ubuntu 8.04
 Desktop environment:   GNOME
 Graphics chip:         ATI Technologies Inc M52 [Mobility Radeon X1300]
 Driver in use:         fglrx
 Rendering method:      AIGLX

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

 Checking for texture_from_pixmap...               [ OK ]
 Checking for non power of two support...          [ OK ]
 Checking for composite extension...               [ OK ]
 Checking for FBConfig...                          [ OK ]
 Checking for hardware/setup problems...           [ OK ]

And compiz --replace yields:

wojciech@inspiron:~/programs$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:7149 (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 (4096): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
/usr/bin/compiz: line 407: /usr/local/bin/compiz: No such file or directory

Some time ago, I also tried to run Xgl by brutal-force, i.e. by linking... er.. what was it... I guess I linked /etc/X11/X to /usr/bin/Xgl like it was suggested in this antique post.
I know that its an anachronic way, but what a hell. If nothing else works.
Effect was such that (of what I could say by looking at cpu monitor) it rendered some compiz-ian effect through one of my cpu's cores. I mean I could see some shadows cast by the windows, but no cube, nor another compiz stuff.
Once more: I'm not sure if I said it before - about half a year ago, I guess it was the era of Gutsy, I had a working setup for compiz - I ran separate session with Xgl, chose it in gdm. But this stopped working when Hardy arrived.
I guess that if I reinstalled Hardy from scratch, I wouldn't have the problems, but I dont wanna.

[Forlong]

Alright, the problem is, that /usr/bin/compiz doesn't detect the proper location of your compiz-manager file under /etc.

Here's how to work around it:

echo -e 'COMPIZ_BIN_PATH="/usr/bin/"\nPLUGIN_PATH="/usr/lib/compiz/"\nCOMPIZ_NAME="compiz.real"' >> $HOME/.config/compiz/compiz-manager

Afterwards (no need to restart), run

compiz

and I'm pretty sure it will work.


P.S. Reinstalling is never an option for real men (nor women).

[airborne_rodent]

Well. I enthusiastically share your opinion about not reinstalling
However, the trick you adviced didn't work.
I'm not sure if this (thus created) file 'compiz-manager' is read ad all, but all seems to act the same. Namely, when I run

compiz --replace

I get

wojciech@inspiron:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present. 
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:7149 (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 (4096): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present. 
Checking for FBConfig: present. 
Checking for Xgl: not present. 
/usr/bin/compiz: line 407: /usr/bin/compiz.real: No such file or directory

... and well... hm... It doesn't say a thing about falling back to Metacity, and when I run fusion-icon (just to check out what window manager do I have) it says 'compiz'. However, I see no effects, nor can I get over the infamous "desktop effects could not be enabled".
So I guess im trapped in square one.

Many thanks, anyway. I guess you did massive work with compiz-check, it doesn't go without appreciation.

[Forlong]

I'm not sure if this (thus created) file 'compiz-manager' is read ad all

It is. Here's how I know:
First you had this error:

/usr/bin/compiz: line 407: /usr/local/bin/compiz: No such file or directory

And now this:

/usr/bin/compiz: line 407: /usr/bin/compiz.real: No such file or directory

I'm pretty confused to see that last error, though.
What's the output of

dpkg -l | grep compiz

[airborne_rodent]

Here it goes (pretty lot of stuff I've installed...):

wojciech@inspiron:~$ dpkg -l | grep compiz
ii  compiz                                     1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7                                   OpenGL window and compositing manager
ii  compiz-core                                1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7                                   OpenGL window and compositing manager
rc  compiz-extra                               0.3.6.1-0ubuntu2                                   extra third party plugins for compiz
ii  compiz-fusion-plugins-extra                0.7.4-0ubuntu1                                     Collection of extra plugins from OpenComposi
ii  compiz-fusion-plugins-main                 0.7.4-0ubuntu5                                     Collection of plugins from OpenCompositing f
ii  compiz-gnome                               1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7                                   OpenGL window and compositing manager - GNOM
rc  compiz-gtk                                 1:0.3.6-1ubuntu13                                  OpenGL window and compositing manager - Gtk 
ii  compiz-plugins                             1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7                                   OpenGL window and compositing manager - plug
ii  compiz-switch                              0.4.3~ubuntu-1                                     Easily switch Compiz off and on
ii  compizconfig-backend-gconf                 0.7.4-0ubuntu1                                     Settings library for plugins - OpenCompositi
ii  compizconfig-settings-manager              0.7.4-0ubuntu2                                     Compiz configuration settings manager
ii  emerald                                    0.7.2-0ubuntu2                                     Decorator for compiz-fusion
ii  libcompizconfig0                           0.7.4-0ubuntu1                                     Settings library for plugins - OpenCompositi
ii  libemeraldengine0                          0.7.2-0ubuntu2                                     Decoration engines for compiz-fusion
ii  python-compizconfig                        0.7.4-0ubuntu1                                     Compiz configuration system bindings

[Forlong]

I see... go to System → Administration → Software Sources → Updates and disable Pre-released updates (then close).

Afterwards, run this to remove the current packages:

sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz compiz-core compiz-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-gnome compiz-gtk compiz-plugins compizconfig-backend-gconf compizconfig-settings-manager emerald libcompizconfig0 libemeraldengine0 python-compizconfig

Then install the proper packages again:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compiz emerald compizconfig-settings-manager

[airborne_rodent]

I did.
And like Elvis' ressurrection, rock'n roll started.
I mean - NOTHING WORKS

I still have

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

besides, I get the fantastic

wojciech@inspiron:~/programs$ glxinfo |grep direct
direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect

which is of course long-know goodbye fglrx-mess, I don't know where's my fglrx gone, but I'm sure as hell I didn't remove it.

I'll try to install it now again from synaptic/or Ati website,
can't wait the new mess I'm gonna get in

Oh, and by the way, I'm using 640x480 now, it's the only thing my gear does at the moment
Kind of reminds me the old Atari 64XE. If only I had JetSetWilly here...

[Forlong]

Just remove the driver (if present):

sudo apt-get purge xorg-driver-fglrx

Reboot, and the re-install it via System → Administration → Hardware Drivers

Let's not increase the possibility of failure any further


edit: in case anything fails, run compiz-check again and post the output.

[airborne_rodent]

It seems like it still runs on VESA, even though I did as you told (reinstalled the driver through system > ... ).
It now says the driver is 'turned on', and 'used'.
Which is strange, cause it clearly isn't.

my compiz-check says now what it should, i.e. :

wojciech@inspiron:~/programs$ ./compiz-check

Gathering information about your system...

 Distribution:          Ubuntu 8.04
 Desktop environment:   GNOME
 Graphics chip:         ATI Technologies Inc M52 [Mobility Radeon X1300]
 Driver in use:         vesa
 Rendering method:      AIGLX

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...  [SKIP]

 Checking for hardware/setup problems..../compiz-check: line 378: [: /etc/xdg: oczekiwano operatora binarnego
           [FAIL]

There has been (at least) one error detected with your setup:
 Error: Detected driver is not on Compiz' whitelist.

Would you like to know more? (Y/n)

[GreenLantern33]

I hope I'm not interupting here, but I came across this wonderful script that tells me what's wrong with compiz and now I need to know what to do about it.

 Distribution:          Ubuntu 8.04
 Desktop environment:   GNOME
 Graphics chip:         ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AP [Radeon 9600]
 Driver in use:         fglrx
 Rendering method:      AIGLX

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

 Checking for texture_from_pixmap...               [ OK ]
 Checking for non power of two support...          [ OK ]
 Checking for composite extension...               [FAIL]
 Checking for FBConfig...                          [ OK ]
 Checking for hardware/setup problems...           [FAIL]

There has been (at least) one error detected with your setup:
 Error: Fglrx driver not properly installed, you are using the Mesa driver.

How do I fix the FAIL issues?