Compositing In a KDEmod3 session
 

I've got a KDE3.5 desktop up and running thanks to Chakra's kdemod-legacy repository for Arch.
The only problem I have with it is that it's window manager doesn't appear to have compositing support - at least, not that I can find.
So first up, does it exist?

Now, if it doesn't exist, I've got an alternative, without using Compiz because that tends to be a bit overweight.
Metacity has it's own compositor, and it handles things nicely within a KDE3.5 session - but also appears to insist on having Nautilus manage the desktop, which I don't want, and can't figure out how to turn off.
GConf-editor gives me a nice list of Nautilus related settings, but nothing that appears to disable this behaviour.
So, can it be told to go away without having to kill it manually every time?

Finally, is there any just plain simple way to get compositing, without a heavy load, or having to go to KDE4, something I really don't want to do?

First up: built-in compositing didn't exist in KDE 3.5.x; so you'll need to add on via something else.

Being a KDE4 user myself (on Mandriva), I have no idea how Metacity defines it's file manager application (under Arch Linux). Perhaps an Arch-specific forum could help; also, I'd search for any reference to the string "autilus" within hidden directories of my $HOME.

I personally stack Compiz (and Emerald themes) on top of KDE, because KDE4 still doesn't give me the useful controls I want. (Multi-button mouse stuff isn't "right-in-the-box"with KDE, you need to play with keyboard emulations). And it's not as pretty. I started using Compiz a long time ago, and it's still my favorite. Is there a reason why you can't just throw some cheap, new hardware at all the overhead?

Well, at least I know I don't have to go hunting to see if 3.5 has it. That's one welcome confirmation.
I don't get along with KDE4. No matter how many times I try it, or what computer I try it on, it always comes accross as horribly bloated and slow, even when I only pick out what I want from it, which isn't really much. That said, I'll grant that outside a KDE4 session, some parts aren't bad. Konqueror I've found better than Nautilus as a general use file manager, but that's another story.

Compiz isn't preferably, tending toward the heavy side, as mentioned.
Cheap, new hardware? I probably could throw some at it, but given that it's a laptop there probably isn't much point. I can customise the insides of a tower easily, but I haven't the faintest idea when it comes to the innards of a laptop.

For now, the main reason I'm actually after compositing is the Cairo-Dock. Without it, there's a somewhat ugly great black box around it. If I could get rid of that, everything would be just fine.

Many KDE4.x Applications, and many parts of the core (including Plasma+Kwin+Qt4) are IMO barely equal to their KDE 3.5.9 and 3.5.10 counterparts in features. And, they're still way behind in stability (again, IMO). I'm a bleeding-edger, so I just accept the crashes and help to isolate the bugs. And I am on a desktop, where I can toss in "el-cheapo" graphics cards of my choice.... any of which are, as you just indicated, vastly better than the built-in graphics which you're stuck with on your laptop.

So you maybe already have the best compromise in place (Cairo-Dock "fake-compositing" with KDE3) on you machine. I see from your Sig that you're "done with Distro-Hopping; but if IceWM is a "native choice" under Arch, you might consider switching to that as a native "mid-weight" compositing DE *and* Window Manager; run your Apps on top of that foundation.

I'm not an expert in any of this.... probably much less expert than you, merely tossing out a couple of ideas I'd consider.

The problem comes that with KDE/QT 4 apps is that they seem to come with a higher load on the system. There are parts of KDE4 I like, but for this reason I can't use. Stability, however, I've yet to find an issue with 3.x series apps.

I wasn't aware Cairo-dock had an option for fake compositing... I'll have a hunt for that.

IceWM... I recall using it before, I'll look into it again if I get the chance. Internet connection is sporadic at best at the moment, so I try not to run package operations unless I know I'm going to be able to stay online for a while. Failing all else though, I can always compile it myself.

Take a look at xcompmgr. It's a very simple and lightweight compositing manager. It only offers a handful of features of it's own, such as drop shadows, but if all you need is simple compositing support for one or two applications, it might be enough for your purposes.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xcompmgr

Edit: btw, if you're interested in using the transset transparency tool, be sure to grab the enhanced transset-df, which adds options for linking it to individual programs.

http://forchheimer.se/transset-df/

Edit2: I just noticed that Cairo also offers a stand-alone compositor of its own. I may have to try it out.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cairo_Compmgr
http://cairo-compmgr.tuxfamily.org/

Now that's interesting... I'll have look into both.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I've got more than plenty of options now.