Hi,

I can't enable Compiz Fusion in Mandriva 2008. I have installed most of the Compiz packages from the software manager. The only ones I don't have is the development and configuration ones. When I go to "Configure 3D Desktop Effects" I cannot select the Compiz Fusion option. I can go to the "CompizConfig Settings Manager" though so I am not sure if there is anything else I can do. When I ran the Live version of Mandriva (One), I was able to run Compiz Fusion so my hardware supports it. Any idea on what I need to do?
Thanks

Hi, to get compiz-fusion to run you need to have the 3d-accelerated graphics driver installed.

So, you can use the mandriva driver, X11-driver-video-radeonhd/nVidia, for your nVidia or ati (radeon) card, will require dkms and other deps like kernel modules.

or the proprietary drivers from nVidia or ATI. may require compiling the kernel and associated dev packages.

Then the compiz function should be able to be set. And you can begin.

Cheers, Glenn

Thanks for the suggestions.
I downloaded the latest driver from Nvidia for my GeForce 6800 card and installed it. I am no expert on installing drivers and it was a little hard to interpret what was going on since it wasn't a graphical install and all the text/info was bundled together with no space. I had to install dkms first so the kernel could be compiled.
Anyway, I still don't have the option to use Compiz Fusion. Is there anything in the xorg.conf file that has to be set?
I have glx loaded, but I don't know if that's where it actually is (I had problems with this in my previous install)...
This is from my xorg.conf file.

Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx" # 3D layer

I don't see any errors in the Xorg.0.log file that stands out either.

Any suggestions what I can try next?

You mentioned I could try the default driver. I would think this should work since it worked on the Live version on the same PC. However, I would think that's what I tried the first time. How do I know what driver I am using and how can I select this?
Thanks

OK, I installed the driver again, and this time it asked me if I wanted to install other optional packages or something like that, which I did. I was now able to select Compiz Fusion. I logged out and restarted X. It still didn't work properly. The mouse cursor was jumping around when I logged in, but I couldn't rotate cubes or do anything with the windows. The borders on the windows were also missing so I couldn't close/minimize the windows. I had to do it from the File menu of the application. I then went to drakx (I think that's what it's called) where I enable Compiz Fusion. Under Advanced (Compiz Fusion), I selected the second option. One is Native Support and I don't know what the other is, but I selected the second in the list. When I log in again, I just get a white screen! I think it's the last change I did that messed things up. Do you know where this setting is set so I can change it back so it's a little easier to work with?
Thanks

Am I glad to hear that! I thought it was just me and mine, lol!

You say, "I downloaded the latest driver from nVidia for my GeForce 6800 card and installed it ", if you installed that driver package, you should not have required dkms. (dkms is used to load the default Mandriva driver)

so something screwy is going on.

xorg conf looks fine, but there's more when compiz is involved.. (hang on I'll get mine to compare files)

Back soon,..

sorry about that, I had logged into winxp to check my net bandwidth usage.

some lines you need to check in xorg.conf, found in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(you need to be root to edit this file, # (hash) "comments the line", the program does not read anythig after the #)


in

Section "Device" ##from my file
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "XpertVision"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX - GeForce 8400-GS"
Driver "nvidia" ##MUST SAY "nvidia" not "nv"
EndSection

and in

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24

##omitting subsections with display mode info.

Option "TripleBuffer" "True" #make sure your card supports this or leave it out.
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "DPMS"
Option "RenderAccel" "false"

# Option "RenderAccel" "True" ## I have this disabled, not sure why, but back to you...
Option "DisableGLXRootClipping" "True"
Option "HWCursor"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite"
Option "RENDER" "Enable"
EndSection

And one more file, /etc/sysconfig/compositing-wm

COMPOSITING_WM_START=yes
COMPOSITING_WM=compiz-fusion ##I use compiz-fusion, but there are also, compiz and beryl.
COMPOSITING_WM_ARGS="--indirect-rendering --replace"
COMPOSITING_WINDOW_DECORATOR="/usr/bin/emerald"



Make sure you have the above as close as possible.

OK, reading the last post,

First, I would uninstall dkms, but it may have a lot of files dependent upon it.

If so, we will disable the (nv) driver from being used by having nvidia (see last post pink text)

I also use native (the first one I thinK) aiglx is the other, for ati cards.

Make sure you have ccsm installed, by installing that you should get any dependent packages too.

If you have it installed, then check the config files I mentioned above, then report back here, I hope I'm on track

Cheers.

ps. you can use the install cd to "upgrade to..." where you get a chance to reset and test the graphics.

iF YOU CAN'T LOGIN BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE! (caps, sorry)

try a cli.

ctrl+alt+F2 is a good one.

Login as root, or as a user and use su to get root privleges.

from here you can use rpm or urpmi to install or unistall packages

and drakxconf to reset the display device config (as well as others).

U need to be root.

I have found it as lot easier to edit the files with a gui, and therefore I profess resetting of the device, to enable a basic gui from which to work with.

Thanks for the suggestions.
At this point I am not so interested in getting the 3D effects, I just want to kde. I will worry about 3D when I get kde. I know how to log into command mode (CTRL+Alt+F2), so I made some changed and checked the xorg.conf file. I don't get the white screen anymore, but I can't actually log in either. It just sits there and thinks for a while, then it kicks me back to the login screen.

The file did nvidia and not just nv. It still didn't work. I changed it.
The reason I installed dkms was because I thouhgt I needed it for the nvidia driver. I uninstalled it (there was one other dependency). I looked in the Xorg.0.log and I see a bunch of errors that looks like memory issues.

How can I get a hold of the original xorg.conf file? There is an 'old' version on the machine, but it's not the original. It's the previous version before the last modifications were made. The system says the cdrom is mounted, but when I cd to it I can't see any files.
I also tried drakxconf and changed some settings, but it didn't help. Any suggestions how I can get back the default X without installing Mandriva 2008 over again?

Thanks

I can get to the graphical login screen, but still I can't log into a session. It just hangs for whatever reason. Is there a logfile for when I am trying to log into a session? Is it the same as when starting X (/log/Xorg.0.log)?
Thanks

Hi, if you had no luck with the above, use your mandriva cd to upgrade to the same version

When you get to the end set up the display before rebooting.

I can't see why drakxconf didn't work, from the cli.

If you try that again, login as root and type drakxconf.

use the tab, enter and arrow keys to navigate. Make sure you test before committing the changes.

see how you go, Glenn

I was able to use drakxconf, but I didn't get kde back, just a simple desktop (icewm I think). First of all my nvidia graphics card is not listed under nvidia (I have the GeForce 6800. I thought that was a GeForce4, which I didn't see, so I guess I should try it again and see if I se the GeForce...
Also, I tried the xorg drivers (nv), but that didn't work either.
I will try that later today, but I don't have time right now. Thanks for the response.

After playing aroud with the drivers and settings I was able to get it sort of working. I can get Metisse working using the nvidia driver that came with the install, but if I pick Compiz Fusion I just get a white screen after I log in (I can pick Compiz Fusion from the manager at least). I don't know what the error is or how I can check what the problem is.
Under Compiz Fusion I only have the Xgl option. Not sure if this is ok... It says OpenGl should be supported, but how do I check that I have opengl? I have "glx" in my xorg.conf file, but I am not sure if that means opengl is installed. When I go to Software Management I don't see opengl as either being installed or an option. I installed python-opengl so I was hoping that means I had the opengl dependencies, but I don't know. Are there any other libraries I need to install?
Any suggestions?

glxinfo will tell you if you have 3d rendering enabled, and possibly the engine used.

lspci, and lsmod will show the hardware listed, and the modules found for them.

the white "screen of death" may be fixed by checking the lines in the files I posted above.

The gfx6800 card is covered by the 169.12 ver driver (this driver supports the 6 to 8 serie), from the search page at nvidia....local docs are found here.../usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0, see the readme file. and or file:///usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/html/index.html

You're looking for a gforce 6 (6800)series driver/card

The glx files are supplied by the OS, you can find them...

/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so.x.y.z
/usr/lib/libGL.so.x.y.z
/usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x.y.z


the file xsession.errors in you home dir is the log file to search, but the log you have is made from it anyway. (the last login is at the bottom of the page.)

see how you go.