Compiz in Unstable
 

Well compiz has finally arrived. I'm still waiting for my local repo to update but the packages for compiz are in unstable on some Debian repository servers (including the main) as I speak. Has anyone tried it out yet? Any problems that one should know about? With the new Nvidia beta drivers, Xorg 7.1, and now compiz in unstable, Debian officialy can finally catch up to Ubuntu in the eye-candy arena :cool:. The community fork of compiz, Beryl should be uploaded to unstable soon too!

More info here:
http://gravityboy.livejournal.com/30382.html

What a great new !
 

How great is this new, I've been trying to install GLX and Compiz from de .rpm from Suse, and I have failed, I'm runnig Etch, is there anyway you could guide me on this how to try to install this on my system ? I already have my Nvidia drivers and KDE 3.5. I hope you can guide me guys.

how much memory does it need to run decently?

Not too much
 

I have readed that It's not too much what it takes to run compiz, but what you really need is a Video Card, and better Nvidia, it's what they say, talking about memory well I have 512 MB and they told it runs cool, so I guess it may need at least 256 MB.

Unfortunately compiz ran once and now refuses to run again for me so I can't really give too much advice regarding running it. You could try going to the Beryl forums for help >> http://forum.beryl-project.org/ or the compiz mailing-lists > http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/compiz/. You could also check here at LQ I guess. Oh and the link I posted to the blog has some hints in the comment section also.

You may need the beta Nvidia drivers which are at version 1.0-9625. I'm not entirely sure but it is best to use the latest even if they beta as some new stuff was added to it. As for compiz installation just apt-get install compiz or aptitude install compiz as root or using sudo. I'm not sure if the Debian package (as it will install compiz-gnome package as a dependency) will work with KDE. I just tried in XFCE and it didn't run (not related to previous error I mentioned above).

Over the past couple of months I have "heard" in various forums that it does not require too much memory, system and VRAM wise. I've seen someone mention running compiz and xgl with 32MB video card. I'm not sure if that is true but I have generally heard that it is doesn't take much, but the more power you have the better. Running from the Koora XGL livecd, compiz and xgl ran pretty quick for me and I was using a Nvidia 5200 with 128MB of VRAM. It may run slow due to being buggy and still in development so YMMV.

thanks. i guess i'll stay with xfce :-)))

Another help link:

The Nvidia Linux forums:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Still no xgl

nor the kde-compiz extension. But we are close :)

Runs ok, still buggy. But you need the nvidia beta driver.

Requirements:
* XOrg 7.1 or later
* NVIDIA graphics drivers >= 1.0-9625
* Any NVIDIA GPU supported by these drivers

Yea they are working on getting XGL in Unstable, but probably won't be for sometime (here's hoping I'm wrong!). As for the compiz-kde, I thought I saw that in experimental (not there now), but that may have been one of the devs unofficial packages.

:rolleyes: :mad: Stupid me. I forgot to reinstall the Nvidia drivers after installing the packages so that was the reason I could not start compiz again after the first try--got it working now. Kinda slower then what I have seen and experienced on the Koraa LiveCD with XGL but it is nice. Yea it is buggy still, but will get better with time. Can't wait for Beryl to hit unstable so I can test that out too! Good luck to everyone trying to get this great software to work!

Well
 

Ok as I see, the first that I'm gonna need is to upgrade from Etch to Sid, I said once that I would never use an unstable version, but common, I need to be on the bleeding edge ! The other thing is that my Etch right now is very very stable, and I love that, but I'll think about it.

By the way, I have a question, do I need GLX to run Compiz ?? Or I may use it without it ?

You need the GLX module to be loaded in the xorg.conf file if that is what you are refering to.

Ok thanks
 

Well I installed GLX and Compiz from RPM packages following this tutorials

ttp://sonique54.free.fr/xgl/xgl.htm

this one is in SPANISH.
http://blog.wunslov.com/2006/instalando-xgl-en-debian/

Ok I have achived to install everything, but I can't get it to run, the problem is that I use KDE and KDM, not GDM or Gnome, so they say that soon they may post something about KDE.

Did you mean XGL instead of GLX? If you did then ignore my previous post. You do not need XGL to run Compiz; make sure you have Xorg 7.1 and the proper video drivers for your particular card. Yea XGL is being worked on from what I can gather, but I am not sure on the ETA on that. I'm staying clear of unofficial third-party packages as I am not sure of the quality--I can wait another month or so for the official package.

And the beta nvidia driver is in the experimental section.

I am not running compiz (don't use gnome) but the driver seems to work great.

Ok man, It's what I'm going to do too, just wait, besides, the packages in the sid repositories of compiz are meant to be installed on Gnome, I'll wait for something for KDE, and about December I'll give my system an upgrade to Sid, when Etch comes to be stable version, stable is no fun :D

Actually, after some testing, you can use the compiz package in Debian right now with KDE and XFCE. All you have to do is kill the window manager for the one you are using: kwin for KDE or xfwm4 for XFCE. It will work somewhat, but it does work. Actually I didn't have to terminate the kwin, I just launched compiz from konsole and it took over; maybe kwin wasn't running?

Question
 

I am using Ubuntu 6.1, can anyone please show me how to setup compiz?

Thanks

I have AIGLX/compiz running on my etch/KDE desktop by following this guide:http://wizah.blogspot.com/2006/10/de...lx-compiz.html
New Nvidia driver (9629) available too:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
It was pretty easy and the results are visually spectacular. Some issues though.
Window decorations are Gnomish. (Have to wait for KDE support.) But more disturbing, and one I haven't solved yet, 3D games and apps won't run with compiz enabled. Anyone?

Edit: Looks like it was the Nvidia driver. Reverted to 8776 and all is well. Oh well, guess I'll have to wait a bit longer.