Beryl 0.2.1 on Xubuntu Feisty 7.04 with ATI

BillyGalbreath · 05-19-2007, 06:57 PM

First off, I must say this is not a question by any means, just a success story.

I've been a Debian user to the bone since 2002, but in late 2005 I came across a video on youtube.com showing off Compiz on XGL. I immediately was interested and I started to research exactly what this was. Back then, Debian support for XGL/Compiz barely existed, so it was tough on me to get things working. Real tough. After about 3 weeks of reading many Ubuntu success stories and how-to's I finally was able to get XGL/Compiz working on my Debian Sid system. I fell in love with it once i was able to use it and see it first hand on my own screen.

Since then, times have obviously changed. Keeping Compiz and XGL in a working state on Debian became a chore, especially in Sid. So, I wiped the computer and started a fresh install of Etch in mid 2006. After about 2 hours I was able to get XGL/Compiz working on this system fairly easily. I found a site on google that was specifically aimed at XGL/Compix on Debian Etch. http://sonique54.free.fr/xgl/xgl.htm Using this code I was happy with the installation and ability to keep it running fairly easily.

In early 2007 I started to hear more and more about this Beryl. At first I didnt know what it was so I ignored any mentioning of it. Not too long ago I stumbled across some screenshots of Beryl and finally realize it was the same thing as Compiz (almost). So I started to check out this Beryl and I realized it has more plugins than Compiz has. The plugins are much cooler too. So I spent about 3 days trying to get Beryl to run on my Debian Etch system until I finally realized that there is something wrong with Beryl when running on the Debian Distro (white cube error). I tried many work-arounds posted online, but none of them were aimed to the Debian crowd, so none worked. Everyone that sues Debian just sticks with Compiz because it just works i guess.

Just last night I found a video of some more newer plugins for Beryl and I just had to have them, so I grew a wild hair and decided to install Xubuntu on my notebook (Xubuntu because I hate gnome and kde) and give it a shot. After about 6 hours of playing with video drivers I was able to get XGL running. Beryl itself was no problem, just a simple install from the ubuntu repos. XGL was a pain in the ass though.

I am happy to say I am extremely pleased with Beryl compared to Compiz. So much so that I just had to post exactly how I did it, kinda like a how-to i guess...

Here is the specs that I have this working on:

Gateway MX6425 notebook pc, 1024mb ddr ram, 64mb ddr ATI Radeon Xpress 200M video card, Xubuntu Feisty 7.04 (alternate cd installation), XGL v7.2, Beryl 0.2.1 (with beryl-core 0.2.0).

1) install Xubuntu Feisty 7.04 from the alternate cd (regular livecd kept asking me for a username/password so i could not install with it).

2) Get the ATI proprietary driver working (fglrx).
I used the 8.36.5 driver version even though all the how-to's said that only 8.35.5 works with Feisty.
We need some basic tools to do our work, so lets in stall them now.

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++5 linux-headers-$(uname -r)

I used the following command to build the Ubuntu Feisty .deb's:

Code:

./ati-driver-installer-8.36.5-x86.x86_64.run --builkdpkg Ubuntu/feisty

Then install the packages:

Code:

dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_8.36.5-1_i386.deb
dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-source_8.36.5-1_i386.deb
dpkg -i fglrx-amdcccle_8.36.5-1_i386.deb

Now run this to make sure everything is install correctly and to fix any dependency problems that might occur (they did for me)

Code:

apt-get install -f

Now This is the part I forgot to do and it caused me hours of extra work... You need to blacklist the fglrx driver that is already installed by Xubuntu by default. Open the /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common and add DISABLED_MODULES="fglrx"
Now we can build our new fglrx module:

Code:

m-a a-i fglrx
depmod -a

Now edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and change the Option "ati" to Option "fglrx" and save the file.
We need to make a quick symlink for things to work correctly that the .deb files did not do for some odd reason or another.

Code:

ln -s /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/fglrx.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile/fglrx.ko

Now reboot your computer and then in a terminal run the "fglrxinfo" command. If your fglrx driver is working, then you will see this:

Code:

billy@xubnote:~$ fglrxinfo 
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon Xpress Series
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6458 (8.36.5)

This is the original how-to that helped me the most as to getting fglrx installed and working on Feisty -> http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubu...allation_Guide

3) Now lets get XGL and Beryl installed and working.
Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file and add this to the end of the file

Code:

# beryl
deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ feisty main

Run this command to make apt accept the GPG key for the new repo we just added

Code:

wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Update the package lists and upgrade the system

Code:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

Now lets install Beryl and XGL.

Code:

sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl beryl beryl-manager

Install "beryl-ubuntu" for Ubuntu and install "beryl-kubuntu" for Kubuntu instead of just "beryl"
The "beryl-core" 0.2.1 package is broken, so lets owngrade to the 0.2.0 version. Make a new file (or edit the existing one) /etc/apt/preferences and have the contents as followed:

Code:

Package: *
Pin: release o=lupine
Pin-Priority: 1000

Now lets downgrade

Code:

apt-get install beryl-core=0.2.0~0beryl1

Now it's time to add a new login session to handle XGL. Make a new file /usr/local/bin/startxgl.sh and have its contents as followed:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
Xgl -fullscreen :1 -ac -br -accel glx:pbuffer -accel xv:pbuffer &
sleep 4  
export DISPLAY=:1 
exec xfce4-session

If you are using Ubuntu change the last line to "exec gnome-session" and if you are using Kubuntu change the last line to "exec startkde"
Now we have to make this script executable

Code:

chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/startxgl.sh

Time to create the session entry. Make a new file /etc/X11/sessions/xgl.desktop and have its contents as followed:

Code:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Xgl
Exec=/usr/local/bin/startxgl.sh
Icon=
Type=Application

Reboot your computer. When GDM comes up you MUST select "XGL" from the Sessions menu instead of XFCE4. You may then login to your XGL sesion.
Now that XGL is up and running we need to fire up the beryl-manager. Open a terminal and tye this command

Code:

beryl-manager

You should instantly see the screen flicker (maybe even a splash screen) and the beryl red diamond logo in your taskbar. Right click this red icon and change the Window Manager from XFCE to Beryl. Congradulations, you are running Beryl.
This is the original how-to that helped me get xgl and beryl working on my computer -> http://wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki/I...eisty_with_XGL

I hope this helps someone else as much as it helped me!