Small HOWTO: Configuring compiz w/o gconf on current (long)
Joerg
this is intended as a small HOWTO for those who want to configure
compiz on current using the INI backend. Actually it's all from
material I gathered when I set up compiz for testing. Compiz on
current does provide support for ini, in fact I believe only for
ini, since there are no schemes for gconf included (and no gconf
of course).
The compiz INI backend allows the configuration of compiz and
compiz plugins via flat config files as opposed to using the
gconf-editor. This HOWTO describes how to start ini and to setup
a KDE .desktop file to auto-start compiz on KDE.
Prerequisites
------------------------------------------
Slackware-current.
Compiz-0.5.0 from Slackware-current
Extra-plugins-0.5.0.2 if you want e.g. the trailfocus plugin for
opacity settings. You can get it from here:
http://gandalfn.club.fr/ubuntu/compiz-extra/compiz-extra-latest.tar.bz2
Working compiz installation (see
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=541473
for NVIDIA but don't set up the auto-start, we use a different
way.).
After successfully installing compiz following the instructions
from linuxquestions.org the cube should work. Press
Ctrl-Shift-Left or Ctrl-Shift-Right and if you see a spinning
cube everything is ok.
Troubleshooting
Make sure that you did a complete upgrade to current, only a
partial update won't work. See CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT for more
information.
If you have trouble getting the NVIDIA binary working (like me),
additionally to the usual checks like stale or removed symlinks,
wrong installation path and the like, check the permissions
of /usr/lib/tls. Make sure /usr/lib/tls has mode 0755. This
caused a rather strange problem on my system.
Configuration
------------------------------------------
Ok, now there is a working compiz but there is no way to configure
the thing. For example we can't change the default focus policy
or the opacity for window classes.
Starting INI
First create a directory for the configuration files:
# mkdir $HOME/.compiz
Start compiz with the ini plugin from konsole or whatever your
prefered terminal app is:
# compiz --replace ini decoration wobbly fade minimize cube
switcher move resize place rotate zoom scale &
# kde-window-decorator --replace &
Now you should have a lot of .conf files in ~/.compiz/options.
General and individual plugin settings
By editing the .conf files you can now change the settings of your
compiz. A good list of options and what they do can be found
here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompositeManager/ConfiguringCompiz
The option names in the .conf files are the same as they appear in
gconf.
Most important, edit ~/.compiz/options/general-allscreens.conf and
change active_plugins to active_plugins=ini,<your plugin1,your
plugin2,...>.
Auto-loading compiz
------------------------------------------
To auto-load compiz we create a KDE .desktop file and put it
in .kde/Autostart. Paste the following in your editor and save it
as .kde/Autostart/compiz.desktop.
[Desktop Entry]
Comment=
Comment[de]=
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=compiz --replace ini & kde-window-decorator &
GenericName=
GenericName[de]=
Icon=/usr/share/compiz/icon.png
MimeType=
Name=
Name[de]=
Path=
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DCOP-ServiceType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=
X-KDE-autostart-after=kdesktop
Note that you only load the ini plugin, ini will take care of the
remaining plugins listed in general-allscreens.conf.
Notes on compiz
------------------------------------------
I have to say, compiz is more than eyecandy for me, since it
provides me with very efficient ways to manage my workspaces. I
don't have much use for gimmicks like wobbly windows or water
effects, but appart from that I quite like it. It runs
surprisingly smooth and fast on my old FX 5200 and after getting
the pieces together it's a nice new desktop experience.
Final notes
------------------------------------------
I hope this will be helpfull for some. It worked for me this way,
but maybe there are better ways to do it. Please tell me if I
made mistakes somewhere or wasn't clear enough.
Joerg
--
For email use g m x d o t n e t
notbob
> Hi,
>
> this is intended as a small HOWTO for those who want to configure
well, thank you, I guess. But tell me, just what is the advantage to
compiz? How is it better than the other five managers that already
come with Slack?
nb
Roel Kluin
wrote:
> Press Ctrl-Shift-Left or Ctrl-Shift-Right and if you see a spinning
> cube everything is ok.
I think that should be Ctrl-Alt-Left and Ctrl-Alt-Right
problem and annoying:
If I try to move an application to another desktop (mouse menu) it
dissapears.
Mouse buttons and scroll have different functions (It's probably
configurable, I'll RTFM)
Roel
Thomas Overgaard
not...@nothome.com wrote :
> How is it better than the other five managers that already come with
> Slack?
It adds a lot of eye-candy, you'll probably hate what you see:
<URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lawkc3jH3ws>
--
Thomas O.
This area is designed to become quite warm during normal operation.
notbob
> It adds a lot of eye-candy, you'll probably hate what you see:
Oh, it's that beryl thingie. You're right, more crap.
nb
Joerg
>> Press Ctrl-Shift-Left or Ctrl-Shift-Right and if you see a
>> spinning cube everything is ok.
>
> I think that should be Ctrl-Alt-Left and Ctrl-Alt-Right
>
You're rightof course, still get confused with all the key
combinations.
Joerg
Well, I guess it's a matter of taste and habbits. My main
intention was to try it out and since there hardly any
documentation about configuring compz w/o gconf, I thought I put
this little Howto up here. To me it's more than just eye-candy, I
think compiz/beryl offer some new ways to manage your desktops
and windows, but that's of course only my own impression.