AIGLX and KDE

nukem996 · l33t Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 776

I just setup AIGLX on my IBM Thinkpad T40(ATI Radeon 7500 using DRI drivers) and it works pretty nicly. But there are a couple of things that are really annoying me. First as soon as I turn on AIGLX 3 of my desktops dissappear, and im left with only 1. I tried resetting the number of desktops but that wont work. Second I seem to remember an AIGLX or XGL movie of transparent windows and menus done really well, how do I turn these on? When I right click on the top of a window(to the left of the close(X) button) it looks like that menu is GTK even though Im using KDE programs, is that normal? Finally when I use an OpenGL application like Quake 3 I start to see black artifacts on my screen, if I try to use the 3D cube(CTRL+ALT+Move mouse) I also see them is there any way to get rid of them? Finally if I move a window while its playing a video(such as xine) the movie goes black while I move it and sometimes stays black after, I tried switching the video driver to SDL but that does nothing, is there any way to fix this?

Thanks,

nuke

zxy · Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:19 am Post subject:

Compiz and KDE go together with one desktop only. I didn't try AIGLX (nvidia and ati owner).

I have more desktops on the cube with compiz-quinnstorm, but on the taskbar only the current is shown.
_________________
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao Tzu

pschellart · n00b Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 14

Hi,

After having tried XGL and decided it was to slow and had to many problems I switched to AIGLX and everything is running great now. I use KDE and compiz and think I might be able to answer some of your questions.

1. The GTK menu is normal since compiz replaces the window decorator (and window manager kwin) with either gnome-decorator or cgwd (I use the latter and it works great) both are based on GTK so thats why you get a GTK menu the other desktop related menu's are managed by KDE and are thus QT
2. The KDE pager does currently not work with compiz and thats why KDE thinks you have only one virtual terminal. Compiz however manages the desktops on the cube and I think it's best to just disable (remove from pannel) the pager untill al is fixed.

As for the artifacts I don't have the black lines (I use the same graphics card and drivers as you) but googleearth does give me black horizontal stripes after use as well. I don't know why but since it is the only OpenGL program I use I just don't use it anymore

I think it's possible to open a second window with a different X server (without AIGLX) for games and such but I don't know how to do that. Have you checked the output of glxinfo for direct rendering it should say yes. Maybe that helps for the cube. Also I have disabled the wobble, water, zoom, fade and blur plugins to have more speed and less artifacts (have not tried them but they seem to be a couse).

Hope this helps a bit

P.S. How do you launch and manage compiz and what window decorator do you use?

nukem996 · l33t Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 776

Thanks for answer my questions, sorry it took so long to respond im moving into my dorm on Tuesday. As for managing compiz and the window decorator I use gnome-window-decorator. Ive read about cgwd, whats different about it? I also read that KDE4 is going to support compiz, I guess that will fix alot of problems. My biggest concern is that my laptop sometimes freezes after I just let it sit, I cannt get out of the screen saver and I have to hard reboot. Would you know how to change it so when I move my mouse to the top right coner of the screen it dosnt do the window thing? Id rather that happen on the top left side.

cheops2006 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 16

I would love to know how you got this working as I only had problem after problem getting it to work on my 7500 mobility. Is it pretty fast or does it go slow.

Best Regards

Ade.

pschellart · n00b Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 14

Hi,

About the locking question I have no idea becouse I don't have that problem. For setting the thing in a different corner look at the scale plugin on the screen edges tab (using the compiz settings manager csm). In KDE I think it's better to use compiz + csm + cgwd instead of compiz + gconf + gnome-decorator it just looks better and you don't need the gnome dependencies (I like to keep my system clean). I launch my compiz (from KDM) with the following script:
---------------------------------------------------
# Start compiz window manager

compiz --replace dbus csm &

# Start window decorations

cgwd --replace &
---------------------------------------------------
This script is saved as executable /usr/local/bin/compiz-aiglx and then I put KDEWM=compiz-aiglx in /etc/env.d/99kde.env after which I run env-update. Then everything is loaded at login. Enable plugins with csm and ajust theme with cgwd themer.

To use compiz with AIGLX you need DRI for your radeon card (look at the wiki on the subject and use the OPEN SOURCE drivers as the propertary drivers will not work) You also need modular Xorg 7.1 (in ~x86) and some settings in your xorg.conf file. If you need more help just ask.

P.S. compiz with AIGLX is fast!!! (even on a ATI mobility radeon 7500 like mine)

fyrewall77 · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Switzerland

Hi,

Ive made a post https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-3597904.html#3597904 complaining about missing decorations, but here is probably a better place.

What the heck is csm? and cgwd? I dont find any packages in portage! Do I need to install an overlay? I was hoping that since nvidias new 9xxx drivers are out, I could use the plain portage tree...

Thank,
dav

pschellart · n00b Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 14

Hi,

I am sorry but you still need an overlay (I use portage-xgl via layman) for these packages.
csm stands for compiz settings manager and is a tool used (as a replacement of gconf) to easily manage and load all the settings for compiz (such as which plugins to load, how many desktops you want, what keyboard shortcuts, etc).
cgwd is the compiz window decorator (as a replacement of gnome-window-decorator) and it manages the frame around your window. What it looks like and the maximize/minimize/close buttons.

fyrewall77 · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Switzerland

Ok, here is what I have soo far.

Installed the xgl-portage overlay using layman.
unmerged compiz
emerged compiz-quinnstorm, compiz-manager, csm, cgwd

I launch compiz-manager like:

pschellart · n00b Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 14

Hi,

Looks like something is wrong with your compiz install (segfaults are usually programming errors). I would try waiting a couple of days (untill a new release is out) and then update the compiz packages (first layman -s portage-xgl before emerge --sync and update).

I use the following script for launching compiz and cgwd:

# Wait for KDE to start

sleep 5

# Start compiz window manager

compiz --replace dbus csm &

# Start window decorations

cgwd --replace &

Try running this script from KDE if it works then save it as executable /usr/local/bin/compiz-aiglx and add KDEWM=compiz-aiglx to /etc/env.d/99kde.env after that run env-update

You could also try to configure compiz with csm from kde (not running compiz) first and disable some plugins to see if that helps. First start with no plugins (or just put and move) and see if it works. Then try adding more untill it fails.