Compiz Troubleshooting

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Compiz on openSUSE 11.1 hates me

Start yast2 software management, search and remove everything related to compiz. Remove old configurations (rm -rf ~/.config/compiz), now use this 1-click installation to get new compiz packages. Enable compiz via simple-ccsm ("Desktop Effects" in main-menu).

The above step will update gnome or kde, if you do not wish to update, use the following command:

 zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/XGL/openSUSE_11.1/ X11:XGL
 zypper ref
 

 zypper up -t package -r X11:XGL #or yast2 sw_single > filter > repositories > X11:XGL > right click package list > All in this list > Update if newer available

Updated Compiz today, now it won't run

Make sure all the Compiz packages are of matching version by running rpm -qa | grep compiz in shell. Better to wait for few hours after release announcement for mirrors to sync.

Disable compiz in KDE

Update to the most recent packages from X11:XGL repository using 1-click installation from Compiz_Fusion, run simple-ccsm, uncheck "Enable Effects"

Remove compiz

To get back to your earlier setup with all the traces of compiz-fusion removed, run these commands as root after disabling Xgl:

Disable Compiz from simple-ccsm (or through the same method you enabled it)
init 3
rpm -qa '*compiz*' #This will list all the packages installed
rpm -e <package list from the above command>
sax2 -a #will regenerate xorg.conf
gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/compiz
rm -rf /home/<yourusername>/.config/compiz
init 5

If you prefer GUI way, run YaST2 -> Software Management, search compiz and remove everything including all packages that depend on compiz.

No window decoration

• rm -rf ~/.config/compiz and restart compiz. This will reset compiz to default settings.
• To fix your compiz window decorations (titlebars) with an nVidia graphics card, run sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals -d 24, then restart X.
• Try running compiz-decorator --replace & manually from the shell or Alt+F2

No window decoration on inactive windows

• See point no. 2 above.
• Use Emerald decorator, Alt+f2 > emerald --replace

Plug-ins fail to be installed

During install compiz-fusion-plugins-main and compiz-fusion-plugins-extra may fail to install.

If this occurs extras like Windows Management Ring Switcher or Swift Switcher will fail to work.

Watching the output from running simple-ccsm in terminal will confirm the plugins have loaded correctly and you may get output like:

/usr/bin/compiz (core) - Error: Plugin 'core' has ABI version '20081121', expected ABI version '20080828'.

OR

/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Couldn't load plugin 'ring'.

The solution is to check the installed dependencies in YAST for the plug-ins you have installed and ensure you have the correct one installed i.e. i586 or x64.

Emerald decorator as default

Install Emerald and themes:

 zypper in compiz-emerald compiz-emerald-themes

Set ccsm -> decoration -> commandline to emerald --replace if it does not launch on startup run the following in shell as normal user:

 echo "USE_EMERALD=yes" >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager

None of the ccsm settings apply

• Please change ccsm's preference backend to flat-file
• rpm -e libcompizconfig-backend-gconf or rpm -e libcompizconfig-backend-kconfig remove whichever is installed.

Compiz can't start under KDE

compiz --replace ccp
compiz (core) - Error: Another window manager is already running on screen: 0
compiz (core) - Fatal: No manageable screens found on display :0.0

Make sure you have "Show icons on desktop" enabled in your kcontrol and restart your X server.

Alt+F1 Does not work in KDE

• To raise a start menu in KDE add to ccsm -> General Options -> Commands -> Command line 1 -> dcop kicker kicker popupKMenu 0 and associate this with "execute command binding" to ALT+F1 in "Actions" tab. It works ONLY AFTER deleting the ALT+F1 association for "Show main menu field"

Alt+F2 Does not work in KDE

• To start a run dialog in KDE add to ccsm -> General Options -> Commands -> Command line 0 -> dcop kdesktop KDesktopIface popupExecuteCommand and associate this with "execute command binding" to ALT+F2 in "Actions" tab. It works ONLY AFTER deleting the ALT+F2 association for "Execute Run dialog field"
• For KDE4, you have to use krunner instead of dcop kdesktop KDesktopIface popupExecuteCommand, and then it works.

Unable to start Compiz Fusion using an older Radeon graphics card

If you are using an older Radeon card, e.g. Radeon 9250, you will be running the open-source ati driver. The Compiz Fusion wiki has help.

Xgl/ATI fglrx driver: Compiz starts, I see decorations, the mouse moves and changes shape on windows, but nothing moves?

It's possible you're stuck with a Xgl/fglrx specific bug of Compiz that prevents screen updates. If this is the case, your actions work but you don't see the results. For instance, if you type ls and press enter, you can only see the output after doing an alt-tab.

To fix this problem, you need to activate the 'Fix screen updates in XGL with fglrx' option in the "Workarounds" plugin of Compiz. Run the ccsm command on a terminal, or right-click the Compiz logo in the toolbar and select "Settings Manager". Type "Workarounds" in the search box, or choose the Utility category, to reach the Workarounds plugin options tab and activate the above-mentioned box. Since your actions work, but you don't see what's happening on the screen, I used the alt-tab as a way to update the screen after each of my actions.

Intel users if things run very slow

• Add this line to the Device section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file: « Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true" » Then restart your X server. (Without <<>>)

Note: This option is enabled by default on openSUSE 11.0

• If you have trouble with slow Firefox scrolling, add the following to the Device section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file: « Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"» Then restart your X server. (Without <<>>)

Black Window Bug on Nvidia

See Nvidia Black Window Bug Fix

Google Earth freezing on splash screen

The following (modified) extract from n01getsout.com’s blog should hopefully do the trick:

'Apparently, all versions of ATI’s proprietary Linux (fglrx) drivers version 2.28 and newer will not work for Google Earth (at least on some systems). So here is how to get Google Earth working again:

• Get a copy of libGL.so.1.2
• Put the file in the Google Earth directory (usually /usr/local/google-earth)
• Rename the file to libGL.so.1
• Start Google Earth and enjoy!

If for some reason this doesn’t work, I have a file on my system in the /usr/lib/ directory called FGL.renamed.libGL.so.1.2. When I copied that file to the Google Earth directory and renamed it to libGL.so.1, Google Earth ran in OpenGL software mode (which was slow but usable).'

Unable to change cursor theme

When using compiz, changing the pointer theme through the Pointer tab may not change the cursor theme. This is actually a known bug (http://bugs.opencompositing.org/show_bug.cgi?id=485). As a workaround, to change your cursor theme, do this:

• Edit "/etc/sysconfig/windowmanager", and replace the X_MOUSE_CURSOR= value to your preferred mouse theme (The theme should be in your /usr/share/icons folder).
• Restart the X server by pressing Alt+Ctrl+Backspace+Backspace.