Compiz

 # export GCONF_CONFIG_SOURCE="xml:merged:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults"
 # gconftool-2 --makefile-install-rule /etc/gconf/schemas/compiz.schemas

[edit] Alternate: Using gconftool-2

gconftool-2 is a command-line tool to edit gconf settings in Gnome.

gconftool-2 -s /apps/compiz/general/allscreens/options/active_plugins "[gconf,decoration,wobbly,fade,minimize,cube,switcher,move,resize,place,rotate,zoom,scale]" -t list --list-type=string

Specify what plugins you want between the square brackets.

[edit] Alternate: Using compiz-settings

Compiz Settings has a nice GUI that lets you alter settings. Compiz Settings may not work with the newest versions of Compiz however.

emerge compiz-settings 

[edit] Resetting gconf Settings

If you have made an error, or plan to use a different version of Compiz then it may be best to erase your Compiz settings and start over.

gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/compiz

[edit] Starting Compiz

The installation of Compiz puts a tiny script that works well for a number of users:

compiz-start

[edit] Manually

The following can be used as a script to start Compiz manually:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/opengl/xorg-x11/lib/ \
compiz --replace gconf &
gtk-window-decorator &

You should place this script in your path:

compiz --replace gconf &
sleep 2
gtk-window-decorator --replace &

Change the permissions on /usr/local/bin/compiz-decorator to make it executable:

# chmod +x /usr/local/bin/compiz-decorator

Alternatively you can autostart Compiz and gtk-window-decorator on a per user basis by adding desktop entries into the respective gnome autostart directory. Create a plain text file named compiz.desktop in ~/.config/autostart/ and add

[Desktop Entry]
Name=No name
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Exec=compiz --replace --loose-binding gconf
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

Also create gtk-window-decorator.desktop and add

[Desktop Entry]
Name=No name
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Exec=gtk-window-decorator --replace
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

After these files are created Compiz can be started by logging off and back on. Compiz can be disabled by deleting the .desktop files, changing the X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled to false, or using the Sessions tool in Gnome Preferences ( System-> Preferences -> Sessions -> Startup Programs)

For KDE, Change windowmanager as follows:

KDEWM=compiz-decorator

Gnome's window manager can be defined in an environment variable. Modify:

WINDOW_MANAGER=compiz-decorator

If you are using xfce4 edit the /etc/xdg/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc as following at the end of the file

# This the default session launched by xfce4-session if the
# user hasn't saved any session yet or creates a new session.
[Failsafe Session]
Count=4
#Client0_Command=xfwm4
#Client0_PerScreen=False
Client1_Command=xfce4-panel
Client1_PerScreen=True
Client2_Command=xftaskbar4
Client2_PerScreen=True
Client3_Command=xfdesktop
Client3_PerScreen=False

At last update your environment

# env-update

[edit] Compiz Plugins

As stated above, compiz plugins can be specified as command line parameters to compiz when starting it, or with gconf (apps/compiz). It's a good idea to browse the settings for the plugins with gconf-editor (non-obvious/interesting settings listed below).

[edit] Plugins Loading Order

From the author:

There are currently two things with the plugin system in compiz that are a bit confusing.

1. Once you've loaded the gconf plugin, plugins specified on the command line will be ignored. gconf plugin will override them with the list of plugins stored in the gconf db.

2. Some plugins depend on other plugins and some plugins needs to be loaded before other plugins. The plugin loader will not do anything to try and resolve the order, if some plugin can't be loaded due to a dependency problem it will just be ignored.

The plan was to have some other program for configuration and loading of plugins and this program could figure out the order in which the plugins should be loaded. But maybe we should add some code to the plugin loader for this instead.

The current order in which the plugins should be loaded: gconf,decoration,wobbly,fade,minimize,cube,rotate,zoom,scale,move,resize,place,switcher

[edit] Plugins List

3D

Raises the windows up off the desktop when rotating the cube or zooming. Currently in extras.

Animation

Adds animation effects to window actions. Revision 1162 from svn. Includes burn with smoke, mystical burn (multi coloured fire) and beam up effect. Currently in extras.

Benchmark

The bench plugin shows a fps benchmark on your screen. Currently in extras.

Border

The border plugin allows you to assign a binding to toggle the window frame on and off. Currently in extras.

Brightness & Saturation

Allows adjustment of window brightness and saturation. Currently in extras.

Capture

Simple video capture plugin. Currently in extras.

Copacity

Conditional Opacity Plugin. This allows you to have transparent backgrounds and opaque text in terminals. Thanks to moppsy for the porting of this plugin. Currently in extras.

Crashhandler

Writes a dumpfile on crash and restarts an alternate window manager. Currently in extras.

Group

Groups windows so they can be moved and resized together. Currently in extras.

Put

Puts windows in specific positions. Currently in extras.

Show Desktop

Shows the desktop in an animated way. Version 1160 from Beryl svn, includes Corners. Currently in extras.

Wallpaper

Different wallpaper on each cube face. Note - you need to kill kdesktop before the images will show. Currently in extras.

Cube

Provides the cube the virtual desktop is mapped upon. You can also configure svg slides on the top (as shown in the offical xgl presentation). This is (currently) a necessary prerequisite for rotate.

Settings

• in: Places the visitor inside the cube (just test to see)
• skydome: Whether to display a skydome image behind the cube as it rotates
• skydome_image: Image to display behind the cube if skydome is enabled
• svgs: List of svg images to be displayed on top of the cube; these can be cycled with the keys bound to the next_slide and prev_slide settings

Skydome can be successfully run on cards without modern shader support, contrary to many reports. Screenshot: http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/690/skydomeor8.jpg

Decoration

Enables Window Manager. Nevertheless you need to start a decorator! e.g `gnome-window-decorator` that is included with compiz.

Dock

Similar to miniwin. Displays a small live preview of all windows (minimized and normal) at the bottom of the screen. Stacks perviews of windows belonging to the same program on top of one another. Highly experimental and unsupported.

Fade

Makes windows/tooltips/menus fade in/out when opened/closed.

Settings

• fade_speed: How fast the fade effect is

Minimize

Enables quartz like minimizing effect.

Settings

• speed: How fast the minimizing effect is

Miniwin

This is an experimental plugin. It allows the user to create an icon of a window, currently being called a mindow, that shows a picture of the main window and can be clicked on to return the main window. It is a possible replacement for the minimize funtionality.

Move

Allows you to configure a key/mouse-button combo to move a window anywhere within its canvas.

Settings

• constrain_y: Prevents the window from being moved above the top of the screen
• initiate: Keybinding to initiate move effect; Alt+drag by default
• opacity: Decrease window opacity by this percentage while moving
• terminate: Keybinding to release window

Neg

Inverts the colour of a selected window. Super + n by default in new versions.

place

Places new windows in logical positions that will usually not overlap with other windows or toolbars.

Resize

Allows you to configure a key/mouse-button combo to resize a window anywhere within its canvas. A version in extras is rewritten by the Beryl project.

Rotate

Enables 3d desktop rotating via keyboard+mouse shortcuts.

Settings

• flip_time: How long the rotation effect takes
• initiate: Keybinding for manual rotation, Ctrl + Alt + Drag by default
• rotate_left: Keybinding to flip one screen left, Ctrl + Alt + Left arrow by default
• rotate_left_window: Same as rotate_left, but drags the active window with it to the next desktop
• rotate_right: Keybinding to flip one screen right, Ctrl + Alt + Right arrow by default
• rotate_right_window: Same as rotate_right, but drags the active window with it to the next desktop
• snap_top: Allows to snap to the top of the cube while manually rotating, instead of just snapping to the nearest desktop

Scale

Exposé-like window-switcher.

Settings

• initiate: Keybinding to activate switcher effect
• next_window: Keybinding to select the next window
• opacity: Percentage by which to reduce the opacity of non-active windows
• sloppy_focus: mouse-over focus
• spacing: Space to maintain between windows
• terminate: Keybinding to end switcher effect

State

Sets default settings of applications.

settings syntax:

<type>:<name>:<value>

Type can be any of the following:

• w: Window type: Can be Dock, Toolbar, Menu, Utility, Splash, Normal, Dialog, ModalDialog or Unknown.
• c: Window class: The same as the window executeable, only with first character in upper case.
• t: Window title: The same as the window title
• p: Executeable path name: The same name as the executeable name in $PATH.

Examples:

• Opacity: w:Normal:95 gives all normal apps a slight transparency that looks very neat.
• Viewport: p:opera:3 makes Opera run in viewport/virtual desktop number 3
• Viewport: c:Eclipse:2 makes Eclipse-sdk run in viewport/virtual desktop 2. (use class instead of path because you launch eclipse with the eclipse-3.x wrapper, which in return runs the eclipse binary that is not located in path)

Switcher

Alt+Tab Application switcher replacement, with live window previews

Settings

• initiate: Keybinding to start switcher, Alt + Tab by default
• initiate_all: Keybinding to start switcher with windows from all desktops, Ctrl + Alt + Tab by default

Trailfocus

Changes brightness, saturation and opacity of your windows depending on how long you have not used them.

Water

This plugin is currently quite unstable. Reports say it uses intense CPU resources, and crashes X. Use at your own risk. Needs (definitely; not probably) shader support to be seen.

Widget

Enables special layer for widget windows... but no idea how it works.

edit (04.08.2006): I found a german description here:

http://wiki.xglusers.de/index.php/Widget

Wobbly

Makes windows wobble like jelly when moved or resized.

Settings

• focus_effect (None, Shiver): Effect when a window gets focus. This might interact badly with scale with sloppy_focus set.
• map_effect (None, Shiver): Effect when a window gets created
• friction, spring_k: Affect together the wobbliness
• grid_resolution, min_grid_size: The resolution of the grid which is wobbled
• snap (shortcut): Wobbly snapping while moving windows

Zoom

Enables zooming in and around desktop.

Settings

• filter_linear: Apply a linear interpolation when scaling, to reduce appearance of pixels

[edit] Using Plugins

So you've suffered long enough trying to get XGL installed, now how do you use it? Here are the various key combinations for various plugins:

Switch windows = Alt + Tab

Arrange and View All Windows = F12 turns on or off; clicking a window will zoom it to the front

Arrange and View All Windows (gnome-window-decorator, not cgwd) = Ctrl + Shift + Up turns on; clicking a window will zoom it to the front, or select window using arrows and release Ctrl + Shift

Arrange and View Windows of the Same Application = F11 turns on or off; clicking a window will zoom it to the front

Slow Motion = Shift + F10

Switch desktops on cube = Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right Arrow

Switch desktops on cube - with active window following = Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Left/Right Arrow

Flatten Cube - Ctrl + Alt + Page Down, then Left/Right Arrows to switch desktops

Flatten Cube (gnome-window-decorator, not cgwd) - Ctrl + Alt + Down, then Left/Right Arrows to switch desktops

Rotate desktop cube = Ctrl + Alt + Left-click on wallpaper and drag

Display svg picture on top of cube = modify gconf db,add svg files to /apps/compiz/plugins/cube/screen0/options/svgs (restart needed)

Make window translucent/opaque (built-in) = Alt + mouse wheel up/down

Make window translucent/opaque (with the opacity plugin) = Ctrl + Shift + Scroll, or right-click the window's title bar and select Opacity (seems to be absent in current compiz cvs.)

Zoom-in once = Super-key right-click

Zoom-in manually = Super-key + wheel mouse up

Zoom-out manually = Super-key + wheel mouse down

Move window = Alt + left-click

Snap Move window (will stick to borders) = Shift during move (either by Alt + left-click or by title bar)

Resize window = Alt + right-click

Resize window (gnome-window-decorator, not cgwd) = Alt + middle-click

Water Effect = Ctrl + Super-key (I have to press the Ctrl key first) - (depends on water plugin)

Rain = Shift + F9 (Requires the water plugin)

Note: Super-key is the same as the windows key

You can change all of these using gconf-editor (Might be necessary since the windows key is reported not to work with xgl on some systems).

See also Compiz/Tips and Tricks

[edit] Using Command-Line

As mentioned, it is possible to run compiz with command line switches, and ignore any settings made with gconf-editor. The syntax is as follows:

compiz [options] ${space delimited plugin-lists}

Available options:
  --display DISPLAY
  --bg-image PNG
  --window-image PNG
  --refresh-rate RATE
  --fast-filter
  --indirect-rendering
  --test-mode
  --replace
  --sm-disable
  --sm-save-file
  --sm-client-id
  --version

For example:

compiz --replace miniwin decoration transset wobbly fade minimize cube rotate zoom scale move resize place switcher trailfocus water &

[edit] Kde

The normal Desktop Preview & Pager Applet doesn't work very well with Compiz. But there is a Version at KDE-Apps.org (kicker-compiz) that works (http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=46021).

[edit] Known issues

[edit] Switcher plugin stick in the middle of the screen

To deal with that issue, you have to remove Splash in the window_types key of the fade plugin options.

[edit] Resize plugin is very slow

If resizing windows is very slow, try this: Launch gconf-editor and there goto apps->compiz->plugins->resize->allscreens. Make sure stretch_texture is checked. (buggy?)

[edit] SDL is slow

To get SDL Applications back to their old speed try loading them like this:

# XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1 xmoto

[edit] compiz: No sync extension

Add this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Module"
	SubSection	"extmod"
		Option	"omit xfree86-dga"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

This is suposed to fix this error.

[edit] References

• Compiz Community HOWTO
• Forlong's HOWTO

[edit] Contributors