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Even if you have a 3d card installed in your system, you may notice that Compiz Fusion will not start when you go to “System -> Preferences -> Appearance” and choose “Normal” or “Extra” on the “Visual Effects” tab.

This may be because your video card is blacklisted for instability with certain effects. If you would like to use effects anyway with your card and see what breaks, the following steps will let you proceed .

-How do I know if my card is blacklisted?
Go to http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist to see if your card is blacklisted.

If your card is blacklisted, you can enable it to use Compiz Fusion by following these steps:

-Type this command into the Terminal:
sudo gedit /usr/bin/compiz

-You will need to edit this file. Look for the lines:
# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
T=" 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955" # ati rs480
T="$T 1002:4153" # ATI Rv350
T="$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12" # intel 965
T="$T 8086:2972" # i965 (x3000)
T="$T 1002:3152 1002:3150 1002:5462 1002:5653 " # ati X300 X600,X600 X700
BLACKLIST_PCIIDS="$T"
unset T

-Comment out the lines pertaining to your particular video card. For example, if I wanted to comment out the references to the Intel card, the entry would look like this:
# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
T=" 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955" # ati rs480
T="$T 1002:4153" # ATI Rv350
#T="$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12" # intel 965
T="$T 8086:2972" # i965 (x3000)
T="$T 1002:3152 1002:3150 1002:5462 1002:5653 " # ati X300 X600,X600 X700
BLACKLIST_PCIIDS="$T"
unset T

-Now, save the file and close it.

-Hit “CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE” to restart your X session.

You should be able to enable Compiz Fusion now by going to “System -> Preferences -> Appearance” and choosing something other than “None” on the “Visual Effects” tab.

If you want more than just the basic effects, be sure to follow the directions in How to enable advanced Compiz Fusion effects in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10).

If these steps worked for your video card, I would love to hear about it in the comments!

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If you run Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) and your video card will handle the effects, you’ll notice that a subset of effects from Compiz Fusion are enabled by default. You can change to more advanced effects by going to System -> Preferences -> Appearance, clicking on the “Visual Effects” tab and choosing the “Extra” option.

This is OK, but you know your inner geek wants the over-the-top spinning cubes, wobbly windows, flame-writing effects. Fortunately, this is an easy task. The steps are below:

-Go to the terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

-Now go to System -> Preferences -> Appearance, click on the “Visual Effects” tab, and choose the “Custom” option. Beside the “Custom” option there is a “Preferences” button.

This will open up the settings menu for Compiz-Fusion that you did not have before.

That’s it! Really it is. Play around with the settings until you are satisfied. Warning: This can be a HUGE productivity drain

Now you can have desktop effects like the ones in the video below (I know this is an older Compiz video, but it is still my favorite). With the compizconfig-settings-manager installed, all of the effects shown in the video can be turned on if your video card will handle it.

Happy Cube Spinning!

Technorati Tags: Ubuntu, Eye Candy, Linux, Compiz

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