Compiz, Puppy 3.01 NOP and an ATI 9000 success story
Posted: Fri 02 Nov 2007, 00:00
Please note that this howto was done for Puppy 3.01 NOP -- as Xorg7.2 and Xfce are already installed on it.
Of invaluable use to my success was this thread started by wow. I'd recommend having a good look at that first.
First thing was to get 3D acceleration going.
For Compiz you need either AIGLX or XGL. I think XGL is preferred but it appears that Puppy's Xorg would need something complicated doing to it which I'd rather avoid. Fortunately Puppy 3 has Xorg7.2 which has AIGLX already built into it Choosing to use AIGLX forced me to then use the open source driver for my card because the propitiatory ATI driver doesn't support AIGLX. (Well actually the very latest one does but then it also happens to have dropped support for the radeon 9000 )
So, Xorgwizard had automatically set up the OS radeon driver when I installed Puppy. All I needed to do then was update the DRI modules and OpenGL library for Xorg7.2 using these handy packages:
xorg_DRI_MODULES-7.2.pet
xorg_OPENGL-7.2.pet
Unfortunately Puppy has a little niggle at this point, it might just be applicable to ATI cards but I'm not sure. Anyway first you need to open up /usr/sbin/findhostbridge and find line 97, which reads:
IT MUST READ:
Next I had to add the line:
to /etc/rc.d/rc.local
For these fixes to take effect a FULL REBOOT is needed!
Now, perhaps the trickiest bit of the whole thing --
Getting xorg.conf sorted.
xorg.conf is found at /etc/X11/
PLEASE MAKE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In order to activate 3D accelaration
must be present within the section indicated by:
of xorg.conf
Things essential for Compiz are:
the addition of:
within:
and:
the addition of this code at the end of xorg.conf:
In order to activate these changes X must be restarted. A full reboot is not needed, you can simply press CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to exit to the command line and restart X by typing xwin. If X fails to start because of a bad xorg.conf file you can always edit it from the command line with:
or restore your backup with:
Basically DRI must be active for Compiz to work. After installing glxinfo and typing
at the command line will tell you whether DRI is active and if it is not, typing
may give you some idea as to why.
Specifically applying to the Open Source radeon drivers are these other recommended additions to xorg.conf for better performance with compiz:
They go in the section indicated by:
You can download a copy of my working xorg.conf from here.
Installing Compiz
Now for the gold and a million billion squillion thankyous to wow for compiling it and mark2 for hosting it:
wow's Compiz-Fusion dotpet
Now before running compiz the line:
in /etc/profile (it's near the top somewhere) must be disabled by adding a # to the beginning of it, like so:
and then full rebooting the computer. This fix allows the cool see-through window borders to work.
Now! compiz is run by typing:
and can be made to load at startup by adding something like:
near the begininng of /root/.xinitrc
Configuring Compiz
In order to run the Compiz Config Settings Manager (CCSM) that came with wow's dotpet Python (a programming language) needs to be installed.
python_for_CCSM.pet
Once installed Settings->CCSM from the menu should work. There is SOOOO much you can do with compiz, it's not just about wobbily windows you know!
Although CCSM provides all the various key combinations to activate the various special effects the default settings have been collected in this neat little text file:
keybindings
Post Script
I was so incredibly happy when I finally got this working. When I first saw the Aero theme on Vista I was gobsmacked and have to say a little jealous, it seemed such a beautiful perfection of this technology we call the computer. But! Then I saw Beryl! It wiped the floor with Vista AND what's more it was completely free and open source! That was earlier this year and it just looked way to complicated for humble Puppy.
After trying in 2.15CE without success some months ago I finally found the time to get Compiz working on Kubuntu on my laptop. However it was sluggish, but still loads of fun, so much I even considered making it my main system! But inspired to discover that Compiz was compatible with my hardware I got a copy of 3.01 NOP and started messing about. And my goodness when I got this little wipper snapper going, boy did it fly -- like this is what my laptop had been waiting for all its life!
Compiz just brings so much joy to my computing experience, I know it may be just 'bling' to some but for me it adds a subtle and natural beauty -- an extraordinary fusion of art and science. And to get it not just running on Puppy but leaping! Well, truly awesome.
Thankyou Puppy and Thankyou Compiz-Fusion
Of invaluable use to my success was this thread started by wow. I'd recommend having a good look at that first.
First thing was to get 3D acceleration going.
For Compiz you need either AIGLX or XGL. I think XGL is preferred but it appears that Puppy's Xorg would need something complicated doing to it which I'd rather avoid. Fortunately Puppy 3 has Xorg7.2 which has AIGLX already built into it Choosing to use AIGLX forced me to then use the open source driver for my card because the propitiatory ATI driver doesn't support AIGLX. (Well actually the very latest one does but then it also happens to have dropped support for the radeon 9000 )
So, Xorgwizard had automatically set up the OS radeon driver when I installed Puppy. All I needed to do then was update the DRI modules and OpenGL library for Xorg7.2 using these handy packages:
xorg_DRI_MODULES-7.2.pet
xorg_OPENGL-7.2.pet
Unfortunately Puppy has a little niggle at this point, it might just be applicable to ATI cards but I'm not sure. Anyway first you need to open up /usr/sbin/findhostbridge and find line 97, which reads:
Code: Select all
shell("ls /lib/modules/2.6/char/agp/*.ko>/tmp/findhostbridge.tmp")
Code: Select all
shell("ls /lib/modules/2.6/kernel/drivers/char/agp/*.ko>/tmp/findhostbridge.tmp")
Code: Select all
modprobe sis_agp
For these fixes to take effect a FULL REBOOT is needed!
Now, perhaps the trickiest bit of the whole thing --
Getting xorg.conf sorted.
xorg.conf is found at /etc/X11/
PLEASE MAKE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In order to activate 3D accelaration
Code: Select all
Load "glx"
Load "dri"
Code: Select all
Section "Module"
...
EndSection
Things essential for Compiz are:
the addition of:
Code: Select all
Option "AIGLX" "true"
Code: Select all
Section "Server Layout"
...
EndSection
the addition of this code at the end of xorg.conf:
Code: Select all
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
Code: Select all
e3 /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Code: Select all
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Code: Select all
glxinfo | grep dri
at the command line will tell you whether DRI is active and if it is not, typing
Code: Select all
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep dri
Specifically applying to the Open Source radeon drivers are these other recommended additions to xorg.conf for better performance with compiz:
Code: Select all
Option "backingstore" "true"
Option "EnablePageFlip" "true"
Option "SubPixelOrder" "none"
Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "AGPMode" "4"
Option "ColorTiling" "on"
Option "DynamicClocks" "on"
Option "mtrr" "on"
Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Code: Select all
Section "Device"
...
End Section
Installing Compiz
Now for the gold and a million billion squillion thankyous to wow for compiling it and mark2 for hosting it:
wow's Compiz-Fusion dotpet
Now before running compiz the line:
Code: Select all
export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
Code: Select all
#export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
Now! compiz is run by typing:
Code: Select all
compiz-manager
Code: Select all
compiz-manager &
sleep 3
Configuring Compiz
In order to run the Compiz Config Settings Manager (CCSM) that came with wow's dotpet Python (a programming language) needs to be installed.
python_for_CCSM.pet
Once installed Settings->CCSM from the menu should work. There is SOOOO much you can do with compiz, it's not just about wobbily windows you know!
Although CCSM provides all the various key combinations to activate the various special effects the default settings have been collected in this neat little text file:
keybindings
Post Script
I was so incredibly happy when I finally got this working. When I first saw the Aero theme on Vista I was gobsmacked and have to say a little jealous, it seemed such a beautiful perfection of this technology we call the computer. But! Then I saw Beryl! It wiped the floor with Vista AND what's more it was completely free and open source! That was earlier this year and it just looked way to complicated for humble Puppy.
After trying in 2.15CE without success some months ago I finally found the time to get Compiz working on Kubuntu on my laptop. However it was sluggish, but still loads of fun, so much I even considered making it my main system! But inspired to discover that Compiz was compatible with my hardware I got a copy of 3.01 NOP and started messing about. And my goodness when I got this little wipper snapper going, boy did it fly -- like this is what my laptop had been waiting for all its life!
Compiz just brings so much joy to my computing experience, I know it may be just 'bling' to some but for me it adds a subtle and natural beauty -- an extraordinary fusion of art and science. And to get it not just running on Puppy but leaping! Well, truly awesome.
Thankyou Puppy and Thankyou Compiz-Fusion