[GRLUG] Compiz not working properly on Ubuntu Hardy with ATI 9000 radeon rv250 firegl
John Harig
radiodurans at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 7 14:13:33 EDT 2008
The drama continues . . . next issue to resolve . . .
History:
Well if you may recall the dc jack broke off my
brother's inspiron 5150 (apparently the repair place
has lots of those as the jack is only soldered in two
places and they break easily), there was a subsequent
motherboard issue from the repair, and I didnt want to
put a couple hundred into a laptop motheboard so they
offered to exchange it with a used dell d600.
Issue: So the device has the following video device:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies
Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 01)
I talked my brother into letting me install ubuntu
8.04LTS, and after he saw the eye candy compiz on
youtube, i tried to get it working on hardy. . . and
now I remember the frustration when i tried to get it
working before.
Effects didn't work after initial install so ...
Procedure:
1) Tried installing fglrx - bad idea, but a great many
people are still suggesting it to me . . .
It was bad idea because
Series 7000 - 9500 Uses AIGLX
Series 9550 and higher uses FGLRX
so i reinstalled back to AIGLX
2) edited xorg.conf - my current file looks like this:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbVariant" "altgr-intl"
Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250
[Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 01)"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "GARTSize" "64"
Option "AGPMode" "4" #optional
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
#Added from Wiki
Option "Composite" "Enable"
#Added from Wiki
EndSection
#Added from Wiki
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
3) added code to /etc/drirc
<driconf>
<device screen="0" driver="radeon">
<application name="all">
<option name="allow_large_textures"
value="2" />
</application>
</device>
</driconf>
4) Discovered that my card is blacklisted by Compiz
and I found the following to resolve:
To bypass the compiz-manager blacklist on various
video cards and drivers, run: « mkdir -p
~/.config/compiz; echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >>
~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager » More info:
http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist/
5) I was then able to select effects in appearences,
but it appeared very strange, like the resolution was
wrong and there was ghosting of windows:
http://picpaste.com/del/7xDLa42F/Screenshot_9.png
So this is where I am at and playing around with it.
The guy who was helping me with it said he gave up on
his and went back to gutsy... where it is working fine
for him apparently :).
I'm forging ahead, so any ideas would be welcome!
Below I am pasting the help thread I was using if it
helps with ideas:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/16729/
Jack_Sparrow's Notes on Enabling Effects on Pre 9550
Series Ati cards:
This Page for reference:
http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/52861/
New reference page for ATI and fglrx:
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Gutsy_Installation_Guide
Xorg from my Dell C640 Laptop
http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/52615/
**************************************************************
**** Prerequisites
**************************************************************
Identify the video card in your system
From cli / terminal type:
lspci -v |grep ATI
Make sure the following things are true about your
video card:
It is a 'ATI' card, and also shows it is a 'Radeon'
card
The model of the card is in the 7000 series, up to
9500,
The 'fglrx'driver does not support cards earlier than
the 9500.
Only do this if you need hardware-accelerated 3D
support, or a display refresh rates higher than 60 Hz.
The open source drivers are fine for all other
areas.
Note that if you own an ATI card from the R400 series
or below,
you already have working 2D and may have accelerated
3D with the default drivers.
These cards include:
R400 series Xnnn (X800, X700, etc) (3D works)
R300 series (9300+) (3D works)
R200 and R100 series (9200 and below)
*****************************************************************************
**** Some Important Notes:
*****************************************************************************
First and most important.. You do not need new
drivers... The preinstalled, open source drivers work
fine
Second and almost as important.. If you installed (or
even just tried to install) Xorg-driver-FGLRX , you
need to remove it
It will NOT correctly work with these cards...
After you remove fglrx, you sometimes need to
reinstall the libgl1-mesa-glx package (that's the mesa
libgl)
Verifying fglrx is not installed:
From cli / terminal type:
fglrxinfo
It should show: The program 'fglrxinfo' is currently
not installed.
Multiple X server screens (eg. :0 and :1) will cause
Xorg to disable direct rendering; as such, Compiz will
not work with such setups.
Xinerama will cause Xorg to disable direct rendering,
so Compiz will not work with such setups either.
For Xinerama-like functionality, you will need to use
MergedFB (the radeon man page has some useful
information on setting this up).
I did find that this help page did not work for
someone that had tried Automatix to get Compiz-Effects
working.
******************************************************************************
**** Getting Started...
*****************************************************************************
Open Synaptic
Enable all the extra Repositories
(I also like to disable the CD as a repo while in
there)
Search for Xorg-driver-FGLRX
If it is enabled ( installed...) Mark it for complete
removal and click on apply
Search for libgl1-mesa-glx
If it is NOT enabled ( installed...) Mark it for
Installation and click on apply
Search for and install CCSM -
compizconfig-settings-manager Mark it for installation
and click on apply
Search for and Install - xserver-xorg-video-all
*****************************************************************************
**** Close Synaptic
*****************************************************************************
Before you make changes to your Xorg:
Always have a backup copy in the same directory:
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
Write down on a piece of paper the command from cli to
restore that backup if needed:
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf
While you have a pen and paper..
If you get stuck at a cli or use escape to get into
recovery mode cli use this command to make changes:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Note: Failsafe is to select Vesa Mode/Driver 1024 x
768 Max res and simple setup
To Restart After Reconfiguring:
/etc/init.d/gdm restart
To Create a copy of the xorg on your desktop for easy
viewing: Not a bad idea to have for reference.
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf ~/Desktop/xorg.conf.$(date
+%m-%d-%Y-%T)
To make the changes to your Xorg from GUI:
gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
To make the changes to your Xorg from cli
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Save and Exit with... ctrl-o then ctrl-x
*****************************************************************************
***** Make those 'xorg.conf' Changes Now...
***********************************************************
Log out and back in.. You can use
ctrl-alt-backspace... to restart X... but I prefer to
avoid using that command
If you do use ctrl-alt-backspace please be sure to
shut down all programs first.
Click on System... Preferences... Appearance....
Visual Effects... You should now be able to enable
effects
Additional note:
Due to AIGLX, you may need to tell your 3D driver to
use indirect rendering.
This command tells you if you have direct rendering
enabled... glxinfo | grep direct
To Set the Environment variable before the compiz
command.
What you enter in the terminal should look like this:
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=true compiz --replace
--indirect-rendering --sm-disable ccp &
***********************************************************************************
**** Changes: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
*****************************************************************************
There are a couple simple changes to your xorg that
you need to get Compiz-Effects working
I remarked the additions that did not need to be added
on this system to get basic effects to work
but they may be required on other systems, or may
make your system faster when applied.
Just know how to reconfigure it from cli to get back
in... :)
I added four lines to the following section:
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7
LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
# Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
#Added from Wiki Effects will work without this
turned on (Testing with Cube)
Option "GARTSize""64"
#Added from Ulga Effects will not work unless this
is turned on (Testing with Cube)
# Option "AGPMode""4"
#Added from Ulga Effects will work without this
turned on but may be faster if on
# Option "AGPFastWwrite" "true"
#Added from Compiz-Effects will work without and
may be unstable on some systems
EndSection
I added a new Section right below the EndSection for
Section "Screen"
#Section "Extensions"
#Added from Wiki.. But this section should no
longer be needed
# Option "Composite" "Enable"
#Added from Wiki.. add reference here for Xorg
version or module
#EndSection
#Added from Wiki.. for cut off date/version where
this is needed
I added two lines to the following section:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
# Option "AIGLX""true"
#Added from Ulga and #Added from Wiki
#
#Effects will work without this turned on (Testing
with Cube)
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
#*****************************************************************************
#*** End Xorg Changes:
#***************************************************8
Patch/Hack Number Two: Increasing the Available size
for textures on the series one cards ..from 1024 to
2048
Posted by crdlb on Thu 3 Jan on #Ubuntu
I tested effects on my ATI 7500 Mobility Radeon at
1400 x 1050 and they worked
gksudo gedit /etc/drirc
Add the following lines and save the file
<driconf>
<device screen="0" driver="radeon">
<application name="all">
<option name="allow_large_textures"
value="2" />
</application>
</device>
</driconf>
*****************************************************************************
**** End Jack_Sparrow
**************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
**** My Rewrite of:
http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/ATI_with_AIGLX
**************************************************************************************
This page details how to set up Compiz-Effects for
supported ATI/AMD cards with the open source driver.
Contents
1. Identifying the generation for your ATI card
2. Settings in xorg.conf
3. Notes
For 1st-generation through 4th-generation Radeon cards
(but excluding the Xpress chipsets), the open source
'ati' driver, in combination with AIGLX, is the
recommended method for running Compiz. This range
extends from the Radeon DDR/SDR/7000 through the
X1050.
First-generation Radeons have a maximum 3D texture
resolution of 1024x1024, so Compiz will not work
properly on displays larger than that unless the
second patch/hack is applied.
2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Radeons (from the 9250
through the X1050) support a maximum 3D texture
resolution of 2048x2048. This means that you cannot
run Compiz properly on (for example) two 1280x1024
screens (with a total resolution of 2560x1024) in a
horizontal MergedFB setup (although a vertical setup
would work, as that would give you a total resolution
of 1280x2048). Any screen real estate beyond the
2048th pixel will likely have a completely white
background, and any windows beyond that point will
leave massive trails behind it. It is possible to work
around this limitation by recompiling Mesa and setting
a higher MAX_TEXTURE_RECT_SIZE in
src/mesa/main/config.h. This simply causes your 3D
driver to lie to Compiz about what the card supports;
as such, it causes its own problems (primarily, the
desktop background and icons will be stretched to the
point where they are useless, and certain compositing
docks will not work properly when positioned at the
top or bottom of the screen).
Direct Rendering should also be working out-of-the-box
on any of those cards; you can confirm this by running
glxinfo | grep -i direct and making sure it says the
following: direct rendering: Yes
The Water effects in Compiz require
GL_ARB_fragment_program support, which is only
available in r300 and newer cards (Radeon 9550 and
higher). In addition, this was not available through
indirect rendering till Xorg 7.2.
To identify your video card you type this in a cli...
lshw | grep ati ?
Series 7000 - 9500 Will Use AIGLX
Series 9550 and higher will use FGLRX
*****************************************************************************
**** Instructions for those cards using "Aiglx"
*****************************************************************************
First and most important.. You do not need new
drivers... The preinstalled, open source drivers work
fine
Second and almost as important.. If you installed
Xorg-driver-FGLRX you need to remove it
After you remove fglrx, you sometimes need to
reinstall the libgl1-mesa-glx package (that's the mesa
libgl)
Multiple X server screens (eg. :0 and :1) will cause
Xorg to disable direct rendering; as such, Compiz will
not work with such setups.
Xinerama will cause Xorg to disable direct rendering,
so Compiz will not work with such setups either.
For Xinerama-like functionality, you will need to use
MergedFB (the radeon man page has some useful
information on setting this up).
I did find that this page did not work for a person
that had tried Automatix to get effects working.
I asked him up front.. He said No he had not. He
wasted two days of his time... Then reinstalled
Ubuntu.. And now it works great...
******************************************************************************
Getting Started...
Open Synaptic
Enable all the extra Repositories
(I also like to disable the CD as a repo while in
there)
Search for Xorg-driver-FGLRX, If it is enabled (
installed...) Mark it for complete removal and click
on apply
Search for libgl1-mesa-glx If it is NOT enabled (
installed...) Mark it for Installation and click on
apply
Search for and install CCSM -
compizconfig-settings-manager
Mark it for installation and click on apply
**** Close Synaptic
**********************************************************************************
Before you make changes to your Xorg:
Always have a backup copy in the same directory:
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
Write down on a piece of paper the command from cli to
restore that backup if needed:
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf
While you have a pen and paper..
If you get stuck at a cli or use escape to get into
recovery mode cli use this command to make changes:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Note: Failsafe is to select Vesa Mode/Driver 1024 x
768 Max res and simple setup
To Restart After Reconfiguring:
/etc/init.d/gdm restart
To Create a copy of the xorg on your desktop for easy
viewing: Not a bad idea to have for reference.
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf ~/Desktop/xorg.conf.$(date
+%m-%d-%Y-%T)
To make the changes to your Xorg from GUI:
gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
To make the changes to your Xorg from cli
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Save and Exit with... ctrl-o then ctrl-x
*****************************************************************************
***** Make Changes Now
***********************************************************
Log out and back in.. You can use
ctrl-alt-backspace... to restart X... but I prefer to
avoid using that command
If you do use ctrl-alt-backspace please be sure to
shut down all programs first.
Click on System... Preferences... Appearance....
Visual Effects... You should now be able to enable
effects
Additional note:
Due to AIGLX, you may need to tell your 3D driver to
use indirect rendering.
This command tells you if you have direct rendering
enabled... glxinfo | grep direct
To Set the Environment variable before the compiz
command.
What you enter in the terminal should look like this:
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=true compiz --replace
--indirect-rendering --sm-disable ccp &
***********************************************************************************
**** Changes: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
*****************************************************************************
There are a couple simple changes to your xorg that
you need to get Compiz-Effects working
I remarked the additions that did not need to be added
on this system to get basic effects to work
but they may be required on other systems, or may
make your system faster when applied.
Just know how to reconfigure it from cli to get back
in... :)
I added four lines to the following section:
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7
LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
# Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
#Added from Wiki Effects will work without this
turned on (Testing with Cube)
Option "GARTSize""64"
#Added from Ulga Effects will not work unless this
is turned on (Testing with Cube)
# Option "AGPMode""4"
#Added from Ulga Effects will work without this
turned on but may be faster if on
# Option "AGPFastWwrite" "true"
#Added from Compiz-Effects will work without but
may be unstable on some systems
EndSection
I added a new Section right below the EndSection for
Section "Screen"
Section "Extensions"
#Added from Wiki
Option "Composite" "Enable"
#Added from Wiki
EndSection
#Added from Wiki
I added two lines to the following section:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
# Option "AIGLX""true"
#Added from Ulga and #Added from Wiki
#
#Effects will work without this turned on (Testing
with Cube)
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
#*****************************************************************************
#*** End Xorg Changes:
#***************************************************
**** Patch/Hack Number Two: Increasing the Available
size for textures on the series one cards ..from 1024
to 2048
**** Posted by crdlb on Thu 3 Jan on #Ubuntu
****************************************************
I tested effects on my ATI 7500 Mobility Radeon at
1400 x 1050 and they worked
gksudo gedit /etc/drirc
Add the following lines and save the file
<driconf>
<device screen="0" driver="radeon">
<application name="all">
<option name="allow_large_textures"
value="2" />
</application>
</device>
</driconf>
*****************************************************************************
**** End Jack_Sparrow
**************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
**** Instructions for Series 9550 and higher using
FGLRX:
*****************************************************************************
In the works as you read this....
*****************************************************************************
**** End FGLRX
***********************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
**** Additional resource used...
***********************************************************************************************
Source for the following...
http://www.uluga.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3637569&postcount=9
At the end, is really simple to get it to use compiz
or beryl, all you need to do is add 3 lines into your
xorg.conf
The Lines were Rem'd here just for reference as colors
didnt show in pastebin
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW
[Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
# Option "GARTSize" "64"
# Option "AGPMode" "4"
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
# Option "AIGLX" "true"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
That's all, save file, restart X, and you can
perfectly enable visual effects. maybe you won't have
the quality you should expect, but is nice enough.
***************************************************************************************************
<crdlb> adamk is the one who wrote that compiz fusion
wiki page
[18:07] <crdlb> he's on IRC most days
****************************************************************************************************
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