I have installed OpenSuse 11.4 86x64 on a comp with nVidia GeForce 6150 . The process of installation didn’t pass smooth - the new nouveau drivers seem conflicted with some other drivers and destroyed YAST2 GUI in the process of installation. I forbid installation of nouveau drivers and managed to installed fresh 11.4 this way.
In KDE4 desktop effects worked smoothly before installing nvidia proprietary drivers. It seems KWIN works better with xrender that OpenGL, unfortunatelly xrender does not support all the effects.
I had always used compiz as composite manager in KDE environment, as it works perfectly with nVidia and OpenGL, and I tried to switch to compiz (compiz comes with the installation dvd ) , but KDE4 does not accept it and returned back to KWIN. There is no more fusion-icon and emerald , so I can not try to switch the compiz manager with fusion-icon.
Once I managed to switch to compiz but without windows decoration and I am not sure that was clear turning on.
I checked if the problem is with the compiz , I loged in Gnome and turned on compiz desktop effects, everything got working perfect and smooth. On next logon in Gnome the session did not turn automatically compiz on , I had to do it manually.
So compiz works perfect with nVidia drivers, KWIN annoyingly slows some actions as grid and expose for example.
I would like to know if there is another way to start and run compiz as composite manager in KDE4 (I tried with choosing compiz as default window manager that does not work for me) and how to make Gnome to start desktop effects on automatically with the login on.
recap:
Compiz appears not working under KDE 4.6.x
emerald no longer supported by Compiz and iirc won’t compile in 11.4
Fusion-icon not compiling in 11.4 (may because it requires Emerald?)
Compiz is started with “compiz --replace” on the command line
With 11.3 compiz is working perfectly with KDE 4.6.1. But with 11.4 it’s terrible slow, I think it’s an issue with the 0.9.x-Release of compiz. I will try the 0.8.6-packages of 11.3 in 11.4.
If it’s working, I will post…
I can confirm that under kde 4.6.1 (neither the shipped 4.6.0) compiz starts but there’re no windows decorations.
Tried to launch kde4-window-decorator --replace but nothing happens, no errors and no window decoration.
I don’t think it’s a graphic card issue, i had the same result with Ati, Nvidia and Intel cards.
I see great improvements in Compiz 0.9.4 in stability and I have to say is daaaaaamn fast >:) compared to version 0.8.x
this is what I did for those who want to try but caution that it’s a bit unstable in my opinion and when it fails to regain control i has to select the KDE window manager (KWin) from kde preferences
Note:
I see a strange behavior when you click on the title bar to resize the windows to occupy the opposite corner, as usual before the action was that process underway to move the window (Alt + F8 or Alt + button 2 are useful if the window grows too )
did not work for me - did all as described by bitcero except started with “compiz --replace” and got no window decorations (same as before). Was hoping the newer rpm’s fixed the problem. At some point will try using the kmc module to start compiz when KDE starts but the “compiz --replace” should work. And remember ymmv
same setup as bitcero 11.4, x64bit, 270.30 and KDE 4.6.1
