Compiz fails to work in KDE 4.2

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#1

I know that kwin has it’s own composite manager but I prefer Compiz
because I find it to be faster on my nvidia machine and more mature. I
read some threads on the forum indicating that Compiz works out of the
openSUSE repositories for 4.2, and it even seems to come pre-installed
in 11.1. However, I can’t get Compiz to run on my 11.1 install newly
updated to KDE 4.2 (I had not tried it on KDE 4.1).

When I try to switch to Compiz in the Default Applications section of
‘Personal Settings’ it complains that “the new Window Manager has failed
to start”; when I run compiz --replace in the terminal it just sits
there doing nothing, giving no error message or anything at all until I
close Konsole.

This doesn’t seem to be the same problem I am having as other people
are making threads about, being mostly that when they start Compiz after
a little why they lose window decorations. In my case Compiz just
utterly fails to start. Anyone have any idea what might cause this?

Incidentally, kwin’s graphic effects -do- work and I do have
compositing enabled in my xorg.

Thanks! Any idea at all would be appreciated.

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#2

I think Compiz only works under KDE 4.1.x at the moment. I cannot get
the one-click to work without downgrading to KDE 4.1.x. Which I won’t :slight_smile:

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#3

I have compiz with emerald working in 4.2 by using only the version
available from the X11 XGL repo.
In Yast Software Management > search “compiz” > select the “version”
tab in the lower right pane > select XGL repo version for all compiz
components.

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#4

But you really do not need compiz under Kde4.2. KWin has almost all
effects as compiz has and they are working good.

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#5

Make sure you have the compiz-kde4 package installed as well as compiz

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#6

this is strange, at home i was able to make copiz working with packages
from here :
‘Index of /repositories/X11://XGL/openSUSE_11.1_KDE4_Factory’
(http://tinyurl.com/cpeo9w)

but in office’s computer after changing from kwin to compiz window
decorations are missing. The only difference is i have done KDE update
this morning.

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#7

BoloMarkIII;1941707 Wrote:
> I have compiz with emerald working in 4.2 by using only the version
> available from the X11 XGL repo.
> In Yast Software Management > search “compiz” > select the “version”
> tab in the lower right pane > select XGL repo version for all compiz
> components.

X11 XGL was already selected for all compiz packages.

beli0135;1941721 Wrote:
> But you really do not need compiz under Kde4.2. KWin has almost all
> effects as compiz has and they are working good.

As I said in my original post, I am aware of KWin and its effects, I
just prefer Compiz. It’s far more customizable than KWin, has better
more customizable window management plugins (as opposed to simple
effects), and it runs faster on my nvidia graphics card (although there
was a significant improvement in KWin over 4.1.x and 4.2 – but it is
still not nearly as smooth as Compiz).

caf4926;1941726 Wrote:
> Make sure you have the compiz-kde4 package installed as well as compiz

It’s installed – in fact, it came installed with the 11.1 KDE live CD,
which I find surprising since KDE has KWin, and openSUSE doesn’t really
need two compositing window managers on its live CD, does it?

tleskac;1941745 Wrote:
> this is strange, at home i was able to make copiz working with packages
> from here :
> ‘Index of /repositories/X11://XGL/openSUSE_11.1_KDE4_Factory’
> (http://tinyurl.com/cpeo9w)
>
> but in office’s computer after changing from kwin to compiz window
> decorations are missing. The only difference is i have done KDE update
> this morning.

I tried installing from compiz-fusion-KDE4.ymp, and then
compiz-fusion-all.ymp, and with both Compiz still utterly fails to start
or give an error message. Both .ymp files give me the error that they
could not install the fusion-icons package, though. Interestingly, now
when trying to change window managers to Compiz in the Default
Applications section of settings, it doesn’t even tell me that Compiz
fails to start – it just sits there for 20 seconds doing absolutely
nothing.

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#8

OK.

There seems to be some confusion. You do NOT need to install compiz as
an add on (oneclick or anything else)
Compiz packages are included natively with kde4, that is all you need.
Adding anything else is likely to cause issues.

Your window manager should be kwin and compiz effects are enable by
checking desktop effects in the Config Desktop utility.
All effects option enables you to adjust settings in detail.

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#9

thorjelly;1941624 Wrote:
> I know that kwin has it’s own composite manager but I prefer Compiz
> because I find it to be faster on my nvidia machine and more mature. I
> read some threads on the forum indicating that Compiz works out of the
> openSUSE repositories for 4.2, and it even seems to come pre-installed
> in 11.1. However, I can’t get Compiz to run on my 11.1 install newly
> updated to KDE 4.2 (I had not tried it on KDE 4.1).
>
> When I try to switch to Compiz in the Default Applications section of
> ‘Personal Settings’ it complains that “the new Window Manager has failed
> to start”; when I run compiz --replace in the terminal it just sits
> there doing nothing, giving no error message or anything at all until I
> close Konsole.
>
> This doesn’t seem to be the same problem I am having as other people
> are making threads about, being mostly that when they start Compiz after
> a little why they lose window decorations. In my case Compiz just
> utterly fails to start. Anyone have any idea what might cause this?
>
> Incidentally, kwin’s graphic effects -do- work and I do have
> compositing enabled in my xorg.
>
> Thanks! Any idea at all would be appreciated.

Try to install the compiz-fusion icon then use it when you see it in
the system tray look for the choices for the window manager switch. You
will have selections like kwin, compiz, icewm or xfwm4. You can run kwin
or compiz ant others selecting those. Just right click the mouse in the
compiz-fusion icon in the system tray and you will see those options.

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#10

I’m running Compiz Fusion on two KDE 4.2 machines <see my sig> a desktop
box, and my lappy, but it wasn’t easy figuring out the right combo.

I totally boned my desktop machine by deleting Compiz Fusion and trying
to reinstall it (manually) via the repos! LoL! I wanted to see what
would happen if I did this, and I found out (the hard way)…

I finally got it working again, after two days of frustration. The
trick was to install Compiz Fusion via 1-click:

‘Compiz Fusion - openSUSE’ (http://en.opensuse.org/Compiz_Fusion)

That got me in the ballpark!

The second thing I learned was to NOT use CompizConfig Setting Manager,
nor Simple-CCSM to manipulate the settings. Every time I saved the
settings using those apps, it screwed the pooch. Instead, I use the
-Personal Settings -> Desktop -> Desktop Settings- method exclusively,
and it’s NEVER caused a problem. The settings work as desired, and they
‘stick’ around, e.g. features don’t magically turn themselves off after
a few minutes, or the next reboot, et cetera.

Using this combination, I get stunning 3D desktop effects on both my
desktop box - the spinning desktop cube and the whole nine yards - even
on my lowly laptop! :wink:

–
VinDSL

-Toshiba A215 Laptop, openSuSE-Factory x86_64 KDE 4.2 / GNOME / Vista /
Win7 Quad-Boot
LanParty Desktop, P4 Extreme Edition, openSuSE-11.1 KDE 4.2 / GNOME /
W2K Triple-Boot-

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#11

VinDSL;1942279 Wrote:
> I finally got it working again, after two days of frustration. The
> trick was to install Compiz Fusion via 1-click

When I use this I get about 55 conflicts in Yast, all of them to do
with downgrading KDE to 4.1.3.

[image:
http://thumbnails.imagebam.com/2637/1ca7bf26365861.gif] (“http://www.imagebam.com/image/1ca7bf26365861”) <— See
this screen shot
So, if you got it working using the 1-click I wonder do you still have
kde 4.2.

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#12

@dexter1979

The bit we need to see in the screen is not there (at the top)

Try again - and this time save error to file from the option in the
error console. Paste here in a code wrap.

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#13

VinDSL;1942279 Wrote:
> I’m running Compiz Fusion on two KDE 4.2 machines <see my sig> a desktop
> box, and my lappy, but it wasn’t easy figuring out the right combo.
>
> I totally boned my desktop machine by deleting Compiz Fusion and trying
> to reinstall it (manually) via the repos! LoL! I wanted to see what
> would happen if I did this, and I found out (the hard way)…
>
> I finally got it working again, after two days of frustration. The
> trick was to install Compiz Fusion via 1-click:
>
> ‘Compiz Fusion - openSUSE’ (http://en.opensuse.org/Compiz_Fusion)
>
> That got me in the ballpark!
>
> The second thing I learned was to NOT use CompizConfig Setting Manager,
> nor Simple-CCSM to manipulate the settings. Every time I saved the
> settings using those apps, it screwed the pooch. Instead, I use the
> native -Personal Settings → Desktop → Look & Feel → Desktop Effects-
> method exclusively, and it’s NEVER caused a problem. The settings work
> as desired, and they ‘stick’ around, e.g. features don’t magically turn
> themselves off after a few minutes, or the next reboot, et cetera.
>
> Using this combination, I get stunning 3D desktop effects - the
> spinning desktop cube and the whole nine yards - on my desktop box, and
> even my lowly laptop! :wink:

Thank you!! This is what I needed. Much better than from the repos. :slight_smile:

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thorjelly

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#14

Well, compiling Compiz from source is a failure too. Compiz simply will
not compile on 4.2 without some kind of patches made because of KDE
4.2’s new plasma libraries. I guess it is just borked on 4.2. I have no
idea how you folks who claim to run 4.2 and compiz got it to work – are
you sure you’re running 4.2…?

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thorjelly

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#15

I am having the same problem as you. Seems compiz installs fine but
doesnt do anything in kde 4.2. Says it enabled but effects do not work.

If you switch your default windows manager back to kwin and enable the
desktop effects in personal settings does that even work?

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jaybott

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#16

How many times do we have to stress this:

You do NOT need to install Compiz as a separate component - It is
already integrated in kde4.

‘-?’ Am I sure I’m using kde4.2?-
Durr…:stuck_out_tongue:

kde4 default window manager kwin works just perfectly with the compiz
packages combined in the kde4 desktop repo. Management of all desktop
effects is via the Configure Desktop.

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#17

I made a short clip of it - a video you can download from:

‘Compiz in KDE4.2 - Video - By carl4926’
(http://my.opera.com/carl4926/blog/2009/02/11/compiz-in-kde4-2-video)

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#18

Okay, I am fairly sure that Kwin effects and Compiz effects are
completely different things. Kwin’s desktop cube is /not/ a Compiz
effect, it is a Kwin effect. They are completely independent. Kwin has
never had any support for Compiz plugins as far as I know, and probably
never will. Try uninstalling Compiz completely from your system and I’m
fairly sure you will still be able to have desktop cube, along with all
of your other Kwin effects and plugins. And I don’t want Kwin effects
and plugins, because I do not think they are as good as Compiz,
especially when it comes to customizability, and not to mention speed on
an nvidia machines like mine.

So… apparently the reason why compiz will not compile on a KDE 4.2
machine (with KDE4 support) is because plasma/panelsvg.h in KDE 4.2 is
named plasma/framesvg.h. If you go through the code and replace
panelsvg.h with framesvg.h then it will apparently work… but I really
don’t wanna go through hacking through Compiz’s source code.

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#19

I got it working. I did what Caf said… but slightly different.

I used the one-click install for Compiz-Fusion for KDE 4.1.x but I
pressed customise and deselected all the repo’s it was going to get the
packets from. Also unclicked the stay subscribed to repo button. Now it
installed Compiz without hassel because it took them from the KDE 4
Factory repo. It was only missing the fusion icon but that can be got
from the X11 repo if you want it. I don’t need it.

Then just enable compiz as the window manager under Configure Desktop -
Default Aplications.

Compiz goodness with KDE 4.2 rocks!
Thanks everyone for your help and I didn’t even start this tread :stuck_out_tongue:

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