5

I am trying to enable compiz on my laptop via Desktop Effects but it does not allow it. I modified the xorg.conf file as on the compiz wiki but still no luck.

So can someone just tell me how to enable compiz desktop on an Intel i5 based system. This is an Arrandale processor so its got the graphics bit on the processor itself. My system also has a discrete graphics card (Nvidia GT330M - yup its those hybrid graphics combos n- not Optimus). As far as i know the nvidia gpu is not being used since the intel one is enabled and there is no bios route to disable it. The laptop is a Dell Vostro 3700 with bios version A10

I did lotsa google searches about intel compiz, etc but not a single conclusive guide as to how to enable it. so my guess is it should work out of the box. but it doesn't.

glxinfo

gives me:

name of display: :0.0
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig

Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
3 GLXFBConfigs:
   visual  x  bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer  ms  cav
 id dep cl sp sz l  ci b ro  r  g  b  a bf th cl  r  g  b  a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Segmentation fault

lsbusb gives me:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 18) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 330M] [10de:0a29] (rev a2)

Jorge Castro
  • 71,754
gontadu
  • 832
  • 3
    "GLX" missing means you are not able to use OpenGL with current drivers. As much I googled, I saw people having a lot of problems, so if you want eye candy, I recommend setting Nvidia as your default output. – danizmax Nov 30 '10 at 10:32
  • What's the model name of your notebook? – htorque Nov 30 '10 at 12:30
  • Look at this question to find what kind of information we need to help you and then just add it to your question: http://askubuntu.com/questions/14008/i-have-a-hardware-detection-problem-what-logs-do-i-need-to-look-into – Jorge Castro Nov 30 '10 at 15:56
  • @htorque It is a Dell Vostro 3700 with bios version A10. – gontadu Nov 30 '10 at 18:52
  • @Jorge Castro apologies for the incomplete info, here is output from lspci, 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 18) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 330M] [10de:0a29] (rev a2) i am confused on how to attach a log to this? – gontadu Nov 30 '10 at 18:53
  • @danizmax . . can you suggest where i can get more updated drivers? although i already have the xorg-edgers ppa enabled. – gontadu Nov 30 '10 at 18:55
  • Can you try again with the "Hybrid Graphic" option set to "disabled" (or "off" or something like that)? It should be in the BIOS under the "Advanced" tab. Maybe the presence of the Nvidia GPU confuses the system. And yes, it looks like you cannot switch to the Nvidia GPU in the BIOS, so either the graphics driver can switch from i5 GPU to Nvidia GPU or it's not possible. Nvidia's Linux driver doesn't support this AFAIK, but at least performance wise the i5 GPU should have no problems running Compiz. :-/ – htorque Nov 30 '10 at 20:09
  • It looks like a unresolved bug or at least a wishlist, look here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/312756, there is some on nvidia forum http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=154723, and question to disable the hybrid http://askubuntu.com/questions/15694/how-do-i-disable-intel-graphics-in-a-hybrid-graphics-setup, looks like there is no solution, but I hope it will somehow take you closer. – danizmax Dec 02 '10 at 10:00
  • http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1635751 that's where i've also put the solution :) – gontadu Dec 07 '10 at 08:36
  • @Eshwar Please add your solution as an answer to this question, things get buried in comments. – Jorge Castro Dec 07 '10 at 14:48

3 Answers3

1

I managed to get compiz to work. i uninstalled nvidia's proprietary driver (nvidia-current). now with nouveau, glxinfo gives decent output and says direct rendering is enabled (turns out its talking about the intel chip). then i go to desktop effects, and when i select extra, it says install nvidia proprietary drivers, i click cancel, the screen blinks but compiz is now enabled

Ubuntuforums solution

gontadu
  • 832
1

Try to install bumblebee to have both the Intel and Nvidia cards working simultaneously: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux

sudo apt-get install git
# type password
git clone http://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee.git
cd bumblebee/
sudo ./install.sh
optirun glxgears
# check the speed and compare to running:
glxgears
# If you have google-chrome installed, you can try it with/without optirun and report the FPS values on the mailing list:
optirun google-chrome http://webglsamples.googlecode.com/hg/aquarium/aquarium.html
719016
  • 6,217
0

Like peopple pointed you might be running a nvidia card. Did you try to install the nvidia proprietary driver?

Marcos Roriz Junior
  • 4,627
  • yes i did. somehow i cannot access the settings page since the nvidia drivers seem to require xorg.conf be set up. now as soon as that is set, the laptop cannot complete the boot process. i could startup by modifying the xorg.conf to include both graphics adapters but still compiz didnt work. – gontadu Dec 07 '10 at 08:26
  • did you install the nvidia driver from ubuntu packages or manually? – Marcos Roriz Junior Dec 07 '10 at 15:08
  • nvidia-current from PPA :) – gontadu Jan 12 '11 at 09:34