Compiz is one of the oldest compositing window managers for Xorg, and though it has become less popular over time, it still has remarkable performance and a very large featureset. Effects are implemented as loadable plugins, and Compiz can be used as a drop-in replacement for the default window managers and compositors of most other desktops. Two versions of Compiz are in existence, Compiz. Compiz (/ kɒmpɪz /) is a compositing window manager for the X Window System, using 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. Effects, such as a minimization animation or a cube workspace, are implemented as loadable plugins.
Now that we have setup the perfect desktop using Ubuntu 10.04, its time to make it look sleek and add some eye candy. The procedure to install Compiz and Emerald window decorator on Ubuntu 10.04 is identical to that for Karmic. If you have your desktop effects enabled then it means that you already have Compiz installed and working.
Remember: to get desktop effects working you must install the driver for your video card by going to System > HardwareDrivers and then enabling the appropriate driver. To install the packages needed for emerald and compiz run the following command in a terminal.
sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-plugins compiz-gnome compiz-core emerald compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra fusion-icon compizconfig-settings-manager
Now to have compiz running with your chosen settings and effects you would need to have the fusion-icon app running at all times. Launch it now from Applications > System Tools menu. You should now be able to see a blue cube icon in your taskbar which looks like this
Right click on this icon to reveal this menu:
You can change compiz settings by going into Settings Manager and install new Emerald Themes by launching Emerald Theme Manager. Ubuntu doesn’t install themes for Emerald by default. So you would have to download ones you like manually from here or here. My pick is this simple and elegant theme. For installing a bunch of cool themes in one go for Metacity and Emerald including icon packs, see this post.
If anything goes wrong with the window manager and X display looks messed up, then reloading Window Manager should fix it 9 of 10 times. If you want to use emerald to be your default window decorator with Compiz, you can make the selection from Select Window Decorator option in the menu shown above.
Next thing to do is to ensure that compiz gets loaded every time you start/restart your computer. To ensure this, add fusion-icon in the list of Startup Application inside System > Preferences > Startup Application. Click add to enter new startup application and enter fusion-icon –no-start as shown below:Now add it and Compiz would be loaded with your chosen settings every time. Let me also list out couple of my favorite settings for compiz fusion, which you can enable using Settings Manager shown in Menu above.
1. Expose effect (you take your mouse to a chosen corner and you get Mac like Expose effect): For this to work all you need is the Scale (plugin inside Window Management settings selected). Press Win+w to activate it.
2. Viewport Switching (switch / flip between your virtual workspace or desktop by rotating mouse wheel): This effect used to be enabled by default inside older versions of Ubuntu, but since Karmic they haven’t enabled it by default. You can enable it by selecting the following inside Viewport Switcher settings, click on the buttons to enable it and then choose settings of Button5 and Button4 for next and previous workspace. This really helps with the workflow.
3. Desktop Wall to Desktop Cube in Compiz: Just enable the plugin by first un-ticking the Desktop Wall and then ticking the Desktop Cube option. Also tick Rotate Cube and 3D Windows options for enhanced effects. If you have enabled Viewport Switching as described above, you can switch between desktops by rotating mouse wheel, and the desktop flips over like a rotating Cube. Now to get the full 3D view of your Workspace, hold Ctrl+Alt and left click anywhere on the desktop and while holding the left mouse button move the mouse to see your workspace turn in to a virtual polyhedron like one shown below.
4. Drag Windows to Other Workspace
Os X For Macbook Pro
Possibly related posts (generated automatically):
What is Compiz ?
(taken from Compiz README)
Compiz is an OpenGL compositing manager that use GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap for binding redirected top-level windows to texture objects. It has a flexible plug-in system and it is designed to run well on most graphics hardware.
Okay, this description isn’t really meaningful. In a nutshell, Compiz is a compositing manager, which means that it enhances the overall user interaction by adding fancy effects to your windows, from drop shadows to awesome desktop effects like the Desktop Cube or the Expo view.
Compiz can also be a window manager, which means that it is the software between you and your desktop apps. It enables you to move or resize windows, to switch workspaces, to switch windows easily (using alt-tab or so), and so on.
There are two release series of Compiz available that differ in certain technical respects although functionally almost identical. Plugins built for one series will not work with the other.
The latest stable release of the Compiz 0.8 series is 0.8.8.
The latest stable release of the Compiz 0.9 series is 0.9.13.0 and bug reports can be found here.
What was Compiz Fusion ?
If you heard of Beryl or Compiz Fusion, it’s us as well ! Check the wiki page for more details on the (somewhat troubled) project history.
(taken from AboutCompizFusion Wiki page)
Compiz Fusion is the result of a merge between the well-known Beryl composite window manager and Compiz Extras, a community set of improvements to the Compiz composite window manager. Compiz Fusion aims to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowed environment, allowing use of the graphics hardware to render each individual window and the entire screen, to provide some impressive effects, speed and usefulness. The first Compiz Fusion developer release was Compiz Fusion 0.5.2 on August 13th 2007, shortly after Compiz 0.5.2 was released. First stable release of Compiz Fusion is 0.6.0 released on October 20 2007.
Mac Os Compiz
Compiz is an open-source software project, meaning anyone can use it freely and contribute.