Eye Candy for Ubuntu
By the end of this article you should have the ability to setup some pretty fancy graphic enhancements to your ubuntu 9.04 installation. The program we will be using to accomplish these amazing abilities is called Compiz. This article will walk you through exactly how to get compiz up and running along with customizing your entire desktop experience.
Compiz / Compiz Fusion / Beryl .... etc are all programs that allow you to add some pretty amazing effects to your system. Compiz has proven to be extremely easy to setup on ubuntu 9.04. Lets get started
1. Install/Activate the proprietary hardware drivers for your graphics card if needed.
in Gnome click on System-->Administration-->Hardware Drivers
If you see your graphics card listed as having a proprietary driver you will most likely need to activate the proprietary drivers. To do this just click on your graphics card entry in the Hardware Drivers window. Once you have selected your graphics adapter click on the button for Activate. Your system will then go out to the internet, pull down the driver, and then install it on your system. If you had to activate a driver for your graphics card please reboot your system so that it starts using the newly installed driver
2. Install Compiz Settings Manager
In Gnome click on Applications-->Accessories-->Terminal
Once you have a terminal window open enter the following command
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
This will install the compiz settings manager which is what we will be using to setup some of our voodoo desktop effects.
3. Open the Compiz Configuration Settings Manager
In Gnome click on System-->Preferences-->Compiz Config Settings Manager
Once you are in the CCSM click on the General Options under the General section.
Now click on the top right tab of the general options screen. The tab name Desktop Size is what we need to click on next.
You should see Horizontal Virtual Size, Vertical Virtual Size, and Number of Desktops as 3 seperate options with slider bars to set the value. Set the following values for those variables.
Horizontal Virtual Size = 4
Vertical Virtual Size = 1
Number of Desktops = 1
4. Setup The 3D Desktop Cube
If you are still in the Desktop Size dialog screen then click on the back button to return to the main menu for the compiz manager.
Scroll down to the Desktop section of menus. Check on 2 of the options. Desktop Cube & Rotate Cube. Make sure you have both of those options checked. Once these two boxes have been selected we should be able to test the cube. To test the desktop cube you can either click the key combination of Control+Alt+arrow key left / right. Or another option to display the cube is holding down Control + Alt + Left mouse click and hold down. Once you have clicked and held down the left mouse button while holding control + alt you should be able to move the mouse around and make your desktop spin in any direction you want. Nice but were not done just yet.
5. Setup Some Animations
Go to System-->Preferences-->CompizConfig Settings Manager.
Scroll down to the effects section and enable wobbly windows. Now you should be able to left click a window on your desktop and when you drag it around it will appear a little like liquid. Also Enable the 3D Windows by selecting the checkbox. Once you have done both of those tasks we will setup a few window animations and call it good.
Select the two checkboxes for Animations & Animations Add-On. Now click on the Animations box instead of the check box so that we can access the extended options. Select one of the close animation menu items and hit edit. Change the close effect to burn and set the time at 200. Now close an open window on your desktop and you should see it burn up upon exit.
Thats all for now
Hopefully, you were able to follow these instructions and setup your ubuntu system with a little added eye candy.