Ubuntu

Desktop Effects

Asked by Daniel

I could not enable desktop effects. I typed lspci in the command line and had the following answer....

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 315PRO PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter
02:02.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
02:02.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
02:02.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 63)
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

any help ?

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Solved by:
Vojtěch Trefný
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Revision history for this message
Vojtěch Trefný (vojtech.trefny) said : 		#1

What do you mean by this - "I could not enable desktop effects." - some error messages would be very helpful...

Please send output of this command: "glxinfo | grep render"

Revision history for this message
Daniel (danbar) said : 		#2

I tried to click on system, preference, Appearance, visual effects, extra and it said desktop effects could not be enabled. there are no more error messages.

The answer to your second sentence is.....

direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect

Revision history for this message
Vojtěch Trefný (vojtech.trefny) said : 		#3

This is the problem - "direct rendering: No" - 3D acceleration doesn't work...

Please send content of file /etc/X11/xorg.conf

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Daniel (danbar) said : 		#4

sorry....how do I find such a file?

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Vojtěch Trefný (vojtech.trefny) said : 		#5

So, go to Places → Computer → Filesystem → etc (folder) → X11 (folder) → here is file xorg.conf (double click will open it in Text Editor).

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Daniel (danbar) said : 		#6

 file found xorg.config

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
 Driver "kbd"
 Option "CoreKeyboard"
 Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
 Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
 Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Configured Mouse"
 Driver "mouse"
 Option "CorePointer"
 Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
 Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
 Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
 Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Driver "wacom"
 Identifier "stylus"
 Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
 Option "Type" "stylus"
 Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Driver "wacom"
 Identifier "eraser"
 Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
 Option "Type" "eraser"
 Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Driver "wacom"
 Identifier "cursor"
 Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
 Option "Type" "cursor"
 Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 315PRO PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter"
 Driver "sis"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Generic Monitor"
 Option "DPMS"
 HorizSync 28-64
 VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 315PRO PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter"
 Monitor "Generic Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "Default Layout"
 Screen "Default Screen"
 InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
 InputDevice "Configured Mouse"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
# InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Revision history for this message
Vojtěch Trefný (vojtech.trefny) said : 		#7

I have bad information - for this card is no way to get 3D accelaration (in GNU/Linux) and without it you can't run Compiz Fusion (Desktop Effects...). I have found this inforamtion on internet (trustful source)...

Revision history for this message
Daniel (danbar) said : 		#8

Thanks for your time and patience. Can you please give me one last piece of information? Which is my card and which are the cards which are compatible with Linux? (so that when I upgrade I would know what to ask for)

Revision history for this message
Best Vojtěch Trefný (vojtech.trefny) said : 		#9

Your card is this - Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 315PRO

The best cards (for runing linux) are Intel (915g, 945g...) - drivers are in default installation, no problems.
"Second place" - Nvidia - default driver is good but doesn't support 3D acceleration, but non-opensource drivers can be easily installed via Restricted Driver Manager.
ATI - default driver is good but doesn't support 3D acceleration, non-opensource driver (fglrx) can be also installed via Restricted Driver Manager but there are many problems with this driver and using Desktop Effects (and from "hardware point of view" is ATI also not so good...).
VIA Openchrome - I don't have expirience with this cards, but somewhere I have read that they support 3D acceleration in Ubuntu, but I don't know...

Revision history for this message
Daniel (danbar) said : 		#10

Thanks Vojtěch Trefný, that solved my question.