Is it possible to run CCSM on Kubuntu?

[r_avital]

Hi all,

I understand that some of the effects provided by Compiz are built right into the Kubuntu interface and accessible via system settings. I'm trying to set a few plugins and such via the actual CCSM interface.

I've run ccsm from a terminal, I get the jumpy icon, I get the rectangle for it in the task-bar as for any app. But it exists, without ever showing up on screen. The terminal output is:

compizconfig - Info: Backend : ini
compizconfig - Info: Integration : true
compizconfig - Info: Profile : unity
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

Is this normal? I would imagine not.

Is it possible to run ccsm within Kubuntu, and if so, what do I need to do?

Thanks in advance

[stari siga]

Did you try switching to compiz as tour window manager first ?

[SteveRiley]

CCSM is the Compiz Configuration Settings Manger. KWin, the default window manager for Kubuntu and other KDE-based distributions, is not Compiz. Therefore, you can't use a Compiz tool to configure KWin.

You could replace KWin with Compiz, but that's not a tested scenario and has been reported to be, well, flaky.

[r_avital]

If you mean issuing "compiz --replace" in a terminal, yes. I did not make it permanent, but it should be in effect for the current session, correct? At any rate, I just tried again. Same output in terminal as I posted above, and my windows decorations disappeared, to boot

Is the command different?

[r_avital]

You could replace KWin with Compiz, but that's not a tested scenario and has been reported to be, well, flaky.

Ah, thanks. I've seen that flakiness under gnome, and I know compiz is also still buggy. So basically you get what you get, and if I can't run it I should just forget about it?

[SteveRiley]

Ah, thanks. I've seen that flakiness under gnome, and I know compiz is also still buggy. So basically you get what you get, and if I can't run it I should just forget about it?

That's what I'd recommend. Remember that every window you have open runs as a child of /usr/bin/X. What if some bug in Compiz caused X to crash and restart? (I've seen this happen.) You'd lose everything in every open Window. What if one of those Windows happened to be running a virtual machine? You risk damaging the integrity of the VM.

Compiz is now pretty much only a Canonical project, maintained by them for running the Unity plugin. GNOME Shell won't work with it at all. openSUSE and Fedora have deprecated it. After seven years, the thing still isn't at version 1.0. The lead developer quit and won't port it to Wayland. Do yourself a favor -- stick with KWin.

[vinnywright]

the last time I tryed it (Kubuntu-11.04)it was a bit flaky but did work .......you nead to install compiz , compizconfig-settings-manager , and fusion-icon ........you use fusion-icon to switch between KWin and compiz ,,,,, you must do this as if both are trying to run at once it gets REAL flaky

VINNY

[r_avital]

Steve,

All good points. I was struggling with Gnome3 and this unity nonsense (no offense to anyone) was the reason I was looking for alternatives, like MATE desktop, Mint, xubuntu, kubuntu, anything to give me the stability of Lucid LTS with gnome2. I had actually made progress with gnome-fallback, but that' not going to be maintained much longer. I consider unity a virus, good for filling launchpad with bug reports, but that's just me.

At any rate, thanks, I think you're right and will follow your advice.

[SteveRiley]

Spend some time with Kubuntu and KDE...I suspect you may come to like it.

If you wish for a DE closest to your GNOME 2 experience, Xubuntu is probably your best bet. Although at least twice in my forays through Google I've found blog posts where people describe setting up KDE to look and function a lot like GNOME 2. You might take a look for something like that yourself.

[Detonate]

I used Compiz faithfully for years with Ubuntu and Mint with Mate, but the last upgrades in those distributions just no longer work well with Compiz. I have had Compiz installed on Kubuntu, but quickly realized that Kwin was a better way to go. It is fully integrated with the KDE desktop and does all of the things I used Compiz for. So I recommend Kwin over Compiz in Kubuntu.

[r_avital]

Spend some time with Kubuntu and KDE...I suspect you may come to like it.

Yep. I've tried xubuntu, it's the one that comes closest to gnome2. And I know you're right about Kubuntu, I had a wonderful experience with KDE back inthe 3.x days, under Debian, and earlier under Mandriva Free 2007, I loved it. It's just that when I went to ubuntu (Hardy, at the time), as it always does, it defaulted to gnome, and I figured, what the heck, why not learn something new, and found the learning curve very gentle and grew to like it.

And Detonate, I agree completely, the less configuration software burdening a system, the better. I simply never had to use the " --replace" to replace anything under gnome2 when running compiz, so that threw me out for a loop a little bit. But I agree, under Kubuntu, I shouldn't bother with compiz.

[sithlord48]

kde 4 is really good now. i do remember back in those kde 3.x days and for the most part kde 4 is now at that point itself. i can't really think of much is better about kde 3 now . back when kde3 was around i used to run that w/ compiz and continued to do so untill maybe kde 4.2 . some time around then kwin picked up most of the compiz tricks and combined w/ aurorae theme engine became a complete kde solution to the compiz and emerald management and themeing solution. One of the cool features of kde4 is "Get Hot New Stuff" that orange star that lets you get new themes, widgets, kdm themes, etc also lets you now lets you get kwin effects too. kde4 is good and stable now and you can basicly set it up like just about any DE you wanted fairly easily.

[r_avital]

Sorry for reviving this thread,

I'm pretty happy with Kubuntu Trusty (64Bit), currently on a test machine (in fact, same as my "production" machine, but booting from a USB HDD). I've been able to get the minimal stuff I wanted out of Compiz that is already built-in on KDE. Also, I've been able to use Kwin to set up keyboard shortcuts for Window management, with a fairly close match to what those shortcuts were doing in Gnome/Unity.

There is only one thing I'm missing: in ccsm, in the Windows Management section, there is a plugin called "scale," and it's been fairly stable and reliable. What it does: whetever there are multiple windows open on a desktop, hitting the shortcut key will "zoom out" so to speak, reduce all windows to a smaller size and fit them all on the desktop so you can fully see each and every one. It also darkens the screen but keeps adequate brightness on the windows, and puts a colored frame around the last one to have focus. You can then pick the one you want to switch to, and that window is raised, all windows go back to their normal size.

I could not find an equivalent to that in Kwin. To anyone's knowledge, is there such a thing? Not critical, but I'd like to keep my work environment consistent to what it was under Unity.

Incidentally, I've tried to use the fusion-icon package to switch between kwin and compiz and make sure only one of them is active, but as of this writing, fusion-icon results in a crash notification, so that option is out for now.

Thanks in advance!

[SteveRiley]

The similar KWin effect is called "Present Windows."

[r_avital]

That did it. Many thanks, Steve!