Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft Upgrade plus Compiz goodness on AIGLX
by oliGeeks with not much to say talk about their tools. Here’s an eft:
Today, I talk about my experience upgrading the FREE Linux distribution Ubuntu from 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) to 6.10 (Edgy Eft). The leap (check this link out if you’re geeky like me) from 6.06 to 6.10 was hyped up to bring lotsa “cutting edge” updates to the distribution. This release happened on time, according to the schedule, on October 26th, unlike Fedora Core 6 which slipped a couple of times. So, hats off Canonical!
In any case, these distributions are maintained by volunteers and/or very little actual paid staff (probably paid peanuts… its about the passion man). Good stuff, somebody should hire them (or not, otherwise we wouldn’t have anybody to do the distro’s!).
Amongst the touted updates are Firefox 2.0, Xorg 7.1 (featuring AIGLX), Gnome 2.16.1, KDE 3.5.5 only to cite some. Pretty spiffy, isn’t it?
Well, apparently on the Internet, people have having trouble upgrading. I had the exact same problem people have described and I’m going to describe steps to take to resolve them.
Killing 2 birds with 1 stone, I’ll explain as well how to get you some Compiz eye-candy. Actually, Compiz is not just eye-candy; in addition to giving you a 3D accelerated desktop interface with wobbling windows (it sounds weird, but looks pretty cool) and other desktop effects, it is also very useful with regards to usability. It supports a bunch of neat features; here’s an expose copycat for instance:
Upgrade problems
Symptom:
1. You just upgraded Ubuntu 6.06 LTS by running
gksudo “update-manager -c -d”
2. You curse yourself because you left this running overnight without realizing you’d actually need to click a few times before everything is installed and set up.
3. You are greeted with the new “high-res” 1280×1024 splash screen, with the new web-2.0-ized Ubuntu logo.
4. Your X server does not want to start.
Cure:
Have you read the README’s and whatnot when you were installing video drivers? I’m not sure about Nvidia drivers, but FGLRX, ATI’s (or should I say ATI/AMD. The red has been replaced by an ugly green… isn’t green Nvidia’s colour?) proprietary drivers have certain dependencies on the current kernel version you have installed.
First, you need to remove anything that’s related to those drivers. If you’re using FGLRX, especially if you made your own .deb packages then installed them, you’re gonna have to remove them.
Reboot, go in recovery mode and run:
dpkg -r xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx-control
Note that if you made .deb packages the package names might be a bit different.
Now if you have 2 choices, either to install the latest version of FGLRX or use the open source drivers. I recommend the second option because you’ll gain AIGLX support which will allow you to get some Compiz or Beryl goodness.
For option 1, simply do:
apt-get install fglrx fglrx-control
To use the open source drivers with 3D rendering, you need to re-install the openGL libraries. Do:
apt-get install –reinstall libgl1-mesa
I highly recommend this guide, which I find can be really useful.
Getting Some Eye-Poppin’ Candy
Now that you’ve installed/re-installed the open source drivers (or beta drivers if you’re an Nvidiot), head over to gandalfn’s Compiz-AIGLX-on-Edgy page for guidance. And follow the instructions.
Fudge around with your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and after multiple edit/restart X server/reboot cycles, you’ll get it up and running. If you’re that far, I don’t think you’ll need any guidance… trust me =) You would’ve abandoned long ago.
Congratulations! You’re running Ubuntu 6.10 with Compiz on AIGLX!
Here are things to ponder before upgrading:
- Its gonna take you some time.
- You’re going to have to mess with your xorg.conf, which can be some pretty messy affair if you don’t know what you’re doing.
- Dual monitor support? Fuhgetdhaboutit! X-server is pretty anal about dual monitor setups, at least for ATI people. FGLRX made that a little bit easier, with BigDesktop support and all… but with open source drivers you’re quite at a loss.
In any case, for people trying to get a good dual monitor setup with at least 1 CRT (running non eye-bleeding refresh rates), with X-server 7.1, open-source ATI drivers and Compiz, I pity thy fool! If you’re successful, I’d be interested in getting your xorg.conf! I gave up the 2nd monitor for now as well as the Logitech G5 buttons & tilt wheel.
Here’s mine: xorg.conf
Nvidia using people I heard over the forums have an easier time with a pretty nifty configuration utility. Oh I envy you. I threw away days of my life cumulatively, setting this up!
Have fun and good luck!
Read more here