Yet another guide for Compiz – ATI – Ubuntu Gutsy

I screwed up my Ubuntu installation last weekend when I tried to install the latest ATI driver from AMD‘s website. I couldn’t login to my GNOME session. I then thought I would do a fresh install of Ubuntu 7.10 since my earlier Gutsy installation was from alpha stage to final release. I reinstalled Ubuntu 7.10. When I logged in, Ubuntu didn’t install the proprietary driver for ATI card. Compiz didn’t work even after installing the proprietary driver. Here are the steps I followed to enable Compiz under ATI for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10:

1. Install ATI driver through restricted driver manager (System – Administration – Restricted Driver Manager), if it’s not installed already. Reboot the system. Go to System – Preferences – Apperances. Go to Desktop Effects tab and select Normal or Extra. When I selected Normal or Extra, I got an error saying Composite extension is not installed (or something similar to that effect). If you get that message, proceed below.
2. Install fglrx by issuing the command sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx in a terminal or search for fglrx in Synaptic and install xorg-driver-fglrx.
3. Edit the xorg file (command: sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf). Add the following to xorg if it’s not there. Add it after your video card definition. (I’m not sure if it’s really needed since I’m not that technical, but it worked for me).

Section “DRI”
Mode 0666
EndSection

I also had
Section “Extensions”
Option “Composite” “0″
EndSection

I changed that to

Section “Extensions”
Option “Composite” “Enable”
EndSection

Save and exit. Reboot your system and login. Go back to Appearances under System – Preferences and try checking Normal or Extra under Desktop Effect tab. If it worked, well and good. If not, continue…

4. Now install XGL by issuing this command in the terminal.
sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl

5. Install dbus-x11 for dbus launcher. I’m not sure what this is for. I read somewhere that you need this. You can try without this step too.
sudo apt-get install dbus-x11

Reboot and try the Desktop effects again. If it didn’t work, continue the steps below.

6. Create a file sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/startxgl.sh and add the following lines:

#!/bin/sh
Xgl -fullscreen :1 -ac -accel glx:pbuffer -accel xv:pbuffer &
export DISPLAY=:1
dbus-launch –exit-with-session gnome-session

Save and exit.

7. Create another file sudo gedit /usr/share/xsessions/xgl.desktop and add the lines below:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=GNOME with XGL
Comment=
Exec=/usr/local/bin/startxgl.sh
Icon=
Type=Application

Save and exit.

Reboot. Login as usual and check if the desktop effects work for you. It worked for me. If not, log out (don’t reboot), click on options at the lower left bottom of the login window, select session and select GNOME with Xgl and login. Select Just fot this session when prompted. If everything works fine, then select that as your default session.