How to Edit Compiz Settings in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot?

Compiz is an advanced 3D Graphics rendering manager + is one of the first to add the 3D compositing feature to the X-Windows GUI library. After sometime a bit of a rival came called Berryl (a fork of Compiz) but later it was merged back into it thus Compiz the current dominator. But that could change since Gnome Shell uses a one of its own 3D render called Mutter.

Anyhow, you can find a decent amount of GUI tools to edit Compiz settings but for some reason most of the GUI tool can drag you into a bit of a unstable system. And I think the reason is that when you change a setting or two using them, those 1 or 2 settings applies some certain amount of "child" settings inside them which means a lot of changes concerning the 3D rendering engine which leads to the unstable OS, perhaps.

Ubuntu Linux made some serious adaptations of Compiz with the introduction of their Unity desktop module and as almost all knows it has two versions.

Unity 3D: The default version which uses the 3D rendering by default to create a beautiful looking windows, resizing or minimizing effects, etc.

Compiz is useful, somewhat :)...

Unity 2D: This is the non-3D version thus does non rely on Compiz.

Anyhow, the thing is, with Ubuntu 11.04 it was pretty easy to edit advanced settings of Compiz thanks to the Gconf-editor. But since Ubuntu 11.10 uses a lot of Gnome 3/Shell apps + Gnome Shell is migrating from Gconf-editor (a Gnome desktop configuration database editor GUI) to a new tool called Dconf-editor...

... The problems is that, while I was writing this post, Ubuntu is at its Beta 2 stage and I don't know whether things would change when they release it official (don't think so)... neither "Gconf" nor "Dconf" is installed by default in Ubuntu 11.10!.

Enough talking, let's do it!

1. So if you want to edit Compiz settings then you gotta first install Gconf-editor manually in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot (Dconf is pretty new still and won't even include any settings concerning Compiz). To do that use the below command.

sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

2. Now, press "Alt" + "F2" keys and put the below command into the search box and hit enter.

gconf-editor

3. This should open a window similar to the below.

Ahh, the good & "old" friend...

Now, since it's not install by default, the first time I ran it it did not let me choose anything (looked like "stuck", errrrrr). But I waited like 15-20 seconds and things worked as expected. I guess it just need time to "import" the settings to its database. A re-boot could be the best solution.


Anyhow, from your left go to: "apps" -> "compiz-1".

That's it. Under "compiz-" -> "plugins", you'll find all of those "hidden" Compiz OpenGL 3D rendering settings such as: animation, blur, composite, cube effects, decor, ezoom, etc.

They're all there! ...

If you messed up things (story of my life! :P) as usual, then open your terminal and enter the below command to restore the values to their original settings.

gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/compiz-1

And if you want to load the desktop with Unity's default settings (user profiles, launcher preferences, etc) then use the below command for that.

unity --reset   

You can also use the below command which gives a short introduction to "Unity-Shell", etc (the command-line manual actually).

man unity

Also remember, since OpenGL 3D graphics rendering means deeper hardware integration thus always make sure that you have the up-to-date GPU drivers installed to get the best out of your system. Good luck.

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Could This Be Used to Change the Application Launcher/Dock Location in Ubuntu Unity?

Now, before you get your hopes up high, the method I'm going to tell you did not work for me :(. But I thought since there are like thousands of others who knows GNU/Linux really well, who knows, maybe I missed something. In that sense by doing a slight bit of a change, what if we were able to change the application launcher or the dock location from left to the right, etc in Ubuntu 11.04!.

Another thing, I'm pretty sure most have come across this setting, so surely I'm not the only one who saw this without a doubt either.

A little "something" about unity-shell...

The UI (user interface) of Ubuntu Unity desktop is called the "unity-shell". Like with Gnome-shell or the Gnome3, Unity also uses the OpenGL rendering to achieve those fancy 3D graphical effects.

Although Gnome developers decided to create a OpenGL composition manager of their own, Canonical on the other hand decided to use Compiz which has been there for a long time in comparison with Gnome3's OpenGL window manager (as far as I know anyway).

The main reason for Canonical to go for the already existing Compiz is because it's already been there for a long time already thus it has proven its stability and usability. Anyhow, as a result, the default UI in Unity desktop called the "unity-Shell" is actually a plugin that runs on top of Compiz.

So, since Compiz is the one who's behind "drawing" that application launcher which Canonical refused to allow the users to change its location other than the default left, by using Compiz and changing its options, we should be able to change its location. But how can we do that?.

Now, as I've said before, you can actually use the Gconf-editor which is somewhat similar to Microsoft windows registry where users can set individual or global settings per applications or to the desktop itself, to customize Compiz settings in Ubuntu natty.

So let's try this and see this works for you!. Open your Terminal and issue the below command.

gconf-editor

gconf-editor main window...

From the left side go to: "apps" -> "compizconfig-1" -> "profiles" -> "default" -> "plugins" -> "unityshell" -> "screen0" -> "options". Once you're inside of "options" you'll see a screen similar to the below one.

From the right side find that which says "launcher_reveal_edge" (aaaaah :P). Now you can see the default value set by Ubuntu is "Left", which is the side that dock comes in default.

Now when I saw this for the first time my heart rate went crazy ... I though, all right, all I gotta do is just change the value from "Left" to "Right" then the dock will be at the right side.

So out of my enthusiasm, I did so but nothing happened :(. But since you have nothing to lose, why don't you give it a try. Just change that value from "Left" to "Right" and log-in to Unity.

I suppose this will not work for you either. Anyway, as a final guess, if we could copy the a dove mentioned unityshell (with all its keys and options as in the above screen-shot) and paste it at another location= "apps" -> "compizconfig-1" -> "profiles" -> "default" -> "unity" -> "plugins" ....

...where it only includes a key called "gnomecompact" currently, so if we can just copy the previously mentioned unityshell including all of its keys and values and paste it within the "plugin" folder icon, it might actually do it!.

For that, you have to use a tool called "gconftool-2" but to be honest I don't know how to add values/folders in the left side, haven't used it that much :(.

Do you know how to do it??... anyone?? (this might not work too but... heck it's well worth a try!)

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How To Edit Compiz Settings in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Easily?

OK, first of all, I think everyone is aware of the fact that Ubuntu Linux (especially the Unity desktop) heavily depends on Compiz (one of the best window-manager that uses your GPU - ATI/Nvidia and Intel, etc.. 3D hardware accelerations or 3D Graphics rendering in general). So configuring Compiz in Ubuntu Linux can be pretty handy, only if you know what you're doing, no disrespect intended.

Although you can easily do this by installing a well known front-end but still, even without having to install anything at all, you can change a lot of Compiz related settings in Ubuntu 11.04 using the Gnome configuration manager called "Gconfig-editor".

And I think it's always best to start with the somewhat the "hard-way", which always helps me, when it comes to quickly learning GNU/Linux and its other aspects. Don't you think? :). Okay, let's get started. 

1. Open your Terminal and issue the below command.

gconf-editor

2. This should bring you the Gnome Configuration editor as shown below. From the left side choose:"apps" -> "compiz-1".

Now under "compiz-1", go to "plugins". There you'll see a hell lot of options :P that can be used to configure compiz pretty easily. But as I said before, even the most smallest change can have a significant effect on Ubuntu 11.04 because Unity desktop is actually a plug-in that runs on top of Compiz 3D rendering engine!.

Oh you can change a lot... but be careful!...

So, if you successfully messed up Compiz then you can actually reset all those value to the default ones by issuing the below commands in your Terminal.

gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/compiz-1
unity --reset 

It's advisable to log out of your desktop and to log in or do a reboot. Still this is not a guarantee that this command will fix everything..., so change Compiz at your own risk or try to remember the changes (which is not that easy anyway).

Don't try to change settings like the "refresh rate" values in those options, for instance, if you don't know what you're doing, because it can easily "burn" your GNU/Linux Laptop or PC's monitor!.

And if you change Compiz settings related to Unity only via: "apps" -> "compizconfig-1" -> "profiles" -> "unity",

Then use the below command in your Linux Terminal to reset all the values to default ones.

unity --reset

And remember although there can be small risks involved, yet when it comes learning to use GNU/Linux, we all have to do a little bit of testing :D. Good luck.

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