Koda

Last Updated: Jun 8, 2006
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Overview

Goal: Install Compiz and Xgl on top of Gnome or KDE.

Pros:

• No compiling, all packages downloaded from Ubuntu repositories.
• Userspace compiz startup configuration.
• Works with both fglrx/ATI and Nvidia cards.
• Cooler X functionality, more responsive GUI.
• Impress your friends.
• You know you’ve been aching to try it.

Cons:

• Recommended dist-upgrade to Dapper.
• Requires proprietary 3d acceleration drivers, reasonable card.
• Beta and somewhat buggy software.
• Video playback issues (mostly on ATI cards).
• Getting your feet wet.

An Oh-So-Skippable Intro

Compiz.
Maybe you’ve heard the buzz, the pictures and videos, and spent the past few weeks in absolute agony over the coolness of it all. Okay, maybe you haven’t - but I have. I could rant on and on about why this is the absolute coolest thing ever. An OpenGL powered desktop, Composite, OSX-rivalling effects, and works on ATI cards? At first I thought it to be too good to be true. Yet, there are the screenshots, the forum posts, and everywhere people seem to be talking about it. So why not give it a shot?

The problem is, I’m lazy. I don’t want to dirty up /opt/, don’t want to cvs X.org, don’t want to hack anything I’ll have to remove later. So when the first round of make-filled instructions came out, I waited. If you’re a little less excited than I am, perhaps you’re thinking of waiting a while until it’s working in Dapper. Here’s the thing: thanks to a few brave souls, it already is. What?! you say? Okay, it’s quite beta, but that’s part of the fun, right? And you won’t have to compile anything, so it’s like beta without the beta. In just 3 steps, we can do it. (more…)