One of the great draws (and just plain fun sides) of Linux are the visual effects available for managing your desktop and windows. CompizFusion is one of the most popular and most powerful programs offered. Here I’m going to walk through a few ‘basic’ tweaks you can do to customize the way your desktop behaves.
For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to assume that you are running Ubuntu (probably the latest, 9.04). If you don’t, then you will have to do a wee bit ‘o research to see how to download/install it for your distribution. In Ubuntu, you install it this w:
sudo apt-get install fusion-icon emerald compizconfig-settings-manager simple-ccsm
Ubuntu actually comes with CompizFusion, so that command just installed some controllers and stuff to help you manage it.
Now, before you get started, open up System -> Preferences -> Startup Applications. Click on the “Add” button and fill out the information thusly:
- Name: Fusion Icon
- Command: fusion-icon
- Comment: Compiz Controller
Click the “Add” button in that window and you’re done – now the Fusion Icon will control your window managers when you boot up next.
Now hit Alt+F2 and type in “fusion-icon” in the window that opens up – it will probably finish the command for you. Your screen might blink, but when the program starts running you should see a little box-type icon on your panel (wherever your icons are on there). If you right click on it there will drop down a list of options. Right now, I want to take note of the top two.
- Settings Manager – this will open up the primary Compiz Configuration window (we’ll get to that in a minute)
- Emerald Theme Manager – this opens up the manager for Emerald, the default window decorator for Compiz. You can download tons of great/awesome Emerald themes at gnome-look.org – just do a search for ‘emerald theme’.
Now, to open the Compiz settings window you can use the “Settings Manager” option from the icon discussed above. You can also right-click on the desktop, choose “change desktop background”, and then click on the “Visual Effects” tab, and there should now be a fourth option, “Custion”, with a button for “preferences” (that will open the settings manager as well) [you have to have the simple-ccsm package installed for this option to be available]. Lastly, you can use the menus to open up the settings manager: System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager.
Now, to the fun stuff….I’m just going to go through some of the changes I like to make so you can see what can be done – feel free to experiment and try stuff!
Desktop Cube
Under “General Options”, go to the last tab titled “Desktop Size” and change the horizontal size to ’4′. (Go back to the main options section) Under “Desktop”, check the box next to the option “Desktop Cube” – a warning might pop up saying something about a compatibility issue with Desktop Wall, just choose to disable the other and use Desktop Cube.
Next, in the same section, check the box next to “Rotate Cube”. Now this is fun. Place your mouse over the desktop (where there are no windows open), press Ctrl+Alt, and while holding them down, click on the desktop background and try to move it around. You should be able to just swing your “cube” all around. You can also flip the cube one side to the right or left using Ctrl+Alt+left/right arrow button.
Desktop Sphere?
Okay, I didn’t even know this was an option, and it kinda slows down my older laptop, but you can change the cube to a sphere or even a ball. Go down to the “Effects” category and check the “Cube Reflection and Deformation” option. By default I think it’ll just round out the cube into a sphere, leaving the tops and bottom flat. You rotate it with the same commands as the Cube, and if you want to tweak the look as well as the commands (key bindings) just click on the button and have at it!
Window Previews
This option is under the “Extras” section, and I think it is just effecient…
Window Animations
These are fun to play with. I like setting my minimize action to “Magic Lamp”. Go to the “Minimize Animation” tab and then double click on the line of text under “Animation Selection”, you should get a little pop-up window where you can change the animation to “Magic Lamp”. As soon as you close the window, the animation is active – try it out!
I also enjoy doing different opening and closing animations. Try out “Sidekick” for opening the normal type windows, and this time slow down the duration to between 500-600. Then maybe “Slide 2″ for closing, slowing down the timing on it as well.
You can also download some unsupported plugins which add even more animations. These plugins are less supported, so theres a chance something could go wrong…but I haven’t had any problems. You can get ‘em by running this in the terminal:
sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported
After installing that there will be an option next to the “Animations” one which says “Animations Add-on”, check this and you’ll get even more animations. My favorites are “Airplane” for opening a window and “Skewer” for closing one.
Ring Switcher
This is similar to what Vista has for fancy switching (though the “Shift Switcher” is closer – I just like the “Ring Switcher” more). You’ll find it under the “Window Management” section. Check the keybindings. I have mine set to cycle through the windows for the present desktop with Super+Tab, while Alt+Super+Tab will switch through all open windows on all desktops. A very effecient way of maneuvering around.
Scale
This is pretty much the same as the Mac effect where all the windows are reduced in size and tiled on screen so you can choose the one you want to work on. This is also found in the “Window Management” section. Check the box and then click on the button. Go to the keybindings section. There are a ton of options, but the one I use is “Initiate Window Picker for All Windows” with a screen next to it. Click the button across from it, and choose the top right section of the screen (or a section of the screen where you rarely go…). Then check it out!
These are just a few of the things you can do with Compiz-Fusion. Play around, experiment – just keep track of what you change so you can undo anything you don’t like… Feel free to post some of your favorite Compiz plugins and why!
