Ok heres the deal for some reason on the new release of Ubuntu Compiz wasn't enabled by default because of some unknown conflict. So no cube or pretty windows decorations and only basic window effects such as wobble.

Well that's taken Care of since I managed to get it working after searching countless threads on the Ubuntu forums to find a fix and edit a file.

So now I got the cube but some minor problems remain. After installing emerald, only two themes work fine, all the others have graphics corruption on the Top titlebar of the window making it invisible or rendered improperly.

Now the two themes which work one of them ruby a couple problems remain. The screen constantly refreshes or flickers and I get random freezes or lockups which take a few seconds to a minute to correct. Also the interface is quite sluggish which it shouldn't be since there have bee people running compiz, AIGLX on much older hardware than mine without performance problems or the such.

Also my windows randomly seem to fade or disappear inconveniently on me even if they are in focus and the minimize/maximize/close buttons on the window disappear too.

Also despite the pretty effects of Compiz/AIGLX the default theme is still fugly. The white task/menu bar still remains and I'm not sure if it's skinable. Also a majority of repositories are unavailable or not working since when I sudo apt-get update or install update most of them spit a Failed error even when updated through synaptic.

Maybe my sources.lst is set up wrong, and I'm not sure how to set it up or all the available repositories that can be added to it. Since Automatix no longer updates the sources.list automatically it's now more difficult for me to update or get software.

Also Is ubuntu skinable? I want to skin the white menu and taskbar at the bottom and top. So I was wondering if there are any skins/themes available for Ubuntu (Gutsy) and how to install or add them as well as where to get them.

Also WTF happened to the jumping cows screensaver that was in breezy badger, I loved that screensaver. That screensaver and some other screensavers are no longer in distributions of Ubuntu and I'm not sure where to get them. I tried doing a search for screensavers in synaptic but it returned few results of which some weren't even screensavers.

Thank You HCR if you or some other Linux Guru can help me solve these problems. It takes forever to receive a reply in the Ubuntu forums and threads are quickly bumped back 5 pages making them difficult to be seen. A thread can be bumped back 5 pages within 5 minutes to a half an hour.

funny title. im kinda pressed with time now, so ill edit for a reply a little later, k ?
proto is quite knowledgeable on ubuntu, btw

i still dont have 7.10 yet, so i dont really have an answer for now.
the livecd is kinda limited, so you might wanna either DL or order the livedvd version (if you have meterred bandwidth). very cheap too, and you get rid of the limits of the CD version. i guess whatever seems missing is there on the liveDVD. yes, gutsy seems skinnable, though i never did that myself.

i thought a list of repos was already there, waiting to be enabled by YOU. there are 2 other supergiant repos avail on the net, wich usually are highly viewed by people, but i dont have their adresses now, as i got rid of the ubuntu these days

I also had trouble with Emerald and so right now I am not running it.

To answer your question about reskining Ubuntu, I am running a heavily reskinned copy of Ubuntu including the usplash, splash screen and so forth so you can change the color scheme of the interface.
I recommend Gnome Art Manager for this.

Personally I don't use automatix as I find that the default add/remove menu, when coupled with the Synaptics Package Manager more than adequate enough for me.

Then again I think that HCR would know much more than me about the subject.

It seems my performance problems were in fact realated to emerald. As soon as I uninstalled and rebooted my cpu load drastically decreased from 45% - 50% on each core back down to the normal 1.0%, 2.0%, 3.0% jumping up a small fraction when there is activity. Now my Ubuntu is smooth and fast again.

Now to find a window decorator or theme manager and something to skin and customize every aspect of ubuntu giving it a more eyecandyish or appealing look n' feel.

Emerald was just plain bugged.

Anyone know of anything for this to suit my needs?

Now I know I can order Ubuntu + The Ubuntu Repository via DVD for a fee. Does that include the entire Repositories including Libraries, Dependencies, Programs etc....?

Thanks if anyone can help.

The ubuntu dvd can just be downloaded from bittorrent, so IMHO it's not worth downloading unless you have a really slow internet connection. Moreover, what you can find at the DVD is just what you would be able to download anyway from apt and its repositories, so (at least personally) I don't see the point.

if you want to edit the repository list you can:

1) type sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list and do it the manual way
2) system -> administration -> software sources

About emerald and its alternatives, I think your best bet would be to:

1) Download and install the fusion-icon, which will let you fine tweak different options easily
2) In the select window decorator sub-menu, select gtk (or kde) window decorator, which will use metacity's window border

Please tell me if this helps you.

Otherwise, I've seen emerald causing a lot of trouble in different computers, and only working in some. (fortunately it almost always does in mines ), so for now it's pretty much a try and see approach. Despite that the GTK window decorator almost always works without any major hassle so it may be what you are searching for when working with Compiz

This post was last modified: 10-24-2007 12:33 PM by Proto.