Install Three Experimental Compiz Plugins

July 31, 2008

Some Compiz Fusion effects are unsupported and are not usually easily available from software repositories. I installed three well-known, but experimental, Compiz plugins: atlantis2, freewins, and screensaver.

These plugins must be compiled from source and could break Compiz, so this how-to is recommended for intermediate to advanced Linux users only.

atlantis2 adds a customizable aquarium inside the cube:

freewins lets you rotate and scale windows in 3D with fun inertial effects:

screensaver can slowly rotate the cube or have your windows fly around the screen while you are away from the computer:

You need to be running the most recent release of Compiz and have CompizConfig Settings Manager installed. See my previous how-to for Ubuntu 8.04.

Install the required packages for compiling Compiz plugins:

sudo apt-get install compiz-bcop compiz-dev build-essential libtool libglu1-mesa-dev libxss-dev libcairo2-dev git-core

Create a folder to keep the plugin sources in:

mkdir ~/compizplugins
cd ~/compizplugins

Download the plugin source code using git:

git clone git://anongit.compiz-fusion.org/users/metastability/atlantis2
git clone git://anongit.compiz-fusion.org/users/warlock/freewins
git clone git://anongit.compiz-fusion.org/users/pafy/screensaver

Compile the individual plugins by switching to their directories and running make and make install:

cd ~/compizplugins/atlantis2
make
make install
cd ~/compizplugins/freewins
make
make install
cd ~/compizplugins/screensaver
make
make install

If there were no errors, you’re done. Restart Compiz; the simplest way to do this is to log out and back in.

Open System->Preferences->CompizConfig Settings Manager, and try the new plugins:

freewins (labeled as Freely Transformable Windows): To transform a window, hold Shift-Alt and use the mouse: left mouse button rotates the window, middle mouse button resets the window, and right mouse button scales the window. Note that you can’t yet give a window mouse input while it is transformed.
atlantis2 (labeled as Cube Atlantis): First, you need to make the cube transparent so you can see the fish. In the preferences for the Desktop Cube plugin, select the Transparent Cube tab to access these settings. Simply enable the plugin and you’ll have a nice aquarium. In the preferences you have complete control over the fish.
screensaver (labeled as Screen Saver): You probably don’t want to wait around for the screensaver to start, so head to the preferences and add a key binding for initiating it. You can switch the screensaver mode between flying windows and rotating cube. If you have trouble getting the plugin to start, make sure you restarted Compiz after the installation.

You can browse Compiz Fusion’s git repository online to find more experimental plugins.

Archived Comments

Alamir

July 31, 2008

I’ll try out the screensaver since I’ve been wanting something different for awhile. Your tips are always entertaining, even when I don’t feel like adding the new features they’re always worth the read. So thanks Tom.

Emil Begtrup-Bright

August 1, 2008

Used this guide which is exactly the same, but picks 10 of the best experimentals instead of three. If you like these three check out:

http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showthread.php?p=56851

I can’t freewins or some of the others to work though - they install without a fuss, but either they “auto-switch off” whenever I turn them on, or make the PC unresponsive.

Maxo

August 2, 2008

Thanks for the heads up. I got all three running. Everything seems to run very good except the freewins. Once I rotate a window it becomes very difficult to interact with it. Atlantis and the screen saver seem to run great and look great.

Arlindo Santanna

August 8, 2008

Hi, Tom

Please, I would like to know how to use the command below:
git clone git://anongit.compiz-fusion.org/users/metastability/atlantis2

Do I have to install the package git??

Thank you very much.

SantAnna

Tom

August 9, 2008

Arlindo Santanna:
You need the git-core package:
sudo apt-get install git-core

Anonymous

August 9, 2008

I want to backup them so iwant to download them so plz send me download links for srikrishnamohan@yahoo.com

Anonymous

September 8, 2008

I’ve got this error:

compiling : screensaver.cpp -> build/screensaver.loscreensaver.cpp: In function ‘void screenSaverSetXScreenSaver(CompDisplay*, int)’:
screensaver.cpp:223: erro: cannot convert ‘const char*’ to ‘CompDisplay*’ for argument ‘1’ to ‘void compLogMessage(CompDisplay*, const char*, CompLogLevel, const char*, …)’
make: ** [build/screensaver.lo] Erro 1

Anonymous

September 24, 2008

i tried to enable aquarium (it installed ok) but it just disables itself

ASERA HIGUCHI

October 8, 2008

Please install my flash player 9.0 ADOBE

Anonymous

November 19, 2008

Try “^compiz-bcop^compiz-fusion-bcop” in apt-get line above under intrepid. That worked for me. Plus thanks for the atlantis2 git, the one I had before didn’t compile.

raweloy

November 27, 2008

lowe@lowe-desktop:~/compizplugins/screensaver$ make
Makefile:58: *** [ERROR] No package ‘xscrnsaver’ found. Stop.

i got this message evry time i type make….

can somebody help??

raweloy

November 27, 2008

compiling : screensaver.cpp -> build/screensaver.lo/usr/bin/libtool: line 990: g++: command not found
make: *** [build/screensaver.lo] Error 1

i did make some improvements… hehehe…. i have solved the problem above but here comes another… evrytime i hit make it makes this error 1 thing…

can i have some help plz?

Anonymous

December 5, 2008

i get this:
sudo apt-get install compiz-bcop
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
Package compiz-bcop is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
compiz-fusion-bcop
E: Package compiz-bcop has no installation candidate

jai

June 4, 2009

That package is now obsolete use compiz-fusion-bcop instead.

denyb

January 13, 2009

I have the same problem as above! Please help.
Many Thanks in advance.

Dàrent

January 26, 2009

…if you were a woman… i’ll kiss you!

I was searching for thesse plugins (specialy the screensaver) and for their installation many months ago, and all the solutions i found in all forums have failled…

Now it works!

Tank you a lot!

P.D. Sorry about my english :P

Dàrent

January 26, 2009

Sorry… i have a question… :)

After installing the plugins, there is 3 new folders in my home. I know thesse are the folders of the compiling and installation to do make and make install, but… I don’t know if the folders are only temporals (to do the compilation) or thesse folders are where the plugins are installed too, so… can i safety delete them? Or even rename them with a dot to make them hidden?

Thanks again :)

cooldude32

February 26, 2009

The newly installed plugins are not appearing i ccsm!

sh228

May 2, 2009

the makefile is complaining that compiz isn’t installed

Raza

July 7, 2009

Hi, i tried installing freewins on jaunty and after i download with git, make dir and when i put make command, it tells me Error compiz not installed. which is not true. I have all the effects any help?

Sen

August 29, 2009

Package compiz-bcop is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
compiz-fusion-bcop
E: Package compiz-bcop has no installation candidate

Justin

December 21, 2009

@sen

I had this problem too. In order to fix it, you must run sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-bcop. This will upgrade your current version, or install the new one.

Good luck and enjoy!

Justin

Apostolis

November 28, 2009

When I give “make” and “make install”, I get this: “*** [ERROR] Compiz not installed. Stop.”

Does anybody knows why and how can i fix it??
I have Compiz installed.

jsearles

February 14, 2010

CAn anyone help me figure out what twent wrong with the above script and is there any easier way to do this. When I run a make in the screensaver folder, this is the error I get:

compiling : flyingwindows.cpp -> build/flyingwindows.lo/usr/bin/libtool: line 990: g++: command not found
make: *** [build/flyingwindows.lo] Error 1

quequotion

December 5, 2010

This method works for the plugins that haven’t been “migrated” to cmake (aka “rendered useless” or “completely disabled”)

I get that the cmake method is looking for a toolchain of various parts and pieces of compiz to build plugins from. I do not understand why this doesn’t work.

Following the most up-to-date instructions I can find, it seems one must build the entire compiz tree from source in order to install a few unsupported plugins, although I’m unable to prove that theory as it usually results in an inoperative compiz.

Plugins will not “find compiz” if it was installed by apt, but they sometimes may find a compiled compiz after compiling the core and doing:
make findcompiz_install
then compiling libcompizconfig and doing:
make findcompizconfig_install

Supposedly those commands add cmake modules to make compiz “discoverable” to other cmake made software…. they don’t always work however..

Is there a better way? Can anyone write down in specific detail what it takes to compile one of these cmake plugins?

As it is now, you can read about a dozen documentation pages if various states of out-of-date which lack any inter-compatibility and come to the conclusion that it simply can’t be done.