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Help with desktop effects

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:18 am
by kprowell
I am new to Mint and to Linux as well. I have hopped around a bit usually landing with Ubuntu but the last two versions disabled the ability for my latop to run Compiz-Fusion where distros like openSuse, Mandriva and pclos work like a charm in that department. Yes I know one answer could be to just pick one of those but since trying Mint I've grown pretty fond of it and I'd like to stay. My latop is a Compaq x1010 and it has a Radeon 9200 mobility. In distros that worked I've noticed it being referenced as Radeon RV250 or something like that. Can someone please help me with this?

Thanks,

Kevin

Re: Help with desktop effects

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 pm
by kprowell
I just tried that and it still doesn't work. Did I miss anything? Do I have to make changes to my xorg.conf?

Re: Help with desktop effects

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:29 pm
by kprowell
No worries... I researched that part and figured that out. I cannot install the drivers as it comes up and says there are none to be installed (restricted drivers that is). I guess since it is based on Ubuntu that I might not get it to work. The last time it worked was 7.04 and the other distros I mentioned. Any other suggestions you may have would be more than appreciated.

Re: Help with desktop effects

Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:05 pm
by AK Dave
Similar problems. Slightly different Radeon card. Different solution. YMMV.

My Gateway MX6453 has a Radeon Xpress 1100 IGP onboard. Sabayon Linux is the only version I've seen that both detects it and successfully installs a proper fglrx for it. Ubuntu Hardy with EnvyNG came close and got me Compiz-Fusion to work and the screen to allow suspend/resume. But I still had issues and video was incredibly unstable.

My solution to all of this has been, and this is the "YMMV" part, has been to avoid like the plague any restricted fglrx drivers. Nothing but stock ati as provided by the OS on install. Pure open-source. Compiz-Fusion doesn't work. Suspend/resume doesn't work. But the system is stable, pretty, functional, and did I mention stable? I don't need desktop effects at the expense of stability. I'd like to have suspend/resume work properly, but I'm not sure if it is worth it at this point.

There are other seperate issues that other people report with Envy on Ubuntu-based systems that appear to be due to dated or unavailable Gutsy/Feisty repos for Envy.

Re: Help with desktop effects

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:37 pm
by kprowell
I still cannot get this to work despite the suggestions of those who wrote back trying to help. Thanks to those who have. What I don't understand, is why this does not work with Mint and other "buntu" based distros when it works in others. I even tried the bleeding edge Fedora 9 and it worked like a charm. As I have stated previously, I prefer to stay with Mint for numerous reasons so I am trying to find a solution. Currently, I am running Fedora 9 but I just don't feel at home. As soon as I can figure this out Mint will be back on there. So, if anyone can assist me with this I would be extremely happy and grateful.