Howto: setting up Beryl on Linux Mint

[Alephcat]

Edit:this post is now fairly out of date, I will leave it here for users of old versions of mint, but there is now a version of it with updates in the mint wiki here.

First open a terminal, you will not need it yet, but you will need it in a minute.
Now open mintMenu and go to Administration > Software Sources, when that has opened go to the “Third Partyâ€￾ tab and click on the “Addâ€￾ button. Copy and paste the following sources in the box that pops up one at a time.

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deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ edgy main
deb-src http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org edgy main
(only add the next one if you want unsupported experimental packages)
deb http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org edgy beryl-svn

After adding those but before closing the Software Sources window change to the terminal and copy and paste the following command (it does not have to be done this way but it does stop it complaining when you close the window)

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sudo wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | apt-key add -

if you added the experimental packages do the same with the next command

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sudo wget http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/DD800CD9.gpg -O- | apt-key add -

Once you have done that close the software sources and it will automatically update the package list for you.
Next type the following command in to the terminal

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sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

this will launch a text editor and open your xorg.conf file in it scroll down until you find the Section “Moduleâ€￾. You need to check that the following lines are there and not prefixed with a '#' symbol.

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Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "glx"

Next scroll down until you find the Section “Deviceâ€￾ for your graphics card and add the following line to the end of the section.

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Option  "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"

Then add the following sections at the end of the file if they do not exist anywhere else in it.

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Section "DRI"
        Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Finally save the file and close the editor.
You now need to restart the X-server by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace after closing any open windows.
When you have logged back in open a terminal and type

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sudo aptitude install beryl

which will install the latest version of beryl along with all recommended packages which include themes and some plugins.
Once that has finished installing type

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beryl-manager

to start beryl and the beryl manager.
Once beryl has started go to mintMenu > Preferences > Sessions and click on the “Startup Programsâ€￾ tab, once there click the add button and type

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/usr/bin/beryl-manager

this will make the beryl manger start every time you login.

[Nighto]

it worked partially for me, emerald had no window bar. i had to switch back to metacity.
is there any work around? it used to work when i was running ubuntu edgy.

[Alephcat]

what do you mean by "no window bar"? Do you mean the bar at the top of the window, or the "start bar" at the bottom of the screen?

[JohnH]

Hi there,

I followed your How To and to my surprise, I've wiped X.

Gone into recovery and running nano /etc/x11/xorg.conf gives me a blank nano screen. Going to the dir it says no x11 directory. Now I'm stuffed, unless you have a solution (like something with nano or dir I'm not getting).

Regards
John

[JohnH]

Its okay, dn't panic John.

x wouldn't start so I:

1) ctrl+alt+F1 This gave me a command line and login option.

2) after logging in

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

I'm back on the desktop but I'm not sure my setting are right.

Ah well, that will teach me for fooling around.

Cheers
John

[Alephcat]

I have just worked out what you did wrong with the nano edit (I just made the same mistake myself ) you typed /etc/x11/xorg.conf instead of /etc/X11/xorg.conf case is important in Linux. that may also be the reason installing beryl did not work for you, but I assume you got something in the file when you edited it the first time.

[antiquexray]

Well, I'm 0 for 2. I had and unfavorable result trying to get CNN and BBC video, and now following Alephcat's instructions for installing Beryl (using cut and paste) I hosed my system. It was a simple fix though, I just reloaded Bianca. I'm getting pretty good at doing that, but all these updates are starting to drive me batty.

I guess me using older systems as test beds is why I'm have trouble when others aren't...and believe me, I learn something every time and blame no one. I can't help believe that if I knew more it wouldn't have happened in the first place or I would have been able to reverse the problem without having to reload.

[JohnH]

Yes,

I did the cut and paste too, and it trashed my X. I went to the file and could not see anything that was out of the ordinary so I gave it another go; same result. I'll sit on the sidelines and watch the game until nearly fulltime.

Regards
John

[muncrief]

The main instructions worked almost perfectly!. Thank you!.

I found just two problems with them. First, to import the beryl key I had to add "sudo" before the apt-key command or a "missing key ring" error would be reported. So the command that worked is:

sudo wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

The second problem occurred when I tried to run beryl-manager. I got an error stating that my video card was in 32 bit mode (which beryl doesn't support) even though it was actually in 24 bit mode. I fixed this by adding the following two lines to the "Screen" section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "DisableGLXRootClipping" "True"

After this beryl worked beautifully. Linux Mint is awesome!. It's the first distribution I've ever used where beryl seems to work perfectly, and this includes Ubuntu itself. Great job people!

[OzTracker]

Many thanks for the how-to Alephcat. Worked perfectly for me.

The only thing I changed was to copy my xorg.conf first before editing. Screwed up my system too many times by not doing that beforehand

[Alephcat]

First, to import the beryl key I had to add "sudo" before the apt-key command or a "missing key ring" error would be reported. So the command that worked is:

sudo wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

I initially did it like that but then found that I did not need the second sudo, I assume it must depend on your setup.

[muncrief]

Yes indeed, the sudo problem is probably just a minor permissions setup difference.

In any case, I forgot to mention that I'm using an Nvidia 7800GT video card and the extra lines in the xorg.conf file might not be necessary for other vendors or cards. I suggest that users try to run beryl-manager first to see if they receive the 32 bit error. It doesn't hurt anything, and if you do receive the error you can easily add the extra lines and reboot and all will be well.

Once again though, I must say that so far Linux Mint is just unbelievably awesome. I was about to give up on Linux (I've spent the last eight months off and on trying a plethora of distributions so I could avoid Windows Vista) when I stumbled upon Mint and it has given me great hope. I'm installing Virtualbox now and if it works as well as advertised I'll run XP under it while transitioning to Mint, and finally say goodbye to Windows!
Yahoo!!!!!

The only thing I see that's still missing in native Linux is the ability to pause/fast-forward/rewind multimedia in browsers, and access a few Internet sites. Since I hope I can do this from Virtualbox XP that's OK for now.

And if this all works I will be supporting Linux Mint, and by that I mean I'm sending them some money!. The only reason I haven't paid for Linux before is because it has never worked as a desktop OS for me. However, I don't expect things for free, just a reasonable price. Fifty dollars for a distribution that works seems reasonable to me. And by the way, I have nothing to do with Linux Mint, I'm just a happy (so far) user, and I hope that other happy users will support these guys and gals if they can. With a working distribution, just one, Linux with Beryl can actually challenge Windows Vista and begin to end Microsoft's domination and abuse of the computer industry.

[Nighto]

it worked partially for me, emerald had no window bar. i had to switch back to metacity.
is there any work around? it used to work when i was running ubuntu edgy.

what do you mean by "no window bar"? Do you mean the bar at the top of the window, or the "start bar" at the bottom of the screen?

just look the image above.

[drum]

Hi, I followed Alephcat's instructions to the T and beryl worked fine till reboot then the beryl logo came up waving for a couple of seconds OK but the desktop was frozen. No option but to hit the reset button.
I tried rebooting into the Failsafe Gnome option and it was the same except for an error box telling me "there was an error starting the GNOME Settings Daemon"

So close and yet so far, methinks.
Any ideas will be appreciated
Thanks

[kiwiboyus]

I'm trying to get Beryl up and running on my laptop again after doing a clean install of Bianca but when I start Beryl through the terminal I get the following message "libGL warning: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x5b"

It's odd because I never had any trouble running Beryl on Bea. My laptop has the Intel 945GM chip set. I'm going to see if I need to update my Intel drivers but any feed back would be welcome.

[mfab]

hi there,

I also followed this tutorial (in fact it was not this one but the one from the beryl site, which seems to have the same content).

but instead of the modules:
Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "glx"

i have the modules
Load "dri"
Load "vbe" #("v" not "d" ???!!!)
Load "glx"

As i have no idea what kind of modules these are i just thought i might try it without changing the "vbe" to "dbe" and guess what: it worked nontheless.

What is the difference in this?

[cool_gamer8119]

I tried, i failed...i tried again, still failed.

I have an nVidia Quadro2 EX card... i installed the nvidia glx driver on repo and LO AND BEHOLD!!! It (seems to) work... all it really does is show a gem in the bar and i can LOOK AT THE PRETTY BUT UNUSABLE THEMES!!!!! Every time i try to make it use the emerald theme manager, all it does is crash and go back to gnome...once, it actually applied the theme i wanted but it became buggy and i had to stop!!! if it helps, i am using bea because beryl demolished my Bianca and i had just loaned my Bianca cd to a friend...

[maximus659]

it worked partially for me, emerald had no window bar. i had to switch back to metacity.
is there any work around? it used to work when i was running ubuntu edgy.

I had the same exact problem on my setup using NVIDIA 7600 card. Here is how I fixed it:

append the following to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the “Deviceâ€￾ section:

Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "RenderAccel" "True"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
Option "backingstore" "True"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"

It worked perfectly for me. Hope that helps

[drum]

Hi, I added the repos as per instructins and then got this when getting the key.
Please help
Regards

sudo wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | apt-key add -
--12:13:59-- http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg
=> `-'
Resolving ubuntu.beryl-project.org... 195.114.19.35, 82.140.42.54, 88.191.250.18, ...
Connecting to ubuntu.beryl-project.org|195.114.19.35|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 2,415 (2.4K) [application/octet-stream]

100%[====================================>] 2,415 --.--K/s

12:14:00 (319.05 KB/s) - `-' saved [2415/2415]

gpg: no writable keyring found: eof
gpg: error reading `-': general error
gpg: import from `-' failed: general error

[lvshankar]

I tried everything as posted by Alephcat. The only change I made was to try sudo wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - instead of what was given initially, because I got a general error.
But after restart :
$ sudo aptitude install beryl
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Initializing package states... Done
Building tag database... Done
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "beryl"
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.

why??????

~LVS