8

I am running Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10.

My understanding is that Gnome Classic is with Compiz effects, and Gnome Classic (No Effects) has no Compiz.

However, when i run Gnome Classic, compiz does not seem to be running. If I open compiz-settings-manager, I have all my settings, but none of them are taking effect.

Is there something I need to be doing to enable Compiz in Gnome Classic?


As requested in the comments of the answers, here is the output of ~/.xsession-errors:

gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/gnome/SessionManager interface=org.gnome.SessionManager method=Is
Inhibited
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/gnome/SessionManager interface=org.gnome.SessionManager method=Is
Inhibited
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/gnome/SessionManager interface=org.gnome.SessionManager method=Is
Inhibited
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): Starting app: /org/gnome/SessionManager/App37
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmAutostartApp: starting jockey-gtk.desktop: command=sh -c 'test -e /var/cache/jockey/check |
| exec jockey-gtk --check' startup-id=102cff201a509beb8813189506573089800000204500036
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmAutostartApp: started pid:20888
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): Starting app: /org/gnome/SessionManager/App29
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmAutostartApp: starting update-notifier.desktop: command=update-notifier startup-id=102cff20
1a509beb88131895065698387500000204500028
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmAutostartApp: started pid:20889
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmAutostartApp: (pid:20888) done (status:0)
Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "rgba"
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/freedesktop/DBus interface=org.freedesktop.DBus method=NameOwnerC
hanged
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/freedesktop/DBus interface=org.freedesktop.DBus method=NameOwnerC
hanged
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/freedesktop/DBus interface=org.freedesktop.DBus method=NameOwnerC
hanged
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/freedesktop/DBus interface=org.freedesktop.DBus method=NameOwnerC
hanged
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/freedesktop/DBus interface=org.freedesktop.DBus method=NameOwnerC
hanged
gnome-session[20450]: DEBUG(+): GsmDBusClient: obj_path=/org/freedesktop/DBus interface=org.freedesktop.DBus method=NameOwnerC
hanged
`menu_proxy_module_load': update-notifier: undefined symbol: menu_proxy_module_load

(update-notifier:20889): Gtk-WARNING **: Failed to load type module: (null)

`menu_proxy_module_load': update-notifier: undefined symbol: menu_proxy_module_load

(update-notifier:20889): Gtk-WARNING **: Failed to load type module: (null)

`menu_proxy_module_load': update-notifier: undefined symbol: menu_proxy_module_load

(update-notifier:20889): Gtk-WARNING **: Failed to load type module: (null)

`menu_proxy_module_load': update-notifier: undefined symbol: menu_proxy_module_load

(update-notifier:20889): Gtk-WARNING **: Failed to load type module: (null)
0

4 Answers 4

8

To solve this problem edit this file:

sudo nano /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome-classic.session

and replace this line:

RequiredProviders=windowmanager;notifications;

with this one:

RequiredProviders=windowmanager;

Then just logout and log back in and it should work fine. This solved the problem in my case.

EDIT 1:

1) to access the gnome panel menu now you need to use "windows key + alt + right click" on panels instead of "alt + right click"

2) another issue might be "alt + tab" but you just need to reassign it in Applications -> System Tools -> System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts

EDIT 2:

3) after system updates related to GTK or gnome you might need to reinstall any "custom" drivers for your graphics card, for e.g. NVIDIA linux driver

3
  • Yes works but loose the ALT function see my comment below
    – robin0800
    Oct 19, 2011 at 2:36
  • 3
    instead of "alt + right click" on panel use "windows key + alt + right click" and it works fine then :) another issue might be "alt + tab" but you just need to reassign it in Applications -> System Tools -> System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts Oct 19, 2011 at 3:28
  • Good find, windows key + alt does indeed work, perhaps edit your answer above to include this info
    – robin0800
    Oct 19, 2011 at 10:33
2

Gnome Classic should run compiz if you have acceleration enabled (you can try to run /usr/lib/gnome-session/gnome-session-check-accelerated; echo $? and it should return 0), if it returns something else, it's probably that you don't have harware acceleration and so fallback to GNOME classic (No effects).

If no, is running /usr/bin/gnome-wm --replace replace your current environment with compiz ?

4
  • I get 0 when I run the first command, and when I run /usr/bin/gnome-wm --replace, then Compiz comes alive (yay!). However, the only thing now is that if I log out and log in again, I lose Compiz. How do I make it stick?
    – Questioner
    Oct 18, 2011 at 14:48
  • That's weird… Can you check that /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome-classic.session contains: DefaultProvider-windowmanager=gnome-wm. If so, please edit: ``/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-classic.desktop, add --debug` to the exec line and report your ~/.xsession-errors after login.
    – didrocks
    Oct 18, 2011 at 14:57
  • I followed your instructions and appended the tail end of the error log to the original question. The whole file was way to long to include here. I hope that the portion I provided is sufficient. Oh, and the DefaultProvider-windowmanager=gnome-wm line was where you said it should be.
    – Questioner
    Oct 18, 2011 at 15:16
  • Yes you can remove notifications and you can also change gnome-wm to compiz. The only problem then is you loose the ALT key action and can't access the panel settings
    – robin0800
    Oct 19, 2011 at 2:34
2

Just for completeness,

another solution that works for me is to add "/usr/bin/compiz --replace" to the GNOME startup applications via:

gnome-session-properties

I lost the Alt-RightClick functionality too (Windows+Alt-Rightclick is necessary) but Alt+Tab is still working.

kind regards

1

Compiz effects frequently fail to load at startup in Ubuntu 10.04. To enable Compiz, I have to logout then login again. This usually does the trick.

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