Kubuntu 6.10 3D Desktop using Beryl and Nvidia on Edgy
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Before you begin
This document was written using a Kubuntu 6.10 DVD Install CD. The instructions for the most part should apply to any (K|X)Ubuntu distribution with minor modifications. To attempt this process, the reader should have an understanding of 3d graphics setup in linux, configuration of xorg.conf and be able to edit files using vi. For the commands which require privilege, "sudo" is prefixed. If you have a working sudo install, no modifications should be necessary. If you do NOT have a working sudo install, simply "su" to root before executing each command.
Prepare the Required Hardware
System Specs
As with everything not all systems are created equally. The reference system I'll be conducting the install on is far from anything special. The video card is an AGP FX5200 with 128mb ram. The rest of the specs are as follows:
jsmith@floyd:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : AMD Sempron(tm) 2500+
jsmith@floyd:~$ cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 1035552 kB
Software Considerations
In an attempt to limit the amount of command line usage needed for this howto, I have decided to make use of some other tools that you will probably end up wanting on your system anyways. The basic flow of how the install is going to go is as follows: Install our fresh Kubuntu 6.10 desktop system, Adjust our sources.list and perform and update and an upgrade, Install automatix2 to help us load the nvidia drivers for our system, once the nvidia drivers are installed and working then we install beryl using a simple beryl-install-script. Thats it in a nut shell.
Performing the Install
I hope you don't mind me taking a second to explain just how awesome the Ubuntu installer is. I mean first of all the install cd boots you to a fully working desktop so that you can see just how well or poorly your hardware is supported before making the plunge. This is something that is overlooked by a lot of ppl. Think about all those times where you've taken the time to do a complete reinstall of your windows system into a linux machine just to find out your wifi drivers weren't supported or that your usb nic isn't supported by default. Well when installing Ubuntu those worries don't exist. Before I even choose to install and destroy my existing system I get to have a trial run with all my hardware. I mean how sweet is this. To me this is nirvana almost like being in vegas with x-ray vision and a million dollars. Anyways back to the task at hand.
After you've booted your system into the installer click on the install link on the desktop to get yourself started. For the most part the installation process consists of answering a couple questions and waiting a bit. I'm going to assume that if you want to actually install beryl and nvidia on your system that I don't need to spoon feed you how to do the install. After all your enjoying install nirvana why would I ruin the moment with all my chatter. Just enjoy.
Fixing up our sources and getting Updated
After you have successfully installed your new system you will need to remove the dvd from the tray and reboot. After a couple of minutes you should be at a login screen for your new box. Go ahead and login using the username and password you created at install time. Remember too that with Ubuntu the first user created during the install is the user that is automatically granted sudo access. This users account becomes very important to the safety of this new machine. If an accounts credentials are stolen that has sudo access then well, "All your Box R belong to us". You've been warned. We will also need sudo access to perform the remaining tasks for our install. After logging in you should be at the default Kubuntu desktop. Wait for your hard-drive light to stop going crazy and then open yourself a terminal. Kmenu -> system -> konsole terminal program. In the terminal type the following:
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
In this file you need to remove the ## from all lines that start with either deb or deb-src. So uncomment all the sources we want our system to have access to. I always do them all. So each line where you see this
#deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe multiverse #deb-src http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Needs to be updated to
deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Once you have done this for all pairs inside the file you can close it up. Here is a link to a vi command reference http://www.eec.com/business/vi.html for all you noobs.
Once you have added all your sources give the following commands:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
This could take a little while to run. I found the biggest updates were for Open-Office and some other libs. It took about 45 minutes to complete on my cable connection.
Installing Automatix and Nvidia
Installing automatix2 is very simple thanks to the folks at http://getautomatix.com. Just to make things even easier lets combine the commands listed at the automatix website into our first install script. Lets call it automatix-install. Copy and paste the following into a new file. I did it by opening the file first inside vi and then putting myself into insert mode so that I can paste.
jsmith@floyd:~$ vi automatix-install
Paste the following into the script
#!/bin/bash if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then echo "You must run this script as root."; else cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.automatix cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.automatix echo "deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt edgy main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list wget http://www.getautomatix.com/apt/key.gpg.asc gpg --import key.gpg.asc gpg --export --armor 521A9C7C | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install automatix2 echo -e "\n\nAutomatix is now installed you can move on\n\n" fi;
Then you can save the script, make it executable, and giver a twist.
jsmith@floyd:~$ sudo chmod u+x automatix-install jsmith@floyd:~$ sudo ./automatix-install
Automatix takes a whole to install but onces its done you should be able to open the Automatix program from within the Kmenu -> system -> Automatix Graphical Installer
Once inside the automatix gui you can navigate to Graphics Cards -> Nvidia Driver. Click the check box and then click start to install the package. Unless you have a whole bunch of time on your hands I suggest waiting to add other packages from automatix until your done setting up beryl.
Installing Beryl
Would you believe me if I told you that you already know how to install beryl? Well you do. The steps required are exactly the same as what we just went through to install automatix. Lets start by modifying the script provided by the beryl project to only install beryl and not install any of our nvidia parts. The reason I choose to let automatix install nvidia rather then beryl's simple install script is just that I have more trust in the developers of automatix to figure stuff out properly then I do in myself and debuging the simple script provided by beryl. Thats a whole different story. So lets start by opening vi to make our beryl-install script
jsmith@floyd:~$ vi beryl-install
Don't forget to press i to enter insert mode before pasting in the following text. Also don't forget to press esc when your done the paste to get out of insert mode.
#!/bin/bash if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then echo "You must run this script as root."; else cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.beryl cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.beryl echo "deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ edgy main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | apt-key add - aptitude -y update && aptitude -y dist-upgrade aptitude -y install beryl emerald emerald-themes aquamarine ln -s /usr/bin/beryl-manager ~/.kde/Autostart/beryl-manager echo -e "\n\nBeryl is now installed; If your already inside KDE run beryl-manager.\n\n" fi;
Thats the whole thing. Close up the script using :wq! and then we have to chmod it
jsmith@floyd:~$ sudo chmod u+x beryl-install jsmith@floyd:~$ sudo ./beryl-install
Once Beryl is installed you can start it by running the beryl-manager from inside the Kmenu or by typing that into a terminal. After the Beryl install you will want to verify that the required values made it into your xorg.conf file
jsmith@floyd:~$ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Your looking for the following
Section "Screen"
[...your configuration...]
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True" # Edit only this line.
EndSection
If this isn't in your Screen section then add it and save the xorg.conf file. Also might want to try adding
Section "Device"
[...your configuration...]
Option "TripleBuffer" "True" # Edit only this line.
EndSection
into your Device section. "This option makes Beryl smoother, at the expense of consuming additional video RAM. On some video cards, performance may be improved." Then when your ready hit ctrl + alt + backspace to restart X.
Beryl command reference
So now you've got this awesome 3d accelerated desktop. Thats all fine and dandy, but how do you use this thing. Well here is a couple of commands that I have figured out. I'm sure I am missing a whole bunch but this list will continue to grow as I learn new ones.
Rotate the Desktop Cube Right or Left
ctrl + alt + rightarrow or ctrl + alt + leftarrow
Rotate the Desktop Cube Freely
ctrl + alt + left click and hold on the mouse (you now have the cube locked so move your mouse around)
When a window is open on one side of the cube simply clicking and dragging it off one side of the screen or the other will switch to that side of the cube and bring the active window with you. Once the window is half-way off the screen you will notice the cube shift the direction your traveling with the window. You can also do that by
ctrl + alt + shift left click and hold on the title bar of the window you want to move
The title bar is in a horizontal line with the minimize maximize and close buttons on a window
