In Kubuntu 10.04, compositing works when using Alt+Shift+F12, but when I go to System Settings>>>Desktop, it tells me that the Desktop Effects cannot be activated. Therefore, I cannot choose which effects to use.

I'm using the closed source ATI-driver and I have a ATI Mobility Radeon 4500HD, with 512 MB VRAM in it's own GDDR3 cache.

What could the problem be?

Unusual.

Please make sure all your packages are up to date, then file a bug at bugs.kde.org, as this should not occur ( likely that KWin itself and the KCM's list of permitted cards is out of sync )

Before filing the bug, check that Direct Rendering is available ( glxinfo | grep -i direct in Konsole )

Direct rendering is available and I already filed a bug at launchpad.net (Kubuntu's bug tracking), but I wanted to see if somebody here knows the problem because nobody react on Launchpad, although the report is there for about 2 weeks now.

The Kubuntu-team still hasn't responded. I begin to lose hope in the Kubuntu-team.

Does anyone here have a suggestion of what I can try to solve it?

Do you have a link to the bug report for people here to see and would you please provide the contents of your /var/log/Xorg.0.log and ~/.xsession-errors files? Those files should provide anyone trying to troubleshoot this the best idea of what is wrong.

Also, can you reproduce this issue when running Kubuntu from a LiveCD? Have you tried running Ubuntu (GNOME version) from a LiveCD as well and were you able to reproduce the issue with that? I am curious if this is something specific to your installation, to Kubuntu or to the Ubuntu distribution itself. The results from trying LiveCDs should indicate which of those 3 are the case.

Lastly, have you tried asking about this on the Ubuntu forums? People there might be more familiar with the quirks of your distribution than people here.

By the way, although I have not experienced it myself, Ubuntu has a bit of a reputation for neglecting KDE to the point where systems running Kubuntu do not work as well as systems running other distributions that use KDE.

While I do not advise you resolve this issue by switching distributions, I think you might want to keep that in mind and consider alternatives in the future.

.xsession-erros logs noting about this.

I have asked on the Ubuntu Forums, but nobody responds, just like on Launchpad.

I cannot reproduce this on a Live CD, because I cannot use the restricted drivers on the CD of course. Ubuntu works fine with the restricted driver and the effects.

And I don't want another distro. They don't provide the usability I want.

The bug report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/569591

Xorg log: http://vistaus.pastebin.com/a7gzzFgE

As previously requested, did you file a bug at bugs.kde.org? If you bypass the configuration checks, or your card isn't blacklisted, the module should permit you to perform the needed configuration.

No, I did not because I had filed it on Launchpad when you asked it, thinking it was Kubuntu's fault. But I will file a bug at bugs.kde.org now.

Or do you think upgrading to KDE 4.5 will work (I don't care that it's not stable yet)?

Vistaus wrote:No, I did not because I had filed it on Launchpad when you asked it, thinking it was Kubuntu's fault. But I will file a bug at bugs.kde.org now.

Or do you think upgrading to KDE 4.5 will work (I don't care that it's not stable yet)?

I do not think it is possible to know whether or not KDE 4.5 would resolve this issue unless you try it.

I'm gonna try it, as soon as Kubuntu provides binary packages.

I guess it's a bug in the propretiary Ati-drivers. I just installed Kubuntu 64-bit (had been using Kubuntu 32-bit) and I can choose the desktop effects if the propretiary Ati-drivers are not installed (it uses the open source ones then).

What do you guys think, can it be a bug in propretiary drivers then?

I don't think it's a bug in the proprietary driver. It sounds more like a problem with the detection code. It's not the first time that I heard about problems in the combination of Kubuntu Lucid and fglrx. In all cases it was possible to activate the effects manually and not via systemsettings.

So please try to modify your kwinrc (in ~/.kde/share/config). Everything important is in the Compositing section.

Thanks. But I don't really know what to modify in kwinrc. This is the content of my kwinrc:

Code: Select all

[$Version]
update_info=kwin.upd:kde3.0r1,kwin.upd:kde3.2Xinerama,kwin3_plugin.upd:kde3.2,kwin_on_off.upd:kwin_on_off,kwin_focus1.upd:kwin_focus1,kwin_focus2.upd:kwin_focus2

[Compositing]
AnimationSpeed=3
CheckIsSafe=false
Enabled=true

[Desktops]
Name_1=
Name_2=

[Effect-BoxSwitch]
TabBox=false

[Effect-FlipSwitch]
TabBox=false

[Effect-PresentWindows]
TabBox=false

[Style]
BorderSize=1
ButtonsOnLeft=XAI
ButtonsOnRight=__
CustomButtonPositions=true
PluginLib=kwin3_crystal
ShowToolTips=true

[TabBox]
ListMode=0
ShowTabBox=true


Try removing the line CheckIsSafe

Wohoo! That worked! Thank you so much!