sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager

If you are running Kubuntu then use this command to install the most commonly needed packages.

sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-kde compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra emerald librsvg2-common

If you are missing the window decorations, then you most likely need the compiz-kde, or emerald packages.

Run Compiz

To run Compiz for the current session, hold Alt, then press F2, then enter the following command, or for better trouble shooting, open up a Terminal window and use the following command.

compiz --replace

Configure

To configure Compiz and associated plugins, hold Alt, then press F2, then enter the command, or use any Terminal.

ccsm

If ccsm is not found its installable from the compizconfig-settings-manager package.

Alternatively, for Ubuntu: System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager

And for Kubuntu: KMenu -> Settings -> CompizConfig Settings Manager or KMenu -> Settings -> Advanced Desktop Effects Settings

You can select different themes with the emerald-theme-manager tool. To download the themes for emerald You must first install subversion, then activate the theme repositories.

sudo apt-get install subversion
svn ls https://svn.generation.no/emerald-themes

You can then use the "Fetch GPL'd themes" button of The "emerald-theme-manager" tool.

Window Decorators

Information on the 3 window decorators can be found at http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Plugins/Decoration

Currently there are 3 choices in what window decorator to use. They work with compiz to give your windows the various borders, and widgets.

For kde one normally uses the command

kde-window-decorator --replace

For Gnome the command

gtk-window-decorator --replace

If you perfer somthing different , the emerald decorator is worth checking out, Use it with.

emerald --replace

Add Compiz Startup (optional)

For Ubuntu

Go to System -> Preferences -> Desktop Effects and click 'Enable Desktop Effects'

For Kubuntu

Open Konsole (KMenu -> System -> Konsole) and type in these commands:

echo "compiz --replace" > ~/.kde/Autostart/startcompiz.sh
chmod +x ~/.kde/Autostart/startcompiz.sh

This creates a 'startcompiz.sh' script in the ~/.kde/Autostart directory, if you wish you may also want to have the script start up 'emerald --replace' or other window decorator for your system, such as in this example.

$ cat ~/.kde/Autostart/startcompiz.sh
compiz --replace &
emerald --replace &

Information on the 3 window decorators can be found at http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Plugins/Decoration

Troubleshooting

Ubuntu 10.04 : ccsm/compiz config options don't show any effect and are reset the next time ccsm is started ? go to Preferences, and if gconf is selected as a back-end, then make sure that the checkbox "Enable integration into the desktop environment" is UNCHECKED.

Under Kubuntu, some settings in the Compiz Settings Manager may not be selectable unless you enable the "Flat-File Configuration Backend" Under the CCSM tool -> Preferences -> (Backend drop down menu)

If you ran nvidia-settings, then your xorg.conf lost some info. To fix your compiz window decorations (titlebars) with an nVidia graphics card, run

sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals -d 24

then restart X by logging out and back in again and selecting "Restart X Server" from the login menu.

If you want to stop Compiz and start the old window manager (metacity or kwin), just press Alt+F2 and put in the following for Ubuntu

metacity --replace

# Alternate syntax if you receive: 'Window Manager error: Unable to Open X display'
# when using the above command. The correct --display= value can be determined by
# issuing the 'who' command and noting the values in parenthesis at line-end.

metacity --display=:0.0 --replace

Or for Kubuntu

kwin --replace