Enabling Compiz Fusion On An Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 05/14/2009

This tutorial shows how you can enable Compiz Fusion on an Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) desktop (the system must have a 3D-capable graphics card - I'm using an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 here). With Compiz Fusion you can use beautiful 3D effects like wobbly windows or a desktop cube on your desktop.

This document comes without warranty of any kind! I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Preliminary Note

I have tried this on a desktop computer with an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200. It should work the same way with all other NVIDIA graphics cards.

2 Enabling The NVIDIA Driver

To use 3D effects on an NVIDIA graphics card, we need the proprietary NVIDIA driver which we can install from the Hardware Drivers tool. The Hardware Drivers tool can be started from System > Administration > Hardware Drivers:

The Hardware Drivers tool should tell you that there's an NVIDIA graphics driver available for your system. To install it, click on Activate:

Type in your password:

Afterwards the NVIDIA driver is being downloaded and installed:

The Hardware Drivers tool should now tell you that a system restart is required to activate the driver. Click on Close to leave the Hardware Drivers tool...

... and then reboot the system:

After the reboot the system uses the proprietary NVIDIA graphics driver.

3 Installing Simple Compizconfig Settings Manager (simple-ccsm)

Open the Synaptic Package Manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager):

Select the package simple-ccsm (simple Compizconfig settings manager) and install it: