Bring compiz's Animations Add-On back AKA compiz-plugins-extra :) [SOLVED]

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arielenter

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Hi every one:

So I was very sorry to see that “Animations Add-Ons” where gone from compiz. One specifically that was important to me was the burn animation when closing a window.

I want to share how I came around this problem. As suggested by davidnotcoulthard I downgraded compiz :)

WARNING: I am not an expert so this may break your system :P . So long, I being testing it and I haven't had a problem so far but you never know xD

First, I follow my own tutorial to downgraded compiz on toutatis to 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1 in the following post:

https://trisquel.info/es/forum/solved-compiz-rotate-cube-flicker-flashes

We will be doing the same:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:vanvugt/compiz-preproposed

But, since this method was meant to work with toutatis, we will have to do tow things:

1) Open Synaptic go to Settings>Repositories and choose the “Other software” tap, select the ppa:vanvugt/compiz-preproposed with a check mark, and then click on edit. Where it says distribution, change “trusty” and write “precise” instead.

2) We will add toutatis repositories, since compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1 only worked with toutatis compizconfig-setting-manager, and compiz-plugin-main became a dummy package on belenos. To do this Open Synaptic go to Settings>Repositories and choose the “Other software” tap, click on add and type the following in the text box:

deb http://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel/ toutatis main

I chose to install compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1 instead of toutatis' to avoid the “cube flicker” described in the post mentioned above, but I guest it could also had been a possibility. Also, the reason we are not choosing to add toutatis-updates is because its version of compiz-plugin-main breaks compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.

Unfortunately, the version of compiz we are trying to use doesn't work with the current trisquel's metalcity windows manager and we can not install the compiz-gnome package for that reason. That's why we will be using emerald xD

To install emerald we will run the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:noobslab/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install emerald

Now we have all we need :D . To downgraded compiz run the following command:

sudo apt-get install compiz=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-core=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-kde=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-plugins=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-plugins=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-plugins-default=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 libdecoration0=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 libcompizconfig0=0.9.7.0~bzr428-0ubuntu6 libboost-serialization1.46.1 compizconfig-settings-manager=0.9.5.92-0ubuntu3 python-compizconfig=0.9.5.94-0ubuntu4 compiz-plugins-main=1:0.9.7.0~bzr19-0ubuntu10 compiz-plugins-main-default=1:0.9.7.0~bzr19-0ubuntu10 compiz-plugins-extra=0.9.7.0~bzr9-0ubuntu6

This will remove two packages: Trisquel, which is a dummy package, and gnome-control-center, which is the reason the trisquel package is removed. I guess this happens because toutatis' compizconfig-settings-manager is not compatible any more. But that's fine, as far as I know, gnome-control-center is just an easy way to find all settings in one place, but you can still find them in the accessories main menu, they are just hidden. To show them just right click in the menu and choose edit menu and you'll see they are all there :)

Now, here is where things get scary. Open up compizconfig-settings-manager either by running “ccsm” in terminal or by displaying it on the menu by doing what I just described.

You'll see that neither the names or the icons from ccsm are not displayed :S (I guess this happens when you try to be a god xD Lol) don't worry though, the entries are still there, all you have to do to find them is to place the cursor over the blank spaces and you'll see a hint telling you what they are. Another way is to filter them by typing something in the search box.

And there you have it, the extra animations are available for window closing and such :)

Finally you can run compiz –replace, just remember that it may not play well with compton which enable by default in trisquels session. To go over this, see the following post:

https://trisquel.info/es/forum/desktop-freezes-when-trying-use-compiz-trisquel-7

You can delete all the repositories that we added:

ppa:noobslab/themes
deb http://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel/ toutatis main
ppa:vanvugt/compiz-preproposed

And by filtering local packages in synaptic (origin>Local) you should Lock compiz version so that is not update it by trisquel's updater. Just select the packages on synapic and go Package>force version...

The packages that I think should be locked are the following compiz, compiz-core, compiz-plugins, compiz-plugins, compiz-plugins-default, libdecoration0, libcompizconfig0, compizconfig-settings-manager, python-compizconfig, compiz-plugins-main, compiz-plugins-main-default, compiz-plugins-extra

So far I have tested the burning effect, wobby windows, the cube and the 3d Window effect. Actually the 3d Window effect was not working correctly on the current trisquel version. I always thought it was weird how old version worked better than the new ones :(

Is being a long way xD, I want to thank Sachin, davidnotcoulthard, and every one that help me out. Thank you community, we did it xD

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arielenter

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Hopefully some day this plugins will be back, but from what I heard, they are gone since Quantal. Since Compiz 0.9.8 according to davidnotcoulthard. And is always a bummer, that the new versions have new issues with the cube that other versions used not to have :S

I hope I could do something to help out to address my concerns and contribute to the project.

arielenter

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There is something I forgot to mention:

Once you have installed compiz this way compizconfig-settings-manager won't have anything enable, so you will have to enable what you need.

Window decoration will be one of them. Go to it's settings and change "Command" from "/usr/bin/compiz-decorator" to "emerald --replace"

Some options you may want to get enable too would be:

Window decorator
Gnome compatibility
Composite plugin
OpenGl
App switcher
And move windows

arielenter

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---WARNING--- Do not do the following. It is a mistake. I just leave it here as a reference.

Ok so gnome-control-center did have a use xD

Anyway, I mentioned on my tutorial that gnome-control-center is removed when you follow my steps, but I wasn't sure how much is lost by doing it. It ends up is very useful as it provides very useful dialogs to configure the monitors, keyboards and many others.

Belenos' gnome-control-center supposedly breaks compiz (<< 1:0.9.8+bzr330), but I've been using it no problem together. Any way, trying to installed gnome-control-center through synaptic will force you to upgrade compiz, although this may not be true if you have the force version on the compiz package as suggested on my tutorial. I didn't want to risk it though.

So what I did is download the package by:
apt-get download gnome-control-center

Then you can use gdebi to installed from there. Gdebi will download the required dependences but won't upgrade compiz if you have it version forced.

So there you have it. To install gdebi just run:

sudo apt-get install gdebi

arielenter

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Ok, I made a mistake. What you have to do to install gnome-control-center from belenos is to change it's dependencies, so that gdebi does not upgrade compiz. Here is how you do it:

Taken from http://geekwentfreak-raviteja.rhcloud.com/blog/2012/10/10/modify-dependencies-addremove-files-of-debian-deb-package/

First download the deb package:

apt-get download gnome-control-center

Then we create a temporal folder to where we will be unpacking the deb content:

mkdir temporal
dpkg-deb -x gnome-control-center_1%3a3.6.3-0ubuntu56.1+7.0trisquel6_amd64.deb temporal
dpkg-deb --control gnome-control-center_1%3a3.6.3-0ubuntu56.1+7.0trisquel6_amd64.deb temporal/DEBIAN

We will then modify the package dependencies and delete the old deb package we won't be needing:

rm gnome-control-center_1%3a3.6.3-0ubuntu56.1+7.0trisquel6_amd64.deb
gedit temporal/DEBIAN/control

Look for the line that says "Breaks: compiz (<< 1:0.9.8+bzr330), gnome-bluetooth (<< 3.4.0),..." and delet the compiz part so that it will say "Breaks: gnome-bluetooth (<< 3.4.0),..."

Save it, and reconstruct the deb package again by running:

dpkg-deb -b temporal gnome-control-center_1%3a3.6.3-0ubuntu56.1+7.0trisquel6_amd64_2.deb

Finally just install the new generated package with gdebi gui.

That's all folks. I've been using compiz 1:0.9.7.8 with gnome-control-center with no problem. Hope it helps someone out there :)

arielenter

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You should lock version on gnome-control-center or it will try to upgrade to belenos' repo one.