What must you do to enable normal desktop effects in Mint and Ubuntu?

I am running both of these from usb drive. I cannot enable normal effects in either one. I go to hardware drivers, it scans and comes up with Nvidia drivers that are necessary for 3d effects. I download and restart, I get desktop effects can't be enalbled. I go to the Nvidia site and download the Linux drivers there. I follow their directions. I get the following error: You appear to be running an X server, please exit X before installing. What does this mean and how do I do it?

There is Nividia X server settings under Administration, but I cannot run sudo nvidia-xcongig because when I do it says I don't have the authority to do it. I have not set up anything with a password or root. I am totally lost on this. I just do not understand what I am doing wrong and what it is that I am supposed to do.

I have spent many hours trying to get one of these distros workable and I am frustrated. Could anyone please give me some help on this or point me in the right direction. I have searched the Ubuntu and Mint forums and I just can't find something that I understand to help me. Thanks and sorry for so many posts and threads with my problems. I hope to be able to contribute something positive to the forum with my experiences.

 

What card do you have?

 

I have a Geforce 6200, AGP.

 

You need to install the Nvidia drivers with the X server shutdown. The X server is the base software that is used by your Window manager. What you need to do is to stop the X server and this should drop you into a big black screen with just a terminal prompt. From here install the nvidia driver. Therefore, go to the terminal program and issue the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

BTW - Do you have to have these desktop effects right now? You are very new to Linux and I suggest you start reading some beginner reference materials. Your time might be better served doing that. Once you get a better understanding of Linux in general I think things will get easier for you over all.

 

Please post the results of these commands. They need to by typed from within a terminal window, at the command line.

First we would need to know what kind of nVidia hardware and nVidia driver modules you have loaded, so post the output of these commands (copy and paste them into your terminal window and then hit enter);

Code:

sudo lspci |grep -i nvidia

Code:

sudo lsmod |grep -i nvidia

Next you should post your X server configuration file contents;

Code:

sudo cat /etc/xorg.conf

Finally you should post any warnings and errors from your X server log file;

Code:

sudo grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Code:

sudo grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log

I don't know what method you used to install Ubuntu (or Mint) to your USB drive. It seems like there's plenty of resources for folks who want to do this now, although it's not something I would recommend for someone new to Linux. However, it seems well documented, and much easier to do now, thanks to things such as Ubuntu's Live USB Creator and the gui instructions for using it from Pendrivelinux, Portable Linux, or Pendrivelinux.

You may run into problems in the future that may be specific to a USB installation of Linux, which folks in forums related to those sites will best be able to answer. For example for Ubuntu, I would stick with the Ubuntu tool to create my USB configuration, and then look for answers to problems in the Ubuntu forums from users who are doing the same thing. Like in this thread, and in this thread.

Anyway, if you can post the information above, someone should be able to debug what's going wrong with your installation. BTW, normally you should not use the installation method for video drivers provided by the video manufacturer. Most all Linux distributions maintain a preferred method of downloading and installing video drivers, even if they are proprietary closed source drivers from the manufacturer.

Good Luck..

 

Could you suggest some good reading materials? I don't need the desktop effects, but I want to see what everything is like and how it works before I install it to the hdd. I am a complete beginner but I usually do well with well written directions. I understand that this is not Windows which is all I have ever used so I was expecting some teething problems. That said, Mint is close to being quite usable from a usb drive. I hope to be able to fine tune it to my liking and start learning more about it as I go. Thank you for your help.

 

Thanks for the info. I will do as you have suggested and post the results later when I get home and get a chance to run Linux. I have tried to let Linux install the drivers on boht Mint and Ubuntu with the same result, no desktop efects, so I tried to use the Nvidia drivers. If I have my installation too messed up, I'll wipe the drive and resintall it again. I did my intallations following the directions at pendrivelinux. I didn't install from the live cd, I used their directions and installed with the iso I downloaded to burn the Live cd.

I am also finding that different brands of usb drives give different reslults. Some will boot and reboot with no problem, others will boot once and then must be removed and plugged in again in order for it to be recoginized. I have that problem with the PNY drive. The SanDisk Cruzer drive works, but it very slow. So far the best performance I have experienced is with a Lexar drive. It is up and running in a little over 2 minutes as is the PNY when it works. The Sandisk is very slow, about 5 minutes until it is usable. And these are all with the same installation file that I created and have stored on XP.

I'll post more information later. And thanks to all for the patience and help.

 

Keep at it Kingbob, you seem to be a trooper....

 

The Pendrivelinux page you first quoted in your original thread here, was just the Pendrivelinux page on how to setup a USB Boot CD for Ubuntu 8.10. You didn't say how you setup Ubuntu on the USB stick. That's why I suggested that if you're keen to start over clean, then you should set up your USB stick with the Ubuntu tool for doing so, following these instructions. Then once you have your Ubuntu installation up and running, you should use the Ubuntu driver installation tool for installing the nVidia drivers. If you still can't enable desktop effects after that, then you can follow the steps I outlined above for providing the necessary debugging information.

Good Luck..

 

I may have posted the link to the pendrivelinux home page. I used the tutorials there to install Ubuntu and Mint to a flash drive using Windows. This is the Mint link I used: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-linux-mint-6-flash-drive-creation-windows/

And I used this one for Ubuntu: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/live-ubuntu-810-usb-persistent-install-windows/

I did use the link you provided at pendrivelinux earlier too, but it just put Ubuntu on the flash drive like it was on the Live CD, there was no option to run it persistently. The links I used above allow it to be run persistently. If you have time, please check them out and see what you think. Perhaps I have gone about this incorrectly.

At the moment, I am going to first try getting the special effects to work in Mint first, that way I have a system that should be good to go. Then I am assuming I can do the same thing in Ubuntu. I know Ubuntu will take a bit more work to get dvd playback to work properly, right now it is unacceptable as I have no sound and the menu controls won't work at all.

I am really curious if it will be possible to get everything working properly from usb or are there going to be limitations. I really thought that there would others here who were doing this, I guess I'm the guinea pig, and not a bright one at that. LOL.

Thanks for the support.

 

Yes there is. It's step 5 in the instructions I pointed you to, and it's where you select the option for "When starting up from this disk, documents and settings will be:" You need to make sure you select the button that sets them to be "Stored in reserved extra space".

Regardless of how you built it, if you now have a persistent Linux setup that you can boot in to, and you can't get your nVidia drivers configured correctly to enable desktop effects, you need to provide more specific information before anyone can reasonably help you debug the problem. Follow the steps above from my original reply if you're still having problems, and the folks here may be able to provide some suggestions.

Good Luck..

 

I tried to make the usb installation using the live cd method. When I tried to boot, it said no operating system. I wiped out the drive and did it again, same result. So I went back to the method I used in the links I provided and installed Ubuntu to run persistently on usb drive and I installed it using Windows and it boots fine. I am online with it now. I have done nothing for changes or even attempted to download a video driver. I am going to use the commands you suggested in an earlier post and see what happens.

 

jas, here is the info you requested.

Ok here we go. This is a fresh usb install. I tried to enable normal desktop effects. I got the pop up saying that I needed to enable Nvidia driver version 173. I click on enable, it goes thru the search and download process, says to run visual effects again after I reboot and driver is enabled. I reboot, go to appearance and click to enable normal desktop effects. After several seconds, I get the message that desktop effects could not be enabled, no reason was given. So I ran the commands in your earlier post.

1) For this command sudo lspci |grep -i nvidia

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)


2) sudo lsmod |grep -i nvidia

nvidia 7103300 0
i2c_core 31892 9 tea5767,wm8775,cx25840,tuner,ivtv,i2c_algo_bit,v4l2_common,nvidia,tveeprom
agpgart 42184 2 nvidia,intel_agp


3) sudo cat /etc/xorg.conf

cat: /etc/xorg.conf: No such file or directory

4) sudo grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log

(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.

5) sudo grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log

(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
(EE) Failed to initialize GLX extension (Compatible NVIDIA X driver not found)


That is what I found, and I didn't go into System> Administration> Hardware Drivers at all. And when I went System>Administration> Nvidia X server settings, I got the pop up box with this message: You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server.

I run the command nvidia-xconfig and I get the following:

Error: you don't seem to have the permission to modify your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Try using "sudo"

I retry using sudo nvidia-xconfig and nothing happpens, I just get the command line prompt again.

I am not going to mess with it until you let me know what to do. Thank you for your time and help.

 

the correct path for xorg.conf is
/etc/X11/xorg.conf

So you're currently using Ubuntu on your usbKey?
and you installed it with the Ubuntu usb installer within the Ubuntu LiveCD?

 

The nvidia-xconfig program is a program which will automatically edit the xorg.conf configuration file to make the necessary changes to enable the nVidia X driver. You can see that you don't have this driver loaded with your X server from your step 5. When you ran nvidia-xconfig again with sudo, even though it ran and all you got was the command prompt again, it may have made the necessary changes. In order to see if the changes were applied, reboot your system, and then try and reenable the desktop effects as you've done previously. If it works, then you are done with configuring your nVidia driver. If it doesn't work, then please do as proxima_centauri suggested and post the contents of this command;

Code:

sudo cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

since under Ubuntu, that's the correct location for that configuration file. (For my distro it's just in /etc/)

Good Luck..

 

Sorry to post off-topic, but
What distro has xorg.conf simply in /etc/ jas?

 

Gentoo and I didn't realize that it may be the only one.. (after a quick Google search..) So should have used the /etc/X11/xorg.conf instruction initially..

 

Yes, I have Ubuntu on a usb drive. It didn't install properly from the Live cd for some reason. It looked like all the info was there, but it wouldn't boot, it said no operating system installed. I went thru the process of installing from Live cd again and got the same result, so I used the method shown on pendrivelinux.com for intalling Ubuntu to run persistently using Windows to load the files to the usb drive.

 

I still cannot use desktop effects. The results of this command are below. I don't understand what it means. Thank you for taking the time to help me. I appreciate it. I have not downloaded any packages under Synaptic or add/remove software. Another thing I don't understand, with Mint, all of the screensavers work even though I have the driver issue, but in Ubuntu, there are only a few screensavers that work.

sudo cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

 

So that's the blank Ubuntu 8.10 xorg.conf file. Now if you run the command you specified previously;

Code:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

That should edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and put in the appropriate configuration. Verify that by again doing a;

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and please post the output of that. You should see an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file that now contains new entries and configuration settings. If you want to see an example of one, look at this post.

If you don't see that, then the nvidia-xconfig is not working correctly. If that's the case, I would try and reinstall the nvidia driver from within Ubuntu, and then repeat the above sudo nvidia-xconfig step.

However, if your xorg.conf file has been successfully changed by running the nvidia-xconfig program, and when you reboot the changes are no longer in your xorg.conf file, (it looks just like you posted it now), then your USB Ubuntu installation is NOT setup with persistence enabled, and you will never have desktop effects until you reinstall the system correctly.

Good Luck..

 

It is supposed to be running persistently. It saves all my passwords and forum login information. It saves my bookmarks. Each time I boot I am given the choice to run perstistenly. Do you think that it is not running persistent? From what I have read at pendrivelinux, there are a few ways to run Linux from usb, you can do it creating from the Live cd or from within Windows. Do you think that it doesn't work properly because it was created in Windows? I used the same iso file that I burned to cd to make the Live cd.

 

When I run this, nothing happens:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

I tried cat /etc/x11/xorg.conf And it says no such file or directory.

What do you want me to do?

 

After you run

Code:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

post the output of

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If it looks the same as what you posted previously then the nvidia-xconfig program is not working correctly, and my suggestion is to reinstall the nvidia driver and redo this process until you have an xorg.conf file that is configured for your nvidia driver.

If your xorg.conf file is changed to include the nvidia driver configuration information in it then reboot your system and look at the xorg.conf file again once your system has restarted to make sure the changes were saved correctly

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If it still contains the configuration changes then you should be set. Enable your desktop effects.

If it doesn't have the changes and the xorg.conf file looks the same as what you posted previously, then something is wrong with your setup. Reinstall the system so you can save changes correctly.

Good Luck..

 

Here we go again. I wiped the drive clean and was able to do the install from the Live cd. I was able to boot into Ubuntu from the usb drive. I tried to enable desktop effects, it said that I needed to download the driver, restart, and run enable desktop effects again. I did this and it still won't enable desktop effects, just as before. I am going to run all of the commands you gave me again and post the results.

1) sudo lspci |grep -i nvidia

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)

2) sudo lsmod |grep -i nvidia

nvidia 7103300 0
i2c_core 31892 9 tea5767,wm8775,cx25840,tuner,ivtv,i2c_algo_bit,v4l2_common,tveeprom,nvidia
agpgart 42184 2 nvidia,intel_agp

3) sudo cat /etc/xorg.conf

cat: /etc/xorg.conf: No such file or directory

4) sudo grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log

sudo grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.

5) sudo grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log

(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
(EE) Failed to initialize GLX extension (Compatible NVIDIA X driver not found)

 

Ok, I ran sudo nvidia-xconfig and it just went to another command prompt.

Then I ran cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

It looks the same as it did yesterday.

I'll try it again. Thanks.

 

Thank you for your patience and I'm sorry if this is getting so confusing. This is where I'm at.
There were two drivers listed when I tried to enable desktop effects. In all of my prior testing, I downloaded driver 173 as that was the recommended driver, but there was also driver 177. This time, I downloaded 177 and restarted and ran the commands again. The results are different this time. I don't know what this means. Regardless, no desktop effects.

sudo nvidia-xconfig

Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Device section "Configured Video Device" must have a Driver
line.

Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

Then cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder63) Wed Oct 1 15:09:35 PDT 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 30.0 - 110.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

 

At least you have nvidia-xconfig working now. Now run it again with this option;

Code:

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

This should change your xorg.conf slightly again. Make sure by looking at it again

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then reboot and make sure the changes are still there

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then you should be able to enable desktop effects.

Good Luck..

 

I'm trying it again now. The only change I see is this, which was added near the bottom of the details posted below.
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
I will reboot now and see if I can enable effects.



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

Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Device section "Configured Video Device" must have a Driver
line.

Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True" added to Screen "Screen0".
Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder63) Wed Oct 1 15:09:35 PDT 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 30.0 - 110.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

 

I just re-booted and ran: cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf The results are below. I don't understand it, but is seems that it is telling me that it has been configured.

I still can't enable desktop effects. Is there any chance that there is a package or something that I must download first. I was reading on some of the links you provided about Compiz. Is that needed for effects or is a part of Ubuntu?


# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

 

That xorg.conf file is exactly like the empty one you initially posted. So no, your X server configuration is not configured properly for the nvidia driver, and you can't enable desktop effects until it's configured correctly. If you look at the previous posting of your xorg.conf, none of the settings configured by the nvidia-xconfig program were saved. Until you are able to make these changes to your xorg.conf file with;

Code:

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

and then save them, this won't work. As to why your xorg.conf changes are not being saved, (or they are being overwritten somewhere before you reboot), I'm not sure. Running Linux off of a USB stick isn't the normal method, so it could be caused by something related to that.

I suggest that if you want to try and continue with running Linux off of your USB stick, that you visit the Ubuntu forums and ask in the threads over there dealing with running Ubuntu on a USB stick, how to fix this problem. I previously suggested trying in this thread, or this thread.

Good Luck..

 

Thank your for all of your help. Rep for you. If I make and progress, I'll let you know. I still don't understand exactly what I am looking for to change in the xconfig file and if I have Compiz installed or not.

 

Compiz has been included and enabled by default in Ubuntu since 7.10 for those systems that support running it. Your problem is that your X server isn't configured correctly for your nvidia hardware because for some reason the changes to your xorg.conf file aren't being saved across reboots.

If I were you, I would try starting all over again by building an Ubuntu USB installation, using the Ubuntu Live USB Creator utility, from within Ubuntu, (not Windows). The instructions I linked to previously are here. This means that you need to boot Ubuntu 8.10 from a Live CD. Then once you have Ubuntu up and running from the Live CD, run the Ubuntu Live USB Creator utility, following those instructions, making sure to set the persistent store option.

Then boot with the USB and redo the steps for setting up the xorg.conf file for your nvidia hardware. BTW, the Compiz website recommends this nvidia-xconfig command;

Code:

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

So make sure you use that to configure your xorg.conf file. When you reboot make sure the changes are still there with

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and you should be able to finally enable desktop effects.

Good Luck..

 

The installation that I have been posting about was created using the Live cd. All the info I have posted for the past 2 nights has been from the usb that was created by live cd and set to run persistently.

I have been very careful in following your instructions and all of my other information is saved, forum logon info, firefox sessions etc. I wonder why so much trouble with the nvidia settings? And I have similar problems with Mint.

One odd thing I have noticed with both distros. When I first do the install, all the screensavers work. After I start messing with the drivers, I lose functionality of all but a few.

 

So after a bit more searching it seems that there is an answer as to why your xorg.conf settings aren't saved. This Ubuntu thread describes your problem specifically, and this post states that the /etc/X11/xorg.conf is not located in a persistent folder or partition, so this will never work as part of a persistent USB install of Ubuntu, but I think what actually is happening is that part of this persistent installation must include a process that overwrites the major configuration files with "default" ones, which is why you can change your xorg.conf with the nvidia-xconfig program, but it's not saved through a system reboot. Anyway for whatever reason, it looks like a persistent USB install won't allow this change.

However a clever user posts in that thread here, a hack that you can also try, as a last ditch effort to enable desktop effects for your USB installation of Ubuntu. Here's the steps and things to type;

1) Open a terminal window and issue the following command to make the appropriate changes to your running /etc/X11/xorg.conf file for nvidia desktop effects configuration;

Code:

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

2) Then backup this now correctly configured xorg.conf to another file, so that when the xorg.conf is overwritten on reboot, you still have a file there with all the correct configuration information;

Code:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia

3) Next you will need to make a simple one line script file to perform an overwrite of the default xorg.conf file with your good nvidia one;

Code:

echo "cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia /etc/X11/xorg.conf" > resetNVXorgConf

4) Now you need to move the script file

Code:

sudo mv resetNVXorgConf /etc/init.d/

5) And make it executable

Code:

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/resetNVXorgConf

6) Finally you will need to link the script to run when you boot your system and run right before the X server loads. You accomplish this by first typing the following;

Code:

cd /etc/rc2.d/

and then this;

Code:

sudo ln -s ../init.d/resetNVXorgConf S29resetNVXorgConf

You should not receive any error messages from any of these commands and in most cases you will see no message, just a return to your command prompt. If you do see an error message, post the step and message, and don't continue, and I'll see if I can correct the misstep.

If there is no error message then first try rebooting and see if when your system comes up these two commands show the identical output;

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia

If that's the case, then you now have an Ubuntu USB installation which configures your X server configuration file for nvidia driver support correctly. Try and enable desktop effects now.

If any of this is too complicated or you figure it would be better to maybe do an actual full installation, (NOT persistent install), of Ubuntu to a USB stick to avoid these kinds of problems in the future (this would act like an HD installation of Ubuntu), you can read on this blog post how these users did it. I want to caution you regarding the point they make below the second screen shot that states the following;

If you are unsure about which drive you are selecting, don't do this. I'm sure after all of the work of making this stuff run on a USB stick, it would be pretty frustrating to wipe out your existing laptop hard drive.

Finally, this guy has posted a lot on the subject of USB Ubuntu installations over in their forums, where his username is Herman, like this thread. If you want to pursue this further with an expert, then it might be worth registering there, and posting to those threads.

Good Luck..

 

Yeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss!!! Success!!!!!!!!! You're a genius!! It finally works. Now after all of this work, where do I find the different settings that are available. I can't find Compiz on Ubuntu. I have it in Mint but not here. It has taken days to get the effects to work and I don't know where they are. LOL

Do you think your above tutorial would work for MInt too?

 

Told ya you were a trooper You're as hard headed as I am....lol

 

I am a stubborn old fart. Now how do I get to the Compiz settings in Ubuntu 8.1? I have them in Mint, but it doesn't seem to be installed in Ubuntu. I spent 40 hours just be able to enable special effects and now I don't know how to do it. Arrrrrrrrrrgh.
I really don't think I have Compiz installed.

 

Try this reading this article and this one, to see if following those steps allows you to pull up the Compiz settings utility. They basically state that you need first to go to your system's;

Code:

Preferences -> Appearances and select [B]Custom[/B] on the Visual Effects tab

To configure Compiz Fusion, you can now either click on the Preferences button right there, or you go to;

Code:

System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager

See if that works. That nvidia-xconfig hack should work for the version of Mint based on Ubuntu 8.10.

Having gone through all of this, I should close with this caveat. This is not a normal Linux installation you have, (or anyone who uses a persistent USB installation of Linux). I consider myself to be a competent Linux user and I would have difficulty, (and did), setting up and using it, as you have. If you choose to go forward using Linux like this, you are likely going to have things come up which are related to your specific installation that is going to confuse you when you read the normal Linux howtos and postings. This xorg.conf editing is just one example. Unless you're really knowledgeable about Linux you're bound to get frustrated by something else related specifically to your installation / configuration in the future, and find that you need to do some hacking to get around it.

That's why it's worthwhile for you to seriously consider doing a proper full installation of Linux. While I pointed you to a blog where some folks have managed to do a full install of Linux on a USB stick, the easiest, best documented and supported, method for a novice to install Linux, is on a hard drive installed in your computer. Anything else, like this installation, (or even on an external USB hard drive connected to your computer), and you're going to have to prepare to do extra reading, configuring, and tweaking. BY FAR, the easiest thing for most people to do is simply buy another HDD for their laptop and, (provided you can uninstall your existing one easily), uninstall your main HDD, swap in your new, empty, "soon to be Linux", HDD, and then boot up your favorite Live CD and you are off and running. All of the Linux howtos and instructions you read on the internet should work then without issue.

If you want to continue using your Linux installation as you have it, I again encourage you to communicate on the message boards with those that are experts in doing this. I've pointed you in that direction previously.

Good Luck..

 

There is no custom option on the visual effects tab. That is why I think I don't have Compiz for some reason. In Mint, the custom option is there in visual effects and Compiz is also in Control.

You have been a huge help to me and I can't thank you enough for your time and help. I tried to rep you again but it won't let me.

So you are saying if I install Linux on a hard drive I won't have all the problems with the video driver set up? I am thinking of getting a second hard drive and installing Linux on it and keep my present drive for XP. I can buy another IDE hdd for the price of a few usb sticks, so dollars and sense wise it would be the smart way to go. And if it avoids some of the headaches of the usb drive set up, all the better. I haven't tried to do the video congig in Mint yet, but it seems to me that overall Mint is much easier to get up and running than Ubuntu.

It was a challenge to get a workable usb set up and I couldn't have done it without your help. I am going to try to get visual effects working on Mint using the method you provided above. I would be satisfied to have a usb version that played dvds, videos, music had some special effects and internet. Something to take with me when out with my wife at a coffee shop etc, just for fun. I will probably do the hdd installation as you have suggested. Is it possible to run Windows 7 and a version or two of Linux on a separated hard drive? I can keep my XP install intact and boot into the second drive for Linux and maybe W 7.

I will continue reading and learning. I hope you will be willing to provide advice when I do a hard drive install. Thanks again for your help.

 

Well to verify you have compiz and its related packages installed, which you should have, try entering in a terminal window;

Code:

sudo dpkg --get-selections | grep compiz

If it shows a bunch of compiz related packages as installed, then it is. However since you don't have the custom option, you might not have the compiz config tool installed. If you don't see compizconfig-settings-manager on the list, you can always try installing it with a;

Code:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

And yes. You would have none of these specific problems if you had a "normal" Ubuntu HDD installation.

Good Luck..

 

jas deserves a medal of sorts around here....399 posts from 2005, and they're all gems

 

+ 1 on that. Very helpful posts and he is a wealth of information. Great job solving difficult problems. A big thumbs up.

 

Update for jas and any others who are still following my saga. Jas, I tried this method which was linked from the other forum and thread that you provided for me.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=922782

I did a full install to usb drive using the live cd, so it is installed just as it would be to a hard drive. To avoid any disasters by chosing the wrong drive, I used the simple idea in the thread that I linked to. I just unplugged my hard drive so there was no chance of a mistake! Now granted I am doing this on a desktop so it was easy to do. I could also have disabled the hdd in bios before using this method, I chose to be safe at this point.

This method works great, much better than the pendrivelinux or usb install from the live cd. I was able to enable my video driver on the first attempt just by clicking enable, I didn't even have to go into terminal. And I used your commands a few posts back and was able to get compiz installed and working. According to the results of this command,

sudo dpkg --get-selections | grep compizsudo dpkg --get-selections | grep compiz,

the packages weren't installed, I used this command that you provided :
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

and everything is installed and working. I know I am getting old, some of the effects make me dizzy with the desktop spinning around and the windows wobbling!

Tonight I did in an hour what I spent days trying to do before. I can't thank you enough for helping me and digging into finding the helpful information and links to get this done. I will be trying this again on a different brand of usb drive as the the SanDisk Cruzer Micro
8 GB drive I have is as slow as molasses. So far I have found Lexar drives to be the best of the ones I have used. PNY drives are fast, but after a reboot, they aren't recognised again unless you unplug them and reinstall.

I downloaded the flash player that adobe suggests for Ubuntu and it works. I still need to be able to play encrypted dvds. What should I do for this and how? Again, thanks for all the help.

I am planning on trying this method for Mint too.

 

Kingbob, check this link for enabling encrypted dvd's.
Btw, kudos for your perseverance.

 

Kudos Kingbob....now let's take it to the HD!

EDIT: Thanks for info on the usb drives....I still want to do a CrunchBang install on one..

 

I think it will be going to the hd soon. I think I will end up buying another drive soon. I just wanted to try out a few distros first and see what I liked. I still think I would chose Mint over Ubuntu. I am going to try a full Mint install on usb too. It's all a good learning experience for an old guy.

I am going to see if I can get dvd playback working in Ubuntu. I'm online with XP now. Another thing I don't understand is why text is hard to read on some forums with Ubuntu and it is clearer, darker and easier to read with Mint. Both use Firefox, why the difference? I just started using Firefox when I tried Linux, so I have to learn how to use it. I use IE in Windows, I know, I know.......

 

I'm using Mint 6 x64 As far as the fonts, they've just done some settings for you. But Mint is a better distro, IMO although the core comes from upstream Ubuntu.

 

I've just got Puppy to boot off a 2 gig Super Talent usb stick...Xorg is OK unlike other distros because I got choices to chose from reference screen and vid card. Now I've got to get the correct wireless module loaded over there and it's done. This was a 5 minute puppy install, which is a far cry from what you were trying to do with Ubuntu. But, cool nonetheless

 

I'm striking out big time today. I cannot install Mint on the usb using the same method I did with Ubuntu. If goes thru the installation process, but when I take out the live cd and reboot, it won's boot into Mint. I get an alert that says /dev/sda1 does not exist
missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls/dev)

This is a pain as the Mint Live cd doesn't give you the option to install until the cd is loaded, which takes about 12 minutes, plus another 30 or so to do the install, which has been a failure twice.

I am also having no luck getting dvd playback to work on my Ubuntu install.
I downloaded the restricted extras with
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras, Then I ran

sudo apt-get install libdvdread3 gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly

Soemthing went wrong with this part and I can't remember what it said now, I am in Windows again. I did it twice with the same results. Not sure what to do now or how to undo what was started and start over again. I just wish I could combine what I have working with each distro and I would be happy! I thought it would be simple to do it with Mint, but no such luck.

 

Ok, I have a full install of Mint running on usb. I did a regular install from the Live cd, but to get it to work, this time I formatted the drive in Mint, using Partition Editor and I chose no file system. Then I went back and installed and it booted fine this time. I was able to download the proper Nvida driver without a hitch and I am using custom effects. Youtube works out of the box, and dvd should too, I just haven't tried one yet. I still have to check out a few more things, but fingers crossed, it's ok thus far.