Tutorial: How To Pimp Your Xubuntu 12.10 Desktop by Installing Compiz

Compiz is an alternate window manager for Linux which not only provides the much needed eye-candy for Xubuntu, but also provides a ton of functionality and possibilities as well. With Xubuntu 12.10, the Compiz interface is smoother and more stable than it was ever before and shows a lot of promise. Those who are willing to tax their system a bit, in exchange for a beautiful desktop experience should consider using Compiz.

Here’s a quick and dirty, beginner tutorial on how to install and get Compiz up and running on your Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal installation.

Fire up a terminal window and paste the following command, a trouble-free way to get Compiz on your system.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-core compiz-gnome compiz-plugins compiz-plugins-default compiz-plugins-extra compiz-plugins-main compiz-plugins-main-default compizconfig-backend-gconf compizconfig-settings-manager libcompizconfig0 libdecoration0 python-compizconfig fusion-icon

 

Now that we have all the good stuff, we can finally work on setting Compiz up. Open up the CompizConfig Settings Manager from the Menu –> Settings.

To save you guys a ton of trouble with manually configuring it up, I’m providing my profile which exhibits a nice mix of looks and functionality. To import the attached pre-configured profile, choose Import in the Preferences tab of the CompizConfig Settings manager and select the downloaded profile.

For the record, I mapped Control + Alt + X to the xkill command and Control + Alt + T to the terminal in my profile for quick access. Do feel free to play around with the settings and tweak Compiz as per your requirements.

Once we’ve finished setting it up by importing the settings, it’s time to fire the sucker up. Open up the Compiz Fusion Icon from Menu –> System. If everything turns out right, you’ll find yourself enjoying the awesomeness of Compiz.

Now, the only thing that remains is to set Compiz as the default Window Manager everytime your system boots up. Doing this is pretty simple too.  Navigate to Menu –> Setting –> Settings Manager –> Sessions and Startup. In the Application Autostart tab, add a new entry and set the command to

fusion-icon

 

 

And we’re done. That’s really all there is to it. If you find the Compiz-Fusion icon on the taskbar annoying, you can replace the startup command with

compiz --replace

 

 

Pre-configured Compiz Profile link:

Link 1: http://www.4shared.com/file/pgrH1wcm/Compiz_Xubuntu_1204.html?

Link 2: http://www43.zippyshare.com/v/25630619/file.html

Do let us know if this article helps and if you have any queries.