Linux Mint Mate Compiz part 1

We start off by turning on Use Compositing and we change the Windows Manager from Marcos (Stable and Reliable) to Compiz (Impressive Desktop Effects)

We add the Workspace Switcher to the desktop.

We then log-out and log back in to activate the Compiz Impressive Desktop Effects.

When we log back in, we look at the Desktop Settings, Window option and only has 1 option - Performance and Appearance are no longer seen, because that are not supported in Compiz.

I mention using the Destop Settings is the best way to turn on the Compiz Windows manager, using the terminal will most likely make your desktop unusable.

The Compiz Impressive Desktop Effects are seen when we click in a new workspace on the workspace switcher on the panel.

Holding down Control+Alt and pressing the right and left arrow key moves to the next workspace using the Compiz effects.

Holding Control+Alt and pressing the arrow down, shows us multiple workspaces that we can choose from using the left and right arrows keys (still holding down control+ALT) releasing control+Alt will bring up the selected workspace.

Holding down Control+ALT and pressing the up arrows shows me all my workspaces, I can release Control+Alt and use my arrow keys to switch workspaces and pressing enter will bring up the selected workspace.

Holding down Shift+Control+ALT and an arrow right (or arrow left) key, will move my selected window one workspace to the right (or left)

The last thing we do is open the CompizConfig Settings Manager and we see a warning that changing these settings can make an unusable desktop.

Linux Mint Mate Compiz part 2

We pick up from where we left of in the previous video talking about Compiz.

We first make note of the warning that changing values in the CompizConfig Settings Manager could make our desktop unusable and remind you to make sure you have a backup of any important files.

We make a note of what features that are activated in each category, in case we need to set the features back to the Linux Mint Mate settings.

We turn on the Cube Reflection and Deformation feature in the Effects category and when we hold CNTL+ALT and use our mouse, we see our cube has changed to a cylinder and has pictures on the top and bottom - that we can change to a custom .png or .svg file. Holding CNTL+ALT and using the right or left arrow keys still use the default cube.

We also change the Deformation to a sphere and uncheck the deform caps to make the top and bottom pictures flat.

We turn on the Wobbly Windows

We add an animation that will work when we open the LibreOffice Calc, and look at ways we can change that effect.

We discuss what happened to the fire/burn effect, that that would make windows burn up. That effect does not work with the OpenGL, so it is not included in the effects any more.

We finish our look at compiz.

The first thing I do is remind everyone that changing the settings in the CompizConfig Settings Manager could make your desktop unusable and to please backup any important files before changing anything in the CompizConfig Settings Manager..

We turn on the magnifier and see we need to initialize it to start it up, The default setting is to press the "Super" key (which is the windows key) and m at the same time. When we press the super key it opens the menu, so we change the settings to be press the ALT key + m to start the magnifier.

We also change the mouse keys for zoom in and zoom out.

We then turn on the show mouse feature and play with some of th settings of the show mouse feature.

The last thing we do is go into the preferences, and we see it causes us some problems, we reset to the values we made note of in the first video, and see that we still have a problem with the workspace switcher on the panel. To fix that we need to go into General - General Options - Desktop Size and reset the horizontal setting to 4.

We turn off the Compiz feature and go back to the Marco desktop.

I did have a problem one time loosing my Menu button after using Compiz. To get my Menu button back, I had to hold down ATL and press F2 then type mate-terminal and click run, then at the prompt type mate-panel - reset and my menu button returned.