Ubuntu Desktop Effects - Default in Feisty Fawn

With the excitement creeping with the recent release of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, some users might not realise that there is a special feature, known as Desktop Effects, which has been added by default during the Desktop installation.

(Looking for Desktop Effects for Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron?)

With the setup of Desktop Effects, Ubuntu users can get the feel of wobbling windows while dragging the windows from place to place, and also the inclusion of Cube effect when switching from one workspace to another. Despite that it is pre-installed with the Ubuntu, it is being deactivated by default. To activate Desktop Effects, simply follow the instruction below:

(continue to read on...)

  1. Click on System, and under Preferences, select Desktop Effects (see image below).
  2. Click on Enable Desktop Effects to activate the program
  3. Tick the effect that you would like to have, and then Close.
  4. A screenshot of the Window warping effect is shown below (I have to apologise for the poor resolution since the system's screen shot is not capable of capturing a better image).
So, it is quite easy to get a brand new experience of Wobbling Windows, and Cube Effect directly from Ubuntu 7.04.

However, it is important to note that the feature may still cause problem to some systems.

Enjoy the fun!


Cool. is it a "port" of barryl/compiz, or what (just small pieces)?

Gasten (not verified) | Wed, 2007-05-02 10:29

YMMV. It doesn't work correctly with my ATI X1600 video card.

Katrus (not verified) | Thu, 2007-05-10 07:28

Works beautifully on my NVIDIA GeForce cards (w/ closed source driver), and on an ATI Radeon 9200 (w/ open source driver).

Jeremy (not verified) | Mon, 2007-05-21 05:46

i'm using a toshiba m300 and the wobbling effect works perfectly (i truly love it) but the cube options seems to work randomly, when it works is just astonishing ... never tought that an os could be so beautiful!

cignu (not verified) | Fri, 2007-07-20 08:25

i'm an ex windows user working on a toshiba m300 and the wobbling effect works perfectly, the cube effect seems to work randomly, to get it working i need to reboot a few times and when it works is just FANTASTIC ... I never tought than an os could be so beautiful!

cignu (not verified) | Fri, 2007-07-20 08:29

As you all know, this Feisty Desktop effect is part of the new features that comes with the latest version of Ubuntu; hence, it is not a stable release.

It is quite likely that the cube effects may or may not work at random times. Nonetheless, this is definitely a one-step ahead to keep up with the advancement of a Linux operating system.

keith | Thu, 2007-08-02 00:12

I read the warning, thought I should be able to undo it if things did not turn out ok. Now the consequence is that the desktop is a white screen with nothing on it except a cursor. There seems no way to reclaim my desktop. A clear warning should be added to novices that you could lose your account and everything in it. Cheers

Guest (not verified) | Sat, 2007-09-01 20:00

press the escape key

Guest (not verified) | Sun, 2007-09-09 04:29

Pressing the ESCAPE key may not necessarily work.

If you can afford to lose the content on your desktop, you may want to sacrifice that and press Control-Alternate-Backspace keys together to restart the X-screen.

keith | Sun, 2007-09-09 08:58

The cube effect doesn't always work. I've had it working the first time, but then I didn't know why I just had to disable it. Now I can't enable it once more. It just reduces my workspaces to one, but it won't cube-ify the workspace anymore.

Aja Lapus (not verified) | Mon, 2007-09-10 17:15

The Desktop Effects is a new feature with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and the development team has already mentioned that it is still classified as a beta package. Nothing is stable with Desktop Effects (or Cube Effect).

I experienced the same situation where the workspace shrunk to one while playing around with Cube Effect. Perhaps, give it some time for the development team to iron out the bug.

keith | Tue, 2007-09-11 02:42

I am having the same problems with desktop effects, tried both ATI no acceleration and NVIDIA there I have acceleration but desktop effects will put me down to one window as was mentioned before and will also take out the top bar on all my opened programs, the bar with the -ox in the corner so I can't close my opened aps without going to the task bar and right clicking and closing from there

VoyeurOne (not verified) | Fri, 2007-09-14 00:54

YEP, I think this should come with a more robust warning. I really thought I'd be reversible. but no, it wrecked my mouse control, and escape didn't work, in the end it killed my installation completely, leaving me with a white screen and a mouse pointer...

BE WARNED, THIS IS "BETA", AKA unstable shitware, use at your peril.

It's really pissing me off actually, I've used FreeBSD for years but now I've moved to something with a GUI I'm realising that the Linux notion is just lots of fragmented half arsed software that requires a massive investment of knowledge and risk to get what you want out of a system. Credit to MS, I can set up XP with servers remote access, customise the GUI and secure it in 2 hrs flat, from scratch. Ubuntu's desktop is so confined it's beyond belief. Yes, you can have a working desktop in 20 minutes (if you're lucky) but if you're not you're going to be going bananas for days.

Guest (not verified) | Sat, 2007-09-15 09:08

if you have set the option for using the desktops on a cube, use this fix:

at console, run following two commands:

gconftools-2 --type int --set /apps/compiz/general/screen0/options/hsize 4
gconftools-2 --type int --set /apps/compiz/general/screen0/options/number_of_desktops 1

Should fix the cube. Hold ctrl-alt, left click mouse, and drag right and left for desktop switching.

bhoover (not verified) | Tue, 2007-09-25 18:37

My Wobbly was fine until I tried Beryl, Now nothing works. No white screens or anything, just no effects.

Sean (not verified) | Mon, 2007-10-01 03:55

hi fellows,

after reading one of the comment on this forum to restart x so that we can getrid of the white screen however, it restarts x and takes us back to the login screen but if I relogin from the same username the problems remains there.

I am ready to lose the data on my desktop but please can anyone help me get out of this white screen problem?

Thanks in advance

waqas (not verified) | Wed, 2007-10-03 08:07

If this has caused you to lose your display, You need to either Reboot into a Safemode Console or Hit your F keys while holding Control ( i cant remember exactly which one does it but one should give you a terminal ) Once in terminal then simply type the following to remove the desktop effects

sudo apt-get remove compiz beryl
sudo autoremove

You may learn more about Ubuntu in general at my blog www.shawnc.org

ShawnC (not verified) | Thu, 2007-10-11 11:50

i have intel 101 board with ati xpress200 onboard graphic card with 1 gb ram. i have installled ubuntu 7.04 on my pc . i wanna see cube & moving effects but they are not highlighted under desktop effects window. please suggest a solution to me. is ati radeon xpress200 is supported by ubuntu . also when i click on desktop effects it goes to a white screen then everything comes to normal after some time reply soon if have answer or similar problem. share ur problems & go ahead.............

parmar saab (not verified) | Sun, 2007-10-14 16:16

I've got an ATI radeon card too and the same thing happened to me. The screen turned white, but I hit alt F4 and it seemed to turn off the desktop effects option and return to normal.

Guest (not verified) | Thu, 2008-04-03 21:31

to avoid that stupid white screen just change session... choose terminal session, start gnome-control-center and disable all the special feautures! then close and relog with gnome session. for me it has worked.

Guest (not verified) | Mon, 2008-05-19 22:46

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