First you need to login into Ubuntu Classic. To do this click on your user name and click on "Ubuntu" that's shown on the bottom panel. In the menu select Ubuntu Classic. Fill in your password and click on the Login button. Before you can use the desktop cube you need to make some changes to the workspace swither. Click with your right mouse button on the workspace switcher and select Preferences. Now change the numbers of Columns from 2 to 4 and Rows from 2 to 1. If you don't make these changes the desktop cube won't be shown as a cube but you will only see a front and a back side. When the changes are made it's time to install ccsm (compizconfig settings manager) and some extra compiz effects. To install the CompizConfig Settings Manager and the compiz-plugins-extra open a Terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and copy+paste the following line:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins-extra
When the CompizConfig Settings Manager and the extra compiz plugins are installed close the Terminal window and press Alt+F2 (this will open the application launcher) and type: ccsm. Click on Desktop and unmark Desktop Wall and Expo. Mark Desktop Cube and Rotate Cube. Click on Effects and mark 3D Windows (this will elevate open windows when rotating the cube), Animations Add-On (the are the extra compiz effects), Cube Reflection and Deformation and of course Wobbly Windows (to use Wobbly Windows you need to disable Snapping Windows). To change the shape of the desktop cube click on Cube Reflection and Deformation. Select the Deformation tab and click on Cylinder. Now select None for a cube, Cylinder for a cylinder shaped cube and Sphere to get a sphere shaped cube. Just select one out of three and press left Ctrl+Alt+Left mouse button and move your mouse to see how it looks. To change or assign effects to open/minimize/close windows click on Animations and enable the effects you like for opening/minimizing/closing windows.
A question:
Don’t you have to activate the (Nvidia,Ati) card?
Because if you activate it you loose the ubuntu-classic and fall in Unity.
Yep, you first have to activate the driver for your video card. Go to System -> Administration -> Additional Drivers and see if the driver is enabled if not… enable it.
Maybe I missed something along the line but when I paste the install command in the terminal and hit enter, the next line asks for my password. When I try and enter it, nothing appears on the terminal. With a blank terminal I can type in just fine. Any help would be appreciated.
You can try to install ccsm from the Ubuntu Software Center, search for compiz and install compizconfig settings manager. And to install the extra plugins you can use the synaptic package manager and install the compiz-plugins-extra
Thank you, that took care of it! I tried several very early Red Hat free distros back in early 2000s, Ubuntu is far superior! Would almost be tempted to give up Windows entirely! Thanks again!
almost is not good enough!! 🙂 drop that w1nd0z3 and fast …
This is the first time I checked out your blog, and honestly, compared to your other posts, “Install CompizConfig Settings Manager And Enable Desktop Effects Ubuntu Classic 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” | n00bs on Ubuntu” is much more well-written! 🙂 Keep up the good work. Regards, Jackson Moscardelli