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Hi all,
I configured my Debian laptop(Dell Latitude D600) and helped a friend (Henry Vieira) with some tricks to configure desktop effects in his Ubuntu laptop(Dell Latitude D600). It’s a total of 2 tricks. You can find many howtos in the web, these are some tricks that took me a good time to understand and find.

First – Direct Rendering
———————————-

lspci | grep ATI

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 02)

Some drivers are not supported by ATI anymore, this video card is a case. So, you can use the open driver. It’s very simple.

sudo rmmod fglrx
sudo modprobe radeon

Replace fglrx for radeon in /etc/modules for next boot.

Change the driver in your Xorg configuration(/etc/X11/xorg.conf).

Replace :

Driver “fglrx”
for
Driver “radeon”

Restart your X server (ctrl+alt+backspace) and check if DRI is working.

glxinfo | grep direct
libGL warning: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x4b
direct rendering: Yes

Second – problem with resolution
———————————-

Problem:

**************************************************************
* Beryl system compatibility check *
**************************************************************

Detected xserver : AIGLX

Checking Display :0.0 …

Checking for XComposite extension : passed (v0.3)
Checking for XDamage extension : passed
Checking for RandR extension : passed
Checking for XSync extension : passed

Checking Screen 0 …

Checking for GLX_SGIX_fbconfig : passed
Checking for GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap : passed
Checking for non power of two texture support : passed
Checking maximum texture size : failed

Root window size (1400/1050) is bigger then maximum texture size (1024×1024)

Solution :

Replace default depth in your xorg.conf :

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep DefaultDepth

#DefaultDepth 24
DefaultDepth 16

Restart your X server and it’s going to work fine.

Some additional configurations are necessary to start up compiz-fusion. I don’t remeber all, but my xorg.conf is below.

My xorg.conf:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (xorg 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.
#
# 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 “ServerLayout”
Option “AIGLX” “on”
Identifier “Default Layout”

# Default screen (best)
Screen “Default Screen”

# Dual head
#Screen 0 “Screen0″ 0 0
#Screen 1 “Screen1″ LeftOf “Screen0″
#Option “Xinerama” “true”

InputDevice “Generic Keyboard”
InputDevice “Configured Mouse”
InputDevice “Synaptics Touchpad”
EndSection

### GENERIC
Section “Files”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Generic Keyboard”
Driver “kbd”
Option “CoreKeyboard”
Option “XkbRules” “xorg”
Option “XkbModel” “pc104″
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Configured Mouse”
Driver “mouse”
Option “CorePointer”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Protocol” “ImPS/2″
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “true”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Synaptics Touchpad”
Driver “synaptics”
Option “SendCoreEvents” “true”
Option “Device” “/dev/psaux”
Option “Protocol” “auto-dev”
Option “HorizScrollDelta” “0″
EndSection

### RADEON DRIVER
Section “Device”
Identifier “ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000]“
Driver “radeon”
BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
Option “RenderAccel” “True”
Option “AddARGBGLXVisuals” “True”
Option “DisableGLXRootClipping” “True”
Option “XAANoOffscreenPixmaps”
### DUAL HEAD MERGEFB
#Option “MonitorLayout” “LVDS , TMDS”
#Option “CRT2Position” “RightOf”
#Option “MetaModes” “1400×1050-1280×1024″
#Option “MergedXinerama” “on”
#Option “MergedNonRectangular” “true”
#Option “MergedFB” “true”
#Option “MergedFB” “true”
#Option “MetaModes” “1400×1050-1280×1024″
#Option “MergedDPI” “100 100″
#Option “CRT2Position” “LeftOf”
#Option “DesktopSetup” “horizontal” #Enable Big Desktop
#Option “Mode2″ “1280×1024″ #Resolution for second monitor
#Option “DesktopSetup” “LVDS,AUTO” #the types of monitors that is connected LVDS = LCD, CRT, AUTO
#Option “EnablePrivateBackZ” “yes” #Enable 3d support
#Option “HSync2″ “65″ #This sets the horizontal sync for the secondary display.
#Option “VRefresh2″ “60″ #This sets the refresh rate of the secondary display.
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Generic Monitor”
Option “DPMS”
HorizSync 28-70
VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Default Screen”
Device “ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000]“
Monitor “Generic Monitor”
#DefaultDepth 24
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection “Display”
Modes “1400×1050″
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Extensions”
Option “Composite” “Enable”
EndSection

Section “ServerFlags”
Option “AIGLX” “on”
EndSection

Section “DRI”
Mode 0666
EndSection

### ATI DRIVER
#Section “Device”
# Identifier “ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000]“
# Driver “ati”
# Option “AGPMode” “8″
# Option “AccelMethod” “EXA” #only “XAA” is supported for some of the cards with “experimental” 3d acceleration
# Option “ColorTiling” “on”
## Option “EnablePageFlip” “true” #only works with accelmethod “XAA”
# Option “AccelDFS” “true” #seemed to speed things up using EXA acceleration
# Option “TripleBuffer” “true” #This *might* help if you use something like Beryl and have slow video playback.
# Option “DynamicClocks” “on” #This is for laptop users, it saves energy when in battery mode.
# BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
#EndSection

### DUAL HEAD XINERAMA
Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor0″
Option “DPMS” “true”
HorizSync 28-70
VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor1″
Option “DPMS” “true”
HorizSync 28-70
VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “ati0″
#Driver “ati”
#Option “MonitorLayout” “LVDS, CRT”
Screen 0
BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
Driver “radeon”
BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
Option “RenderAccel” “True”
Option “AddARGBGLXVisuals” “True”
Option “DisableGLXRootClipping” “True”
Option “XAANoOffscreenPixmaps”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “ati1″
#Driver “ati”
Option “MonitorLayout” “LVDS, CRT”
Screen 1
BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
Driver “radeon”
BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
Option “RenderAccel” “True”
Option “AddARGBGLXVisuals” “True”
Option “DisableGLXRootClipping” “True”
Option “XAANoOffscreenPixmaps”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen0″
Device “ati0″
Monitor “Monitor0″
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
Modes “1400×1050″ “1280×1024″ “1024×768″ “800×600″ “640×480″
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen1″
Device “ati1″
Monitor “Monitor1″
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
#Modes “1400×1050″ “1280×1024″ “1024×768″ “800×600″ “640×480″
Modes “1280×1024″ “1024×768″ “800×600″ “640×480″
EndSubSection
EndSection

I recommend you to test compiz-fusion instead of beryl.

Important links:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_feisty_beryl_ati_radeon

Thanks Henry!!!