Installing Graphics Drivers and Compiz

Compiz Fusion

Info on how to install compiz-fusion in Debian 5.0 can be found at http://shame.tuxfamily.org/repo/?cat=11

One must have the appropriate graphics drivers installed and these can be found at the manufacturers websites for ATI and NVIDIA cards.

Remember to install the appropriate graphics drivers first!

Installing Graphics Drivers

This part of Debian can be a bit tricky but also the most satisfying. As soon as you have installed Debian and gotten online, go to your graphics card manufacturer site and download the latest driver for *your* hardware. It should be a file that ends in ".run", and take a note of where you saved it - /home/(username) is a good place. Next, restart your computer and select the "single user mode" from the GRUB menu. When prompted type your password and you should be left with a root shell prompt. Next type

apt-get install module-assistant && m-a prepare

and answer "y" to all the question prompts. Next go to the directory with your graphics-driver package and type sh (package name) and follow it through answering the prompts as appropriate. NVIDIA scripts will ask you if you wish to modify your xorg.conf at the end and if you wish to run compiz-fusion, you should answer "yes" as this is all the xorg modification you'll need to do. To run compiz find a command prompt and type

compiz-manager

and enter. You should see a few screen flickers and then be good to go , try ctrl+alt+left mouse for starters and spin that cube! With some ATI hardware (esp older laptops), the "compiz-manager" command doesn't work so an alternative is to type

compiz --replace

in the command window or in a terminal-window. This disables some effects but the overall impact is minimal.

Here's some links to help with any issues

http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/how-to-install-nvidia-video-card-drivers-in-debian-lenny/

ATI cards use a similar method to NVIDIA but are much simpler and question-free.

Be careful choosing some legacy ATI cards as many of the proprietary drivers from ATI will not work with newer kernels.