virtualbox.org

Does anyone know of any Linux flavors that work with 3D on Mac hosts other than Ubuntu based distros?

thanks

Debian works fine with it. There are some RH based distro's that work with it too, just make sure you don't pick Fedora 14.

Sasquatch wrote:Debian works fine with it. There are some RH based distro's that work with it too, just make sure you don't pick Fedora 14.

Actually I have Linux Mint Debian, crunchbang and simplyMepis and none of them work. matter of fact, if I try and turn Compiz on in Linux Mint Debian, it locks up LMDE, VirtualBox and my iMac.

I also can't get PCLinuxOS, which I like, to work with 3D. Which is Mandriva based sort of.

I have Fedora 14 installed, and yes, 3d isn't working. But I can wait till it does.

Sasquatch wrote:Debian works fine with it. There are some RH based distro's that work with it too, just make sure you don't pick Fedora 14.

Well, just to give it a whirl I downloaded Debian 6? "Squeeze" to see if 3D worked with it or not. But it didn't come installed with Compiz or any other compositing manager. I don't know all the packages I need to install Compiz to get it working in Debian so I am waiting for a response from their forum.

If you have installed Gnome, then you just install compiz-gnome. If you want to be sure that the flashy 3D effects work, then you go with compiz-fusion and it's plugins instead. Don't forget to install Emerald too, in case you end up without a title bar for the windows.

Sasquatch wrote:If you have installed Gnome, then you just install compiz-gnome. If you want to be sure that the flashy 3D effects work, then you go with compiz-fusion and it's plugins instead. Don't forget to install Emerald too, in case you end up without a title bar for the windows.

okay thanks, seems easy enough.

Sasquatch wrote:If you have installed Gnome, then you just install compiz-gnome. If you want to be sure that the flashy 3D effects work, then you go with compiz-fusion and it's plugins instead. Don't forget to install Emerald too, in case you end up without a title bar for the windows.

hmmm, I installed the aforementioned bits except for Emerald which for some reason isn't showing up in the repositories I have. Someone posted this link... http://wiki.debian.org/Compiz to help but it mentions modifying the "/etc/X11/xorg.conf file which doesn't exist and if I remember correctly distros are not using an xorg.conf file anymore. At any rate, after installing compiz-fusion and rebooting I tried launching fusion-icon, and just like my Linux Mint Debian guest, it locked up the guest, VB and my iMac. LMDE comes with Compiz pre-installed so I don't think I missed something.

Is it possible that although Ubuntu & Kubuntu 10.10 and Compiz works on my iMac, nothing else will? Even Linux Mint 10 doesn't and it's suppose to be based on Ubuntu 10.10.

okay. I have compiz installed and running in Debian. I'm starting to think the only trouble I have is running fusion-icon. I just found out emerald isn't in the repositories and if you want it, it has to be compiled.

Maybe your repo isn't complete. But Fusion-Icon does some tricks to try to get it working, but they sometimes have the opposite effect. Just running 'compiz' from a terminal should be enough to get compiz-fusion going.

Sasquatch wrote:Maybe your repo isn't complete. But Fusion-Icon does some tricks to try to get it working, but they sometimes have the opposite effect. Just running 'compiz' from a terminal should be enough to get compiz-fusion going.

I have pretty much everything working. I read on Debian's forums that for whatever reason Emerald isn't included in the repositories. I did try a few different mirrors including the main server and the us server. is no big deal. I don't even need compiz or desktop effects. It's just one of those, "well it's suppose to work so let's try and make it work" things.

The reality is, after seeing most of what various desktop managers have to offer, I actually like XFCE's compositing the best. I like having transparent inactive windows for example without having to set them each manually. It also seems to put the least amount of strain on VirtualBox guests.

Correct, out of the complete desktop managers, Xfce4 is the most lightweight. Gnome and KDE are more demanding with their effects. And the beauty of Xfce4 compositing is that you don't need OpenGL to be working. I use Xfce4 myself with Compiz-Fusion. Love it.

Sasquatch wrote:Correct, out of the complete desktop managers, Xfce4 is the most lightweight. Gnome and KDE are more demanding with their effects. And the beauty of Xfce4 compositing is that you don't need OpenGL to be working. I use Xfce4 myself with Compiz-Fusion. Love it.

I know this isn't a VirtualBox question but, is it possible to adapt XFCE compositing to other DM's? I would think that would be ideal. I also like E-17 because you can also get nice effects without OpenGL but it's still beta and does seem to have a few issues.

Only if you disable their own WM and run Xfce4's. Something like 'xfwm4 --replace' after you've installed xfwm.

Sasquatch wrote:Only if you disable their own WM and run Xfce4's. Something like 'xfwm4 --replace' after you've installed xfwm.

okay thanks. sounds like one might as well just run XFCE.

have a good day.

I have Compiz running in Ubuntu 10.10.