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426 lines
14 KiB
426 lines
14 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
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<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN" "dtd/kdex.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY kappname "kompmgr">
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<!ENTITY package "twin">
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<!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE">
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<!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
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]>
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<book lang="&language;">
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<bookinfo>
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<title>&kappname; Information</title>
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<authorgroup>
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<author>
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<personname><firstname>Thomas</firstname><surname>Luebking</surname></personname>
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<email>thomas.luebking@web.de</email>
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</author>
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<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
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</authorgroup>
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<copyright>
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<year>2005</year>
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<holder>Thomas Luebking</holder>
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</copyright>
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<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
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<date>2005-01-15</date>
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<releaseinfo>2.0.1</releaseinfo>
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<abstract>
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<para>&kappname; is a composite rendering engine to be used by &twin;.</para>
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<para>This document is rather a general explanation of what it does,
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how it works and what the restrictions are than a documentation how to use
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it (as it works in the background automatically).</para>
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</abstract>
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<keywordset>
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<keyword>KDE</keyword>
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<keyword>twin</keyword>
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<keyword>render engine</keyword>
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</keywordset>
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</bookinfo>
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<chapter id="introduction">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>&kappname; is based upon <application>xcompmgr</application>, Keith
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Packards reference composing implementation for the use of the new X
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features.</para>
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<para>A composite manager catches the output of the X windows and renders
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them into a single picture that will be displayed on the screen. The advantage
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of doing so is that you can do basically anything with the windows contents,
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including blending them together (translucency) or attaching shadows. You
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could also tint them, add a nasty advertise on any window, squeeze them,
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fract them, add scanlines, or anything else you can imagine, limited by
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your hardware.</para>
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</chapter>
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<chapter id="xorg">
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<title>Xorg</title>
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<para>You necessarily need <emphasis>X.org 6.8 or later</emphasis> to have
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&kappname; work. X.org 6.7 or older or XFree86 won't work.</para>
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<sect1 id="xsetup">
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<title>Setup</title>
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<para>You need to explicitly enable the Composite extension. Add a
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new Section to your X.org configuration file:</para>
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<programlisting>
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Section "Extensions"
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Option "Composite" "Enable"
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EndSection
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</programlisting>
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<para>If supported by your <acronym>GPU</acronym> (the complex chip that
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powers a modern graphics card), activate the Render acceleration. This is
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best supported by <trademark>NVIDIA</trademark>, and less completely by ATI
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cards.</para>
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<programlisting>
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Section "Device"
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....
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....
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Option "RenderAccel" "true"
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....
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....
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EndSection</programlisting>
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<para>&kappname; should be available now. For more information, please see
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the <link linkend="problems">FAQ</link>.</para>
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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<chapter id="settings">
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<title>Settings</title>
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<para>This chapter describes which parameters you can tweak, how they will
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result visually and their performance impact.</para>
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<sect1 id="translucency">
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<title>Translucency</title>
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<para>A translucent object is one that allows light to pass through it. In
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terms of windows on your desktop, that means that the contents of windows
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can be seen through the one on the top.</para>
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<para>Translucency allows you to emphasize special windows, have a 3
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dimensional view on your desktop, keep track of covered windows, and just
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looks cute. The price is, that blending things together costs some system
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capacity.</para>
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<para>You can independently configure translucency for the following
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items:</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Active windows</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>It is suggested you deactivate translucency for the active
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window. The main reason is for perfomance, and secondly because to scan the
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content of a translucent window means your brain has to strip the irritating
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throughshining information, which is tiring.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Inactive windows</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>If you set inactive windows translucent, active windows will
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appear emphasized and are easier to focus. However, if you choose a lower
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value, you may have trouble to find an inactive window. If you choose very
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low values (< 20%) you may not be able to distinguish
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windows in their stack order - so you may accidently click the
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<guibutton>OK</guibutton> button of a dialog when you just wanted to
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activate a window. Optimal values are between 60% and
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80%.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Moving windows</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>Though it's a nice effect to have heavily translucent
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(opacity < 20%) moving windows, there is a heavy price to pay in
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performance, especially if you do not deactivate shadows (see below). Just
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try out and if you feel your system is too slow, keep moving windows
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opaque. This value also applies to windows in resize state.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Dock windows</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>As docks like kicker are seldom if ever moved and usually of
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limited size, this is purely visual and won't detrimentally affect your
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system's performance.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Treat "keep above" windows as active ones</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>If you set a window to keep above others, you usually want
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to keep focus on it, so it can make sense to give it the same
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emphasis.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Disable ARGB windows</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>XRender supports windows with an alpha mask, &ie;
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translucent sections. Currently there are no or only very few applications
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that would make use of this feature, as it doesn't make any sense without
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using a composite manager. This may change in the future.</para>
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<para>On the other side, most gtk 1.x applications (⪚
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<application>xmms</application>) set such an alpha mask, resulting in
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almost unusable windows (as long as the sublying windows are not black), so
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you can disable the support for ARGB windows here to make use of gtk
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applications. There will hopefully be a patch for gtk in the near future to
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fix this.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="shadows">
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<title>Shadows</title>
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<para>Why should anyone want his windows to throw shadows? Well, maybe just
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because it looks cute, or because it allows a better window separation,
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or... because it looks cute!</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Use shadows</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>As shadows cost some additional cpu/gpu power, they can be
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deactivated, while keeping a general alpha channel capability.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Active window size</guilabel></term>
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<term><guilabel>Inactive window size</guilabel></term>
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<term><guilabel>Dock window size</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>You may select different shadow sizes for different window
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states/types. The values are not absolute, but will apply to your screen
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resolution.</para>
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<para>In principle, you can set every value you want (if you edit the config
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file with a text editor, far beyond the offered <quote>32</quote>), but
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bigger shadows cost more cpu/gpu power.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Vertical offset</guilabel></term>
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<term><guilabel>Horizontal offset</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>By default, the window would throw a <quote>all around
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equal</quote> shadow, implying a frontal light source. Users familiar with
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&MacOS; may like a vertical offset, &Windows; users may prefer a
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slighter offset to the southeast. Experiment with the values until you are
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happy.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Shadow color</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>Usually shadows as the absence of light appear in shades of
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grey (so the maximum shadow color is black, or no light at all). But hey,
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this is a virtual world, and if you'd like to have even pink shadows, why
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not?</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Remove shadows on move</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>Check this if you need more performance (especially when
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using translucent moving windows).</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Remove shadows on resize</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>It's a good idea to check this item whether using
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translucent resizing (moving) windows, or not. The windows shadow pixmap has
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to be permanently recreated on resizes what has a deep impact on the system
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performance.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="effects">
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<title>Effects</title>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Fade-in windows</guilabel></term>
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<term><guilabel>Fade between opacity changes</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>Instead of just popping up a new window, you might want to
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slowly fade it in. While this looks impressive, there is an equally
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impressive price to pay in performance speed, and it is difficult to interact
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meaningfully with windows that are in the process of fading.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Fade-in speed</guilabel></term>
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<term><guilabel>Fade-out speed</guilabel></term>
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<listitem><para>For the usability reasons mentioned under <guilabel>Fade-in
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windows</guilabel>, it is most practical to use a fast fade in speed and
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(for more eye candy) a slow fade out speed. This will provide you nice
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effects and a smooth feeling system as well as low latency before
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information appears.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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<chapter id="problems">
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<title>Problems</title>
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<para>The whole Composite extension is quite new. It may cause several
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problems and even crash X, so <emphasis>it is strongly suggested to not even
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enable the Composite extension in Xorg.conf on mission critical production
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systems</emphasis>. If you however can risk a slightly more unstable system,
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it's certainly nice to have some eye candy around.</para>
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<para>
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In this case you may notice some glitches.
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Here are some common problems - and workarounds:
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</para>
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<qandaset>
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<qandaentry>
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<question>
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<para>I have X.org 6.8.x, but &kappname; fails to start</para>
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</question>
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<answer>
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<para>You need to explicitly enable the Composite extension, add a new Section to /etc/X11/XorgConfig:</para>
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<programlisting>Section "Extensions"
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Option "Composite" "Enable"
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EndSection</programlisting>
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</answer>
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</qandaentry>
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<qandaentry>
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<question>
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<para>Ok, &kappname; works, but it's horribly slow</para>
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</question>
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<answer>
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<para>If supported by your <acronym>GPU</acronym> (mainly
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<trademark>NVIDIA</trademark>, and somewhat by ATI cards), first make sure
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you activated the Render acceleration</para>
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<programlisting>
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Section "Device"
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....
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....
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Option "RenderAccel" "true"
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....
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....
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EndSection
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</programlisting>
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<para>If it's still slow, you can try to adjust your memory usage. Either
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decrease you screen depth (⪚ from 24 to 16) or lower your resolution
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(⪚ from 1280x1024 to 1024x768).</para>
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<para>Please notice that the currently limiting factor for the Composite
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extension seems to be the CPU cache size.</para>
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</answer>
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</qandaentry>
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<qandaentry>
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<question>
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<para>After enabling the Composite extension, I cannot run any
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<acronym>GLX</acronym> applications anymore. I've got an
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<trademark>NVIDIA</trademark> card.</para>
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</question>
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<answer>
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<para>To prevent some problems, <trademark>NVIDIA</trademark> deactivated the
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GLX support when Coposite is active. Reactivating is possible, but may cause
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problems on some kernel/driver/GPU combinations.</para>
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<programlisting>
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Section "Device"
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....
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....
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Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
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....
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....
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EndSection
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</programlisting>
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</answer>
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</qandaentry>
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<qandaentry>
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<question>
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<para>I wanted to play a game using <acronym>SDL</acronym> (but not
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<acronym>GL</acronym>), say <application>scummvm</application>, but when the
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compmgr is active, all I can see is a shadow!</para>
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</question>
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<answer>
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<para>This is a problem with the PictType reported by SDL.</para>
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<para>Workaround:</para>
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<screen>
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Instead of calling <command>scummvm</command> directly, call
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<command>SDL_VIDEO_X11_VISUALID=0x24 scummvm</command> This will tell SDL to
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use a supported format and you can play as ever. </screen>
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</answer>
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</qandaentry>
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<qandaentry>
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<question>
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<para> Application XXX refuses to start after enabling the Composite
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extension.</para>
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<para>Application YYY breaks X after enabling the Composite
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extension.</para>
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<para>Application ZZZ looks weird after activating the composite
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manager.</para>
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</question>
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<answer>
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<para>The Composite extension is still experimental.</para>
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<para>Workaround:</para>
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<para>Instead of calling <command>appName</command> directly, call <command>XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1 appName</command></para>
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<para>Applications that are known to cause problems:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>All gtk1 applications (⪚ <application>gmplayer</application>,
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<application>xmms</application>, <application>gaim</application>) - failing
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startup or look unusable weird or crash X</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>&kuickshow; - displays only a black frame</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>&Qt; <application>Designer</application> - crashes
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X</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>&kopete; - crashes X</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>&kolf; - crashes X</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</answer>
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</qandaentry>
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<qandaentry>
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<question>
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<para>I try to watch a video, but only see artefacts in the Video
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Window.</para>
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</question>
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<answer>
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<para>You're using <quote>xv</quote> as video backend. This is the overlay
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mode, where the video content is written directly into the video card
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memory, bypassing X. Therefore the window seems to be static (colored
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background) and is not updated by the damage extension.</para>
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<para> There will hopefully be a fix for this in the future. Currently I had
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the best results using <application>Xine</application> but displaying
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translucent videos isn't fast anyway.</para>
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</answer>
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</qandaentry>
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</qandaset>
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</chapter>
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<chapter id="credits-and-licenses">
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<title>Credits and Licenses</title>
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<sect1 id="authors">
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<title>Authors</title>
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<para>Thomas Luebking <email>baghira-style@gmx.net</email> - Editor</para>
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&underFDL;
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&underGPL;
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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|
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</book>
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