How to Install Beryl in Debian Etch

Beryl is an OpenGL accelerated desktop that seeks to provide a free, open source desktop experience to the community that reflects the wishes of the users. Above all else, the project seeks to listen to and respond to the requests of the user base.

Beryl is a combined window manager and composite manager written in C using OpenGL to provide acceleration. It is designed to be highly flexible, extensible, and portable, all the while keeping in mind that the users know how they want their desktops to act better than we do. With Beryl the rather esoteric concept of the computer desktop is brought down to a more human level, allowing for a more native and intuitive understanding of your workspace.

Install Beryl in Debian etch

First you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file to add beryl repositories

deb http://debian.beryl-project.org/ etch main
deb-src http://debian.beryl-project.org/ etch main

Now you need to save and exit the file

Download gpg key using the following command

#wget -O – http://debian.beryl-project.org/[email protected] | sudo apt-key add –

Now you need to update the source list information using the following command

#apt-get update

Install beryl using the following command

#apt-get install beryl-manager emerald-themes

This will install all the required packages for beryl.

Configuring Beryl

Now you need to edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and do the following changes

#vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

then added these two lines under the “Screen” section

Option “XAANoOffscreenPixmaps”
Option “AddARGBGLXVisuals” “true”

then added these lines under “Device”

Option “AllowGLXWithComposite” “true”
Option “RenderAccel” “true”

added one line under “Server Layout”

Option “AIGLX” “on”

Finally at the end of the file add these lines

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

Now save the file and exit.

You need to reboot your Debian Etch system and now your beryl and nvidia starts working

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6 thoughts on “How to Install Beryl in Debian Etch

  1. Once again, this howto doesn’t say that setting it up this way will only give you beryl when using gnome. Those using kde still see nothing of beryl this way.

    Those using kde should take a look here:
    http://www.crongeyer.com/howtos/Beryl-Debian-Etch-HOWTO.html

    This explains the extra steps needed to make beryl a session like kde, xfce, and so on.
    And for alternative ways to have beryl started:
    http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=109749

    I do wonder why about half of the howto’s on the net instruct to put the Option “XAANoOffscreenPixmaps” and the other(s) in the section screen, while the other half says that those should go in the section device. I used the latter, conform my first link, but it apparently also works when putting it in the other section.

    Rody

  2. Salut!
    Just in case, i had a problem with beryl(i tried to use compliz as a window manager…?) and it has crash my new-super-clean installation of beryl…so to restore default settings on debian etch i had to do this (in my local home user directory (/home/user/):
    mv .beryl beryl.backup
    mv .metacity metacity.backup
    mv .emerald emerald.backup
    mv .beryl-managerrc beryl-managerrc.backup

    …the only fact of rename .beryl was not enought for me…

    hope this may help

  3. If your screen looks funny when you first launch beryl then try changing your default depth to 24 in the screen section.

    /etc/X11/xorg.conf

    Section “Screen”
    Identifier “Default Screen”
    Device “nVidia Corporation Quadro FX 350M”
    Monitor “Generic Monitor”
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection “Display”

    That was the final step for me.

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