Hi,
This guide intended for those who have an old ATI graphic card which doesn't have a fglrx driver. I'm posting this after a lot of research in Ubuntu forum and googling.

I have Evo N610c which has Radeon Mobility 7500 graphic card. This card (along with many other ATI cards) is not supported by Hardy... (at least for now)

So, in order to get compiz running smoothly (up until now it run really choppy and slowly):

1)Update your xorg.conf file:
It should include the following sections:

DEVICE:
SERVERLAYOUT:
EXTENSIONS:
and finally, DRI:
2)After you save the file, restart Ubuntu (tip: Ctrl+Alt+Backspace)

3)In the Terminal type:
if direct rendering is not working you should see a message
with something like "LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose..."
DON'T WORRY!

4)The final stage is to remove xserver-xgl which apparently prevents the direct rendering:
5)Restart, and repeat stage 3. Now it should yield:
6)Switch the visual effects on, and enjoy!

It should work smoothly as it worked in Gutsy Gibbon.
Please let me know if it helps...

What is "XGL" and how do I install it?

Trying to do this... got most of the way there, except when I run glxinfo:

Any ideas?

I wrote a quick HowTo on enabling Compiz Fusion on cards with the open source ati drivers. It has to do with SKIP_CHECKS as mentioned by ZooLA_IL, but is a more permanent fix.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=764633
Good luck.

Are you sure you were using XGL? It's not installed by default and as far as I know it's only necessary if you're using older versions of fglrx (proprietary ATI drivers). I switched to the open-source driver (radeon) specifically so I wouldn't have to use it anymore.

If you can't get desktop effects, it's probably because DRI isn't working. Try the command I gave above, or just post the content of Xorg.0.log (make sure to use code tags, since it's pretty long).

If it isn't running smoothly the solution is to tune up your drivers (the gist of the first post of this thread) or tone down Compiz (some hardware just can't handle the fancier effects).

If DRI isn't working, post the output of

Also try replacing the "EE" with "error."

This will show any errors. 256 is pretty high for GARTsize; in Edgy I had to set mine explicitly to 64 or I'd get an error about DRI not working.

Nope. Now I can't even enable desktop effects. Seems like I need to have xserver installed to enable desktop effects, but when I do I get video corruption and the effects are slow and quirky. Here's my 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 "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Driver "radeon"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
# InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection


Thanks for trying!
IBM T-40 1GB RAM ATI RADEON MOBILITY 7500 (32MB?)

I tried as you said. No luck... Desktop effects is still not working.

Here is my xorg.conf file


# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by failsafeDexconf, using
# values from the debconf database and some overrides to use vesa mode.
#
# You should use dexconf or another such tool for creating a "real" xorg.conf
# For example:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "GLcore"
Load "v4l"
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 "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
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

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Boardname "ATI Radeon"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "radeon"
Screen 0
Vendorname "ATI"
Option "MergedFB" "off"
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
Option "EXANoComposite" "false"
Option "FBTexPercent" "50"
Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"
Option "DRI" "true"
Option "GARTSize" "256"
Option "AGPMode" "4"
Option "Colortiling" "On"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Failsafe Monitor"
Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
Modelname "LCD Panel 1400x1050"
Horizsync 31.5-65.5
Vertrefresh 56.0 - 65.0
modeline "1400x1050@60" 122.61 1400 1488 1640 1880 1050 1051 1054 1087 -hsync +vsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
Monitor "Failsafe Monitor"
Defaultdepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1400x1050@60" "1280x1024@60" "1280x960@60" "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
Option "AIGLX" "true"
Inputdevice "Generic Keyboard"
Inputdevice "Configured Mouse"
Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection


Thanks
Naveen

Did you try the "SKIP_CHECKS=yes" as suggested in other posts?
maybe this is the solution...

Some ati laptop cards have been blacklisted. What is the terminal output of compiz --replace?
If it says 'found ati laptop, aborting' or something to that extent, try appending 'SKIP_CHECKS=yes' to the command.

Wow...the work around works perfectly!! Now I just need to make compiz do the cool stuff I want it to!! Thanks!

Jacob