The Bodhi Guide to Enlightenment - Compositing
Compositing is a feature which adds extra “eye-candy” for your desktop. There are 2 methods to achieve Compositing in the Bodhi Linux Enlightenment (E17) window manager. This article will explain what Compositing is and does, and describe the two methods for utilizing it in E17.
What is Compositing?
It may be useful to start with the definition of the root word “composite” from The Free Dictionary online:
Made up of distinct components; compound.
This applies to a window manager in the sense that disparate visual elements can be combined to create a variety of visual effects. These include (but are not limited to): transparency, 3D effects, bending, scaling, and rotation.
There is a thorough article of the history and implementation of Compositing on Wikipedia for readers who are interested.
Default Compositing
There is an E17 Module for Compositing that is installed by default in Bodhi Linux. It is named, strangely, Composite.
The only Profile it is loaded in by default is the Compositing Profile, though it can be added to any. Simply go to Main Menu → Settings → Modules and you will find it under the Look tab.
This Compositing does two primary things. The first is to allow transparent/opaque window effects. In general this will be applied to inactive/non-focused windows. In the screenshot below you can see that Midori is not the focused window and the desktop background can be partially seen through it (the tree and the moon).
Also, some applications (terminal apps notably, but not all of them) also support transparency while active/focused. The screenshot also shows LXTerminal running and focused but you are still able to see the Midori window behind it and the desktop. The “depth” of the transparency in such a application will be set in that application's preferences (location of which will vary by application) and not in some general Compositing setting.
Note that in some Themes a Composite setting will need to be switched to active transparency. Go to Main Menu -> Settings -> All -> Look -> Composite. In the lower part of the window, with the Default tab activated, switch to the "Still" setting, click Apply then OK
The other effect, which can't be captured in a screenshot, is causing windows to be “bouncy” when switching. This gives a nice visual cue about which window you have switched to when multiple windows are open.
Getting Rid of "Bouncy" Windows
Many users like the general effects of Compositing while at the same time disliking the “bouncy” effect that occurs when switching windows.
To disable this effect, go to Main Menu → Settings → All → Look → Compositing.
Ecomorph
Ecomorph is an E17 port of the popular compositing manager Compiz. Since Ecomorph is not part of the standard Bodhi Linux installation, and because it causes problems on some hardware configurations, this article will only cover the basics of getting Ecomorph installed and running.
Ecomorph is an E17 Module. It can be installed with the graphical Synatic Package Manager or by issuing the command:
sudo apt-get install ecomorph
After it is installed, the Ecomorph Module must be loaded; go to Main Menu → Settings → Modules, highlight Ecomorph then hit the Load button.
Once the Module is loaded you will need to start an Ecomorph session. Log out of E17 (Main Menu → System → Log Out) and when logging in again choose E17 - Ecomorph from the Desktop menu in the lower left. This will remain the default Desktop until you explicitly change it once again.
There is a tremendous amount of configuration options available under Main Menu → Settings → Ecomorph.
Since there are so many options for Ecomorph configuration and that it is not a part of the standard Bodhi Linux installation this guide will not go through the many various options. Users who are interested in more information on setting up Ecomorph are recommended to read the relevant section in the PCLinuxOS Guide (an internet connection is required for this link)
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