So, you want some of those latest eye candy effects on your desktop? You came to the right place. I will teach you in this guide how-to setup some of the nicest desktop effects you ever saw. Are you ready?

STEP 1

Let's begin by installing the BETA video driver from NVidia. First of all, install the livna repository with the following commands:

rpm -ihv http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm

rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY

Now for the NVidia driver, open up a console and type:

yum install nvidia-x11-drv

NOTE: Please note that you must uninstall any NVidia driver you may have on your system.

STEP 2

Now, let's replace your existing xorg.conf from the /etc/X11/ folder, with the following one:

WARNING:

- Replace the InputDevice "MicrosoftUSBMouse" "CorePointer" option with your mouse brand.
- Replace ModelName "SyncMaster" option from the Monitor Section with your monitor model.


====BEGIN XORG.CONF FILE====


# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "MicrosoftUSBMouse" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/nvidia"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AIGLX" "off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "MicrosoftUSBMouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "7"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "SyncMaster"
DisplaySize 380 300

HorizSync 31.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Nvidia"
BoardName "nVidia Corporation GeForce 5200 FX"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

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

====END XORG.CONF FILE====

NOTE: You'd better backup your existing xorg.conf file before you replace it; you never know what might go wrong.

STEP 3

Now, you will need the Beryl files. Please download them below:

beryl-core-0.1.2-1.i386.rpm
beryl-dbus-0.1.2-1.i386.rpm
beryl-manager-0.1.2-1.i386.rpm
beryl-plugins-0.1.2-1.i386.rpm
beryl-settings-0.1.2-1.i386.rpm
emerald-0.1.2-1.i386.rpm
emerald-themes-0.1.2-1.noarch.rpm

Now put them all in a folder, let's say "beryl", open a console, cd to the directory with the beryl files and type the following command:

rpm -ivh *.rpm

For KDE users:

Now that you have Beryl installed, you must do some little configuration so it can start with KDE. First of all, install a KControl module named Autostart, which you can download from here.

Extract it, compile and install it. After you have installed it, you will find it in Control Center -> KDE Components -> Autotstart Applications, just hit the Add button and enter the following commands:

/usr/bin/beryl-manager
/usr/bin/beryl-start

Optionally you can set a short description and a comment when you enter each of the commands. Now you will see them in the list and Beryl will start with your KDE session.

NOTE: Please note that beryl-manager command will add a "ruby" icon in your tray, so you can easily control Beryl and you can put in the Autostart Applications only the Beryl Manager command, and from the tray icon you can move between the KWin (KDE window manager) and Beryl.

That's all people, reboot your machine and when you'll be back, if you did everything ok, you'll have the most beautiful effects on your desktop. I'll let you play with them now.

Please see this video made by me, with a little Beryl demonstration!

Credits:

Many thanks to the people behind the Beryl project!

UPDATE: 13-11-2006 - Updated Beryl to version 0.1.2. New effects!