darkscot Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I was hoping that this might be fixed in KDE4 but I get the impression that the KDE developers have washed their hands of it (the bug that is). It seems to be officially classed as a Compiz bug now? I am finding it is happening more and more now, it happens 50% of the time I open Kaffeine, and it is getting increasingly irritating! Am I correct in thinking it doesn't happen in Gnome? If so I may have to switch, much as I prefer KDE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelcole Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Sounds to me like a kaffine problem, you have to look at what cased the signal event to cause the decorator to crash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted January 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Sounds to me like a kaffine problem, you have to look at what cased the signal event to cause the decorator to crash. No it is not just associated with Kaffeine, sometimes it happens when you first boot up, sometimes when you load amaroK and sometimes it just happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 What theme, decorator are you using? Perhaps this is why - if using a window decoration that is for an older version of KDE and not compatible or something. Try changing to a more generic/standard one. I've been using Gnome since the middle of last year. Felt strange at first, but I made sure I gave it a chance - previously I'd switched back to KDE in a matter of days. Now, I don't think I could go back. I still use some KDE apps in Gnome though (k3b). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dexter11 Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I was hoping that this might be fixed in KDE4 but I get the impression that the KDE developers have washed their hands of it (the bug that is). It seems to be officially classed as a Compiz bug now? The kde-window-decorator which you use under compiz fusion is written by the compiz guys AFAIK. They wrote it to support the original KDE themes. I don't know why they just didn't made the Emerald version of the KDE themes and made one really good window decorator instead of three, but it's their decision maybe it was just easier. So it is a compiz bug. Btw I used Emerald under KDE and it was crashing too. I don't think that compiz would be more stable under Gnome. At least I see topics about window decorator crashes both in Gnome and in KDE. Compiz is still in alpha stage. If you wanna use it you have to live with crashes currently. So my choice was not to use it. After the 4th or 5th crash I switched it off and never missed it since. I'll try it again in 2008 Spring but I don't have great expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted January 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I don't think that compiz would be more stable under Gnome. At least I see topics about window decorator crashes both in Gnome and in KDE. Well that is bad news! ... So my choice was not to use it. After the 4th or 5th crash I switched it off and never missed it since. I really like compiz, well at least some aspects of it. I was using Mandriva on old Celeron 667mHz based PC for a while and I really missed Ctrl+Alt+left/righ tarrow to switch desktops. I have started using SMplayer more recently and so far (touch wood) that has not caused the crash. Though it still happens at random sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted January 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) What theme, decorator are you using? I am using 'la ora'. I don't know if that is an old one or not? I've been using Gnome since the middle of last year. Felt strange at first, but I made sure I gave it a chance - previously I'd switched back to KDE in a matter of days. Now, I don't think I could go back. I still use some KDE apps in Gnome though (k3b). I think that some distros seem more 'natural' in certain desktops. When I was an Ubuntu user I was happy using Gnome, I tried using it with KDE but it didn't feel 'right' for some reason. Mandriva and SUSE just seem right when using KDE. Edited January 25, 2008 by darkscot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Note that this could also potentially be a 3d driver issue...depending on what graphics card/driver you are using. what specifically is the "bug"? do the borders not appear, are they black, white, messed up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchell Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Hi darkscot, there is hope. I've had similar problems, and looking into it have found this to be a well-known bug. I had looked to switching to Emerald, but at that point it hadn't become available for Compiz 0.6.0, which I updated to from the Mandy backports to fix some video issues. MUCH better luck with this latest version, though nothing solved with the kde-window-decorator, unfortunately. Basically the same issues as you. Could be any program, anytime, and some caused it more than others. The final straw was when I installed wbar from source as a dockbar solution, and Compiz-fusion crashed on every startup. I found this irritating and virtually unworkable. While I started out using Mandriva 2007.1 with Gnome, after switching to kde I haven't looked back. I think gnome is a great desktop, but for my uses I much prefer kde. I also found that gnome appears to be a close second in Mandriva in terms of support, and that after switching to kde my whole system has run much much smoother. Back to the windows decorator crashing. The best solution I've yet to find is to use the gtk-window-decorator instead. The kde control panel won't support it, and there are a few less options (marginal, in my opinion), but it's solved my problems. I'm still using kde, and loving it. While I run a laptop without compiz-fusion, very happily, using compiz has changed the way I work. It's put alot of fun into the workday. I'm assuming in your post you're talking about compiz-fusion and not compiz, which are different projects. Have a look at this link it will take you through using the gtk-window-decorator instead of kde. https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=46514 Good luck matey, ~Mitchell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 I'm assuming in your post you're talking about compiz-fusion and not compiz, which are different projects. Have a look at this link it will take you through using the gtk-window-decorator instead of kde. https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=46514 Thanks for this! I have done as suggested and will let you know how things go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Note that this could also potentially be a 3d driver issue...depending on what graphics card/driver you are using. what specifically is the "bug"? do the borders not appear, are they black, white, messed up? I am currently using a GeForce 7300 GT graphics card but i have had the same problem with a 6600GT and a Radeon Mobility card whose name eludes me. The bug is that the wondows decoration (the coloured title bar) dissapears. This means you cannot move or minimise or maximise a window. It is VERY irritating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I am currently using a GeForce 7300 GT graphics card but i have had the same problem with a 6600GT and a Radeon Mobility card whose name eludes me. The bug is that the wondows decoration (the coloured title bar) dissapears. This means you cannot move or minimise or maximise a window. It is VERY irritating! A work around I use for when kde-window-decorator crashes is to type as root kde-window-decorator --replace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Thanks for this! I have done as suggested and will let you know how things go. Well that lasted about eighteen hours! So looks like I am just going to have to accept it or switch to Metisse or Gnome? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Don't know what dated version Mandriva distribute, but now Compiz Fusion = Compiz. Previously there was one, Compiz, which was then forked to make two, Compiz and Beryl, which later merged back as Compiz Fusion. kde/gtk-window-decorator are the responsibility of the Compiz Fusion project, hence KDE washing their hands of it. First, try the latest version, it may be an old bug. If it remains an issue, gather what information you can and file a bug with the compiz fusion project or Mandriva. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkscot Posted February 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Well that lasted about eighteen hours! So looks like I am just going to have to accept it or switch to Metisse or Gnome? Well I was wrong! So switching to the gtk-window-decorator seems to be the answer. It crashed once the day after I switched but since then it has been rock solid. When I was using the KDE-window-decorator it crashed nine out of ten sessions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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