Setup

Instructions for setting up AIGLX for an Intel GMA graphics card can be found on the Intel with AiGLX page. For setting up Xgl, see Intel with Xgl.

AIGLX rendering

Benefits

  • Slightly faster than Xgl in most cases
  • Allows for hardware rendering of OpenGL and XVideo
  • Slightly easier to set up in most cases

Downsides

  • OpenGL and XVideo are not redirected and transformed; therefore, blue regions or flickering will occur when the window is transformed by an effect.
  • Fragment Environment Variables are broken, so Water, Blur and Reflection will not work correctly (if at all)

    • Exception: In Compiz from the Git master branch (which requires XCB), Workarounds includes a fix for this.

Xgl rendering

Benefits

  • Redirects OpenGL and XVideo, allowing effects to be applied to them without distortion.
  • All fragment program operations (eg. those used by Water, Blur and Reflection) will work.

Downsides

  • OpenGL and XVideo are software-rendered, which means they will be very slow

  • Slightly more difficult to set up

General Hints

  • Make sure the FrameBufferCompression option in your xorg.conf Device section is set to false on mobile chipsets. That'll give you much smoother animations.