Thursday, July 29, 2010

How to get RGBA support in Ubuntu

RGBA stands for Red Green Blue Alpha. When applied to the computer desktop it means a whole world more. It means full-blown transparency with the ability to control the transparency like never before.
This feature was supposed to make it into Ubuntu 10.04, but because of some show-stopping issues, it was pulled. It is now slated to make it into 10.10 and, judging from how well it is working now, it will do just that.
If you're curious as to what an RGBA-enabled desktop will look like, take a gander at Figure A. This is Ubuntu 10.04 with GNOME and RGBA support installed and enabled.
RGBA%20desktop%20Fig%20A.jpg

What you will need
Outside of the necessary software, you will need a graphics card that will support full Compiz features. So if your desktop will not allow you to enable Extra features for compiz, either don't bother with this or go get a new card that will. You will also need to enable Compiz with at least Normal effects. With that set, you are ready to install.
Installation
Open up a terminal window and issue the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:erik-b-andersen/rgba-gtk
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-color-chooser gtk2-module-rgba
sudo apt-get install murrine-themes
That's it from the command line and the installation.
Read more: ZDnet