The reason that the cube appeared as a "list" has nothing to do with the number or quality of your graphics cards. The cube plugin simply shows your workspaces arranged as the sides of a cube. You get a sheet because you only have two workspaces configured. You can change this in compiz-config-settings-manager (ccsm
).
Having said that, try the following steps (adapted from here):
sudo apt-get purge compiz* sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-plugins
The first command will completely remove any compiz installation, and the second will reinstall it. Now, open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and launch compiz-config-settings-manager:
ccsm
Scroll down to the "Desktop" section and make sure the Enable Ubuntu Unity Plugin checkbox is checked:
Now, click "Back" to go back to the main menu. Check the Desktop Cube checkbox. If a message pops up asking if you want to disable Desktop Wall in favor of the cube,click "Disable Desktop Wall".
Compiz uses "virtual desktops" as opposed to normal desktops (see the compiz wiki here for more info). To have a cube that looks like a cube, you need to tell compiz to use 4 virtual desktops. To do this, go "Back" again, click the "General Options" button and choose the "Desktop Size" tab. Set your Horizontal Virtual Size to 4: