Get Aero Snap in Ubuntu

By , Published November 10, 2009

Ubuntu users can get a the cool functionality of Windows 7's €œAero Snap€ with a few copy’s and a few pastes thanks to an awesome tutorial on the UbuntuForums by forumer gotsanity. Props and cookies go to him for this.

What Is Aero Snap And Why Should I Use It?

For those who don't know what Aero Snap is i shall try and sum it up in on sentence.
Aero Snap allows you to minimize, maximize and resize windows by simply drag-dropping them to the sides of the screen.

It's useful for comparing the contents of two windows side-by-side.

For example you have two tabs in Google Chrome open but want to view the contents side-by-side rather than having to switch tabs. Easy. Peel of one of the tabs, drag it to the left €“ BAM! Drag the second window to the right and €“ BOOM! There they are: -

Drag them away and ta-da! they resize back.

Enable €œAero Snap€ In Ubuntu

You Will Need Compiz enabled and the following applications installed: -

  • sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager wmctrl

Now you're all set to begin.

  • Open the Compiz Config Settings Manager (ALT+F2 ccsm, system > preferences > CompizConfig€¦, etc)
  • Select the €œCommands€ option.
  • In  ‘Command Line 0′ paste: -

WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1

  • In ‘Command Line 1′ paste: -

WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$HALF,0,$HALF,-1

  • And in ‘Command Line 2′ paste: -

wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert,maximized_horz

It should now look something like this: -

Now choose the ‘Edge Bindings’ tab at the top and set the following: -

  • Run Command 0 – Set To Left
  • Run Command 1 – Set To Right
  • Run Command 2 – Set To Top

Click on the back button and go to ‘General options’.

Set the ‘Edge Trigger Delay’ to something around 400 – 500 by dragging the slider to the right.

Now all you have to do is drag a window to one of the specified sides and your window will automatically resize.

{thanks to Grayson & ubuntuforums.org} 
Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

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  • Ano

    will it resize back when dragged away from the edge?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Yep!

  • http://twitter.com/TheSpecs Luke Dixon

    Whats happens with 2 screens? Same as on 7 where the sides where the monitors that are next to each other, it just doesn’t work?

  • Anonymous

    I imagine this won’t work if you’ve got more than one workspace? Wouldn’t the window not just move across onto the next workspace?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Sort of/sort of not. I have multiple spaces but i can use it fine.

      If you set your edge bindings low then dragging a window towards the edge will trigger aero snap before it triggers next workspace.

      You can also invoke it another way by clicking on a window so that it’s active and then moving your mouse to the “hot spot”

      • http://ndrw.me AndrewNoNumbers

        I’m not too familiar with Compiz settings, but would it work to bind the “snap” commands to the upper corners so that it doesn’t interfere with dragging between workspaces?

  • dong

    I have one short question about this.
    In this guide it is said that I need to know the dimensions of my screen. The question is, why?
    I do not see where we use this information in this guide or am I missing something?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      I’ll edit that out. The original tutorial needed this information as you manually had to specify dimensions/sizes to resize to etc.

      • dong

        Thx for the fast response. I went through the original post and you are right.
        This method with auto-detecting the resolution is more elegant.

        Another question: Why is my window-width a few pixels too large? On the screenshot in this post it looks flawless but on my machine the windows snapped to the left and right overlap a few pixels in the middle of the screen. Any ideas why this happens?

        • http://twitter.com/reishka Rei

          I don’t think this takes into account window decorations for some systems. When I tossed this into CCSM I got two windows that were the same size that had some overlap.I fixed it by using this code instead:

          cmd0: WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$((($WIDTH/2)-10)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1

          cmd1: WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$((($WIDTH/2)-12)) && HALFP=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$HALFP,0,$HALF,-1

          Play around with the HALF values for -10 and -12 until they line up.

          • dong

            Great, thanks for your help.
            Now it’s (almost) perfect ;-)
            After I snapped a window when I drag it back it does resize to the original width but not to the original width. Any ideas on that?

            Thanks anyway for all your help and this gr8 feature.

          • dong

            Sry, little confusing error in the last reply ^^ It does resize to the original height but it DOES NOT RESIZE TO THE ORIGINAL WIDTH when dragging it back from snapped mode.

          • http://twitter.com/reishka Rei

            I really have no idea why it does that, sorry. =

  • rkv

    OMG i just found the feature i missed in ubuntu….

    Thanks a lot,

    U Rock!! and Grayson & ubuntuforums.org too :D

  • anonymous

    using compiz grid allows you to use the keypad to pinpoint the location, it’s a lot quicker for me.

  • Ben

    This is cool, but I still prefer the grid extension (although with that extension, there’s no way to go back to the original size).

    As for it conflicting with dragging between workspaces, I never do that. Keybindings are so much faster.

  • Gabriel Serralha Miró

    That’s the problem with desktop linux…always running after Windows/Mac features, hardly introducing something new. And the funny thing is that people had support for this feature for a long time, but only figured it to be useful when Windows 7 introduced it.

    • doesnotcare

      > hardly introducing something new

      like, you know, virtual desktops?

      • Primo Shiznit

        Do you have anything other than virtual desktops to reply with? No?

        Replying with one ‘innovation’ of Linux desktops (which I’m not even sure originated with Gnome or KDE… I seem to remember seeing this feature in CDE on AIX before Linux even existed) vs. the dozens if not hundreds of features stolen from Windows and Mac hardly makes a strong rebuttal.

        • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6LR53NHT4VHAUCM4UPJQLZTFMM Amol

          How about activating and using a window without raising it, which can be done in both KDE and Gnome, but not, as far as I know, in Windows or OS X. I find that it works much better than all this resizing stuff when it comes to working with multiple windows.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      There is nothing wrong with copying/adapting what works to the linux desktop. People need to get over their paranoia that if you give credit to Windows then you hate Linux.

      Like it or not the Aero Snap feature really works. Linux had something almost similar with the compiz Grid plugin, but this “hack” is far similar to the Windows feature and, one would imagine, would help a lot of people who love using that feature to enhance their productivity come over to Linux as they see that Linux is not a featureless OS that can’t compete with Windows. It can – and this “hack” proves why – because we not only are able to get this feature within days of Windows 7′s release, but we can customize it too.

      By your methodology we shouldn’t use -anything- Windows or Mac does – and that’s just stupid.

      • http://dieselliveson.blogspot.com DieselLives

        Good argument. I second it.
        Windows 7 has a tonne of great little features that I would like to see adapted by Ubuntu (and Linux in general), Aero Snap was just one of them, another would be the auto-changing wallpapers (I know it’s likely possible via another app, but I would like it to be native).
        There is nothing wrong with taking a successful component from Windows, Mac, or another distro and building it in, or bolting it on to Ubuntu… that’s how evolution works in the digital space!

        • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

          Gnome does actually support auto-changing wallpapers. Karmic comes with a pack of “space” images that change every 15 mins or so but this can be changed if you make your own “pack”. Not as elegant a solution as Windows 7 or some third party apps for Ubuntu but a solution nonetheless!

    • Ben

      You be trollin’

  • Abel

    I know this is a little off topic, but what your your fonts/settings? They look crisp/clear. Mine don’t look anything like it and drives me nuts.

  • http://raywaldo.com Ray Waldo

    Pretty cool. Thanks

    • http://raywaldo.com Ray Waldo

      Actually, I had to turn it off. It was getting in the way. Although I rarely used it, I would accidentally activate it and then I had to resize the windows. Frustrating.

  • Christopher

    This would be really handy if I weren’t on a netbook that doesn’t run compiz well at all… Any suggestions?

  • http://www.mememachinego.com/ Jym

    =v= And to think Vista only took 6 years longer than MacOS to implement it!

  • Bob Hazard

    This blog is how my blog would be if I could be bothered

    Love it

  • zzz

    Question. It seems that if I have a focused window and then move my mouse to the top, it maximizes. I don’t have to drag it at all. I don’t think that this is desired functionality. Any way around this?

  • Anonymous

    WonderfulHowever, I don’t want to lose compix desktop wall that I can drag window to another desktop.So I use key binding instead (super-left, super-right, and super-up).I modify cmd0 to:WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$((($WIDTH/2)-10)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horz && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1cmd1 to:WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horz && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$HALF,0,$HALF,-1To be able to dock left and right from maximum.Also, I add command3: wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horzand binds it to super-downThank you for the wonderful idea.

    • http://profiles.google.com/marky.d.alter Marky D

      Yupp.. Now it feels just like Windows 7 snap.. Thank You!

  • Ratio

    I wanted to try this software.
    I’ve Karmic Koala.
    Commands 1 and 2 don’t exist.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Well given they work for everyone but you i’s say there is a good chance they -do- exist. If you try to be a bit more specific we can help =)

  • Ratio

    I wanted to try this software.
    I’ve Karmic Koala.
    Commands 1 and 2 don’t exist.

  • Anonymous

    Worth mentioning that for this to work one first has to install wmctrl which doesn’t come with Karmic Koala by default ^^

    sudo apt-get install wmctrl

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      It is mentioned – in step one =)

  • droetker

    This is not exactly the same. you have to drag it to the right and left border, not to the top border right/left to half-maximize the window.
    normally the right and left borders are used for dragging windows onto the next desktop…

  • Anonymous

    thanks so much! i just got this up and running on a netbook (EEE 1005ha) running Ubuntu NBR karmic, and it’s perfect—this trick makes multi-tasking a real possibility when window resizing is usually such a pain on this tiny screen.

  • Christopher

    For those this doesn’t work for, make sure you have “wmctrl” installed. I didn’t, and I kept wondering why it wasn’t working … and it turned out I didn’t have it installed. I got a clue when I examined the various commands & saw the one for maximize reference that program.

    Open a terminal, type
    sudo apt-get install wmctrl
    enter your password
    Try again, enjoy

    I’m not sure I like the fact that simply touching the side with the mouse (without holding the window) causes the window to perform the action. I guess I’ll have to test it out, see how I like it. It helps when the window is maximized that it doesn’t resize to half-width when touching the sides.

    Also, I just noticed: if the window is wider than half the width of the monitor, then pinned to the left or right, then brought away from the left or right, while the height returns to normal, the width stays half-width compared to the monitor.

    Still, I think I’ll stick with key bindings as opposed to edge bindings, because it’s causing more trouble than I think it’s worth. However, if there’s a suggestion that doesn’t involve mere touching, I’d be all for it.

    • Henrik

      it is mentioned in the article aboout what u need to install

  • abc

    Not working. Crap article.

    • http://billishere.deviantart.com Billi

      The article is correct! the last thing that d00d mentioned however: about dragging your window to a corner of the screen is incorrect.
      how this actually works is like this. select the active window. set the settings as above.
      Do NOT click and drag. but rather just move your mouse to the edges of the screen for the preferred action to take place.

      That is how it works for me. So i dont actually drag windows to edges. but rather I just select them (make them active) and then just move my mouse (without clickign anything) to the edge to initiate an action.

      • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

        The last bit can’t be correct if i can drag my windows to a corner and it triggers this effect… It is the mouse that triggers this efffect so if you only drag a bit of your window to the site and your mouse doesn’t touch the hot-corner then there’s no hable.Drag your window to the corner WITH your mouse in the ‘hot zone’ and it works. This is the same as on Windows, too. Your mouse has to touch the side to ‘register’ what you want to do.

  • Christopher

    To those saying “wmctrl” is listed in the first step: I just checked and sure enough, it is indeed listed, but directly after compiz, and while it will work like that, people aren’t likely to notice it. They might look at this, see compiz config, say “I have that installed,” then move to the next step, like I did.

    It might be worth throwing a note in there to not miss wmctrl.

  • http://peligrociencia.com/ aloctavodia

    Compiz is not necessary, it is posible to use brightside to set “hot-corners” and launch the scripts just moving the mouse to the left or right top corner

  • exil3d

    Does anyone know how to do the same thing in Kubuntu?

    Thanks :p

  • Thorsten Treffer

    I don’t want compiz to resize my active window but my dragged window. i mean, i don’t want it to trigger when i simply move my mouse to a hot spot without dragging a window. is there a way to accomplish this?

  • Calcipher

    I keep getting an error message with command 0 and command 1 “Metacity: An Error Has Occurred.” If I run the commands from a command line, it works, but I have problems from the commands pluggin. A little bit of digging seems to indicate that the issue like simply in defining and reusing WIDTH and HALF. If I make up values for $HALF where it is used the command works.

  • Anonymous

    This may be an unpopular comment, but while this is useful blog post, it is an example of a major problem with Linux on the desktop.Linux has had compiz effects for a long time, but yet it is still Microsoft who are coming up with innovative ways to manage windows better. Maybe that is because they are focusing less on making windows go up in flames or creating rounded cubes…DockbarX, Gnome Do are both good projects too, but all of this is examples of Linux trying to catch up with usability / design features that are baked into Windows and Mac OS X by default…with no need to copy and paste “WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1″ or install applets or add PPAs to software sources…I know it might be argued that the average Linux user can handle this, but that is exactly the problem, my sister (or most Windows users) are not going to follow blog guides to get Ubuntu to do something their new shiny Windows 7 machine does immediately.Linux has many admirable advantages over Windows and Mac OS X, but when it come down to improving user interface design, it still seems leagues behind proprietary OSs and that is a critical issue for ‘average’ end users who don’t want the hassle of tweaking their interface and expect an interface that is marginally more advanced / usable / pretty than Windows XP. Gnome quite simple is not.I can only hope that Gnome Shell / 3 improves this situation and finally gives desktop Linux a UI most users can be satisfied with immediately after installation has finished.

    • http://peligrociencia.com/ aloctavodia

      Unpopular but true.

      • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

        Agreed.

    • atanok

      “Maybe that is because they are focusing less on making windows go up in flames or creating rounded cubes…”
      So, because someone thought it’d be nice to have, implemented it, shared it and it got accepted into the main project’s tree, there is something horribly wrong with the project?
      You’re a worthless pile of ignorance.

  • http://system509.com/ mik

    Many of the commenters noticed one discrepancy between this great hack and AeroSnap, namely: you don’t actually have to drag the window to the edge, you just need to move your mouse to the edge to get a snap.

    This is unfortunate and confusing, but perhaps could be solved quite easily. All we would need is a command which returns true if the mouse is currently pressed. This could be added to the commands as follows:

    TEST_IF_MOUSE_IS_DOWN &&
    WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` &&
    HALF=$((($WIDTH/2)-5)) &&
    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert &&
    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1

    What command returns true if the mouse is down?

  • http://peligrociencia.com/ aloctavodia

    I don´t use compiz so I use brightside to set hot-corners and I made two scripts using the command you provided (I did not use the top commandm just left and right). One problem is that the trick does not work with maximized windows and the other problem is that once you snap a windows the window stay in a “frozen-size” state, I mean you can´t grab the window by the title-bar an move it freely instead the window moves only across the “x” axis. To “unclock” the window you have to maximize the window. In compiz you get the same behaivor? any idea to fix this? Thanks!

    • Chris

      “the trick does not work with maximized windows”
      Same thing with Compiz, as well as Aero Snap itself. It doesn’t bother me too much … I just de-maximize then throw it against one of the walls.

      “frozen-size” state
      Hmmm, the behavior you describe isn’t present in Compiz, so it must be a bug or lack of feature in Bright Side.

      I’m not sure why you don’t use compiz, but with the compiz settings manager, you can turn on and off whichever features you want to make it as simple or as fancy as you want it. I have some of the extra stuff turned off that doesn’t really enhance productivity.

  • Anonymous

    I think I prefer Compiz Grid. With this one if you have wobbly windows enabled it looks a bit of a mess when resizing.

  • http://twitter.com/mikeziri mwm

    It gives an error when executing that command.

  • Chriskonieczny

    Very handy, remember that if you copy and past, you will probably need to go and fix all the single ticks. Go through the first two command line options and replace every single tick with another single tick(I mean replace, don’t add) :) sounds weird, and I wont go into why but it will work.

  • Omadas

    This doesn’t seem to work for me, I am using 10.04 LTS. I have the desktop cube enabled and use the top left and top right for my bindings instead, but it was a no-go. Is there a work-around?

  • keeypo

    Doesnt work for me either. What is a tick? Or “single ticks”

  • Conorstrejcek

    I figured out the problem people have been having. If it’s not working for you, first replace the single quotation marks(not these!: “`), being sure to leave the outside ones. Then, in the command line, type “wmctrl” without quotes. If it says it’s not installed use the command “sudo apt-get install wmctrl”. Wait for it to install, and in no time it should be working for you!

    • keeypo

      haha i didint see that we needed to install wmctrl. Got it working but yeah, the ‘ are bad, need to delete and retype them ‘

      WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$HALF,0,$HALF,-1

      works pretty good, not quite as good as windows though

      • Conorstrejcek

        It also tends to cause everything to freeze up sometimes for me.

        • Conorstrejcek

          Actually never mind, I missed one of the apostrophes.

        • Conorstrejcek

          Actually never mind, I missed one of the apostrophes.

      • Conorstrejcek

        It also tends to cause everything to freeze up sometimes for me.

  • Omadas

    Used your suggested fixes, and it works, except for a new-found glitch… if i could post a snapshot i would, because this is a pretty cool visual glitch: When using this in combination with windows effects and the cube enabled i found that the desktop itself glitches and splits in half visually, with the left half of the screen remaining with what ever visual was opened on that side and the right side maintaining the original desktop (shrunk to fit). The ability to use this without the cube and window effects is still a powerful workaround and for native windows users is actually a powerful tool. It should be suggested to the Ubuntu community to develop a similar tool through Compiz that mimics the Windows Snap feature or Acer GridVista programs, and allow it to integrate as easily as the desktop cube using separate bindings….

    • Anonymous

      i solved the half desktop glitch. just open a terminal and run

      wmctrl -r x-nautilus-desktop -e 0,0,0,WIDTH,HEIGHT

      where WIDTH is your desktop width and HEIGHT is your desktop height (i.e., screen resolution). In my case it was

      wmctrl -r x-nautilus-desktop -e 0,0,0,1600,900

  • VivAce

    Copy and paste the command lines and then just replace the ‘ with the same ‘ ,because the ones you copied are different. You’ll see when you do it. If it still does not work, copy paste this line in the terminal: sudo apt-get install wmctrl

  • Mouse

    I’m having trouble with this. If I just move the pointer to the edge of the screen, NOT dragging a window, it will resize the focused window or desktop wallpaper to half the screen width. Obviously this is a problem. Any ideas how to fix it?

  • Pingback: Enable mouse gesture Aero Snap effect in Ubuntu

  • Tom

    Heres are the commands that worked for me after installing wmctrl

    sudo apt-get install wmctrl

    Command line 0
    WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’ `&& HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1

    Command line 1
    WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’ `&& HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$HALF,0,$HALF,-1

    Command line 2
    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert,maximized_horz

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BANN5MVYBXJOM6HUFAFHPRE7SM Shivankk

      Thanks worked for me 2.. : )

    • http://twitter.com/ecurepairs daniel

      I cant get it to work, i’m using ubuntu as a Virtual machine, would this be the cause? please help!!!

    • Mariano Olivero

      excellent, this one worked :)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4DEX5VRBSKUCGGYRWQXHRJ6DWU tajinder

    no, once you install ccsm, you have to set it in there. choosing a visual effect intensity from display preferences just resets all the settings to the default ubuntu’s intended settings. so, it deletes all your work. just make sure you switch to compiz by pressing alt+f2 and typing compiz –replace

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4DEX5VRBSKUCGGYRWQXHRJ6DWU tajinder

    this function actually existed long ago in beryl, and was enabled by default in kde4.4+, but it has existed since a few months before the release of windows 7 in kde wm. although i agree that gnome copies a lot of things off of others, but hey its not like they try to sell it. ms just wants to make money so they just make something “not yet seen” and sell the product. since they dont advertise it, its just better for people to implement a function themselves so that they are aware of it. and i totally disagree with this statement of yours: “Linux has many admirable advantages over Windows and Mac OS X, but when it come down to improving user interface design, it still seems leagues behind proprietary OSs and that is a critical issue for ‘average’ end users who don’t want the hassle of tweaking their interface and expect an interface that is marginally more advanced / usable / pretty than Windows XP. Gnome quite simple is not.” how? here is one thing people forget, what windows can do, linux can do, but what linux can do, windows cant do. and aero snap isnt even a huge advantage anyways. and if u dont care about looks, but functionality by default, just get kde instead of gnome. wats so hard about that?

  • Anonymous

    just go to preferences in CCSM and select reset to defaults

  • Anonymous

    Is there some way to make it only work when the mouse button is being pressed? Currently, mine will maximize/aero-snap whatever my last selected window was, preventing me from using desktop edge bindings to switch desktops. Yes, I have other methods and hotkeys, but I sure do miss that feature.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IVQW5VC2HXW6YSGPFQ67QVW4RE Roach

    At the risk of pointlessly continuing this offtopic debate, “officially,” ie, according to the standards of grammar and writing that you would find in a book or learn in a composition class, “are” is not correct. If you were to refer to the people within microsoft explicitly, then yes, are would be correct. However, you’re referring to microsoft as a group. And as a group is a single unit (composed of multiple parts, but operating as a whole), that group is treated as a single entity. I know many people misuse this with the same logic you used, which isn’t without reason, but according to the text books, “Microsoft is coming up with innovative ways.”

  • Anonymous

    It didn’t work for me at first because the single quotes got transformed to smart quotes when copy/pasting. Now it works.

  • Anonymous

    Worked only sporadically for me on Lucid. No longer works for me on Maverick.

  • Anonymous

    It was boring to read the fanboy flaming of who came up with the Aero Snap features first. MicroSoft shipped it as a essential part of Windows 7 and that is the point. Using Ubuntu 10.10 I have to paste these settings into Compiz to get them to work. MicroSoft have beaten us to the punch by taking ‘our’ ideas and tech to market first and in a much more streamlined and embedded implementation. Get over it.

    I’m still disappointed I cannot double click the top border of a window and have it fill the screen vertically (without maximising and filling horizontally too). Dragging the window to the top edge of the screen to have it maximise is functionally less valuable that double clicking the title bar…

  • Anonymous

    It was boring to read the fanboy flaming of who came up with the Aero Snap features first. MicroSoft shipped it as a essential part of Windows 7 and that is the point. Using Ubuntu 10.10 I have to paste these settings into Compiz to get them to work. MicroSoft have beaten us to the punch by taking ‘our’ ideas and tech to market first and in a much more streamlined and embedded implementation. Get over it.

    I’m still disappointed I cannot double click the top border of a window and have it fill the screen vertically (without maximising and filling horizontally too). Dragging the window to the top edge of the screen to have it maximise is functionally less valuable that double clicking the title bar…

  • Anonymous

    It was boring to read the fanboy flaming of who came up with the Aero Snap features first. MicroSoft shipped it as a essential part of Windows 7 and that is the point. Using Ubuntu 10.10 I have to paste these settings into Compiz to get them to work. MicroSoft have beaten us to the punch by taking ‘our’ ideas and tech to market first and in a much more streamlined and embedded implementation. Get over it.

    I’m still disappointed I cannot double click the top border of a window and have it fill the screen vertically (without maximising and filling horizontally too). Dragging the window to the top edge of the screen to have it maximise is functionally less valuable that double clicking the title bar…

  • Anonymous

    It was boring to read the fanboy flaming of who came up with the Aero Snap features first. MicroSoft shipped it as a essential part of Windows 7 and that is the point. Using Ubuntu 10.10 I have to paste these settings into Compiz to get them to work. MicroSoft have beaten us to the punch by taking ‘our’ ideas and tech to market first and in a much more streamlined and embedded implementation. Get over it.

    I’m still disappointed I cannot double click the top border of a window and have it fill the screen vertically (without maximising and filling horizontally too). Dragging the window to the top edge of the screen to have it maximise is functionally less valuable that double clicking the title bar…

  • Anonymous

    It was boring to read the fanboy flaming of who came up with the Aero Snap features first. MicroSoft shipped it as a essential part of Windows 7 and that is the point. Using Ubuntu 10.10 I have to paste these settings into Compiz to get them to work. MicroSoft have beaten us to the punch by taking ‘our’ ideas and tech to market first and in a much more streamlined and embedded implementation. Get over it.

    I’m still disappointed I cannot double click the top border of a window and have it fill the screen vertically (without maximising and filling horizontally too). Dragging the window to the top edge of the screen to have it maximise is functionally less valuable that double clicking the title bar…

    • Ray Eden

      True. It should be made easier to remap mouse click functions on the window buttons and borders.

      (middle-click on maximize button maximizes a window vertically.)

  • http://www.ianchanning.com/ Ian

    @moojix This only works for the left hand screen.
    To get it to work for the right hand screen I had to add two further commands.
    Command line 3 (left-snap for right monitor):
    WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && SCREEN=$(($WIDTH/2)) && HALF=$(($WIDTH/4)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$SCREEN,0,$HALF,-1

    Command line 4 (right-snap for right monitor):
    WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && SCREEN=$((($WIDTH*3)/4)) && HALF=$(($WIDTH/4)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$SCREEN,0,$HALF,-1

    This isn’t a great solution as it requires separate commands. I have just used Ctrl+Super+Left and Ctrl+Super+Right to call Commands 3 & 4.

    You need some if statement in the Command 1 & 2 to figure out which monitor the window is on – but this works well enough for me.

    It makes it easy to switch a snapped window between monitors – Super+Left / Ctrl+Super+Left

  • http://www.facebook.com/bsperger Brandon Sperger

    Dated post. Let me update. Either upgrade to 11.04 which has this feature (optimized visuals too!) and sacrifice Compiz Cube for it, or use Compiz’s inbuilt tool for this:

    In Compiz Settings Manager find the option Grid under the Window Management heading. Do not click the check box YET. Click on it to open it up. You will see options like ‘Put Center’ and ‘Put Left’ Assign any hotkeys you want, and then enable . I use ‘ctrl+menu’ and ‘ctrl+left’, respectfully.

    Additionally, If you want to full-screen windows WITHOUT over-riding inbuilt ‘f11′ or ‘ctrl/alt+f’ functionality of specific programs (that are designed to work that way), click on Extra WM Actions. Once there assign a hotkey for ‘Toggle Fullscreen’ and enable. I personally use ‘ctrl+F11′.

  • Anonymous

    “Now choose the ‘Edge Bindings’ tab at the top and set the following: -Run Command 0 – Set To Left
    Run Command 1 – Set To Right
    Run Command 2 – Set To Top”How do I do this?  I get a ‘    ”" is not a valid edge mask  ’ error.Thanks

  • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

    In your opinion. Most people know how to use Exposé-type feature and it doesn’t offer the same functionality as this “aero snap” clone does.

  • Gitbo

    I agree this is not what Expose does, but what I wish Expose would do. Is there anything that duplicates this functionality in OS X?