How do I use Compiz on Linux to achieve what WinSplit revolution does on Windows?

Question

I've used WinSplit Revolution for quite some time on Windows and have become attached to it. I'm now trying out a Linux OS (Ubuntu 10.04) and would really like to get the same functionality back again. After searching on the net I found a "grid" plugin for compiz which says that it was inspired by WinSplit revolution.

I haven't installed the Grid plugin yet, because under the install section on that page, it says "Note that grid is now included in compiz so you're unlikely to need to fetch from git unless you've an old version of compiz", which would seem to suggest that the grid functionality has now been built into compiz somewhere. The thing is, I don't know where to find it in the CompizConfig Settings Manager nor how to set it up. All I want to have happen is that I get identical functionality to WinSplit revolution, where I press Ctrl + Alt + [some numpad key] to position a window on a screen and press Ctrl + Alt + [left or right arrow] to shift a window between dual screens.

Solution

From what I can read, Grid is indeed what should suit your needs. It is included to Compiz directly now, but it's hard to find an official manual for it (someone obviously used the wiki page you gave link to as a discussion/bug report place...)

I can find another tutorial at this link, which says:

Using the Grid Compiz plugin, all you have to do is press Ctrl + Alt + Keypad numbers to place the selected windows.

Grid Compiz plugin examples:
Ctrl + Alt + KP 4 -> puts the window to the left
Ctrl + Alt + KP 6 -> puts the window to the right
Ctrl + Alt + KP 9 -> puts the window to the top right
... And so on.

Basically the numeric keypad is the imaginary grid and pressing the numbers, the windows are placed on the corresponding position on the grid:

You can activate the Grid plugin by going to CompizConfig Settings Manager, under "Window Management" enable the "Grid" plugin.

Comments

[Gnoupi]

Related (not duplicate) question: superuser.com/questions/13395

[Bryce Thomas]

Thanks for the great answer. It turned out that at least on my machine I just needed to install compiz-fusion-plugins-extra (which I did through the Ubuntu Software Centre) to get the grid option. I imagine the same thing could have been done through the synaptic packet manager or sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-plugins-extra, though I'm a bit of a Linux noob and haven't verified that.

[Bryce Thomas]

The only thing I'm missing now is the ability to move a window from one screen to another with Ctrl + Alt + [left or right arrow key].

[Gnoupi]

@Bryce - related question, on this site (though without a concrete answer): superuser.com/questions/58476/…

[Bryce Thomas]

As a side note, I figured out how to move a window from one screen to another (dual monitors). In CompizConfig Settings Manager, under Window Management is the "Put" plugin. You set the option "Put To Next Output" to whatever key combination you want. Unfortunately it doesn't have a separate key combination for moving to left screen versus right screen, but if you've only got two screens then one button is enough.