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Is there some equivalent of Windows' "Tile Windows" in Ubuntu?

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The answer to this question is XMonad. It really really is and XMonad rocks, just look at the screenshots: xmonad.org – Robert Massaioli Oct 17 '10 at 0:21
You raise an interesting question. I have to wonder why this feature wasn't part of the XWindows framework as a keystroke sequence or something, from several years ago. Like duh, right? And not everyone is going to have Compiz or a WM that supports this feature. Luckily my graphics card supports Compiz effects. – Volomike Oct 17 '10 at 7:00

6 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

How-to: Set up XMonad & XMobar on Ubuntu

http://www.huntlycameron.co.uk/2010/11/how-to-set-up-xmonad-xmobar-ubuntu/

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up vote 3 down vote

X Tile

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up vote 3 down vote

There is also an unsupported compiz plugin called Tile. It's in the compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported package which can be obtained e.g. from this PPA (update of compiz from this ppa needed too)

You can watch it in action in this video (starting at 1:44)

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does that ppa introduce a new version of compiz as well? – greggory.hz Oct 16 '10 at 23:18
Yes, but you could choose to just install the plugin and then disable the source – Lincoln Oct 16 '10 at 23:35
good idea, so the plugin doesn't require the newer version of compiz as a dependency? Sorry to keep bugging you, it's just a very interesting and possibly good solution, but upgrading compiz could be dangerous. Do you know if it's a testing ppa or if it's just latest stable version? – greggory.hz Oct 17 '10 at 0:00
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Hmm...just did a quick test and got this message on lucid: compiz (core) - Error: Plugin 'core' has ABI version '20090619', expected ABI version '20091102'. So I guess you need the newer compiz version from the ppa...But this ppa is from the official compiz guys and the last update was on 2010-04-28. So I'd say it's safe to use it. – Lincoln Oct 17 '10 at 0:06
awesome, good to know. and yeah, a stable version is probably fine :) – greggory.hz Oct 17 '10 at 1:34
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up vote 6 down vote

If you're using compiz, you can enable the "Grid" plugin to use keyboard shortcuts to move windows around the screen in a tiling sort of way.

You'll need to make sure compiz-fusion-plugins-extra is installed (sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-plugins-extra or use synaptic - probably software center too).

I got the tip from here: http://www.webupd8.org/2009/12/linux-w-compiz-tile-position-and-resize.html

You can do something similar without compiz using this: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/08/python-window-organizer-organize-your.html

I don't think either of these options have an auto tile feature though. Using a default install, I'm not sure this option is anywhere (not anywhere that I know of anyway). In that case, some of the other answers already posted might be more useful.

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up vote 2 down vote

You could use a tiling window manager. There are many options (ion3, scrotwm, dwm, etc, etc). Search google for "tiling window manager", or search for "tiling" in synaptic.

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This answer on AskUbuntu is a review of available tiling WMs in Ubuntu. – Riccardo Murri Oct 16 '10 at 23:04
up vote 1 down vote

I think you can use wmtile for your case: http://ostatic.com/wmtile/home/1

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