Expo is a Compiz plugin that allows you to manage opened windows across all of the virtual workspaces. I unexpectedly discovered this plugin when I was using my netbook in school which has Ubuntu 10.04 installed and the Expo edge feature is enabled by default. By checking out this plugin, my desktop becomes more clean and manageable. You can enable the Expo edge feature on Ubuntu 9.10 through the following steps:
- Open CompizConfig Settings Manager either through Compiz-Icon, command line, or other ways that you prefer.
- Click on Desktop under Category at the left side.
- Click on Expo.
- If you didn’t enable this plugin, you can enable this by checking the checkbox under Use This Plugin.
- Locate the Expo edge under the Bindings tab. It should be set to None by default.
- Click on the None button, and choose the side which you want to initiate the plugin on.
- After choose your side, click OK button.
- The Expo should appear once you move your cursor to the side you specified at step 6. The screen should similar to the screenshot below:
(NOTE: I’m using dual-monitor setup, therefore each of the workspace is wider than the single-monitor setup.)
After the Expo is initialized, you can drag windows between each of the virtual workspace side by side. You can also group the windows based on each of the virtual workspace topic by using this plugin.
