Ever since installing Ubuntu on my 4G eeePC 701, I’ve been incredibly impressed by the operating system. It’s my first time running a Linux system full-time, and I find more to love about it every day. One of the most impressive things in Ubuntu is Compiz Fusion, which adds some incredible graphic effects to the user environment, including a rotating cube and other window/desktop switchers on crack.

Sadly, I’ve been unable to run it on the eeePC because turning on Compiz turns OFF my ability to drag windows off the top of the screen. This is a big deal on the eeePC’s small screen, because sometimes dialog windows are too long to fit on the screen, and I will have to alt+drag them up so that I can get to all of the choices.

Thankfully, the eeeuser wiki has come to my rescue once again.  Someone posted a very simple line of code that you can pop in the terminal and voila! Dragging windows beyond the top of the screen is enabled in Compiz.

gconftool-2 –set /apps/compiz/plugins/move/allscreens/options/constrain_y –type bool 0

It is important to NOT issue the command as a root user (sudo), but that is the only caveat I’ve found. I am so happy to be able to show off the amazing Compiz effects on my eeePC, and now I can finally use Emerald Theme Manager to make my desktop look awesome!