Skippy-XD is a program for X which provides Mac OS Exposé-like features. It is a standalone application for providing a window picker with live previews (including live video) on Linux desktops that run an X server with composite support. Thus it is not part of the window manager, and the composite is not being used all the time.

To use Skippy-XD, you need Xfce (xfwm4) or a NetWM compliant window manager (LXDE, Openbox-based window managers, etc.).

This tutorial shows you how to install this task-switcher via PPA in (X)Ubuntu 13.10, (X)Ubuntu 13.04, (X)Ubuntu 12.10, (X)Ubuntu 12.04 and Linux Mint Xfce.

Mac OS X’s Exposé windows picker in Ubuntu 13.10 Xfce 4.10

Install Skippy-XD:

The Skippy-XD code has been released in 2004, and only slightly improved in 2011. Currently Skippy-XD is under (somewhat) active development and the latest GIT code is available in the PPA below.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one to install it from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:landronimirc/skippy-xd-daily

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install skippy-xd

Once installed, start the daemon via:

skippy-xd --start-daemon &

And activate the windows picker:

skippy-xd --activate-window-picker

Add Keyboard Shortcuts for Skippy-XD

Typically, it is helpful to set up keyboard shortcuts for skippy-xd. For Xfce4:

1. Go to Settings Manager -> Settings Editor -> xfce4 keyboard shortcuts.

2. Click on New, and type in:

• Property: /commands/custom/<Alt>1 #You may change <Alt>1 to other key combination.
• Type: String
• Value: skippy-xd --activate-window-picker

xfce4 add custom shortcut key

Auto start Skippy-XD daemon at login:

Go to Settings Manager -> Session and Startup -> Application Autostart. Click on Add button, type in name and command skippy-xd --start-daemon