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Tom B

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Registered: 2014-01-15

Posts: 187

Website

[SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

Is it possible to treat multiple monitors as one? (I'm thinking xrandr might be able to configure this?) so for example. if I maximize or fullscreen a window on KDE it shows across both monitors? I'd also like this effect for games/vlc and any other fullscreen application. I'm using an intel gpu with 2 hdmi ports on a 4k screen with PbB for  both "monitors".

Last edited by Tom B (2016-07-15 10:35:15)

Tom B

Member

Registered: 2014-01-15

Posts: 187

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

is this a potential solution: Set up both monitors in clone mode, and have one display the left half and one the right half of the screen?

JohnBobSmith

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2014-11-29

Posts: 804

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

If I'm not mistaken...

xrandr --ouput <outputOne> --left-of <outputTwo>, and then xrandr --output <outputTwo> --right-of <outputOne>, will do the half and half thing. Use valid output names of course.

Last edited by JohnBobSmith (2016-07-14 16:21:26)

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I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As it turns out, what I thought was my greatest weakness is now my greatest strength.

Everyday, I make a conscious choice to overcome my challenges and my problems. It's not easy, but its better than the alternative...

Tom B

Member

Registered: 2014-01-15

Posts: 187

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

This does enable both screens, but maximizing a window on one, just maximizes the window on that screen, I'd like fullscreen applications to use the full resolution of both screens instead of just one.

xrandr has a VIRTUAL1 output, can that do what I need or is that entirely different?

JohnBobSmith

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2014-11-29

Posts: 804

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

You could try...

xrandr --output <outputOne> --same-as <outputTwo> and see if that helps. I have no idea what the virtual1 output is. I would avoid that for now.

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I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As it turns out, what I thought was my greatest weakness is now my greatest strength.

Everyday, I make a conscious choice to overcome my challenges and my problems. It's not easy, but its better than the alternative...

Tom B

Member

Registered: 2014-01-15

Posts: 187

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

As expected, that clones output1 onto output2, what I want is a single virutal screen of 3840x2160 and each physical screen to display a 1920x2160 portion of it. For example, output1 shows 0-1920 and output2 shows 1920-3840.

Tom B

Member

Registered: 2014-01-15

Posts: 187

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

Aha! I managed to get this working with trial and error and thanks to your --same-as example

1. Generate the modeline:

cvt 3840 2160
Modeline "3840x2160_60.00"  712.75  3840 4160 4576 5312  2160 2163 2168 2237 -hsync +vsync

2. Add the mode to xrandr:

xrandr --newmode "3840x2160_60.00"  712.75  3840 4160 4576 5312  2160 2163 2168 2237 -hsync +vsync

3. Set the mode on VIRTUAL1:

xrandr --addmode VIRTUAL1 3840x2160_60.00

4. Set display1 to clone VIRTUAL1 (in my case HDMI1):

xrandr --output HDMI1 --same-as VIRTUAL1

Then place HDMI2 right of HDMI1:

xrandr --output HDMI2 --right-of HDMI1

Maximizing will now maximize across both screens It gets reset on reboot but I can write a script for it at least.

Last edited by Tom B (2016-07-14 18:34:58)

JohnBobSmith

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2014-11-29

Posts: 804

Re: [SOLVED] Treat two monitors as one?

Huh, that is very clever. Glad you figured it out, remember to mark as solved!

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I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As it turns out, what I thought was my greatest weakness is now my greatest strength.

Everyday, I make a conscious choice to overcome my challenges and my problems. It's not easy, but its better than the alternative...