xfce4 and dual screens

Allan · 2008-06-08 12:53:58

I am trying to setup dual screens with xfce4. An "xrandr" command and I have both screens working and in the right positions. However, there are still a couple of tweaks I want to make.

How do I get the xfce4 panel onto my laptop screen instead of the external monitor? I remember on windows you could choose the primary screen but I can't figure out how to that with X.

I have also noticed that dragging windows is very non-responsive. This can be fixed by disabling compositing but I like my eye candy... Is there any way to fix that?

Here my monitor section of xorg.conf

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Laptop Monitor"
    DisplaySize    300   230
    VendorName    "SEC"
    ModelName    "4758"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Graphics Card"
    Driver        "intel"
    VendorName    "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName    "Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller"
    BusID        "PCI:0:2:0"
    Option        "LinearAlloc" "8160"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Laptop Screen"
    Device        "Graphics Card"
    Monitor        "Laptop Monitor"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth      24
        Virtual    2048 768
    EndSubSection
EndSection

vuboy · 2008-06-08 13:34:01

I used a startup script to position the screens.

#!/bin/sh

xrandr --addmode VGA-0 1280x1024
xrandr --output VGA-0 --below VGA-1 --mode 1280x1024

In this case VGA-1 is the initial screen without dual.
I used below due to virtual size limitations on the ATI 9600XT.

Hope this helps.

VB

Allan · 2008-06-08 14:50:55

This is what I use:

xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1024x768 --pos 1024x0 --output VGA --mode 1024x768 --pos 0x0

Note, it does not matter which screen I put on the left, the external monitor always has the XFCE menu.

Allan · 2008-06-08 15:06:05

I may not be able to set the primary screen where the toolbars should go in XFCE. From http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Xorg_RandR_1.2

>the desired behavior of the video
> drivers in typical laptop situations with an internal display and an
> external screen attached (extending the desktop).
>
> Currently for example the intel driver uses the external screen as the
> primary output. It is listed first with xrandr. I'm not sure if this is
> intentional or just coincidence.
It's coincidence -- the laptop hardware has two crtcs, and the LVDS can
only be driven by the second.
Note that RandR doesn't really want the order to be significant; it
would be better if the desktop environment knew about outputs and could
refer to a specific output as 'primary' or 'holds toolbar' or whatever.

So I don't think that can be solved....

mintcoffee · 2008-06-08 16:41:31

Hm, I know in KDE you have the option to choose the Xinerama screen for the toolbars to reside. I was planning on switching to XFCE myself, but this feature is also essential for me too..

malde · 2008-06-09 08:00:04

I've got the exact same thing here.
This seems only to be a problem, if the external monitor is plugged in after the Xserver has started up. If you restart X with the external monitor plugged in, Xfce recognizes them as 2, otherwise just as 1 monitor.
the option to place the panel on monitor 1 or 2 only appears after a X restart

Allan · 2008-06-09 09:32:21

Thanks, that works! But it is still reasonably annoying isn't it?

Here is upstream bug reports:
http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3330
http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3748
and it looks like there are more...

Edit: One of those bug reports says an "xfce4-panel -r" will allow the panel to detect multiple monitors after adding a screen...

Last edited by Allan (2008-06-09 09:41:21)

Allan · 2008-06-09 09:38:43

Be warned that if you move the panel to monitor two and then disconnect your external monitor, then your panels are gone!

Arch Linux

#1 2008-06-08 12:53:58

xfce4 and dual screens

#2 2008-06-08 13:34:01

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

#3 2008-06-08 14:50:55

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

#4 2008-06-08 15:06:05

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

#5 2008-06-08 16:41:31

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

#6 2008-06-09 08:00:04

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

#7 2008-06-09 09:32:21

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

#8 2008-06-09 09:38:43

Re: xfce4 and dual screens

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